Omaha daily bee., 1885-10-09
GENERAL CROOK IN ARIZONA,
A Review Of the Indian Wars in that Ter
ritory,
How Handful of Savagcs Dictated
Terms OF Peace Our Indian
Policy Criticised.

vcrtiscr On the one side has been ar
raye | the forces which so TO make up
the total called civilization; on the other,
barbarism. 1t has been the white against
the rcd Up to 1875, though grcutmany
white people had been killed, there had
been no Wholesale slaughtcrng Since
then there havo been three wars, and
1891 1888 and 1885 are dates which are
burned deep into the brains and hearts OF
ArizonianS. and will wakcn tor genera
tions to como memories of horrors. In
those years was proved the total incllic-
iency of the troops and the incapacity ot
u government ruling 60, 900, 600 of people
TO control Il handful of them who were
unruly.
In 1876 the different branches of the
Apache tribe were gathered together
within the limits of the white Mountain
reservation, and for the first time in the
history of the territory II feeling that life
and property were secure prevailed. The
undcrbrlish in the bottom lands gave
place to grain fields mosquito thiclScts
to orchards, barrcnncss to manifold re-
suits of intelligent labor, the wiCkiup to
the cottage, and the signal fires on the
mountain top to the glare of the copper
smcltcrs at It's base. The national wealth
was increasing ut the rate of $3O,OO0,OOJ
year from tnt SDlu anu SllNti minus,
and quecnly peace sat cnthroncd IN tho
land. A phantom queen she proved, sit
ting on II phantom throne,
Diablc, II chief of the White Mountain
Apachcs, was dead, and knock-a.dc-
Klcnny, II medicine man, offered, for II
present OF ponies and trinkctS, to bring
hm back to life. The price was paid
and the performance begun. The man
tie of God had not touched the shoulders
e tb., Ia, l,,, fnilnI flbn Nhifn
mountains clamorcd for II fuliilmcnt OF
the contract, l(nock-a.de- -klCnny told
them that he could not succeed till the
corn was ripe and the white man driven
from the land. AS soon as the corn
lipcned another medicine dance was
held. 1t was feared that the race hate of
the Indians would be famed into n flame
by the medicine man, and so the Indian
agent, j. G.. Tiffany, invoked the aid Of
the military.
On August 90, 1881, Col. Carr, then in
command ut Camp Apache, accompa-
niod by less than one hundred soldiers
and some Indian scouts, went to dispense
the Indians and arrest the medicine man.
The night following tho arrest the troops
campcd on the Cibcu, No precautions
were taken to prevent a surprise; and
Mountains. assisted by the scouts they
had brought with thGm, and nine mon
and an officer, Capt. Hentig, were killed.
One Indian, the medicine man, was
killed, and he was under arrest. Col.
Carr retreated to Camp Apache, leaving
stores and ammunition behind him, and
he was again attacked under the very
walls Of his fort. Two of the chiefs who
were engaged in the fight, George and
Bonito, were afterward arrested by the
Indian agent, taken to Camp Thomas on
the 25th of September, and turned over
to Gen. Wilcox. Within ten hours one
OF them was paroled and the other clad
in II United States uniform and enlisted
as IL scout. Dandy Jim and one other
Indian were executed for the killing OF
Capt. Hentig. 1t is the only instance
the writer remembers where an Apache
was executed for killing white man.
There would not have been any punish
mcnt if the victims had been settlers.
The ChirichauaS, the most warlike and
dreaded of all the Apachcs, hearl of the
victory of the White Mountains, and
grew thirsty for blood. Ezra HOag was
in charge Of them, and possessing much
influence, held them for some time to
their fealty He could have continued to
hold them, but an order issued by Gen
cral Wilcox aroused their passions, and
Juh, Geronimo and Natchez with seven
ty-ive of the band, broke for Mexico,
destroying property and killing rs they
went. Troops were put in motion, but
they never overlook the murderers. AT
Clear Springs, General Wilcox, with
several troops of cavalry, saw the burn
ing houses and the Indian column beyond
but he did not 90 in pursuit. The In
had their wives and children with them,
and the cattle they had stolen, and their
grass -bellicd ponies were laden with
plunder, but the troops, mounted on
good horses, could not ovcrtalle them.
The Chiricahuas got safely into Mexico,
and the troops captured II squaw
In 1888, Gen. Crook, then in command,
placed one of his subordnates Capt,
conflict followed between the civil and
military authorities, The Indians be-
came discontented--they had swo mas.
ters to serve. Runners went from the
reservation into the Sierra Madres, and
arms and ammunition were sent to
Geronimo. The military authorities
were informed of what was going ON,
but they made no effort to stop il. Letters
were sent to Washington begging for
protection, and assurances given that
another war was imminent. Still no no.
tice was taken In the early part of May,
Mexican was killed near the line, and
that was the beginning of II raid 50
sanguinary and horrible that il shocked
for the nonce the Indian lovers in the
east, Tine war, if that can be called
a war in which unarmed non ,combatants
were killed on their doorsteps, and armed
soldiers hugged their barracks, lasted
less than two weeks. Scores of people
were killed, thousands of dollars worth
OF property destroyed and the Indians
were safely back in their mountain re-
treat before Gen. Crook had started in
pursuit Five forts-Bowie, Grant,
Thomas, Hirachuca and Lowell-all con.
tanning soldiers, lay between the most
northern point reached by the raiders
and the Mexican line. This is the foulest
stain on the escutcheon of the American
army. The soldiers did not lack courage
nor the subordinates skill; but General
Crook was handicapped by his personal
ambitions and they would be intcrlered
with If by killing the Indian iicnds he did
violence to the pro-indian sentiment of
the east After conference with the
Governor of Sonora, Gen. Crook sought
the Chiricahuas in the Sierra Madrcs
He did not find them; they found him,
and dictated such terms as never before
We're gwen by hundred men TO an
army with 60 900 900 of people behind it.
So pOwcrless was he with his two
hundred soldiers that the squaws OF the
nostilcs came into his camp and took lhe
cartridges ont Of the belts of his lhIii'I