The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-11-23
TALES OF THE APACHES
Campaigning In Arizona as the
Corporal Saw 1t.
A THING THAT WAS LIVELY AS
ONE COULD POSSIBLY DESIRE.
1t Consisted of Chasing Elusive
FOes-DivisiOn of Labor of the
Buck and the Squav-Ihe Cues
ton of Clothes-The Land of Big
Tbirsts-A Big Fight Missed.


were leaning back in their chairs at
the recruiting Office swapping stories.
A young man opened the door.
Il beg your pardon" he said. can
you tell me where the headquarters of
the Fifteenth are?"
THE FIFTEENTH" replied the cor
poral AT Fort Bayard, sir, in New
! Mexico"
The young man thanked him and
"Humph,' said the corporal, mu-
singly, Il wonder if he wants to go
there. That's a nice, lonesome place,
Fort Bayard. / lived down there and
chased Indians adj over the country,
and 1 know all about it. I was in Ari-
iona a good long bit, too, and 1 can
| tell an Apache from milk CART any
day
Have much fghting?" asked the
reporter.
'sWen. that depends on what you
call fighting. If you call it fighting to
be out for a month at time chasing
some runaway Indians who sneak
around behind rocks and put a bullet
in you if they get "a chance. why, I've
seen a good deal Of fighting"
Didn't you ever shoot back?"
ooh, yes, I've shot at 'em. Don't
know if 1 hit 'em. Hope 1 did. I
haven't any use for an Indian. He's
worse than a rattlesnake. A rattle
snake gives you warning, but an In
dian doesn't. We were handicapped
anyway. because every time we killed
an Indian their department would get
after US. I wish they had to go out
and live with, them for a while"
You didn't find the noble red man,
then?"
Noble red nothing! Occasionally
you find an Indian who seems 10 be
true to his friends, buzz even then 1
wouldn't trust him. You never can
tell when he's going to betray you.
There were a few of the ranches out
there that the Indians never molested.
although they could have done il just
as well as not The people had been
good 10 them, and they let the places
alone. 1t was terrible trou blesome
work looking after that country, the
ranches were so far apart. We would
get word that the Apaches had stripped
one ranch-that is, killed the people
and sacked the place-and while we
were getting off TO that ranch they
would strip two or three others. 1
was in the infantry, but I had TO get
out, on a mule or whatever 1 could
get hold of, and help chase.
I'VE didn't do much riding, though,
because the Indians take to the mount
aims. AS soon as you get anywhere
near them they break UP into two or
three, and get off into the hills. We'll,
a horse or a mule isn't of any account
then. You can't ride 'em up those
rocks They were mean raScals, those
Apaches, but when it came TO ply
siIue they were as fine a looking set of
men as I ever saw. SIX feet and over.
every one of them. And as straight as
an arrow. They We're built like an
Apollo. You could have put them up
as statues The squaws were lumpy
and understood, but then they worked
so hard they didn't have a chance to
grow. The squaws did everything The
bucks didn't do a thing but hunt and
lie around and smoke. If a buck went
oUL and killed a deer, the squaw would
pack it on her back and lug 1t home.
while the man rode along beside aer.
THE squaws had more time for work
than you would suppose. They didn't
worry about fashions. They wore only
one garment, a sort of breechclout un-
til they grew up. Then they added a
handkerchief around their shoulders.
Whenever they got any clothes they
wouldn't wear them or, at any rate,
not without altering them to suit them
selves. At the agents, for instance, a
buck would receive coat, pair of
trousers and hat. After the first few
days, he always discarded the trousers
There was an Indian girl at the sta
ton who had been condemned to be
burned as a witch by the Apaches, and
had been rescued by our men. She
was only 10 years old, and was a
docile. loyal creature. A young buck
had fallen in love with her, and they
were engaged, when the buck was
taken sick and died suddenly In their
superstitious way they immediately
laid it to Jane, as we named her, and
were going to burn her alive. There
are always some of the Indians who
give things away to the white men.
so we found out their little scheme and
carried the girl off. She went into the
laundressS family, and as l was fond
of the children there, L got interested
in Jane. l bought some yellow calico
at the station store, and the laundress
made a dress for her Well, you never
saw anybody so pleased as that girl,
and yet we had time to make her
wear it.
Speaking of clothes now. you'd have
thought we'd been through a dozen
campaigns if you could have seen US
come in from a week or two or riding
around that country. / remember the
first time / went out l came back with
only one trouser leg. The other clean
~ va ntd I.,Ore Jnan 4 n u
our backs we were lucky. Why? Well,
we naQ TO rlQe through Inlck DruSn
that just tore our clothes into rags
Through cactus growth?"
NO. that's further south, in the Colo
RADIO desert. There's a place for you.
When | was a boy l used TO study in
my geography about the African desert
but if it's any worse than that one
don't want to see it. Just fine sand
you know, always on the move. Today
you locate a big hill as land mark
Two days later you come back, and
there isn't hill in sight"
Did you ever go without water any
length of time?"
''Oh, Lord, yes. Many and many a
time, but never for more than "a hours
at stretch. We used to haul the sup
plies across the country then and at
each side of the wagons were hung
four barrels of water. If it ran short
it went to the horses. The men had to
go thirsty. but the animals couldn't
1t was right, too. They had the work
to do When we made dry camp each
man got certain supply of water in
his canteen. He could have that and
no more. II he wanted to- drink it he
could. He could take his choice be-
tween a dirty face and being thirsty
Well" and the corporal laughed, my
face has gone dirty for days"
so you didn't have any big fights?"
NO., refiectively. Custer spoiled
the only big fight we were likely to
have. When Sitting Bull got on the
warpath that time l was in Crooks
column. General Terry had the cam
paign planned so that the Indians
couldn't possibly escape. He was APP