The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-07-25
VENGEANCE SWIFT AND SURE,

VENGEANCE SWIFT AND soHE'
 | Chapter From the Unwritten History of
 the Apache war-A Hundred and rwan-
 ty-fya Lives in Exchange for Threa-Ths
 Last of Indian Raids Along the Hassa-
 yampa River.
 tFrom the St. Louis Globe-Demoerat.l
 Although the deadly hostility of the Apaches to the settlement of Arizona by the whites has resulted in the long run disastrously to the former. they could pnast of many temporary tri- umphs during the years preceding their final subjection. and 1t was seldom that their blood-thirsty bands. returning red-handed from the slaughter of the unprotected were overtakcn by imme- diate and adequate punishment. New CT once in the history of their bloody work In the territory have these sava- ges openly met troops or settlers in force and offered battle. Their only mode of warfare has been by sudden raids on isolated farms or stock ranch ss. and deadly ambuscades on small parties of travellers. So swiftly would they swoop down on the unsuspecting settler. murder. burn. destroy and dis appear. that pursuit was nearly al- ways fruitless; and though. in time. punishment was meted out after fashion to the whole tribe, the individ- ual perpetrators almost invariably es- caped Identification and justice. When General Crook subdued them and placed them on reservations. 1t was not by any one pitched battle but by hunting them relentlessly from their mountain fastnesses and keeping them constantly on the move until there was no longer hiding place in all the land where they could be safe from pur- suit. Then they sued for peace. which was granted them. but which they only observed when 1t was convenient to themselves.
 In spite of Christian teachings the human mind still clings instinctively to the law of retaliation. and refuses to be satisfied when those who have ta- ken human life are left in possession of their own. It is consequently a pleas- ure to recall one instance at least in which brutal band of Apache murder CTS were overtaken by swift and ter rible retribution. The instance here re- lated is history-heretofore unwritten, It is true; nor can all the particulars be found in the records of the War depart ment. for it was not deemed advisa- ble in those days to report the killing of many Indians for fear of raising clamor among the Boston philanthro- pists. so-called, class in the east who could hear of the massacre of settlers and their wives and children unmoved, but who never failed to shudder and raise vail at the death of "poor'' Indian. The raid on the Hassayampa Is only too we'll remembered by many residents in Arizona to-day, for it was one of the last Indian outrages com mitted in northern Arizona.
 The few scores of citizens of the little mining camps sprinkled along the Has, sayampa river were commencing to breathe easier. It was nearly four months since General Crook had gath. cred in the numerous bands of maraud- ing Apaches and placed them under military control on the reservations, and it is now possible to lay down at night, or even to travel from place to place, without fear and trembling. Former horrors were forgotten, and men were at their ease and off their guard. But the poor Indians were suffering : from ennui. To be sure the gdvern- ment furnished them fresh beef and flour in abundance, and they had noth- ing to do but eat and sleep and beat their squaws; but they had had no fun with the whites for ever so long, and they pined for a little excitement. So one day large band of them stole away from their reservation on the Verde river, and headed for the vicinity of the mining camps on the Hassayam- pa. They had some squaws with them, for they intended to take good long holiday, and the gentle squaws could not bear to forego the pleasure of tor- turing the white prisoners, of whom it was hoped there would be many. They belonged to that branch of the Apache nation known as the Apache Mohave, and there were just 125 of them in all- for their dead bodies were counted the following week, after they had enjoyed their little time. As they wound over desert and mpuntain, a long line they made and aAdeep and lasting trail they cut in the barren soil.
 It was mid-afternoon on the 18th of May, 1873, when the snake-like process sion wound down through dark, nar- row ravine to the deep canon of the HassAyampa, and, crossing quickly over the dry bed of the stream, disap- peared noiselessly among the huge boulders that lined the opposite side and covered the abrupt slope of the overhanging mountains It was lone- ly spot. For several miles up and down the stream the rough, precipitous mountains that hemmed it in on either side were llndisturbed by human pres- ence. Four miles below was Smiths mill, ten-stamp quartz mill that had just been completed, and five miles above was Ed Lambley's ranch, where :. the water of the river came to the sur- face for short distance before sinking again in the sandy channel. There was no one in sight as the Indians waited behind the boulders, but a wagon load passed up the canon from Smiths mill to Lambley's ranch, and thence to the mining camp of Wfckenburg, still fur ther above, and "all things come to him who waits"
 Soon Gus Swain came driving his mules slowly along the sandy road, his rickety wagon filled with empty bar rels. Gus was bound for Lambley's ranch, where he would fill the barrels with water and haul them out to his camp fifteen miles down the road to