The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-09-16
STORY OF AN APACHE INDIAN.
Two Cowardly Sentries Whose era
ven Shots Led to an Uprising.
New Mexico Letter in New York SUN.

Two Cowardly sentries Whose era
ven Shots Led to an Uprising.
New Mexico Letter in New York Sun
Lying just south of the Black Range.
and midway between the Santa Rita and
Burro mountains, Apache Teju has seen
something Of nearly every notable out
break of Apaches that has occurred in
New Mexico. The spring from which the
ranch takes its name is one of the princi-
pal water holes in this part of Grant
county, and was naturally well known to
all rowing Apaches. The stream that
flows from the spring is large enough to
irrigate 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
estd blished 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
twenty miles east of here, and wien the
Indians were troublesome the stage often
came in despatched with the blood of
passengers, and sometimes it failed TO
come in al all. Two heaps of stone upon a
knoll east of the house marked the graves
of men who were killed by Apaches on
the Fort McLane stage. Trampling
herds have leveled the mounds and scat
tered the stones about. eand any cross or
board that may have been erected TO
mark the graves has disappeared. No
body now knows who the men were or
when they were buried. KILLED by
Apaches" is all that anybody can tell of
the occupants of the two nearly obliter-
ated graves.
But there is another grave concerning
which little more is known. 1t 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 ever it, but the stones were used in
the foundation of a new wing TO the
adobe few years ago, 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 Apaches, and the
spades that dug his grave stirred up a
long war with that tribe. Nobody can
now tell the name of the chief, but the
circumstances of his death are well re-
mem bered.
The band of which this Apache was
chief had been making trouble along the
road, and had gone into camp in the Burro
mountains Lieut. McLane, commander
of the post believed that he could per
suade the Indians to let the stages alone
and behave themselves. and he sent a
messenger to the chief to induce him to
come INTO the fort and have talk The
indians were suspicious at first, out the
heutenant's messenger gave the most
solemn assurances that the chief would
be protected from all harm and returned
safely to his camp, and the chief finally
consented to accompany the messenger
to the fort.
They arrived in the afternoon, and. in
the hOspitable formalities preliminary to
a talk, the chief acquired a colossal lag"
and 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 circum-
stances. He expected the chief to sleep
oil the effects of the liquor and be ready
for a talk in the morning The instruc-
tlous, however, seem to have given the
guards an idea that the Indian was a
prisoner who must not be permitted 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
heyed guard that he was there, and as he
made no round they began to suspect that
he might have slipped away Having
taken the post without making sure of
their charges presence, they began to
feel uneasy, fearing that they would be
held responsible for his escape. They dis
cussed the matter in whispers, and
finally convinced themselves that the
Apache had escaped from the other sent
rles, and that their comrades had PLAYED
sharp trick and shifted the blame to
them. 1t would have been easy to settle
the question by crawling in and eX-
aiming the shelter tent, but they We're
afraid of the indian, and had some doubt
about the wisdom of waking up a drunken
Apache in the dark. They poked their
bayonets under the edge of the tent and
felt around for the Indian. They found
him A sharp bayonet prOdded into his
thigh brought the chief to his feet with a
yell, and he sprang out of the tent, howl
ing rage and defiance and brandishing a
knife. The frightened men fired at the
chief and shot him dead
1t was futile to attempt to explain the
affair to the Apaches who were waiting
out there IN the Burro Mountains for
| their chief to return. How could the
| lieutenant tell them at fort full of sol
dlerS mad TO kill one Apache in self-de-
Tense! They knew that their chief had
been lured to the for5 by solemn promises
OF protection and freedom to return. and
! that he had been murdered by the SOL
| diers, and they believed that il was all a
| treacherous plot. So they went upon the
warpath, and killed white men and wo-
men wherever found, and the Stage that
got through the pass at Cooks Peak
without lodging a shower of arrows was
| in luck. The two men in the unmarked
| graves over on the knoll felt part of the
| vengeance of the White Mountain Apa-
! ches for the murder OF the chief whose
bones lie under the hard trodden door