The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-26

Capt. Lawton and his troopers deft
with Geronimo and his band for Fort
Marion, Fla, Gen. Miles accompanying
him to Ell Paso. The people of the ter
ritories began to breathe free again.
few hours after leaving Bowie
Gen. Drum, acting secretary of war,
sent telegraphic orders to Capt Law
ton 20 stop with the prisoners at the
southwestern military headquarters in
San Antonio, Tex, until a determine
ton was reached as to what procedure
cou1d be taken against them. 1t was
supposed In Washington that they had
surrendered on the condition that they
Should not be given up for trial in Ari-
! Eona or executed by the troopers The
atrocities they had committed, terrible
as they were, We're not such as to bring,
them within the jurisdiction of a court
martial, which is very limited, nor
would the civil courts in the absence of
witnesses, meet the requirements in the
case, although their guilt was notori-
Gus. A military commission, although
1t had no recognition IN the statutes,
seemed to be the only solution
Gen. Miles claimed that they were
entitled to the treatment given to
prisoners of war and said that Lawton
had pledged Geronimo g. guarantee
against immediate death at the hands
Of the troops. Neither Geronimo nor
Natchez could be induced to surrender
until this was promised them. If driven
to desperation, exhausted as they were.
they would no doubt have fought to
the bitter end and much more blood
would have been shed before they could
nave been exterminated. Capt Lawton
undoubtedly used his best possible
Judgment at the time. In any event the
territory was relieved of them and that
was the point to be gained
AT San Antonio it was decided to re-
move them to Florida. This was done
and Geronimo was subsequently trans
ferred to his present place of imprison-
ment In Oklahoma. He has left 1t but
once since them, when he visited the
exposition at Omaha last summer. as a
government exhibit. Then he escaped
while on HIS return home, and gave the
war department no end of worriment
and trouble.
The glory of the campaign in Mexico
and Arizona that brought about this
surrender belonged not to the officers
alone, but to the men as we'll. Hunting
INDIANS IN the arid mountain regions
or on the alkali plains, in the scorchine
neat or midsummer, leaves but one
place hotter for a man to reach.
| There is not one living who partici-
eipated in that campaign but that be-
/ lieves that Geronimo and Natchez
| should have been put to death at the
time of the surrender. Neither could
any more refrain from rapfne and mur-
der than they could help eating. The
| Chiricahuas are and always have been
| the worst element of the Apache tribe
and the tribe is bad enough The i'm
munity they enjoyed for years encour-
aged them in their outbreaks from
time to time, After a campaign against
the settlers they were allowed to re-
turn time and again, scathless, to the
reservation. They at last arrived at
the conclusion that the government
was afraid of them, and it required the
efforts of Miles, Lawton and Wood to
convince them to the contrary
| Their removal to Florida even did
not have the moral effect it should have
had. Other bad Indians simply drew
the inference that it was a bad thing
to be caught, but not a bad thing to go
out on raids
Indians learned only from example,
and Geronimo and Natchez should have
died in the closing summer days of 1886
at Fort Bowie.
A few years ago a kind hearted tour
list saw Geronimo while he was in cap
tivity in Florida. She sympathized with
him, because he spoke sweetly to her
of her blue eyes. She petitioned and
found many signers who asked that he
be allowed to go back to Arizona. But
the people out there heard of it and
they too made petition, which said in
effect that the government that sent
/ Geronimo back to Arizona to die would
be doing nothing but it's plain duty if
| the blueeyed tourist were sent ahead
of him and put on a lonely ranch-to
watch for him and his romantic home
coming.
He did not go He went to Oklahoma
instead, and he went to stay. And now
he is going mad and the papers are be-
ginning to tell touching tales of him.
/ But Oklahoma people do not pay much
attention to that. They are pretty busy.
They are not as a rule blue-eyed and
! they have lived near to Arizona which
makes difference