The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-03
OLD GERONIMO willy.
Apache Chief Gets Rich Playing Po-
ker and Spanish Monte.
From the Chicago Inter Ocean.

From the Chicago Inter Ocean.
THAT old sinner is as sane as I am"
said an officer from Fort Sill yesterday.
Whenever you hear rumors to the eff
feet that Geronimo is crazy 1t may be
set down that he is planning to fool the
guards and escape. We expect him to
attempt 10 get away any time"
Geronimo is not confined in a cell now.
but is allowed the freedom of the res
ervation. He is always accompanied by
a guard. The officers allow the old chief
to carry a revolver, but take care that
ID Is never loaded. He handles the gun
as fondly as a mother would a baby
Geronimo is a great card player" said
ehe officer, land his tricks at monte and
poker keep the rest of the Indians around
the fort broke nearly all the time. We
had great card game down there last
Sunday with Geronimo against the field.
The old sinner broke about dozen SOL
diers and then commenced on his fellow
Indians. He played them for blankets
| feathers and plumes, and now he has the
| finest wardrobe of any Indian on the
| reservation. He feels prouder of his po-
| ker trophies than small boy does of his
| first pair of trousers
early Sunday morning Geronimo and
a number of soldiers engaged in quiet
! HdDlH OF monte pdck OF the government
[ house. The old redskin was less than
! an hour in raking in their little pile of
| $3.50. Then he started in to play poker
| with Happy Jack, well known cow
! puncher who lives wherever his hat Is
off. but generally holds out at Fort Sill.
| Geronimo soon had the COW puncher' S
| money in his pocket, and then the In
dams around there lost all their fancy
| trinkets.
"It is interesting to see the old man
| shuttle the pasteboards. He Is undoubt-
edly the bravest gambler THAI ever put
| his knees under a poker table There is
no bluff about him. He plays a fair
and square game and expects others to
do the same. He never hesitates about
! bet, and his Judgment is always good.
| When you raise him a stiff amount, his
cold gray eyes seem 20 penetrate your
thoughts for the instant, and then his
| mind is made up as to whether you are
! running a bluff or holding a good hand.
zone curious thing about 1t is that Ger
onimo nearly always gives his winnings
| to civilized Indian children to spend for
an education. Notwithstanding the fact
that he can neither read nor write, he
insists that the rising generation should
follow In the white mans trail
Apache trail no good any more he
says.
81 recollect a queer little incident that
| happened here a year ago" the officer
| went on to say. Burbank the Chicago
Indian painter. came down here 10 make
q picture OF Geronimo. I suppose that
Burbank knows Geronimos features bed
ter than any man in America, for he has
| painted his portrait twenty times. After
a lot Of dickerinK about the price for pos
ing, for Geronimo raises the figures every
time on Burbank they struck a bar
| gain. Then the artist wanted 90 get a
plaster cast of his hand.
No, heap bad medicine said Geron-
limo.
oh, but you're medicine man as
well as a great chief said Burbank, who
knows how to hatter the Indians, and
you can make 1t all right
FINALLY he got the plaster cast. Ger
onimos hand Ia short thick, fingers
blunt. nails broken and palm deeply
scanned. Burbank took the cast TO Chi
cago and showed it to another artist,
Ralph Clarkson.
Whose hand do you suppose that Tsp
said Burbank.
Haven't any idea, said Clarkson, as
he took the cast and began to study II.
BY George, but that's the hand of a
brute he exclaimed after a minutes in
spection.
And Clarkson hit II right" said the Of
ficer Geronimo Is a thorough savage
always has been one and always VIII be.
He's one of the kind you can't civil
| I've