Albuquerque weekly citizen. (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1891-19??, 1903-06-27
TWENTY-FOUR YEARS AGO.
LAND OF MIDNIGHT HORROR.

In 1879 Mai. Elliott n. Barber signed
a contract to carry the United States
mails from Rincon. n. NJ, to Tomb.
stone. Ariz.. a distance OF $50 miles.
says the Frontier Sketches" writer
in the Denver Field and Farm. BE.
cause of the hot weather IL was
thought best that | should ride at
night" says Major Barber in recount.
ing the circumstances OF the initial
trip. Besides there was less danger
from Apaches and Maricopas in the
night. Imagine my feelings when
started on fiery bronco from the min.
ing camp at Tombstone one evening
in August on my first ride over the
mail route. | had food enough for
three days and was armed with a car
bine and two pistols | shall never
forget that night While | was terri
fed at every sound nothing desperate
happened The next morning | stop.
ped at Mexican camp, where ! had
an order for a fresh horse. rested
until early afternoon. and after being
warned to be constantly on guard. |
started out. | passed Fort Bowie of
AT the south about twenty miles and
followed the trail northward. All went
vel! until late that evening II was
very dark but | had become used to
that
Suddenly my horses dropped. al
most pitched forward of the beast
Then the animal snorted and paved.
In vain stuck spurs into the horses
TANKS and tried 20 urge him on. Il:
was no use. looked about carefully
and deserted something lying close &c
the trail. | dlsmounted and felt about
the ground with my feet felt the
hard. stiff body Of a dead man. In
all my experiences in the sanguinary
days of the Colorado mining camps |
never had the sensations of that STUN.
bling on a dead body in that lonely.
Godforsaken spot in Apacheland 3 1t
dark night. | felt the body Owe and
lighted matches 70 see II. BY the flick
ering light of the matches held over
the dead mans face saw that he was
Mexican and that he had been shot
In the neck and cheek.
1T was the work of Indians. The
scalp had been lifted from the crown
Of the head and the telltale Apache
marks Of slashing knives were on the
chest and shoulders. remounted and
started of at lively gait. Two hours
later | was at the little Mormon set.
Element. now abandoned, OF Mayfield
There | told OF my discovery. The
ranchmen paid no attention to Il. they
said that none OF them had dared "a
go alone out in the country for weeks
and that the Apaches under old Co
chise had held the region in terror fol-
nearly a year. Only a month before
two Mormon ranchmen had been killed
while returning from Fort Bowie and
their bodies robbed and hacked tc
pieces. That night | saw two Apache
campfires away of twenty miles dis
tant In the foothills OF the Mescallerc
mountains.
AT dawn | came upon a pack tralr
OF United States cavalry on the way &c
Fort Grant. rested there few hour.
and with my saddle for "A pillow slep,
hard. AT early evening I started OF
toward Rincon and reached there mex
morning. ] turned my mail pouch ovel
to the postmaster and was told thai
a return mail would be ready In TWEEN
ty-four hours. On the way back {,
Tombstone | passed within two mile,
Of a band OF painted Apaches, but
was within ten miles OF Fort Bowl,
and they did not dare vhase me- Those
days were the bloodiest we have evel
had In the southwest. II took a stou
heart and heap OF hard work to max,
ones way across the trails In Apache
land every week. There were reports
almost weekly OF some murderous 70
ray by the Indians. Thousands OF set
tiers abandoned their holdings and fec
for their lives. There must have beer
500 white people killed that year"