The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1898-10-23

|
heard about the secret approach OF In
dams upon their victims came 10 mind as
| my horse galloped or l0ped along. but
| there WAS not an incident the whole
| night.
THE next morning 1 stopped at a Mex
| lean camp where I had an order fron.
| the government officials for a fresh horse.
l rested until early afternoon, and after
! being warned to be constantly on my
guard lest / be. bounced upon by the
! Apaches that then infested tho country
roundabout, started out. | passed Fort
Bowie Oft at the south about twenty
miles and followed the train northward
toward the New Mexico territorial line
All went well until late that evening. IT
was very dark. but had become used TO
| that. / could not see ten feet from me.
A CHASTITY FIND.
Suddenly my horse stopped. ! almost
pitched forward OF the beast. Then the
animal snorted and paved. / clutched my
pistol and a thousand and one thoughts
darted through my mind. In vain | stuck
my spurs into my horses TANKS and tried
10 urge him on. IL was no use. / looked
about carefully 1 deserted something gray
lying close 70 the train ] leaned forward
10 see what IL was and l could only see
something gray and oval In form. There
around It. dared not leave the uncertain
trail in that darkness and IN country
/ knew nothing about. / tismounted ana.
holding the horses bride IN one mana
and a pistol in the other. felt about the
ground with my feet for what | haJ seen
there Horrors, ! felt the hard. stiT body
Of a dead man In all my experiences ip
the sangulnarv days Of the Colorado min
ing camps I never had the sensations OF
that stumbling on a dedQ body IN that
lonely. God iorsaken spot In Ayacnelaf
that dark night. ] foit the body oyer ami
iichted matches d see e. ] heard nay
heart humping as 10 never thumped oe-
fore saw the BODY had evidently been
t,,ero several days In that dry. hot cli-
nate n Rad begun 90 shrive, in natural
mummifying process. BY the Pickering
llgl.. OF the matches / held over the dead
mans face I saw that he was a Mexican
and that he had boon shot IN the neck
and cheek. lie HAD evidently been killed
while on a horse fOr his body had been
dragged on the ground. IL was the Work
Of Indians There was where the ecalp
had been lifted from the crown OF the
head and the teiltole Apache marks o.
slashing knives were on the chest anu
shoulders.
II remounted the horse and started
was at the little Mormon settlement now
abandoned, Of Mayneld There l told or
my discovery. Tho ranchmen paid no atA
tention 10 Il. They said that none Of them
had dared 20 go alone out IN the country
for weeks, and that the Apaches under
old Cochise had held the region i'm terror
for nearly q year. Only month before
two Mormon ranchmen had been Killed
while returning from Fort Bowie. and
their bodies robbed and hacked 10 pieces
II ever "a horse travelled mine ala thAt
night. Mazeppa was no comparison. l
saw two camphres away of twenty mics
distant in the foothills of the Mescallero
Mountains, and knew them to DO in the
camps OF Apaches.
AT about dawn [ came upon back
train OF United States cavalry on the
way 10 Fort Grant. I rested there few
hours. and with my saddle for pillow l
slept hard. At early evening l started on
toward Rincon. / reached there that eve
ming. | turned my mail pouch over 10
the postmaster and was told that a return
mail would be ready for me in twenty
four hours On the way back to Tomb
stone / passed within two miles OF q
band Of painted Apaches but ] was with
I'm ten miles then Of Fort Bowie. and /
think did not look then Ike a promising
victim for their attack
Those days were the bloodiest we have
ever had in the Southwest. IL took a
stout heart and a heap OF hard work 20
make ones way across the trails IN
Apacheland every week That was before
Gen. Miles and Gen. Crook settled the
Indian question in Arizona and New
Mexico There were reports almost week
ly OF some murderous foray by the In
dams Thousands OF settlers abandoned
.H NF..sr I.s..
and Arizona and fled for their lives 10
Texas or the North There must have
been 500 white people killed by the
Apaches.
BLOOD WORK.
"Once when l was going along near
whero the town Of Lorisburg Ariz., has
since sprung up I was met by man
with his head bound about with bandages
red with blood. and his beard and shirt
matted with dry blood. He had seen me
IN the distance coming, and he had
crawled over a mile 20 stop me. He could
hardly speak from weakness. lie told me
that Apaches had raided his cabin home
the day before and murdered his wife
and two girls; that he was az work
mile away among HIS sheep and had seen
them going like the wind on their horses
over the crest of the hill near his home.
Fastening home, he had found his family
dead and their scalps taken While he
was alone there with his sorrow two OF
the sayagcs stcaithily returned and shot
him. Then they left him on the cabin
floor with a wound across his forehead
and ball In his shoulder They probably
thought him dead. l had become used 90
the Indian country by that time. There
fore / left the trail and went over 20 the
ne I la ftf he
wife and the two girls where they had
fallen. IL was a horrible sight. The mans
TWO horses and his rifle had been stolen.
an attempt had been made TO burn the
barn. and the savages had snatched food
from the table that the wife was pre-
pairing for the noon meal and had fed.
dressed the poor fellows wounds as best
I could, and, leaving him alone with his
dead family. l rode twenty-five miles Oh
10 q Mexican village ROslta, where I
sent q dozen fellows back 90 take food
and help 10 the suffering man. The United
States troops had many cases Of murder
Du5 Apachss Ike that 70 deal with every
year in those DAYS A few days later 1
learned that the wounded man had been
taken 20 Fort Grant and had died there |
OK @. broken heart ana his wounds.
"The livellest experience 1 had with |
Indians was in April 1879. I was about ,
forty miles from Fort Bowie. on the way /
-0 Tombstone. / had been warned that \
Inc Apdches We're more restless than /
lsual-in fact, they We're always fercest /
IN the spring mOnths-but ] was younger 1
then and L thought that savage5 would /
not attack any one but unprotected |
lomesteaders whom they could rob. II |
vas about I o'c.Ock .n the afternoon. My /