Evening journal., 1891-02-19
A FIGHT WITH COLDTYPE

his characteristics. That acquaintance
though extensive, has not been altogethe
pleasant on my part. and has often cause
me 70 view the past with pangs of regret.
The noble red man acquires q great IA
ency with other people property at a YER
early age, and by iudiciously cnltigatinj
J this peculiarifY As he grows older be sooi
looks upon al laws relating 10 the right
Of property vita naughty disdain and in
j finite disgL8t.
My first acquaintance with the Apaeh
came about In the most unexpected man
ner and at time when was wholly un
prepared 70 fecei such distinguished Wis
itors
II was 10 the fall Of 1882 I had been II
Las Vegas, New Mexico. about six mont hs
working In the job room Of The Daily On
tic then leading daily ia the territory.
bad not accumulated much money-aboui
the only thing had acquired was desire
to get back to civilization. and the ambi
tion 20 become the proprietor Of news
| paper i happened about that time that
there was q big excitement broke out over
the discovery q gold at Kingston, near
! Lake Valley. Then RUSS Kistler. re-
porter for The Optic, came to me and said.
There u fine opening for a paper
| down there and start one? Il won't cost
much, and viii be q paying investment.
| ! told him ! was willing If / could see
any way to get press and material to
/ work with.
THAT is easy enough p be answered.
There is an old Champion press in the
junk room Of this office which they offer
TO sell 20 as cheap on the installment plan.
and # yon are willing wen 20 in together
and give the thing n trial ("
readily accepted ths offer, and hasty
preparations were made 10 move our traps
10 the new Fl Dorado.
We took the evening train on the Santa
Re road, and went 70 Mutt station, $50
miles from Las Vegas From there we
had 70 make our journey BY wagon, a dis.
tance Of forty miles. We hired a wagon
and team AZ Mutt station, and loading in
our press and other materials we set out
for the new town with light hearts and
bright expectations.
We soon fell ia with a half dozen other
wagons on their way to the new mines.
and though there had been some trouble
with the Indians in that vicinity q short
time before, we thought that our number
would ward of any attack, but In this we
were mistaken. had never met any Of
the Apaches before, but It was a wild
picturesque place they selected for our first
meeting-far from the influence Of civfliza-
tion and the United States army.
We had camped on little knoll, on every
side Of which stretched the unbroken
monotOny Of the sage brush and the dark
Mexican thistle. It was a grand sight we
witnessed the next morning when the sun
rose out the sea Of prairie desert and re-
vealed the cloud like peaks Of the mighty
Rockies looming through the gray mist OF
earliness.
Here. ere the stars sang together, nature,
in her first wild rapture Of existence, flung
aloft her giant arms aud froze the noun
tains in eternal snowsw
But that was before my day, and don't
know what she done next, but suppose she
turned the countryOv to the Apaches.
II had been there at the time / would
have got nature to throw aloft her arms
once more and rake in few Of the Apaches.
should like TO see few Apaches "froze
into eternal snow"-that is, I think 1
would, though / might not have any use
for them for some time to come, yet they
would keep a long while in that condition.
But to return to the scene: Il was
grand sight that met our gaze that morn
ing But there was one thing that marred
It's loveliness and sent a gloom over the
party. In the background, coming slowly
toward our camp, was a gang Of Apache
Indians. This went great way toward
destroying the beauty Of the wild, pictur-
esque scene.
The Optic reporter, who had brought
along an opera glass, climbed upon wagon
and surveyed the advancing host. Then
he uuit nj fffun bnI Tnxs~rt F,ay,,
the wagon and commenced to put bride
on our fieetest horse
Boys he said with the air Of one who
had come to foregone conclusion. II am
man Of few words. Those Indians may be
friendly and they may not be- If they are
friendly III see You back at the station,
and il not I'll get the details OF the butch
cry IN the daily papers,"
Then he mounted the animal and was in
the act OF riding away when another gang
Of Apaches were discovered coming from
the opposite direction from the first. This
gave matters another aspect TO the man on
the horse, and he turned about and dis
mounted. ! could see that he was disap-
pointed about something, though he said
nothing.
thought il strange at the time that two
separate gangs Of Apaches should happen
to meet at that particular spot; but my
acquaintance with them since has given
me reasons to believe that the meeting was
not altogether accidental on their part.
We held hurried consultation TO decide
whether we should meet them as friendly"
or hostile" Indians.
The Optic man remarked that If he had
his way about it he would rather not meet
them at all, but as we could not avoid it
he was in favor Of showing fight from the
first
Another member Of the party said he
was afraid that would not do. They might
be friendly" and any attack on them in
that case wonld result In our incurring the
displeasure Of the United States govern
ment.
The Optic man replied that such might
be the case, and while he was good friend
Of the United States, and would hate to
seem unreasonable, yet he would rather in.
cur the displeasure Of his best friend lthan
to be robbed and burnt at the stake. That
was the way he looked at tive could do
as we pleased-but he was unanimously in
favor Of opening the meeting with Il Win.
chester chorus by the entire company. But
we decided TO wait developments. 1t IS a
hard matter to tell friendly" Indian