Evening star., 1898-11-19
GERONIMO A POWER
Indians Revere the Bloodthirsty Old
Medicine Man.
QUIET LIFE ON THE RESERVATION
Report That He Was at Large
Created Alarm.
WANTED TO FIGHT SPAIN
WANTED TO FIGHT SPAIN

| short time ago a story went over the
country that Geronimo, medicine man and
| chief of the Chricahua Apaches had es-
| capped from the guard taking him from
| Omaha, Neb., to his reservation at Fort
| Sill, Q. 7. Geronimo had been given per
| mission by the government to visit the
| Omaha exposition The report that he
| was at large alarmed army officers and
| others who knew the man and who remem-
| bered his escapades when, with handful
| of braves, he had kept Gen. Miles and
! large part of the army actively at work
| for several years endeavoring to kill or
| capture him.
| Geronimo had been a prisoner of war
| and with about ten braves of his tribe
| escaped into the hills and carried on a most
| bloodthusty campaign against white set
! tiers wherever he could find them In the
| mountains of Arizona it was almost i'm
possible for United States troops to run
| down this sturdy and willy old Indian, and
| for two or three years he would turn up
| here and there murder and burn and then
| disappear. Finally he was captured and
| for time he and his tribe We're kept as
| prisoners in Florida, afterward being sent
| to Fort Sill, o. T. where they have re-
| mained for a number Of years. The gov
| ernment did not like to keep them in Ari-
zona for the reason that among their ma
| i've nils these ApacheS were more diff
| cult to control.
The story that Geronimo had escaped
| and was at large proved to be without
| foundation in fact, but il did not surprise
| many people who knew the old medicine
| man and who understood both the blind
| faith of his tribe in his powers and
| the feelings that govern these warriors in
! confinement. Remembering that Geronimo
| with d few of his men, had been as diff
| cult TO get under control as would have
| been very considerable hostile army,
army officers feared that he might repeat
| his exploits of some years ago, so that by
| the time they succeeded in capturing or
| killing him he might have done enormous
! injury to settlers
| Reduced iii Numbers.
| The Apaches now number not over 1870
| braves, and they are confined a Fort Sill,
| where they are not allowed TO wear their
| native dress or to live in their tepees, or, in
| fact, to retain the customs that are as
| dear TO them are the most cherished
| traditions to other races. They are forced
| to live in wooden houses. 10 do their cook
| Ing on stoves and to wear the white mans
! dress. They are obliged to do farming
| work, and. as far as possible, effort is
being made TO forciby have them adopt the
| customs of white men. The idea of this
| course of treatment is that it will result in
| divorcing them from their old savage ways.
| III Olner WOTUS, lney are DolnE forced TO be
| civilized whether they want to or not.
The life that the Apaches live would ap-
! pear to be very desirable one to many
| people in the east and throughout the coun-
| try who are forced to desperate struggle
| for n livelihood. The government supplies
| the Indians with everything necessary for
| their comfort They are given clothes,
| houses to live in rations and farms to till;
| so that, whether the crops fail or are abun-
dant they have fear that their manner
| of living viii be changed. All that they
| produce on their farms is their own prop
| erty, and such income as they derive from
| that source is converted almost wholly in
| to snowy clothing and articles of what
| might appear TO most people as altogether
| useless luXures. A brave who has worked
| his farm and has sold his crop will proceed
! to invest large sum of money in the finest
| saddle that can be found, or in f1ashy cloth
| ing, of which they are very fond.
Geronimo Has Several Wives.
To some extent their customs are not in
terfered with The domestic arrangements
Of the old Indians. to some extent, are al
lowed to go on as in the days of their free
| dom. Geronimo for instance has six or
eight wives, and there is no disposition on
the part of the government to Interfere
with him.. The young Indians, however,
are not permitted to enter into polygamy,
which the laws of their tribes would per-
nit, provided they were able to support
more than wife.
But, notwithstanding the effort of the
government to make these Indians content
ed and to win them to civilization, within |
the hearts of the braves and squaws and
even children of the tribe there is still
a longing for the mountains of Arizona
where their fathers lived for generations |
To exile them from this country was to
put upon them the greatest trial that could |
be conceived. Indeed, while the indians |
were living in ST. Augustine, Fla, they
were so afflicted by inconsistencies that ii |
was seen to be best to remove them to |
the western and &C |
they We're located in Oklahoma. The tribe |
is being decreased in numbers constantly.
The Indians suffer from scrofula and con- |
sumption and they understand that it is |
only matter of few years before the |
last OF them has passed away. This idea |
has taken hold of the tribe to such an ex- |
tent that among young and old there is de- |
sire to break away from the restraint under !
which they now placed and to seek |
their old hunting grounds in the mountains |
OF Arizona, to die on the warpath If nee
essary. for they regard such a death as |
greatly preferable to dying from diseases |
that are now carrying them off. They say
that their best medicine" what the |
white man would term their good luck is |
to be found in Arizona, and If the tribe |
could vote to decide whether they should |
stay where they are in apparent comfort |
or to go back to Arizona, taking all the !
chances of warfare, there is no doubt they |
would return to their native lands.
A Sturdy Old Man.
Geronimo himself is about eighty years
old He is very strong and robust looking !
and his advanced age does not prevent him |
from being constantly on the back of his |
pony. going about with all the vigor of
young man. No attempt is made to force
Geronimo to till the land. The government
found out some years ago that this old
medicine man had such hold upon his |