The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-22
ONE OF OUR GIANT WARRIORS.
Gen. II. w. Lawton. Who Won His
Two Stars at Ell Caney.

From the Chicago Times Herald.
The papers have given many short BIZ
phies of II. w Lawton, now a major
general of the volunteers, who commands
one Of the divisions of Skaters army.
and whose men were engaged In the des-
perate assault Of Ell Caney. They have
told of his long years of service, Of how
he has worked himself up through the
Ieutenancies to his present rank, and of
| the training given him more than a quar-
ter of century Of experience; but of the
sigantc size, the phenomenal strength
and activity, the abnormal endurance, the
utter fearlessness and the inalienable pic
tuFesquenesS Of the man. not a word 1
have che honor to know him we'll and.
since l like men whose basic manhood has
not been utterly refined out of them, 1
like him.
Lawton reminds me always of SCOTS
Norman baron, Front de Boeuf He has
better morals, of course as well as yery
pretty Taste in red wines and reed birds,
but he is as big as the giant slain by
Richard of the Lion Heart, is as direct in
ms methods, and, in personal or general
combat, every Bit as savage. There is
plenty of the primal man IN him. What
he thinks he says. He has a strong sense
or justice but his temper is terrific, and
he Is not gentle. He requires OF subordi-
mates the utmost endeavor and gets it.
He asks no one to do work that he is not
competent and willing to do himself Nat
urally leader, he goes first and the more
| difficult or desperate the undertaking the
faster he goes. Upon the gray granite slap
which covers the moldering bones of a
Confederate officer who sleeps on the mag
nOlia -petalled uplands of Louisiana is an
Inscription: He never told his men to
go on" That will do for Lawton when he
dies.
He is feet inches high. He weighs
2l0 pounds and nearly every ounce of it is
bone and blood and tendon and muscle.
He is IS years old and as springy as
! youth. His capacity to go without food,
drink or sleep is seemingly unlimited.
"Macumazahn" the Zulus called Quarter
main the one who has his eyes OPEN
Macumazahn Lawton will keep them open
for week al a stretch when necessary,
and then walk, talk, eat, drink, or fight
dozen men to a standstill. He has lived
life Of peril and hardship. His only
rule of hygiene is a tub in the morning.
He has aiken no sort of care Of himself
Yet so spiendidiy was he endowed by ma
ture that there is no perceptible weaken
ing of his forces Apparently he is as
powerful and enduring when I saw
him first. That was more than ten years
ago. He had completed one of the most
remarkable feats Of strength and perse-
| the AnglO-SaXon race, but he was as fresh
| as a rose in the morning.
He stood on the government reservation
at San Antonio surrounded by the taWny
savage band of Chricahua Apaches, whom
he had hunted off their feet. Near him.
tac.turn but Of kindly visage, stood young
Chief Naches, almost as tall as he In
| tent close by law Geronimo, the ned-
cine man, grooming from a surplusage
of fresh beef eaten raw The squat fig
ures 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 has beat around the world Clad in
faded, dirty fatigue jacket, a greasy
flannel shirt of gray, trousers so soiled
that the stripe down the leg was barely
visible, broken boots and a 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, standing about at part of pic
ture 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
4lis lightest 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 US
ual, troops We're started upon a perilous
chase. For days they followed the trail
over. country that God almighty made
in wrath. Further and further into the
vast solitudes they toiled. Volcanic
crests reared about them. Lava tore the
leather from their feet. They drank from
springs that gushed thousands of feet
above the valleys. The wandered in can
ons so deep and dark that through the
narrow ribbon of white far above them
the stars were seen at midday. They liv-
ed upon animals no wilder than the men
they We're pursuing, and scarcely more
wild than they. Now and then from n
forest of pines far above them, a shred of
blue smoke drifted on the furnace air. fol-
lowed by the shrill 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 mountains we're
reached. He was walking them down.
Six weeks afterward an Indian. whose
bones seemed ready to start through his
skin, came TO the camp and said that
Geronimo was ready to surrender. Law
ton went alone 10 the lair of the starv.
ing wolves and received their submission.
Cavernous eyes glared at him. Lips black
from thirst and hunger were drawn back
over discolored teeth. Skeleton fingers
pointed al him. From skeleton Jaws came
sounds Of pleadngs mixed with wrath.
The poison of bitter racial hatred was in
every glnnce. Even the rocks smelled
like mad Indian" he told me with a laugh
long afterward. lie lounged among them.
their master by virtue Of superior courage
and strength and hardihood and they fol-
lowed him like sheep to food and impris-
cnment. That is the story in outline of
the capture o. Geronimo, physician, wiz
ard, conjurer, orator and murderer.
The man Of FL Caney is the man OF the
Moganons, and the man Of the Mogallons