Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1891-05-28

This soal 20 God n afsas
DICK 1T
The writer owes to IN 7uyl debt,
not exactly Of gratitusI " tho story
win demonstrate, whick hy writinu
his biography. seeks - ID 8fxo Dick
Huyls history win neve g written by
me. nor by any one els9 hc I<r6xehfrn.
r ezSs-~- s.. j, ~ b..
was not that kind ofa boy. Dick was
an Apache Indian, with all thecharacter-
istics of total depravity that the word
Apache conveys or suggests. We wcre
children together. Dick and l. We lived,
fought and played togetherfor two years
in the same army post. On one memor-
able occasion, Dick, insti2ated by the
devil-for / firmly believe In the devil,
If only for Apaches-dropped down the
neck OF my frock n live toad. 1t was
tho cause OF my first cit of Mysteries, and
determined, il i ever grew old enough,
would tell the whole world how bad a
young Apache could be-
In 1872, if | remember rightly. Gen.
Crook had succeeded, after years of
bloody war and the loss Of hundreds of
good men, in subduing most Of the bands
composing the Apache nation of New
Mexico and Arizona They had dwelt
in the strongholds of mountain and
desert, from which they frequently
emerged to rob and murder all miners
or emigrants that they could ambush,
leaving nothing for the human mind to
conceive Of ia the way Of cruelty when
ever n white man fen into their power.
At the reservation, although they were
well fed and quite decently treated, it
was necessary 10 watch them constant
ly, and large bodies of troops were de-
tailed for that purpose. Nevertheless,
scarcely week passed but a small squad
of Apaches, usually led by some attract
i've squaw, would slip quietly past the
guards and escape through the darkness
into their beloved cactus plains and
mountain barrens. Roll call nearly every
morning developed these abseatees, and
next day would come news of murder,
rapine ard horrors generally. A favorite
Apache mode OF disposinG OF the unsus-
pecting freighter, miner or emigrant
whose camp they had succeeded in raid
ing, was to tie the victim by tho four
limbs TO stakes, and then to build q fire
on that portion Of his body designated
in the old fashioned almaiEcs as virgo"
There seemed to DO something par
ticularly fascinating to the Apache tenn
permanent in this form OF torture. Death
being long in coming, it gave the squaws
and pappooses plenty of chance to invent
small torments, on the side, as 1t were.
The women and children emigrants-
but enough. Suffice il to say that the
absolute hatred entertained by these In
dians for tho whites was fully recspro-
Gated, especially by the soldiers. 1t was
no easy matter to track and successfully
follow the runaways through the cactus
and lnesqnit thickets, over the barren
deserts and desolate mountains that
make up the topography of Arizona.
But in that parched country water is
only to be found at certain springs and
''water holes," between which days Of
travel often intervene, but which are
equally well known to sokliers and to
Indians.
So when the morning report showed
to Gen. Crook that so many warriors,
squaws and pappooses were missing, the
grim old warrior would make no sign Of
pursuit, but on the night following, or
perhaps the next one, squadron of
mounted men would file silently out of
the reservation bearing orders to move
as rapidly as possible to tine water hole
of Palo Pinto, or to Agna Grande
Spring, or to some other place where
the presence Of the precious fluid favored
a camping place for the renegades. The
troops were always positively instructed
to bring back no prisoners, all matters
of detail being left to the officers in COM
mand. One Juno morning there was re-
ported missing eight Indians, eleven
squawS and pappooses, including Wah-
memo, than whom more depraved and
cruel Indian never existed, even in Ari-
zona-
Two nights afterward a-squad Of the
Twenty-third infantry. Crooks own reg
iment, under Lieut.. Huyl, splendid
young fellow, who has since left the
service, was sent ont on o scout with the
usual orders. No trace Of the renegades
was found, but a burned ranch and stage
station and a cremated cowboy gave suf-
ficient evidence of In1ians at large. The
next night, or rather just at dawn, after
a long and fatiguing march, the scouts
reached o naturaz rock basin at the foot
Of one of the steepess aud most inacces-
sible knobs 10 be found in desolate Ari-
zona This basin had often collected q
supply of acrid water, which. however,
was drinkable enough IN that country.
A thin vapor of smoke from a nearly
spent fire convinced the troopers that
their nights march had not been in vain,
and ON creeping up as close as possible
the hostiles were outlined against the
rocks, fast asleep.
The little snuakiron gileYsflv tier,Inyad