The Dickinson press., 1884-10-18
Captive Apaches.

The scalp-bcarers had hardly passed
at chihuahua, Mex. before there came
the squaws who had been taken. The
minute these bare-hea4ed, dirty, home
ly, hard'faced women we're seen, the
cheering and the excitement increased,
while the boys in the street pressed
hard against the guards and tried to
strike at the wives of those who had
killed and tortured their parents, broth.
ers and sisters. Some of the prisoners
held their nursing babes in their arms
and needed only them. The biggest
nurselings, held as lovingly by their wild
mothers az ever the women of civil.
ization hold their young in times of dan.
ger, cried with fear, and eve the food
their mothers offered them so piteously
did not servo to comfort them. 1t was
enough to make the heart ache to see
these ignorant mothers, hated and struck
at because born in a wilderness, and
wives of savages, press their children to
their breasts and hold them away from
the cruel hands outstretched to strike.
And yet so hated is an Apache that
every wall was hailed with Joy by the
friends of the victors. I saw not one
face among all the mothers there that
had pity written on it. Women held
their children up to see the ragged
squaws and laughed at the unhappy
wives and cursed them. Chihuahua for.
go. It's Sunday and the people forgot
their religion. The spectacle was as bar
barous as that which must have beenthe
accompaniment OF Caesars entry into
Rome, with the bleeding captives from
Gaul following his victorious chariot.
Did any Of those who looked upon these
poor women, who were doomed to live
hereafter in dreary prisons far away and
who marched now within nearing of the
bells which only a few hours ago had
called the people to mass, stop to think
what their religion taught, or did the
ciamor of the Spanish brass up there in
the graceful towers only serve to drown
The cathedral stood nea by, the air was
soft and beautiful, and still not one
mothers heart apparently pitied or
prayed for the unfortunate who marched
to a living death with the scalps of their
husbands swinging before them.
The spectacle was barbarous and in
human, and taught once moro that vic.
tory knows no pity and unchecked
hatred rules the day in times of war.
Later on, wi en- the procession had
reached the plaza, the Mayor meets the
ranchmen and welcomes them to the
city and c%ongratulates them on their
victory. At the end of this speech the
band plays q march again; the bells are
RING louder than ever, the dust is raised
in perfect clouds, and after circling once
around the square the pageant passes
out of sight up the street. An hour
later, when the city was enjoying its
Sunday evening quiet, l met the Consul
of the United States and asked him what
became of the captured women.
"rhey are confined in the fort at Vera
Cruz for life" he said.
"And the children"
"They are given to whoever wants
them, and are brought up as servants"
Slaves, then, YOU mean?" l said.
"Hardly that. They will be paid wages
when they earn them, and such lives
will be better for them, far better, than
itthey had never been captured"
"The scalps-what is done Nth themo?"
l asked.
"The scalps? Why, the government
buy 8 them. Every one brings 5000.
The Apache have long been the sccurge
of Northern Mexico"
laterstill and l heard the bells calling
for prayers. Entering the dimly-lighted
church, where patches Of yellow light
fell upon the bare floor of the place, |
saw the Bonded forms ofthose who were
lisping their prayers, and l wondered if
they, SO quiet now and 80 devout, could
be the same whom l had seen 80 short
a time ago shouting with delight at the
sight of a few bloody scalps and a dozen
footsore women, who had never seen a
church nor had been allowed to worship
anything but a crying baby.-Corres-
pondence San Francisco Chronicle.