The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-28
Geronimo at Mt. Vernon Reu. J M Glenn Writes of the Peaceful Prison Life of the Apache Chief When He
 Was Held With the Other Indians on Ala. ban,a Soil

BY JAMES M. GLEN N.

BY JAMES M. GLENN. For many years the name of Geronimo has been one well known to the people cf the United States, for his was a very conspicuous career. The Apaches have written their name in blood in American history. They perpetrated fearful deeds. at which one may well shudder, and long campaigns were waged against them, and many men and great sums Of money were necessary to effect their equalization. If Is said that 1t required more than q, ,000, 900 to accomplish this purpose This amount was expended by the United States, and their surrender also brought great relief to Mexico, which had likewise suffered from their depredations. On account of his con- nection with the closing days of the warlike record of the Apaches. the name of Geronimo is better known by the general reader than that of any other leader of the tgibe.
 Geronimo at one time played prominent part in the history of the South west, and In making that history, he was brought into contact with men whose names are well known In our country.
 Miles, Lawton and Leonard Wood.
 The successful campaign against the Apaches was back in 1885, and General Nelson A. Niles was in charge of it. With him. ana selected by him were Captain H. w. Lawton, 4th United States cavalry. who as General Law ton died a heroic death in the Philip pines, and pr. Leonard Wood, of later fame in Cuba. the great friend of President Roosevelt and now occupy ing such a high station In the army. Lieutenant Gatewood also played conspicuous part The Indians were chased into the Sierra Madres moun- tains, and the troops suffered fearful hardships, marching in all no less than 1896 miles, and being far from any base of supplies At last the In- dians were overtaken, ana Lieutenant Gatewood was sent to hold a confer ence with Geronimo. General Miles thus describes in his Personal Recol- lections" the closing scenes: The next morning at daybreak, Geronimo. Natchez and twelve or thirteen other Indians came into our camp, and Gero- nimo rushed up to Lawton, threw his arms around him, and giving him long hug. said You are the man want to talk with They had a short conversation and as a result the entire body of Indians came down and camp ed within two miles of us, and later in the day still nearer, so that they were only half mile away, and finally they agreed to accompany Lawton to where they could meet General Miles and for mally surrender
 For a while, during the several years the Indians were at Mt. Vernon, some of the very troops who helped to cap ture them were there also, and 1t was a pleasure to talk to them of those stirring events.
 At Mt. Vernon.
 After the capture of the marauding bands. they were brought to MT. Yer non Ala. which was then a United States military post, and there the writer of these lines knew Geronimo and others of the prisoners about 400 in all, including men, women and children. In 1889. sometime after the Indians were brought there. he was in that community at least once every month. and In 1890 he resided there. and saw the Apaches continual ly. This article is written because many misapprehensions concerning Geronimo and the others have existed, and some of these have been given a new lease of life in many papers since the death a few days ago, of the cele- brated chief.
 Passenger for several years on the trains between Selma and Mobile will remem Der how the Indians at Mt. Yer non were accustomed to come to the trains and there dispose of bows and arrows bead work, canes carved into the shape of various animal heads, and many trinkets. and passengers would often eagerly ask if Geronimo was among them. He usually was. Not only was he at the train, but provided with a supply of the above named ar ticles for sale, having his own name on all the articles he sold, and doubt less many who bought them, little knew they received them from the hand of the renowned chief himself. but such was the case. The appearance of neat soldiers from the post, about half mile away. and who were down there to see the trains. like the h. dians were. lent a picturesque appear ance to the scene.
 Contrary to the opinion held by many who had never been there the h. dians enjoyed a great deal of liberty. They were not herded into prison cells, and in fact were not even kept within the garrison walls. They lived en- tirely outside in houses made of pine poles. with a plentiful supply of food and clothes furnished by the govern ment, and with a system of water works which carried water to every part of their camp. The only guard" within the Indian village was MT. George Wrattan, the white interpra- ter. who had his home among them, and who after he had gone west with them. came back at a later day and claimed a Mt. Vernon lady as his bride.
 The Indians were often seen several miles from Mt. Vernon. but were re- qulred to be at home before dark. The relations between them, the sol- diers and the citizens were very pleas ant. and the Indians seemed especially glad when an excursion came from Mobile or some other point. for that furnished them an additional market for their wares.
 GerOnimO's Appearance.
 If one sought the typical" Indian face. he found 1t much more apparent in Natchez a very willy chief for whose capture the government had offered a very large sum, rather than in Gero- nimo. In Natchez one beheld the 1.-the, rather slender figure. with the very prominent cheek bones which are such a prominent characteristic of the Indian portraits. Chihauhau, another chief was also very striking figure, wearing a beaver hat and (contrary to Indian custom) having his hair cut so that it only reached his coat collar, instead of being full length as with. the other braves. He was said to