The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-10-16
DRUGGED THE APACHES.
HOW A BAND OF RED DEVILS
WERE LAID OUT,

GOlO Hunt IN bnS SouEnW est.
Searching for Madre D'Oro - The
Great Gold Nine Which Is Always
Being Sought and Never Is Found.
Ffonl the Ne,o York Recorder.
Every mining man and every man who,
in the character Of 'tenderfoot" or Sim
migrant" visits g mining camp in the
southwest is just as certain TO hear Of the
"Nadre d'Oron as he is to find out where
be can get his bacon aud beans. The
"Madre d'Oro" the mother of gold) is sup
posed to be ledge of such phenomenal rich
ness that the gold fairly ties the bits OF
quartz together. its story invariably be-
gins with an indian legend, and you are all
ways told the Indians know where the
treasure is. But this is not all Many
white men are believed to have seen it.
The old miners will solemnly-the belief
shining out of their eyes-tell you of this
man or that who found the ledge and who
brought nuggets back with HIM, but WIN
died or was unable to fiud his way back
again. Many Old miners, too, have maps
which they cherish as the dearest OF their
possessions. These they show to you in
confidence and they are made-at least the
one that set my blood afame was-on a
scrap OF paper, dirty and almost illegible.
And then with bated breath they tell the
story, and as they talk the candle light
seems to flicker on the yellow masses Of the
virgin gold.
Always and forever the Madre d'Oro is in
some place where it is almost impossible TO
reach. When heard of it was in the
mountains, in the midst OF the White
Mountain country, the indians OF which
wore Apsches. / was going to say they
were devils in human form, and to describe
what they have done, but, on recollection,
when l call them Apaches 1 can say no
more. Jim Bull bad the map then. and he
got it from Sandy Ferguson. who had made
it, aud who was tue one man that escaped
from the Blatchley party of prospectors in
1868. Sandy died as the result Of his misery
on the home trail.
So Jim Bulls map and jim Bulls elo-
quence and a nugget about the size OF an
acorn that Sandy had given him led Col.
Martin to organize the party. This was In
Mineral Park, in 1876. where had gone to
relocate a mine owned by some gentlemen
in San Francisco, whom the present mining
law came into force, on Jan. Of that year.
Having seen the relocation recorded aud the
record mailed, was foot-loose. OF course
Jim Bull was OF the party, aud altogether
there were seven OF US, mounted and armed
with Wlnchesters, revolver aud knife.
Then we had three pack animals loaded
with grub-bacon and beans for the most
part, with 5-gallon keg OF whisky, some
sugar and coffee. Having a smatteriug Of
medicine, was the surgeon of the party,
and / took with me the medicine chest |
had bought from Frisco. This had been
fitted up by druggist, but | never know
why he put In a quarter OF an ounce of
morphine and 3-ounce bottle OF laudanum,
together with the other remedies. But 80
it was.
Col. Martin was the captain Of the party
He could speak Apache, Huallapsll and
Papago, and had lived in Arizona for years.
Then there were Bob Lyons, Sam Davis,
Nebraska Sam" we called him; Billy Johns
and his brother Jack, ordinarily addressed
as 'Doublets." We struck for the Colorado
river at Mojave City, boarded the old
Cocopah, whereof Capt. Jack Bourke was
master, and made our way TO Yuma. Up
the ella TO Phoenix, where we laid i'll stores,
and thence eastward until we left the bank
of Salt river and struck intot the mountains.
Practically after leaving Fort Mcdonald
we were In the Apache country.
Men who live in the east and draw their
pictures of Indians from Cooper's "Uncas, "
lie Renard Subtil,n have no conception Of
the way western men think OF the noble red
man. When a man learus-knoNs, should
say-that whatever else he may do, he
must save ono DuLloV LOT q woman IN the
party; when he hears OF women kissing
taeir husbands good-by with the look Of
love in their eyes. and then guiding that
husbands trembling hand so that when he
presses the trigger the shot will 20 home
when he sees the back of a man who has
been stuck full of cactus Uhorns and
| then had these thorns lighted, il
looks more like q bad attack of
smallpox than anything l know of; when
l. 81 Aalv If 10 IL
scalped head, covered with curious little
| white scales when he comes across the body
| of man staked out and the Goals still red
where the fire has been built on the stom-
| ach: when he sees bodies of men on which
unmentionable mutilations have been
made; when he sees the body OF S-year-old
girl hung up as a mark for arrows and as
full of them as ever cushion was Of pins, be
looks on Cooper as of ali liars the greatest
1t makes him wild, too, TO hear eastern
folk talk of Indians, but-well, what 10 the
use of talking.
Each one of us knew what Indians were
and we knew we were going into the most
dangerous part Of the Indian country. MAJ
urally we Travelled only at night, and when
we made fire TO cook by, did that in the
darkness and a deep hole. During the day
we slept or prospected little. Not much
of the latter, however, because we were
after the Madre and could not afford to fool
with ordinary mines. We saw some good
lodges. though.
Picture to yourself a little gulch or valley
perhaps quarter Of a mile across. 1t is
covered with sand and stones. with here
and there ball cactus. To one side there
are sumo high rocks, and along the edge
there are punches or tufts of that curious
mesquite grass which horses and mules
prefer to good barley straw, in spite Of the
fact that many of the stems are as thick as
slate pencils. In the shadow Of the rocks
there were seven men, dressed simply,
sitting or lying on their blankets, about
80 o'clock on Feb. 8, 1875.
Suddenly there filed around the big rock
above twenty-seven Indians, dressed Ia
breeoh clouts, or sc strings" as they call
them In Arizona. OF these twenty-four had
Winchester rifles in their hands; the others
had bows, from which they shoot those
terrible arrows. with tiny tips made Of
spongewood, hardened in the fire and
soaked in putrld livers Of cattle or deer.
These tips break off In the wound-result,
blood poisoning and certain death.
We all sDraug 10 our feet and the Apaches
stopped short. 1t is question which was
the more surprised. Il is certain that If
they had known we were there the first
signal we would have got would have boon
a volley. Fortunately Martin kept his head
and, singing out to them in Apache. well
coined them. For a moment thew hesitated,
aud then walked toward US, but l noticed
they held their rifles mighty loose.
Now while an Indian will never fight in