Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1886-09-17
A NOBLE RED MAN.
The Struggles, Dificulties and Success in
the Career of Mr.. Geronimo.

The Struggles, Dlmculties ana Surcrss in
the Career of Mr.. Geronimo.
OF all that noble band of American
aborigines whose names have graced
the page of the poet and the historian,
and whose deeds of valor have been
the theme of many song, thcr. is
perhaps not one whose fame shines
forth with greater luster than tina. Of
Geronimo. And yet he was once only
poor boy.
What rebuke is this to that paincr-
GUS class who would have us believe
that in order to become famous it is
necessary to be born rich!
Reader, does it not also bring home
the truth to your heart that you, too,
might amount to something if You
would only brace up and alter your
mode of lifeP
But this unpretentious sketch was
not written to show you wherein you
have erred, dear reader; but to obtain,
if possible, some slight recognition of
it from the publishers of this paper in
the shape O. check.
Geronimo was born in Arizona of
parents so poor that they could only
afford to give him one name. He was
thus deprived from his earliest infancy
of advantages to which other boys are
accustomed all their lives,
1t was his custom, when only eight
years of age, to rise at half-past three
o'clock in the morning and study his
books by the light of a pine-knot, in
order that he might not fall behind his
classes at the district school, evidently
forgetting that there wasn't a school
within thousand miles of him. / can
explain this action only on the hypoth-
esis that, as it has been the habit of all
our great men, he did it force of habit.
What threatened to prove an insur-
mountable obstacle to his future promi-
hence was the fact that his family
didn't have nine cows which he would
be compelled to milk before breakfast;
but finally Providence sent along a
band of emigrants who had the desired
number of cattle, and he scalped them
and took their cows.
Thus, by untiring perseverance,
Geronimo rose, step by step, until at
the present time he enjoys the proud
distinction of having run the death rate
of Arizona to such figure that, by
comparison, the mortality report of a
cholera district looks like an advertise
ment of health resort.
He is more fatal than the yellow
fever.
Unlike the yellow fever, however, he
does not appear to be contagious; that
is, he is not easily caught.
For the last six months the United
States army and other men have been
chasing him around with unremitting
energy and improved firearms, and
haven't caught him yet.
Like other epidemics, Geronimo is
apt to break out and attack commu-
nifty when least expected. The suffer-
ers lose their hair suddenly, and ex-
perience extreme difficulty in respira-
ton.
Geronimo is fond of retirement and
seclusion, and avoids society, declining
all invitations to appear in public; and
If he ever goes out, it is only to make
an informal call on some unostentatious
settler, with whom he never remains
longer than is necessary to scalp the
family and burn the house.
Of course Geronimo recognizes the
fact that no man can be entirely great
without some appropriate last words.
His last words are written out and de-
posted in escrow with the clerk of the
county urt of his county, to be by
said clerk opened on the day of the de-
cease of him, the said Geronimo, and
to be by said clerk disposed of as is
next hereinafter set forth; namely, to-
wit: to be delivered to the Associated
Press in time for the evening papers,
Elmer 4. ELLSWORTH, tn Puck.