Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1909-05-06
Willy APACHE Chief,
GIimpses of Geronimo. Cruelest
of Indian Leaders.
TERROR OF THE SOUTHWEST

AS the chief of the warning Apache
| Indians of the southwestern territories
In pioneer days Geronimo, who recent
ly died at Fort Sill, in LIwton. Okla,
| gained a reputation fGS 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 n 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 III. w. Law
| ton Qater 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 Il 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 a Chirica hua Apache.
the son of Chgl-o-Row of Mangus- Colo
RADIO, the war chief of the Warm
! Spring ApacheS whose career of mur-
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 Ge-
ronimo with his superior cunning for
the Indian method of warfare.
After trailing the band led by Ge-
ronimo for more than ten years Gen
eral Crook would probably have cap
tured him In 1875 had he not been
transferred TO duty among the Utes
| just as success seemed to be near al
hand. For seven years after this the
situation in the southwest was the
worst ever faced by the settlers.
! Crook was sent back in 1888. A large
body of troops was placed at his dis
pOsal, and in q month he had succeed
ed i'll driving Geronimo back to his
reservation capturing him and his men
on the Mexican border.
In 1850 Geronimo broke out again
and this time was surrounded by Crook
in the Canon de los Embdos But the
Indians succeeded in slipping away,
and Crook was removed and Nelson \
Miles placed in command. Miles had
already gained a 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 were 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 prlvation
! 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. 1886, 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 Bernardino 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
allowed to go back to the reservation.
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 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 2 o'clock in the afternoon the old
Indian came to me and asked to see my
rifle. II was q Hotchkiss and he said he
had never seen its mechanism When he
asked me for the gun and some ammuni-
tion | must confess | felt little nervous.
for | thought il might be a device to get
hold of one of our weapons. | made no
objection however, and let him have 1t.
showing him how to use it. He fired at
mark. just missing one of his own men
who was passing. This he regarded as a
laughing heartily and shouting Good
gum"
Some of Geronimos feats of endur-
ance were remarkable. Once he rode
800 miles on horseback without rest
to escape troops that pressed him hot
~. Again he ran forty miles in a day
and eluded capture. Soon after he
and his followers covered 1000 miles.
killed fifty persons and got off
A Bone.
"What sort of an after dinner speak
er is BligginsE'