Arizona silver belt., 1885-12-19
mEREs RueasEss yoa Yor,

hNlAuItt anu Wdo III hk1 tAilCH hN NlAV
War Department to-day, saysa Wash
-ington dispatch He had he says,
hard and rapid trip, and spent nearly
all the time he was away IN a sleeping
car. The Apache troubles he doesnot
think will continue long. The hostile
band has been reduced to ten bucks,
who are on foot i'm the mountains and
are being hunted down as well as pos
sible, but it is difficult to find them in
the mountain Businesses, from which
they emerge only occasionally 10 COM
nit depredations, They are rs hard
to catch as the James brothers, but
the trails are so well guarded that
cannot escape and must eventually be
killed or captured
Sherdati Is "way OFF, in his state-
ment in placing the number Of raid.
ing Indians at ten and on foot, The
number officially stated at the time
they left the reservation (May 17th)
was thirty-four bucks and eight we'll
grown boys--forty.two in oil, The
number killed does not exceed five, if
that many, including the one sent to.
the happy hunting grounds by the
White Mountain Indians, near Fort
Apache, a day or two before the ar
rival of Sheridan at Fort Bowie. De.
a5Soting these from the original num-
ber, we count thirty-sevenstill raiding,
but their seeming ubiquity and their
frequent killing and robbery ofwhites,
both in Arizona and New Mexico,
leads to the belief that their number
has been very greatly augmented since
they entered upon the campaign
against the whites.
And now a word by way of contra
dieting that they are on foot. The
number of horses stolen by them in
the past seven months is placed at up
ward of 1000, and is, of itself, a sufi-
cient contradiction without the further
fact that they are frequently seen and
always mounted. Even while Sheri-
dan was in Arizona they are reported
as having taken 50 horses from a sin
gle neighborhoOd of radius of forty
miles, which, if true, and we have not
seen the statement disputed, and that
Sheridan's report Of their being only
ten hostiles is also true, the fact is
arrived at that they are not only well
mounted, but have five horses apiece 4;
and it has always been their practice
to have extra mounts, which they in
variably kill when disabled by to hard
usage for immediate use.
Sheridan also says they are as hard
to catch as the James boys, Perhaps
they are. We will, however, by way
of illustrating how tardily the James
boys travelled, state the accepted re-
ports that the ChirIcahuas, after kill
ing the boy Walter Clark, near the
sub-agency, camued o'aly twelve ...:ica
from where they killed him. They
also camped an equal distance, in the
same time, from whore they mortally
wounded Bill Johnson and had glo-
rious drunk of undoubtedly many
hours. They evlnCed about the same
degree of energy when raiding Collins
ranch, where they killed his herder,
and not a whit more. We are credi-
bly, informed that the raiding Indians
tarried four days in the vicinity Of
Camp Thomas. The fact is that the
hostiles are nearly always in the yal-
leys, and not, as Sheridan says, "in the
mountains, from where they occasion.
ally emerge to commit depredations."
The above relates to Arizona. Forty
hostiles are reported seen in three
bands, and widely separated, in New
Mexico, about the time that Sheridan
was at Fort Bowie. Another party OF
raiding Indians are reported as having
been seen by signal service men near
the Florida mountains-number moi
stated. 1t is also reported that a
band of upwards of a hundred were
near Casas Grande, Mexico, in the
vicinity Of the southern line Of Grant
county, New Mexico, and had been
there some time. 1t is further stated,
and not denied, that Crook had started
an expedition with a view of eaptur.
ing them. The number, not including
those seen by signal service men nsar
the Florida mountains, and those in
Mexico, we figure at seyenty-two,
There are doubtless more on the war
path in New Mexico and Arizona, than
seventy-two. The depredations war.
rants the belief.
II is with sorrowful regret that we
learn from Gen. Sheridan that his
trip to and from Arizona twas hard
and rapid one" He was necessarily
obliged to pass most Of his time in 2
palace car. Had it not been absolute
ly necessary for him to have been on
the lookout, from tho cas window, for
fresh Indian signs b. might have as.
suaged the fatigue If the journey by
taking chloroform, but as a military
ohieftain hs had duty 10 perform