Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1892-01-29
A NARROW ESCAPE.
HAIR-BREADTH ADVENTURE OF
A GOLD HUNTER
In the Clutches OF Band or Ger~nl-
mos BIoodthirsty Warriors-iow ~
Glass Eye Saved Life In wild Horse
Canyon, New Mexico.

During lssl-s2 Mr.. Rowe resided In
leo, and while there had about as close
a call from death at the hands OF the
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-
cality while the mineral excitement
there was going on, Mr.. Rowe was
prospecting, and made his headquarters
in the little gully leading mp from
Wild Horse canon.
1 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 treasure, little
suspecting that behind cliff OF rocks,
almost directly in his path, lurled the
! Victoria Mana combination OF Apache
cut throats.
With the exception of the sate Geron-
limo, who is now sojourning at Fort
Marion, Fla, for acts of dcviltry COM
mitteo while on the warpath in Ari-
IONA and New Mexico, Victoria and
Mana were the most noted Apache
chiefs who ever murdered a sheep
herder or set prairie on tve, and to
fall into their clutches was supposed
to be sure death.
As Rowe sauntered down the gully,
picking float rock rs he went, the In
] dams lay low, and before he was aware
of their presence he was right among
/ them. OF course, he was a..onished-
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 a word.
! There were about twenty in the band,
which, under the existing conditions.
was sufficient to whip the whole United
! States government and Mexico
thrown in.
Rowe acted in such meek manner
with them and seemed 10 resign himself
10 his fate in such an Indifferent way
that the red devils arrived ut the con
clusion that it would be no fun to kill
him outright; that the craving of their
! devilish nature would be better salts
fed il they had tied him TO n tree and
tortured him.
With this anna BILE design Rowe was
tied up, 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 readiness TO begin
operations dispute arose among the
savages as to which part Of the body
would first be dissccted, but at the ex-
piration of ten-minute debate the
deadlock was broken by Chief Mana re-
marking in his native tongue, which
Rowe unders ands quite well, that one
eye should first be gouged out, then
the ears cut off, the nose split and the
teeth knocked out one by one. Each
Indian was in turn 10 perform some
cruel part, but Chief Geronimo was to
have the pleasure of gouging out the
first eye.
Jerking a long, ugly looking knife
from his belt he advanced toward the
captive, but when within two feet OF
him Rowe reached up with one hand
and yanked ont one of his eyes and
tossed it 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"
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