The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-01-05

gssssssssssSgSH E$fS2sgaHaasSll3N ep1Sfa III aIlc
&as!!sssyTa E Bio tribute paid by
MsagxESS1 HnM General Chaffee
EsVIA ~ 1I-7Ty5ylfsM when speaking
REl,/9I sessSSsl sNEA of the personal
Rkf 1IaasA wv bearing of his
NM NJ 1AfITssS ,szashYh chief at the bat
NYWS skssaass 81 si ss SNa tie of Ell Caney.
MNY N-srArsAKM But ii was not
NkNN\ = IJIHl alone Lawton's
MNA>SAk 0IJesI giantlille stature
IsNIN|Ik 49, 5@sssg5 that made him a
NltNlll|ttaap>a tS--SsiiNHtA king among sol
lR(AAEAAE kSs.s;sSSsaf S)fEisa diers. His mag
lssa1ea'z'. esssi 'si-'-A- >=S niticent physique
of over six feet of we'll proportional
frame was endowed with a reserve of
mastery strength of nerve. of cool
ness and of energy. His was pres
ence to Danish all littleness and mean
ness from those who came in contact
with it. Weakness confessed and bow
ed down. dishonesty shrunk away. and
sheer cowardice capitulated to valor.
The little soldier Chaffee Who called
Lawton q lion and looked up to him
as one is himself Il magnificent type
of soldier. In his small body there is
the soul of 4 lion too. But he appre-
ciated the larger. calmer and more re-
sourceful nature of his brother Off
Ger. If Lawton could so affect one of
his own kind who was close to him it
is easy to understand how he con-
quered Geronimo with a look. Geroni-
mo was not thrashed into submission
in the ordinary way. He had played
with every army expedition sent
against his willy band of Apaches and
finally taken refuge in the Sierra
Madre wilderness. To the savage lair
Lawton, with picked body of men.
penetrated in one of the toughest cam
paigns in all the history of Indian
warfare. Geronimo rested easy with
the thought that the white soldiers
could not possibly brave the terrors of
the burning desert and painless. stony
hills which stretched between his hid
ing place and the army camps.
Men who followed Lieutenant Law
ton on this expedition and had cam
paigned in the waterless sands of At
RIGA said that they had never seen
greater hardships and difficulties over
come than they faced toiling up the
Sierra Madre One must imagine all
this-in fact. one should have been
through tin order to appreciate the
effect upon Geronimo of this white
chief leaving his soldiers behind him
and walking alone and unarmed into
his lair. There before him was one
who had beaten the wild Indian at his
own wild game in his native wild
haunts. Does it matter whether fear
or policy constrained Geronimo to sur
render after the situation was made
known to him? The fact remains that
the holiness of this white man. whose
unimportant rank the Apache well
knew, in coolly walking into his den
for talk struck the savage soul in a
way to subdue it. He abandoned his
pedestal of savage pride and ugliness
and isolation and began to talk Then
all was over. The soul of the white
lion lorded it over the gathering of
savage breasts.
When conspicuous soldier is cut
down at the front as Lawton was, the
first thought of the public is that it
was due to bravado and reckless expo
sure. His boldness in entering the
Apache lair unarmed and unattended
smdcks of the same thing until one re-
members that every man of caliber
knows his own place and powers.
When the modest lieutenant was asked
for the particulars of his entrance into
Geronimo's camp and how the Indians
received him, he said. They didn't
show any emotion.
What did you say to themy"
Nothing. ! just nodded their fash
ion and sat down on a log by the side
of Geronimo. He grunted, but we all
sat for long time, perhaps half an
hour. Then Geronimo said something
to the others, who were perhaps trying
to make up their minds what to do
with me. There was another long
pause; then another of them grunted.
81 let them talk. BY and by Geroni-
mo asked me what was there for
told him to take their surrender. He
grunted. The others caught his mean
ing, which was mine, and one by one.
as they comprehended, each grunted
Then we all thought long time.
Somebody grunted again, and Geroni
mo translated 1t into decent English
for me. They wanted to know what
my terms were. | said had no terms
to offer; just surrender. that was all.
ut took hours to arrange it, but final
ly Geronimo asked who they were to
surrender to. | told them to General
Miles. was glad they were going to
| surrender. you know. for that would
make it safe for me-"
General Lawton is the most brilliant
J victim claimed thus far by the bullets
of our foemen since the outbreak of
! hostilties in 1898. And he was the