Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-12-14
GAVE HEM HIS EYE.
A Prospector Saved His Life from Indians
 by His Remarkable Nerve.

Dy His Remarkable Nerve.
 During 1ss1-2 MT. Rowe resided in the Black Range country, New Mexico, and while there had about as close a call from death at the hands of Apache Indians as any man who ever entered the domain of the savage and then came forth with scalp intact
 Like all others who went to that To- callty while the mineral excitement there was going on, MT. Rowe was prospecting and made his headquarters in the little gully leading up from Wild Horse canyon. One bright morning in June of 1882, he threw pick over one shoulder and gun over the other and left camp in search of the golden treas ure, little suspecting that behind cliff of rocks almost directly in his path lurked the Victoria Mana combination of Apache cutthroats- With the excep- tion of the late Geronimo, who is now soJourning at Fort Marion, Fla, for acts of deviltry committed while on the warpath in Arizona and New Mexico, Victoria and Mana were the most noted Apache chiefs that ever murdered a sheep-herder or set prairie fire, and to fall into their clutches was supposed to be sure death.
 As Rowe sauntered down the gully picking float rock as he went, the h. dlans lay low, and before he was aware of their presence he was right among them Of course he was astonished- any one would be under the circum- stances-yet he neither dropped dead nor attempted to fight He stood like statue, and the Indians. with guns leveled, moved up and disarmed him without saying word. There were about twenty in the band, which, under their existing conditions, was sufficient to whip the whole United States gov ernment and Mexico thrown in. Rowe acted in such Q meek manner with them and seemed to resign himself to his fate in such an indifferent way that the red devils arrived at the conclusion that it would be no fun to kill him out right; that the cravings of their devil ish nature would be better satisfied if they tied him to a tree and tortured him.
 With this amiable design Rowe was tied mp with his face toward the Indi- ans. For the purpose of giving him a chance to tear his hair, however, while the torture was in progress, his arms were not tied. When all was in readi- ness to begin operations, a dispute arose among the savages as to which part of the body would first be dissected, but at the expiration of ten-minute debate the deadlock was broken by Chief Mana remarking in his native tongue, which Rowe understands quite we'll, that one eye should first be gouged out, then the ears cut off, the nose split, and the teeth lyr,on1raI was in turn to perform some cruel part but Chief Geronimo was to have the pleasure of gouging out the first eye. Jerking long, ugly-loolzing knife from nlc belt he advanced toward the cap tive, but when within two feet of him Rowe reached up with one hand and yanked out one of his eyes and tossed 1t to the chief with the remark: "Don't put yourself to so much trouble, old man. Here is an eye for you, and when you want the other just let me know. 3
 The action of Rowe in taking out the eye was paralyzer on the whole band, and the chief, who had received the token, dropped his knife and made a critical examination of the optic, others gathering about him in an eager en- deavor to get glimpse of the eye that could be lifted out in such a manner. It was passed from one to the other and commented on, some of the remarks be- ing funny in the extreme. Finally the chief took the eye back to Rowe and informed him that if he could put it back again and make it see he would not molest him further. With this prop osition Rowe gently lifted the eye in plain sight of all and replaced it. where upon he was liberated and told to go his way. the Indians believing that he was something more than human be- ing. The eye, however, was glass, and is still being carried by MT. Rowe.- Butte Miner.