Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-03-01

 had engaged in a bloody fight among themselves on the night before. A . little while later surly looking fellow . was clamoring to be allowed to have a . gun, to use for hunting. he said, but he probably wanted it for some other purpose He didn't get it, however Another Indian had been hauling hay : with mules which did not belong to him, and insisted on being allowed to keep them. Such things were con tinually coming up during the day, and one matter would hardly be set tied before there was new difficulty on hand.
 Mickey Free, half-breed, is per haps the worst man on the reserva- tion. He is one of the men whom Geronimo claims plotted 10 kill him and caused him to leave the reserva- tion in 1885. He is a villainous-look- ing fellow, and when your correspond ent saw him his head was in band ages, as he had been badly hurt few days before while making murder ous assault upon sergeant ot the garrison. lie and his squaw were drunk and made an unexpected at tack upon the soldier, but he, being powerful fellow, succeeded in throw ing them off and saved himself by knocking them down with the butt of his gun.
 This is the class of the people with whom the officers at Fort Apache have to contend, 6s it requires brave hearts and cool heads to deal with them. To refer individually to these officers would be to recount long series of hard services, desperate bat ties, hair-breadth escapes and heroic deeds; for the Tenth Cavalry has al ways been in active service during every Indian campaign. believe the statement is uncontradicted that this regiment has had more hard fights with Indians and lost more men in action than any other regiment in the army. An officers position at Apache { is a dangerous one, and he Is liable at any time to fall victim to Apache spite.
 In looking into the condition of the
 Apache one cannot see that they are
 making any progress in agriculture or any advancement toward civilization;
 they have been supplied with agri-
 cultural implements whenever they
 wanted them, and have had competent
 and willing officers to instruct them
 in their work but they are lazy and
 stubborn, and their farming, if such
 it may be called, Is merely pretense.
 Indeed they seem to be retrOgrading,
 for they have heretofore raised enough
 to supply the post, while this year
 they produced little or nothing, and
 the government was forced to pur-
 chase barley on the Pacific coast. l
 had often heard it stated to the credit
 of the Apaches that they furnished
 the post with all the hay used there,
 out how it was done. The grass grows
 rank and wild in the valleys, and
 when it is time to cut it white men
 come in with mowers and pay the In
 dians so much for every bundle they
 cut. The hay grows or land which
 the Government has given to the
 Apaches, but they have as little to dc
 in;its growth as with that of the pines
 and oaks on the hillside.
 Such is the condition of the Apache
 in Arizona at the present time. In
 spite of the efforts which have been !, made to ciyilize him, he remains as much 6 savage as he was 200 years
 ago. He has been given an extensive reservation of beautiful and fertile land, and yet he Is not satisfied to re
 main upon it, but is constantly seek
 ing some excuse to pillage and mur
 der. Will there be an outbreak thia l, spring? This question is being asked all over Arizona, and if the opinion O
 such men as Al. Sieber, who wa' ? recently interviewed in Tucson, il worth anything, it is more than prob able that there will be. It is an un l deniable fact that the Apaches are II , an unquiet state and are constantly quarreling among themselves Th' , fact that there are ten or a dozer Apache outlaws whose whei eabouts ar, unknown Is an encouragement for al | to leave the reservation, and as long [ as these arc out there IS danger o l their inducing some of their friend ? and relatives to join them.
 } The renegade Apaches who ar ! known to be at large arc the fiv, Chiricahuas who escaped from Geroni ) mos band at the time of his surren der These men were reported to hav been killed by Mexicans, but as the, ? have been seen several times and ar [ known to have committed depreda } tions since this report was made, it i , pretty certain that they are still aliv
 and enjoying good health. In addi l toll to these there are the seven Whit s Mountain Indians, who killed Sherii @ Glen Reynolds and his deputy last Oc r tober and made good their escape a they were being taken to Yuma Peni e tentiary These, with the Chiricahua l who escaped from Kansas City, mad r a total of thirteen renegades who ar t known to be out, and this numbe r. alone can do q great deal of harm, Tn n Apache is standing menace to tn r. peace and prosperity of the Southwest n and Arizona will always be held bac e until the last one of the tribe is rt t moved beyond her borders.