The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-10-31
The Spades That Dug II Stirred
Up ! Long and fIercs
War.
Nobody Knows the Chiefs Name,
but Many Remember Els
Death.
CowArdIy Centres Expose Their Com
mapder and Cause an Uprising Of
White AeuntaIa Apnchss.

- I'M lAnN @1AbAA NJ oAAS AkS SbAAES tSHtA |
midway between the Santa Rita and Burro
mountains Apache Teju has seen something
Of nearly every notable outbreak of Apa-
ches that has occurred in New Mexico. The
spring from which the ranch takes its name
Is one Of the principal water holes in this
part OF Grant county and was naturally
we'll known to all rowing Apaches. The
stream that flows from the spring is large
enough to irriEate several acres of alfalfa
and water thousands Of cattle and horses.
Many years ago before railroads crossed the
plains Apache Teju was on one Of the main
stage routes, and the government estab-
lished here a frontier post, known as Fort
McLane, to afford protection to stages and
to emigrants.
The troops at Fort McLane had plenty to
do. The stage road ran through a narrow
pass near Cooks peak, about 20 miles east
of here, and when the Indians were trouble
some the stage often came in bespattered
with the blood of passengers, and some
times it failed to come in ut all. Two
heaps of stones upon a knoll east of the
house marked the graveso Of men who were
killed by Apaches on the Fort McLane
stage. Trampling herds have leveled the
mounds and scattered the stones about, and
any cross or board THAT may have been
erected to marx the graves has disappeared.
Nobody now knows who the men were or
when they were buried. KILLED by Apa-
ches" is all that anybody can tell of the oc-
Gu pants Of the two nearly obliterated
graves.
But there Is another grave concerning
which q little more is known. It is in the
dooryard, close to the east end of the adobe
house. 1t is not marked in any way and
is level with the rest of the yard. There
were large stones heaped up over it, but
the stones were used in the foundation of a
new wing TO the adobe q few years & and
the men who laid them In the wall felt no
conjunction for the Dissertation, because
the bones underneath were those of an
Apache. He was only an Indian, but he
was a chief of the White mountain Apa-
chcs, and the spades that dug his grave
| stirred up a long war with that tribe. No
body can now tell the name of the chief,
but the circumstances of his death are we'll
remembered.
The band of which this Apache was chief
had been making trouble along the road
and had gone into camp in the Burro noun
tains. Lieutenant McLane, commander Of
the post, believed that he could persuade
the Indians to let the stages alone and be-
have themselves, and he sent a messenger
to the chief to induce him to come into the
fort and have a talk. The Indians were
suspicious at first, but the lieutenant's mes
senger gave the most solemn assurances
that the chief would be protected from all
harm and be returned safely to his camp,
and the chief finally consented to accom-
pany the messenger to the fort.
They arrived in the afternoon, and in the
hospitable %formalities preliminary, TO, a
&nli- ia, ,lsof oary,t,a1 n pn1nrco I - ~, orI
couldn't talk at all. The lieutenant had
him put to bed under the shelter tent in
the corral and placed two guards over the
tent with positive orders not to let the chief
leave the fort under any circumstances. He
expected the chief to sleep off the effects OF
the liquor and be ready for a talk in the
morning. The instructions, however, seem
to have given the guards the idea that the
Indian was a prisoner who must not be per.
mitted to escape.
At midnight, when the guard was re.
lieved, the chief was sound asleep. The
new ~sentries had only the word Of the re-
lieved guard that he was still there, and as
he made no sound they began to suspect
that he might nave slipped away. Having
taken the post without making sure OF
their charges presence, they began to fee
uneasy, fearing that they would be held re
sponsible for his escape. They discussed
the matter in whispers and finally con
WINGED themselves that the Apache had es
capped from the other sentries, and thai
their comrades had played a sharp trick
and shifted the blame to them. It would
rave been easy to settle the question b,
crawling in and examining the shelter tent
but they were afraid of the Indian and hat
some doubts about the wisdom of waking
UP u drunken Apache in the dark. The.
poked their bayonets unde the edge of TIL
tent and felt around for the Indian. The.
found him. A sharp bayonet proddcd int,
his thigh brought the chief to his feet witt
a yell, and he sprnng out of the tent, howl
ing with rage and defiance and brandish
ing a knife. The frightened men fred a
the chief and shot him dead.
1t was futile to attempt to explain tn
affair to the Apaches who We're waiting OH
there in the Burro mountains for thei
chief to return. How could the lieutenan
tell them that a fort full of soldiers had t
kill one Apache in self d~efense? The.
knew that their chief had been lured to tn
fort by solemn promises of protection an
freedom to return, and that he had bee
murdered by the soldiers, and they be
lieved that it wa all a treacherous plot, S
they went upon the %warpath and killc'
white men and women wherever found, an
the stage that got through the pass a
Cooks peak without lodging a shower G
arrows was in luck. The two men in tn
unmarked graves over on the knoll felt
part of the vengeance of the White mouI
tain Apaches for the murder of the chit
whose bones lie under the ard trodd
dooryard of Apache Teju.-Apache Tel
IN. M Cor. New York Sun.