Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-05-06
THE DREADED APACHES.
THEY ARE THE MOST UNCON-
OUERABLE OF MANKIND.
Almost Incredible Stories OF Endurance
and Cunntng-How Geronimo and
His Men Surprised Some
Soldiers.

saw Geronimo and dozen OF his
Apaches do someth ng In Arizona in
1887 which would never have be-
lieved possible had / not witnessed it
with my own eyes declares a writer
in the Minneapolis Tribune.
The Apaches are. inquest onably
the most dreaded tribe of Indians on
this cont nent They arc tougher
moro enduring and moro unconquer-
nble than any other of their race.
An Apache can lope up the side OF
mountain. with the thermometer
mark ng l20 degrees and when he
reaches tho top he won't show drop
of extra perspiration, nor will he
breathe q whit faster than when he
started. He will go for days without
q morsel OF food or drop of water;
he Will live on snakes, mice and
refuse. or if the worse comes to the
worst he will shoot his horse and eat
what he wants of him raw. Set out to
pursue band Of Apache raiders. and
If they are hard pressed they will
separate. each one to himself so that
The only way to keep up the pursuit
Is to follow them individually, in
which case the Apache is sure to have
The best end of the contract When
the hunt is over the dusky miscreants
will come together at some point
twenty or thirty miles away.
There were twenty-five of us caval-
rymen returning from hunting Ger
onimo. Our horses were worn out
and so were we. 1t was one of the
hottest days l have ever known in
.hat throbbing furnace of country.
We had several miles of baked all1ali
plain still before reaching the fort,
where we could secure shade and
water and what we needed most OF all
slse-rest.
Whew! but it was hot. Had
aot the air been perfectly dry
neither man nor beast could have
stood it. The metal work on our guns
was so heated that no one could bear
10 touch it with the naked hand. The
air shimmered and throbbed rs it
does over a newly plowed field at
noontide Of a summer day. North
east south and west was one level
stretch OF plain, on which not q tree,
shrub or even blade Of grass grew.
Far to the westward could be seen the
outlines Of the fort oddly distorted.
through the quivering atmosphere.
but in every other direction was the
baked, burning desert.
awe were strung along for o dis
lance OF several hundred yards. In
Iact there was squad Of five horse
men much further than that to the
rear. All the animals were podding
slowly through the sand, which. it
seemed to me, was hot enough to
roast eggs, their heads dropping while
we were simply enduring it. grimly
closing our teeth, holding out to reach
the post
Was there anything to be appre-
hended from Geronimop Could we
old campaigners be entrappedp Low.
level sand on every hand. Well.
right there in the midst OF that flaming
plain, with its horrible sandy waste.
in which no spear of grasa could find
root that frightful chieftain and his
Apaches ambuscaded us. 1t sounds in :
credible. but IL is the TACT.
Suddenly | heard rife firing at the
rear 1t had dull cold sound, but
was close at hand. and as / turned in
the saddle | saw that the squad
furthest away was engaged in des-
porate fight with party of Indians,
who were on foot shooting striking
and darting hither and thither like so
many demons
We instantly wheeled and hurried
back as fast as we could to the telp
Of our comrades but before we could
roach them three saddles were emp
tied and Geronimo and his warriors
were scurrying across the plain at q
speed greater than any TO which we
could force our exhausted ponies, who
sunk TO their fetlocks at every step
We gave them parting vo!ley. which
wounded several, but they managed to
limp off with the help of the others
and all were soon beyond danger. I
don't know how far they travelled off
over that burning desolation, but it
may have been many miles. for they
were capable OF doing it il they chose
J IHoSe hpdcneS HuSI nave ulScoVeFeu
Dur,approach while we were a good way
of. "A knowing we were on our return
10 the post they could easily calculate
where we would pass. Then they
burrowed in the mud covering them
selves entirely with the blstering par
ticles so that only their snakc-like
eyes pecred forth. Thus we passed
within few rods OF them without
suspecting their presence.
! In conversation with General Crook
about the extraordinary event the old
,ampaigner smiled and said:
Il am not surprised. 7 have seen
hem do the same thing myself; but
The Apache is the only Indian that
IAN do it