Evening star., 1899-04-13
GERONIMO TODAY.
Old Man is Not Insane and is a Game
Gambler.

Fort Sill, o. t, Correspondence Chicago Record.
There have been so many false statements
in the newspapers lately about Geronimo,
in regard to his going mad, his leaving the
reservation and going on the warpath and
his not being satisfied here, that thought
it would not be out of place to have the
truth about him and his band.
This is my third trip here, and the next
day after arriving 1 went to see Geronimo,
who lives about three miles from the post.
L met him on the road on horseback with
his little daughter sitting back of him and
his little nephew back of her, three on one
horse. He shook hands with me. He is
looking better than L had ever seen him
before. He is in good health and looks
several years younger than he did year
ago. L told him 1 wanted to paint another
portrait of him. He said: How much you
give?' l replied: Same 1 gave you be-
fore" He said very emphatically: To
dahl which means No and added: Me
savey you make heap lot of money from
my pictures. You must pay me so much,
and held up both hands twice and one hand
once which meant SO.
He said he was on the way to the doc
tors as his little girl was not well. Then
he added that he wanted to see me again.
So the next day, Sunday, spent the day
with him. He showed me the different
things he collected at Omaha last year. He
feels very proud over his visit there, but
it has had bad effect on him in one way
he saw SO much money there that he i'm
agines all white people have lots of money,
and now he charges accordingly. Where
he used to charge $3.50 for bow and four
arrows, now he charges 81.
He is an inveterate gambler and a good
one. He is very lucky and no one can BLUM
him. 1 had with me a rifle. He put
piece of paper on a stump and said could
have the first shot, and every time L nit
the mark he would give me $40, but that l
must do likewise with him. This 1 did not
agree to do, so we shot for fun without
rest. l missed nearly every shot, while he
hit the mark every time, and one time he
hit it square in the center. They say Gero-
nimo's eyesight is very poor, but he proved
to me that his eyesight was good, especially
for an old man nearly seventy.
In the afternoon l went with him to
where the Comanche, Kicwa and Apache
Indians gather for gambling and horse rae
ing. 1t is interesting to see them gamble at
cards. The game do not understand, but
1T is interesting to watch. Any number can
play. Everything is fair, no cheating going
on and all are goodnatured. They take
turns in handling the cards Geronimo. of
course was in the game, and it was fun to
see him handle the cards. He was as ex-
pert as any of them. and at times would get
so excited he would yell at the top of his
voice. The principal point in the game is
to bet on the turn of card Often three
and four Comanches would chip in and bet
a good sum on a card when Geronimo was
handling the cards, and he would cover
their money every time. They couldn't
bluff him.
While he was playing cards white man
stepped up to Geronimo and bet him $40
that his horse could beat Geronimo's. Ge-
ronimo looked at the white mans horse and
then took the bet. The money was tied up
in a handkerchief and laid on the ground
for the winner to take. Sometimes If Ge-
ronimo thinks he has an easy horse to beat
he will ride the horse himself, but in this
case he got a small Apache boy to ride
and his horse won the race.
Geronimo is generous and good to his peo-
pie. especially the poorer ones, giving them
money whenever they need it