Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-06-18
The Pursuit of the Chirlcahaus.

Geronimo and his men have evident
ly doubled in their course, and art
healing for Mexico. Very likely som,
of them are already beyond the border
| and, unless scattering parties shoulc
| be intercepted by the troops posted a
| Guadalupe Canon, probably all will
make good their escape. Lieut.. Davis
| who for fortnight or more has beer
Oh their trail, was from twelve tt
twenty hours behind them at the las
accounts, and, while the fugitive In
| dians were mounted, their nearest pur
suers were afoot.
The raid Of Geronimo has been con.
Quoted with a skill as well as feroci
| ty not surpassed by the famous achieve.
ments of Juh, Mana, or Victoria. Gen.
Crook gives a list of seventeen persons
murdered by this band, and very like
ly there are other victims. The whole
number of warriors who escaped was
thirty-four, and they have been en-
numbered with three times as many
women and children. They have
shown all times great self-confidence,
have raided as far north as the San
francisco valley, and have continued
their maraudings over range of sew
eral hundred miles before finally seek
ing refuge in Sonora. During this time
twenty or thirty companies of infantry
and cavalry have been either pursuing
them or lying in wait for them. In
addition three parties of Indian scouts,
Capt. Smith with forty, Lieut.. Davis
with sixty, and Capt. Crawford with
ninety, in all more than five times as
many as the warriors of Geronimo,
have hunted for them in vain.
The difficulties of overtaking or iu-
tercepting fugitive Indians in that re-
gion are no doubt enormous. They
begin by making straight for the
ountains, and there arranging their
raids. Geronimo took care first of all
to insure his escape to the Mongollon
and Black ranges; and from their al
most inaccessible heights he could
watch the movements of lis pursuers,
and from time to time swoop down up
on unprotected ranches. But If it is
hard for the troops to leave the trav-
elled roads and climb after the Indians
in their mountain Businesses, appar-
emily the hired scouts should be equal
to this sort of warfare. The services
rendered thus far by the scouts have
been Disappointing. There are about
two hundred of them on the search,
and many know by experience what
the warpath is. But the energy of the
Arizona Indians in hunting each other,
under the leadership of white officers,
is not always equal to that exhibited
in robbing ranches and numbering set
tiers.
It NAV be question whether some
wiser system of distributing the troops
cannot be devised than the one now
employed. There are in the army two
hundred and fifty companies of in-
fantry, one hundred and twenty of
cavalry, and sixty of artillery, total
of four hundred and thirty companies.
The artillery has coastwise duty to
perform, and would be of little use in
field campaigning in Arizona; and for
all three arms there are some import
ant stations to garrison in thickly set
tied regions. Nevertheless. a force of
three hundred and seventy companies
of cavalry and infantry seems more
than adequate to keep the Indians in
order, if rightly distributed. Troops
are permanently required in the neigh
borhood of all Indian reservations, in
the Indian Territory, on the Canada
border, and at the Northwest; but
Arizona and New Mexico should have
a specially powerful force always ready
for movement. just now the main
hope of furnishing Geronimo seems to
rest in the help the Mexicans may
give US, or in Gen. Crooks organizing
an expedition to follow them to their
retreat in the Sierra Madre.--N. y.
SUN.