The times., 1898-08-10
ONE OF OUR HEROES.
The Man Who Commanded In the
Fight mt El Caney.

Fight mt Eel Caney
There have been many appreciative
comments on the heroism of Gen. III. w.
Lawton. who commanded the division
that made the assault on FL Caney. but
1t seems that he is not a new hand at
soldering. He stands six feet three
inches and weighs 20 pounds, none or
which is fat. He Is fifty-five years old
and an athlete. A writer in the Philadei-
phia Times tells this of his past
He stood on the Government reserva-
ton at San Antonio surrounded by the
tawny savage band of Chiricahua
Apaches. whom he had hunted off their
| feet. Near him, taciturn. but of kindly
visage. stood young Chief Matches. al
most as tall as he. In tent close by lay
Geronimo, the medicine man, groaninS
from surplusage of fresh beef eaten
raw, The squat figures of the hereditary
enemies OF the whites grouped about him
! came only to his shoulder. He lowered
among them, stern. powerful, dominant
an incarnation of the spirit of the white
man whose war drum had beat around
the world. Clad In faded, dirty fatigue
jacket, a greasy flannel shirt of gray,
trousers so solled that the stripe down
the leg was barely visible, broken boots
! and disreputable sombrero that shaded
the harsh features burned almost to
blackness, he was every inch a soldier
and a man. To the other officers at the
post the Indians paid no sort of attention.
To them Gen. Stanley and his staff were
| so many well-dressed lay figures stand
! ing about as part of picture done for
| their amusement. but the huge, massive
man with the stubble on his chin had
| shown them that he was their superior
! on hunting grounds that were theirs by
! birthright, and they hung upon his light
] est word.
! For the tenth time Geronimo's band
! had jumped the San Carlos reservation.
| The Spring grass was two inches high
| and the Indian lust for blood was awake.
| AS usual. troops were started upon a per-
| ilous chase. For days they followed the
| trail over country that God Almighty
made in wrath. Farther and farther into
| the vast solitudes they toiled. Volcanic
/ crests reared about them. Lava tore the
! leather from their feet. They drank from
i springs that gushed thousands of feet
| above the valleys. They wandered in
| canons so deep and dark that through the
| narrow ribbon of white far above them
| the stars were seen at midday. They lived
| upon animals no wilder than the men
they were pursuing and scarcely more
1 wild than they. Now and then, from
| forest OF pines far above them, a shred
of blue smoke drifted on the furnace air.
i followed by the shrili OF the bullets wild
! singing. The horses long since had been
left behind. The cavalrymen were on
| foot with Lawton at their head, his teeth
hard set. Wen walk them down. he
! told his sergeant when the mountans
were reached. He was walking them
| down.
'Six weeks afterward. an Indian whose
bones seemed ready 10 start through his
| skin came to the camp and said that
| Geronimo was ready 10 surrender. Law
| ton went alone 10 the lair of the starving
wolves and received their submission
| Cavernous eyes glared at him. Lips black
| from thirst and hunger We're drawn back
| over discoiored teeth. Skeleton fingers
pointed at him. From skeleton jaws
| came sounds of pieadings mixed with
wrath. The poison OF bitter racial ha-
tired was in every glance. Even the
| rocks smelled like mad Indian i.e told
| ME with laugh long afterward- He
| lounged among them, their master by
! virtue of superior courage and strength
and hardihood, and they followed him like
sheep - food and imprisonment. That is
| the story in outline of the capture of
| Geronimo. physician. wizard. conjurer.
| orator and murderer.
THE man of IN Caney is the man of
! the Mosallons. and the man of the Mo-
gallons is the reincarnation OF some shin
| ing, helmeted giant warrior who fell
| upon the sands of Palestine in the first
| crusade. with the red blood weiIing over
| his corslet and his two-handed battle
| sword shiYered TO the hilt. The race type
| persists unchanged in eye. in profile, in
| figure. 1t is the race which in all the GEN.
| turtles the Valkyrs have waited from the
! war decks. have hailed from the holm
| gangs or helmet-strewn moorlands-the
| white-skinned race which. drunk with the
| liquor of battle. reeled around the dragon
| standard at Senlac, which fought with
| Richard Grenville. which broke the Old
| Guard at Waterloo, which rode up the
| slope at Balaklava, which went down
| with the Cumberland at Hampton Roads,
which charged with Pickett at Gettys-
| burg-the race of the trader. the financier.
the statesman. the inventor. the colonzer.
| the creator, but, before all, the fighter"