The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-26
GERONIMO.
The Passing Of the
Old Apache Chief.
TERROR OF BORDE R.
g The Worst Of Many Bad In
dians.

Oklahoma, where he is held, and singu-
larry enough it comes simultaneously
with the departure for the Philippines
of the brave and soldier1y Indian fight
<r who captured him. Gen. Lawton, who
was then captain in the Fourth
United States cavalry.
It was the fortune of a Spy man to
follow Lawton's famous troopers
through part Of that campaign in the
summer of $50. and to learn much of
Geronimo, and of the able soldier who
ran him down. And that same Spy man
q had the added pleasure of a personal
observation of all of Gen. IJaWton' 6
movements Is years later in the cam
p&gn before Santiago.
But the story here is of Geronimo. He
was 90 at che time Of his surrender, and
Tor over q score of years previous had
the reputation from the Rio Grande
border away back to western Arizona.
OF bad. bad Indian. He had murdered
scores and scores of men he had
burned women alive, and he had smiled
10 SEQ little babies tortured to death He
nad been captured by the soldiers five
times and five times he had ESCAPED.
he had lived for days or handful
a,
week within rife shot OF cavalry
company which had been Instructed to
or1ng him In dead or alive, He had
ridden 800 miles on a stretch; had run
70 miles in two days: had starved and
frozen; had lain in the burning heat
OF the desert and called on the Great
spirit for water for three days when
the men with him lain down like
sheep and died. He had been wound
ed and betrayed by his own men, sold
Tor a few drinks Of whisky, and vet
he would not die
He never led his band into open
hight; he never gave an enemy the
raintest chance for life. He is the last
OF the great chiefs. Th&men who live
IN arizona, Colorado and Mexico never
tremble at shadows. but the name
Geronimo" would even at this day
set the stoutest of them shaking like
an a6pen leaf. The MeKicans believed
he was God. He kept his band in the
alkalt desert. There isn't q stick of
nrushwood or q spear of grass two
inches high there, and the ground is as
isvei as ball room floor; but he and
his band would lie there in wait, q
quarter of mile from a pack train
trail, and not one Of the packers, keen
eyed and alert as any men on earth,
would see them.
He had a trick of sending a bunch of
warriors out on the death trail in the
ranch valleys. 1t was their fashion 20
lie behind q rock outside a lonely
ranch and wait until the break of day
when the rancher came out, and then
to whoop the scalp cry, burn him and
his house and his wife and babies. and
follow the death trail to another lone
ly ranch. He knew every inch of the
desert, and after killing and torturing,
he would be miles away before the
day had fairly begun.
Every time he was captured he
turned into a good Indian" Every
time he was believed he escaped and
went on the death trait again
In 1885 the y. 8. troops got after him
in earnest. The Spy man, in May of
that year, was at Planchas de Plata
when Lawton came along with a force
of about so soldiers infantry and cav
airy, and 20 Indian scouts. They had
been instructed by Gen. Miles, who was
then following out the plans laid down
by his predecessor, Gen. Crook (and no
greater Indian fighter ever lived, to
hunt for Geronimo in the Sonora
mountains. Lawtons special duty was
to keep the Indians OH the go. Old Ge-
ronimos fiendish operations had ex-
tended from the Santa Rita mountains
on the west to the New Mexican
boundary.
South and west of Nogales, Lawton
was pressing the crafty old chief
harder than he had ever been pressed
before, assisted by a young man
who was the equal of Geronimo even
in craft and courage, and who was
even then paving the way for the great
military and civic honors that have
since come to him as the governor
general of Santiago province. 1t was
DOC" Wood, as he was known then,
fresh from Cambridge and old Har-
ward, respected by every law-abiding
citizen In the territory and feared by
every outlaw.
Then began one of the most exhaust
ing campaigns ever on record for hard
ship in the history of modern Indian
warfare First Geronimo would be
heard from at Jaralito, then at Pinal,
San Lazaro, Buenas Vista. in Mexico
Then just as the soldiers thought they
had him trapped he would bob up at
Calabasas, Arizona. From there TO
Bacanuchi, In Mexico, again was an
easy reach for him, but long one for
the soldiers. But Miles and Lawton
and Wood were all there to stay, and
military headquarters had been estab-
lished at Fort Bowie. Miles, with the
!, immense force he was accumulating
was able to guard every water hole In
the territory and efectually defeat eV-
cry effort of the hoStiles to return to
their reservation,
But in spite of all their efforts the old
savage and his warriors continued TO
,raxage and harass the territory all
around in such a way as to render 1t
practically uninhabitable.
r. But Lawton never tired Of his enorts'
He followed the Chiricahuas with such
slsuth-hound pertinacity that even In
r dian endurance found it's limit. They
We're allowed no time to rest and re-
cruit. Driven from cover to cover they
We're forced to keep moving and they
finally broke down and surrendered
early in September.
Some days prior to the surrender a
deserter from Geronimo's band came
into Miles camp with the information
that the renegades were short of food
clothing and ammunition, were foot
sore and nearly exhausted from long
marches and could not hold out much
longer Miles ordered Lieut.. Gatewood
who knew Geronimo and his lieutenant
Natchez, well, and who spoke the
Apache tongue, to take guard OF two
obtain a parley and see if the old chief
would surrender. This mission Lieut.
Gatewood accomplished successfully
Geronimo asked for Lawton, whom he
admired, as he said, and wanted to
make terms, but the captain refused
and told him he must surrender as a
prisoner of war, lay down his arms
and trust to the president Of the United
states. Then Geronimo surrendered,
but Natchez who had kept out of reach
sent word that he wanted to go to the
White Mountains for q month. But
Geronimo followed and returned with
him. Then the lying old chief told G an.
Miles that he left the reservation be-
cause there was a conspiracy on foot to
murder him.
II was deemed prudent to allow the
En- anfs ut