The copper era., 1909-03-18
Geronimo the Crafty Described.

Geronimo the Crafty Described.
 Geronimo, brief mention of whose death on February 17 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, was made in this paper at the time, was we'll known all over his section of Arizona, and especially in the Gila Valley, where some of the most noted depredations against the whites were made, says the Silver Belt.
 At one time chief of the Chiricahua Apache Indians, he was once described by General Nelson A. Miles, in a re- port to the government, as the lowest and most cruel of all the Indian savages on this continent.
 For more than half a century the word Apache had been a synonym for atrocities without name, and for nearly all of that time Geronimo had been the tribe leader, having been crowned war chief at the age of six teen about seventy years ago; as near as could be discovered from conversa- tion with the chief himself Geronimo
 was the son of Mangus Colorado, or Chal-o-row, who was said to be the double distilled essence of best all cruelty, who was war chief of the Warm Spring Chiricahuas, devasted
 Arizona, New Mexico and Sonora,
 Mexico.
 In his raids of rapine and plumber Geronimo was led at first by old Co.,
 chise, the heriditary chief of the
 Apaches, and one of the most daring
 and relentless leaders that ever
 bafled the United States Army. He died old and broken, in 1875, and his
 son Matches, became the head chief, to be guided and later succeeded by Geronimo, with this subtle and crafty
 genius for Indian warfare. For ten long years General Crook trailed the band led by Geronimo, and at one
 time could have laid his hands upon Geronimo, but was in 1875 relieved from duty in the Apache country and
 sent up among the Utes.
 For period of seven years after that there was chaos in Indian affairs in the southwestern territories, and , attacks by the Chiricahuas upon set ', tiers were constant, and they and
 their homes were destroyed. The band taunted the Apaches who had been placed on the reservations by
 Crook, and in 1883, Crook was sent , back to find and capture the chief. When Gen. Crook took command ir
 the west he had a large body of troops I and after month, succeeded in in.
 ducing Geronimo to go back on his :, reservation, having captured him or :. the border of Mexico. In 1885 Ger
 onimo broke loose again, and this 7 time Crook surrounded the fugitives
 in the Canyon de los Embidos, all sur :. rendering. This was on March 27 l That night the troops guarding the
 Indians got drunk and the Apaches ], slipped away. This resulted in the . removal of Crook, Miles taking com
 mand.
 !, When Miles went into the field he , determined not to be hindered by
 Washington as other commanders
 had been. He did not cut the field f telegraph wires behind him but field
 telegraphing was often forgotten, ,
 and few knew of the whereabouts oi either Miles or Geronimo. The gen eral declared to his intimates before !, he started that he was determined to
 have peace, if he had to kill every , Apache in the country.
 I Geronimo was accorded credit for real warrior ability in his last stand, for he had against him the pick of the United States army officers and
 soldiers. In 1885 and 1886 Captain afterward General-H. w. Lawton
 fought the Apache band, and Assist ant Surgeon Leonard Wood asked for and obtained command of the infan- try scouts. They had hard summer and worse winter in the awful coun-
 try between Arizona, New Mexico
 and Old Mexico. They travelled miles upon miles over burning rocks, almost F naked, barefoot and hungry. Often for twenty-four hours there was not a drop of water for man or beasts. On the night of August 20, 1886, as
 General Miles sat at the telegraph instrument, in Wilcox, Arizona I station, word came that Geronimo
 had been located at the junction oi the San Bernardino and Bavish rivers near the Mexican border. He hurried , there and met the chief under guard , of Captain Lawton. The warrior sur. rendered himself and all his bucks, , squaws and papooses. They had little
 else but dogs, 40O of them. The willy
 old chieftain had decided to come in
 and feed upon the government until
 he had rested up and get into good
 condition again to start on his mur- derons career.