The argus. (Holbrook, Ariz.) 1895-1900, 1896-01-23
"REMINISCENCES.
Personal Experiences and Rec
elections of Arizona, Dur
ing the Past Thirty
Three Years.
The establishments of Camp Ord, and
Other Matters Connected
Herewith.
BY A. p BASTA-
CHAPTER vi.

Il <ho III viz hAOOt'o oAANs NA&hOSA
therefrom 1 never gave it a second
thought; for it always did appear to
me an utter impossibility for either
numbering cavalrymen or infantry
men to ever catch anything in the
rugged mountains of Arizona. OF
course Apaches, as well as other peo-
pie, sometimes get careless and are
surprised, but not very often is this
the case; and it is or was mostly
through treachery they were ever TAX
en- unawares in their camps. With this
feeling of contempt for the 'catch-
ing" ability of the troops, inform
ed Cooley and Dodd that 1 should
forthwith notify the sleeping Indi-
ans that they might save their lives
by fight. Good God don't do
that" said Cooley, ''we are already
outlawed now and liable to be shot
at any moment" My reply to Mr..
C.'s excited harangue was to the eff
feet that the troops must first catch
before they could shoot and if they
can catch me in these mountains let
'em shoot and be id to 'em. 1
then proposed that all pull out. To
this Cooley objected on the grounds
that he and Dodd were under parole,
having pledged their words to Cap
tain Barry not to escape. Captain
Barry's reasons for allowing his pris-
oners to return to their camp,
putting the two whites on
their parole, was to allay
any suspicious the Indians might
have so that his troops could make a
complete and successful massacre
the next morning, it being too late
that evening to do the job. Mr..
Cooley seemed greatly exercised
over my proposition to inform the
Apaches of their danger, and en-
treated me for Gods sake not to do
anything until he and Dodd could
have another interview with the
Captain. 1t seems that both my
friends had also given their word
not to even hint of the intended
killing to the Apaches. They both
Immediately proceeded to the mill
tary camp; this was between 2 and
3 o'clock in the night. After about
an hour both returned with the in
telligence that Captain Barry would
surely disobey his ColonePs orders
and would not murder the poor
devils on the following morning;
that Barry had not said this in SO
many words but had distinctly con-
veyed this impression to them.
At that time now twenty-seven
years ago, l was young full of the
spirit of adventure and it did really
seem to me a matter absolutely far
cicial for numbering cavalrymen to
talk of catching any one, particular
" in a mountainous country, and
who was at home at any time and
place amongst them.
The following morning August I'd
1 awoke late, and seeing Captain
Barry and Cooley walking back and
forth along the brow of the mesa
upon which our camp was situated 1
felt that no massacre
would take place. Runners were
Immediately sent out to call in all
Apaches in the near neighborhood
to have ''big peace talk" with Cap
tain Barry. In the afternoon a
grand pow-wow was had at which
Captain Barry explained to the
Apaches his orders from Colonel
Green.
This was certainly great sur
prise to our Apache friends, and the
one solitary eye of our Chief, Che
had lost his left eye in battle), SEEM
ed to take on a peculiar glitter; for
he was a brave warrior as also was
his brother-El Diablo-and had a
massacre been attempted, although
taken at disadvantage by treach-
cry, under the guise of friendship,
he and his trusty braves certainly
would have "made their record be-
fore death.
At this "peace talk" were repre-
from the Sierra Blanca
Apaches, the Pinal Apaches, and