New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-03-03
Willy APACHE CHIEF,
Glimpses Of Geronimo, CrueIest
Of Indian Leaders.
TERROR OF THE SOUTHWEST

SSV0OSASsVu VJkSS U1lS 1AlOS-NCOWus
Cd War Chief at Sixteen-lncident
He Regarded as Great Joke-His
Feats Of Endurance.
As the chief of the warning Apache
Indians of the southwestern territories
in pioneer days Geronimo, who recent
~ died at Fort Sill, in Lawton. Okla,
gained a reputation for cruelty and
cunning never surpassed by that of
any other American Indian chief. For
more than twenty years he and his
men were the terror Of the United
States, always leaving trail of blood
shed and devastation. The old chief,
who was nearly ninety years of age,
was captured many times, but always
got away again until his final capture
in 1886 by small command of infan-
try scouts under Captain II. W. Law
ton Cater major generaD and Assistant
Surgeon Leonard Wood
The capture was made in the sum
mer after long and very trying cam
paign Of many months, in which Law
ton and Wood gained reputation
which will be long remembered in the
annals of the army. In the early years
of his Imprisonment he made several
attempts to escape.
Geronimo was Chiricahua Apache,
the son Of Chal-o-Row of Mangus-C Colo
RADIO, the war chief Of the Warm
Spring Apaches, whose career of MUIR
der and devastation through Arizona,
New Mexico and northern Mexico in
his day almost equaled that of his ter
rible son. According to stories told by
the old Indian during his last days, he
was crowned war chief of his tribe at
the early age Of sixteen. For many
years he followed the lead of old Co
chise, the hereditary chief of the
Apaches, who died in 1875 and was
succeeded by Natchez, his son, who
however, was soon displaced by &C.
ronimo with his superior cunning for
the Indian method of warfare.
After trailing the band led by Ge-
ronfmo for more than ten years Gen
eral Crook would probably have cap
tnred him in 1875 had he not been
transferred to duty among the Utes
just as success seemed to be near a;
hand. For seven years after this the
situation in the southwest was the
worst ever faced by the settlers.
Crook was sent back in 1883. A large
body of troops was placed at his dis
posal, and in a month he had succeed
ed in driving Geronimo back to his
reservation, capturing him and his men
on the Mexican border.
In 1885 Geronimo broke out again
and this time was surrounded by Crook
in the Canon de los Embidos But the
Indians succeeded in slipping away,
and Crook was removed and Nelson A.
Miles placed in command Miles had
already gained reputation as an In
dian fighter, and, while he did not ex-
actly cut the field wires behind him to
prevent interference from Washington,
stories are told of the frequent disre-
gard Of troublesome messages.
Lawton and Wood We're placed in
command of the scouts late in the sum
mer of 1885. They asked permission
to take picked body of men into the
hostile territory and endeavor to run
down Geronimo. General Miles finally
sent them off with many misgivings.
There followed months of privation
and hardships which were never for
gotten by the men who went with the
two young officers. They were gone
nearly year, General Miles often not
knowing even where they were or
whether or not they had been destroy
ed by the enemy. On the night of Aug.
20, 1885, the general was sitting at the
telegraph instrument in the Office at
Wilcox, Ariz., waiting for dispatches,
when the key suddenly clicked off the
news that Geronimo and his men had
been surrounded at the junction Of the
San Bernardin0 and Baische rivers.
near the Mexican border. Miles has
tened there and met the chief on his
way north under guard of Lawton.
The old warrior was surrounded by
about 400 bucks, squaws, papooses and
dogs. They had little else, than their
blankets and tent poles. The people
of the west demanded that he be not
dllOHStt " ~ OtltA " tuC 1CSClNdt1oll
He and his bucks were accordingly
sent to Fort Pickens and the squaws
and papooses to Fort Marion, Fla. 1t
was finally decided to keep Geronimo
confined as a prisoner Of war. His
desire to go back to the west was so
pitiful, however. that he was trans
ferred to Fort Sill, where he spent the
remainder Of his days.
General Wood tells an interesting
anecdote of an incident which occur
red one afternoon when he was guard
ing the old chief while Lawton went
in search of his command, the location
of which he had lost soon after the
surrender:
About Q o'clock in the afternoon the old
Indian came to me and asked to see my
rifle. It was a Hotchkiss, and he said he
had never seen its mechanism. When he
asked me for the gun and some ammuni-
ton must confess I felt little nervous,
for thought 1t might be device to get
hold OF one of our weapons. made no