Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-06-17
THE APACHE WAR.
Opinion of Judge wiIcox-what
Shall be Done.

ne lOHoNihk ihtoientihB lHioinhbioh
is gathered by the Denver Tribune.
Republican about the Apache war, The
Judge is well known in this city, and
his views are entitled to careful consid-
Grafton:
A representative of the Tribune Re-
publican called yesterday at the office of
Judge z. P. Wilcox, of this city, late
Indian Agent at Sau Carlos, and sub.
iected that gentleman TO an interview
on the Apache question. Reluctantly
the Judge consented TO become witness
In a matter in which he had been per-
sonally Interested.
"How Is it, Judge" asked the report
er, "that since General miles relieved
General Crook of the command of the
Department of Arizona the activity of
the hostiles has increased until the muir
der of citizens of Arizona has become
matter of almost daily occurrence"
ITO me the cause is plain" was Mr..
Wilcox's answer. ITO present it fully
l must go back to the campaign Of 1888,
in which General Crook claimed to have
overcome the forces Of Geronimo in bat
tie, in the Sierra Madre mountains, in
Mexico. 1t Is well known fact that
Geronimo and his warriors had no fight
with the command Of General Crook;
the camp of the Chiricahuas, occupied
by women and children and few old
men, was raided by White Mountain and
Warm Spring scouts under Captain
Crawford, comprising the advance of
Crooks command. The almost defense
less occupants Of this camp escaped; the
attacking party, being their friends,
fired over their heads. Stripped of the
little all left behind in their flight and
finding they were being warred (i) on by
their friends, they returned the next day
and found protection and subsistence
in Crooks camp. On the promise of
a plentiful supply of food and clothing,
and immunity from punishment for past
offenses, these indians consented to re-
turn to the reservation, and Geronimo
and his men, when they arrived few
days later, were induced by pledges OF
General Crook, whose full purport has
never been made public, but which was
claimed, and never denied, to be conf
plete amnesty, to promise to follow the
troops to the reservation in sixty days.
Most of them did follow, but not until
more than six months had elapsed, and
then fully armed, well mounted on
stolen horses and driving large herd OF
stolen cattle; their coming to the res
ervation having more the appearance of
triumpbal entry than the march of
conquered people. -
FREE SET OF cAPTIvEs.
"Four hundred and thirty one of these
captive (Y) Chiricahuas, all told, were
nov on the reservation; as desperate a
band of cutthroats as ever disgraced hui
mainly. Against very earnest remon.
STRANGE, and the protest of thousands of
the intelligent and imperilcd citizens of
Arizona, these inhuman wretches,
whose white victims numbered more
than thousand men, women and chill
dren, were turned loose, fully armed,
well mounted, rich in money plundered
from their murdered dead, afforded
every needed facility for the purchase
of ammunition, fattened on abundant
supplies of government rations and en-
Outraged in idleness, until at the end of
a year they were prepared to renew
their work of death, step they had
long meditated and often threatened.
The success of their enterprise is a mat
ter of history, but need not repeat the
revolving story. As has ever been their
policy in the past, when tired of
slaughter and the hardships of a
campaign, they sought to make
terms. Believing they could fool
Crook, as they had done before, it was
their policy to let up on the killing for
time. Seventy of them, thinking they
had brought forth fruits meet for repent
ance, and trusting to the cemency of
their dear friend Crook, did surrender,
leaving Geronimo with his force much
depleted. As be started out with only
forty, according to official military au.
thority, to whom no recruits had ever
been added and OF whom forty had been
killed by the soldiers, and large num-
Der taken prisoners previous to the sur
render of the seventy, it may well be
imagined that Geronimo was in no con-
dition to push the fighting during the
short period of Crooks remaining serv.
ice in the department. But he was not
idle. The friends who had served his
people so well by sparing their lives
at the battle ~ of Sierra Madre
had been discharged from the gov.
eminent service and were ready
for more congenial employment.
To the natural cunning and peculiar ex-
perlence which render the Indian the
superior of the white man in predatory
warfare, these new levies added a
knowledge of the white soldiers tactics
and military habits, acquired by years
in the pleasant duty of eating govern
meht rations and deceiving military Off
GERS. 1t is Geronimo free, strengthened
by such as these, that Gen. Miles is now
opposed to.
GERoNIMos PRESENT FORCE.
at is legacy CT his predecessors in
sane policy, which he must suffer from,
until by vigorous and continued effort
he is able to impress upon all the lndi-
ans of Arizona that the inevitable pun
ishmenL Of murder ia death.
"What reason have you for believing
that Miles will meet with better success
than Crook in suppressing the out
break?n
General Crook sought to win the
confidence and gratitude of the Indians.
They possess neither. They respect an
enemy so long as he has the power to
compel obedience and does not spare its
use. While confessing great admiration
for General Crook, they deceived and
betrayed him. Welded to the friendly
view of Indian character, he was deaf to
the warnings of danger Numbered in his
ears by press and people of the West,
and the Indians were not ignorant of his
weakness. He seldom took the field in
person, but trusted to his subordinates
to conduct the pursuit, for such it was
always reported to be. That some of
these so-called pursuits were sham,
know. That an officer was ever called to
account for laggard movement have
never heard. The activity of
General Miles is conspicuous; Off
GERS are held reposible for unnecessary
delays, and two of them who failed to
be at the right place at the right time
have been placed under arrest. The
offer of a reward of $1,000 for Gero-
nimo dead or alive, shows that he is
prepared to fight the devil with fire.
There are many evidences of determi
nation to wage unrelenting war to the
determination OF the hostiles, heretofore
absent from operations against the
Apaches, and, If not interferred with by
red tape and sentiment from Washing.
ton, think the Apache question will
soon be settled effectually.
READY To JOIN GERONIMO.
GLOW many Indians do you think