El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-02
THE TWO
GERONIM0s
One Brought Everlasting
Fame To Gen. LaWton
DEATH FROM THE OTHER
A Graphic Story OF the Battle of
LaWton BY One Who Knew Him
As Man As Well As d Soldier.


LaWton By One Who Knew Hin
As Man As Well As Soldier.
My work with General Lawton com
menced with a chase after one Geroni
mo, and was ended by another Geroni
mo of another race, on the opposite
side of the earth. [ knew Lswtor
when he was private, fighting his
way through more than thirty battles
of the civil war, from the ranks to q
commission.
was his chief of scouts when We
walked and climbed 800 miles through
the Sierra Madre. l was with him in
Cuba and had been asked and was pre-.
pairing to take a place on his staff In
the Philippines when he was killed in
. his engagement with General Geron
limo.
People here may feel sorry for Law
toms death, but you cannot feel as we
do in Arizona. We knew the man
there, not the general; just the same
man; who could trail Indian into bis
own country and then outwalk him.
outwit him in strategem, undergo the
same privations, and finally herd and
drive that same wild Indian into a trap,
broken in spirit and strength. Even
then the Indians respected him for
his wonderful personal courage, and
w ~O
The fight with Geronimo, the
Apache, was when LawtOn was q cap
a tain in the Fourth cavalry. Geronimo
had about $50 Apaches with him. In
the force sent across the border to take
him there were less than so soldiers
and something more than twice that
mum Der of Chiricahus Indian scouts.
The Apaches had left the reservation
well supplied with arms and ammunt-
milton, and had put in their time driv-
ing stock across the liue until thatpart
of the Sierra Madre where they were
lodging was regular stock range,
with plenty of ponies to ride and cattle
for food.
The Indians were we'll fixed for q
long fight. They had no fear Of the
Mexicaus, either civilians or soldiers.
They were safe from attack from the
Americans by reason of being out OF
their territory. They had trsnsporta-
for the cattle and ponies wandered at
will over a large range and the Indians
knew the sheltered and grassy valleys
where they could be found.
The policy was not to attack them in
any one pitched battle, but to take
them as hunter and his dog would
hunt quail.
us. My Chiricshua scouts kept US al
ways informed as to where they we're,
and we moved after rapidly enough to
keep them always alarmed and on the
go.
A sudden attack and pitched battle
might have enabled US to kill some and
scatter the rest, but it would have
them If separated. The Indians had
heretofore been safe VIXEN they
retreated to the Mexican side
of the line, but now special
treaty had been arranged, permitting
US to follow them wherever
they went, crossing and recrossing the
line at our pleasure, something which |
down what Is called "Give and Take" |
canon the crooked valley many times
crosses the boundary line, which is |
straight at that point.
The Mexican soldiers were hardly
worth being called soldiers: they were
not paid, fed nor drilled with any re-
gulsrity. No scouts or transportation
were provided for them, and when
they went out to repel invading bands
of Apaches they seldom escaped with
out painful experiences
The ApacheS were careful to save am
munit1On whenever possible and one
of their economics was to lie in wait
at the head of a bsrranca, or on the
walls of one of the many cienegas
through when the Mexicans must
pass. When the scoutless Mexicaus
came walking beneath the trap the In-
dians would industriously tumble rocks
over upon them, sometimes killing and
wounding soldiers, stampeding their
pack trains and demoralizing them
We started out with a well equipped
pack train, but as we got further up
the high sierra we gradually lost or
were compelled to leave our pack ami
mails. Many OF them fell over the
edges of the trail and were killed by
the fall, others were go injured that
they had to be shot. AS we entered
thi : rough country we found that the
indians also were losing ponies, and
many of them were still alive but ex-
hsusted and dying. Some had been
killed and partly cut up and eaten, for
an Indian, especially an Apache, is al
ways fond OF horse meat and they
seem to eat it indifferently. even when
they could obtain beef. They always
carried a supply of it cut into long
strings so that it might dry as they
travelled. As our chase be-
came more serious the enemy
look to still higher land. We dis
,arded all of our packing outfit and
each man, officer, soldier. and scout
came to the same vessel, each carried
his own provisions, gun aud single
blanket to protect from the cold.
which was very bitter in the high
altitude and thin light air, for up hill
Dr. down we were always at an eleva-