The morning news., 1899-12-04
CIvILIzING HAIR-CUTTING.
How Lieut.. StOttIer Began the Trans
formation of the Depraved
Apaches.


From the San Francisco Examiner.
An order for a general haircut has fallen
upon the Mescalero tribe of Apache In
dams in New Mexico. 1t has been acted
on, too, and every Indian on the reserva-
tlon has been deprived of his hair The
order came from a white man, and 1t es-
tabished this individuals record of hav-
ing scalped more Indians than any Indian
ever scalped white men.
Lieut.. E. V. Stotter is the man who has
shorn the heads of the Mescalero Apaches.
He did It TO civilize them. Before Lieut.
Stottler got hold of them these particular
savages were the most lawless and de-
praved in the whole country In throe
years the lieutenant maintaining strictly
one-man law, has caused a startling met
amorphosis in the tribe, and to-day the
Indians are transformed from drunken,
idle savages into well-dressed, sober. and
industrious builders Of the commonwealth.
Stottler has a great and cheerful faith
In the haircut a civilizer. There Is a
natural impulse in the modern mind, any
how, to associate masculine long hair
with primitive wlldness. Civilization
makes man want TO dress well and take
fastideous care of his person. and leads
him to taste for a well-trmmed head,
as IL does clean-shaven cheek. 1t Is a
matter of fashion entirely, else women
The lieutenant simply took snap Judgment
on his Apache braves with the delightful
conclusion that short-haired men become
civilized, rather than that civilized men
become short-haired. He ordered a gen
eral barbering, and when 1t came off a ton
or so Of raven locks came off with It,
Many an owner of the locks was shorn
while he wriggled on the ground under as
many of the Indian police as could ST
upon him-Shorn sheep are shorn sfrug-
Cling and gurging the whole while in fu-
tile protest. one dissenting buck was
chased all over the territory before he was
finally caught, thrown down, sat upon bv
The entire possee, and dehaired with a
large, choppy pair Of shears.
His Efforts Began i'm 1894.
Lieut.. stottler was given charge Of
these Indians in December, 1894. Various
methods for keeping them In order ID
been tried in vain. They were the TER
rors of the neighborhood, and apparently
incorrigble. They woultin't work. they
wouldn't be educated, they wouldn obey
the law they wouldn't do anything t4at
they thought by any chance the govern
ment would like them 10 do. The one con-
spcuous thing which they did do, ana
which, above all, the government wished
they wouldn't do. was to drink copiougly
and palnstakingly Of a liquor specially de-
signed and brewed by themselves to Gre
ate the DEdStleHts West jag tlai ever
cheered an inebriated soul. The Lieut@n-
ant found the whole tribe drunk when he
arrived on the scene. He igu atively kick-
ed some twenty or thirty Of them sober
and made policemen Of them. They he coll
them to kick the others into the same
novel condition.
They were living in tepees then wearing
blankets and subsisting on food sent them
by the government. For years the gov
ernment had been feeding them and per-
hitting them 70 lie around IN drunken idle
ness year in aud year out They stole for
pastfme and murdered for pleasure Even
among themselves they sought recreation
in fighting, and a dozen brawls daily were
INDUCED in in the way OF regular exercise
IN lieu Of plowing or saving wood.
The twenty bucks whom Lieut. Stottler
projected into sobriety with the toe OF
his boot had been educated al the expense
Of the government, and were presumed to
know better than 10 run about like now