Arizona republican., 1900-11-30
THANKSGIVING WITH APACHES
A Case of Justice and Case of
 aJoke.

District Attorney Thomas D. Flanni- gan said last night that every Thanks giving day reminded him of one he spent on a cattle range in the White
 Mountain Indian reservation about
 twenty years ago. As q matter of fact the range was not officially on the res ervation, for it had no right to be there but the cowboys were camped there and most of the cattle were there.
 Several Apaches living in that part | of the reservation visited the camp daily, partly out of curiosity and partly to steal One of them had been watched by the cowboys for a long time. One day he came into camp with a gee string and a criminal purpose to in crease his wardrobe, for Thanksgiving day even in that wild region brings with it more or less of a chill He loafed about the camp un.r late in the afternoon and as he was leaving swiped a shirt which a cowboy had washed and hung on bush to dry.
 The thief, caught in the act, was captured, tied to a tree and told that he was to pe shot. Four men were sta tioned in front of him with Winchesters pointed at his breast He was then bhndfOlded. Another cowboy stood by with a cup Of cold water. During all the preparation for the execution the Apache offered no manifestation of fear. At a word the rifles were dis charged into the air and at the same instant the man with the cup of water dashed it against the Indians breast. The victim shrieked once and col lapsed. When he was united he sank down and the scared cowboys believed that he was deed. He was finally re- stored and was allowed to keep the shirt. All this had happened in the course of justice, so that TO bad conse- quence was feared, beside, the In dian had been fully placated. He said he was so glad to wake up and find that he had not been shot that he loved his White neighbors more than ever.
 The next day, though, the cowboys played a joke on an Indian without provocaltion. The victim was an old man who had visited camp every day for a week. He was as methodical as clock-work in his movements. Every day at a certain hour he was seen at,a long distance riding down the valley toward the camp. Arriving near the Ne1Iilp ctlltl. ne dEWayS tleu his cayuse to the same scrub oak tree. Then he sat down on a certain boulder and resting his elbows on his knees. contemplated the cowboys hour after hour. He was never seen to wink or move his eyes. In the course of all his visits he had never uttered a word in reply to the raillery of the cowboys Alt a certain hour he always rose from his seat. united his cayuse and rode away.
 One day the cowboys decided to vary the form of reception. They built great fire early in the morning, rolled the boulder into 1t and piled on wood until afternoon. A mak on watch aI length reported the approach of their visitor a mile away. The boulder was pushed out of the fire and rolled back into its original resting place.
 The Indian arrived ten minutes later, tied his pony to the scrub oak and sat down on the boulder, but not for long. Like Fritz Emmett's cuckoo, The flew so high he almost touched the sky" He came down bowling and running. The ice Of Apache stoicIsm had not only been broken through, but had been wholly melted. The next instant he was on his cayuse flying up the valley, still yelling. The COW camp was moved off the reservation the next day.