Arizona republican., 1907-09-27
A PAPAGO EXPEDITION
 IN THE EARLY EIGHTIES
Herbert Brown is Reminded of it by the One Which Ended on Sunday Night.


 by a force of Arizona rangers and q sheriffs posse into the Papago coun- try after an Indian murderer. describes as follows a similar expedition in which he participated a quarter of a century ago:
 Sometime during the early eighties. say about 1883 or 1884. an Indian from the town of Coyote. at the north end l of the Baboquivari mountains. was charged with having stolen horses. Bob Paul was sheriff at the time. and Bob left here single handed 'to arrest the man. At Dobbs' well. about four miles east of the village. he was joined by Dobbs. and the two went boldly to the village and arrested the man wanted No resistance was of fered at the time but on the way down to the well they were ambushed by about twenty Indians. Dobbs man. aged to get away. but Paul would not let go of his man. young Indian tried to shoot him with an arrow. ! Paul large. powerful man. persist ed in keeping the captured Indian be- fore him. The older Indians finally compelled the young Indian to desist. and Paul to let, his man go. Paul 
 day. but the Indians were like the man with the bear, they wanted some one to help them let go. In the mean time Dobbs had reached home more dead than alive. The day was a very hot one and he had run hard and far. Being badly scared uo begin with he feared for sometime that he was go- ing to die. He managed. however. to f,. tA Cordis was undersheriff. and on him devolved the duty of raising q posse 10 go to the relief of Paul. It was at the time understood that Paul was still a prisoner Among the hastily raised volunteers were some of the best men of the city. but unfortunate ly considerable riffraff was gathered Irp at the same time. The party left here about three o'clock in the after noon and reached Dobbs' well at two o'clock on the following morning. and were relieved to find that Paul had been liberated All told there were between twenty and twenty-five men. Probably they had among them not more than half dozen old campaign CTS. and they apparently had sense enough to keep together. With them
 
 was to cut through the center of the town; the others were to be sent above to get between the Indians and the hills. On reaching the place just as the dawn began to appear the men were divided as stated. The town then st0bd on a high mesa and was easy of approach in the dark from be- low. All parties were strictly eau lf...r 10 do so as matter of protection. After waiting sufficient time to allow the other party to get in place the 'l Paul party climbed the bank and stood in full sight of the town. About 100 yards away an old Indian was standing watching the sun glint up from the east. On seeing the armed force he turned and ran back a short distance. then apparently ashamed of his weakness he stopped. put his hand to his mouth and let out sue cession of yells. At this the Indians poured out of their wickiups. men. women and children. pell mell one after the other in the greatest con- fusion. and running through the town crossed a deep canyon on the west and disappeared in the broken ground
 
 ultaneously with the appearance of the Indians firing commenced at the south or upper end of the village. This was stopped by messenger as soon as possible. It was the irres- ponsible rabble shooting at the flee ing Indians. but. fortunately. they did not succeed in killing or injuring any. In a few minutes the Indians were all l.. of the mesa. As many of them were known to be armed no great rush was made to follow them Besides it was not the intention of Paul to have any of them injured if such course could be avoided. nor did any of the late rabid shooters evince any desire to catch a chance bullet by following the Indians into the brush. but gathered around Paul about 100 yards from the edge of the deep gulch across which the Indians had taken refuge. Chas. T. Etchells. Herbert Brown. F.. P. Van curen and another party, whose name the writer has forgotten. alone stood on the edge of the canyon. On the opposite side the only Indian visible was a middle aged man with Win chester rifle. Speaking in Spanish he tilt NiilltS. ipi their poor craftsmanship and defied them to cross the canyon and enter the brush. Notwithstanding his loud vaunt the fellow looked harmless enough and the writer. being a news paper man, decided to cross over and give him a closer interview. As sort of a Hague conference affair he step ped into the open and in plain sight l of both parties. grounded him arsenal and calling to Paul to look after them. crossed over to the Indian and took his gun away from him. The Indian was too surprised to resist. In a few min l utes the whole party was across the canyon. and peace negotiations were l at once commenced. At the call of the old chief he was joined by others of his council. It was then agreed that the horse thief should be sur rendered, the Indians agreeing to bring him into town in few days. As they did not come in at the appointed time 1 word was sent to them of the cOnse- quences and they came in to the num- | Der of about twenty. Not only the horse thief was surrendered but the