The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-07-05
lsouthern Workman.A

nus, Victoria and Cochise la made
the very name Apache a synonym OF
terror. and then came Geronimo. the
superlative wage Neither sentiment
nor friendly feelings can minimize the
shocking cruelties of his career. which
history has recorded as the high water
mark of bloodthirsty brutality. The
extreme hatred and fear felt toward
him in the southwest may be guessed
from the following:
Some years & the writer was a
member of a little group gathered at
Ariz.. when the conversation turned
to Geronimo and his recent CONVEX
sion to tho christian faith. A lady
of the party, the wife of a prominent
citizen of PhoeniZ, Immediately flush
ed with anger and burst ou hotly:
If ] should see Jacobs ladder let
down from HEAVIER with h angels
with his harp in the middle. still I
would not believe that he was a chris
tan" When asked to explain the
INTENSITY of her feelings. she said:
When / was a young girl I lived in
Tombstone. AriZ., in rooms over the
undertaker's establishment. and from
time to time had to go down to help
bodies of Apache victims, and you
needn't talk to me about Geronimo
being a christian" This is the senti-
mont of most of the old timers-so
much so. indeed. that the war de-
partment V thought it safe. even
In his later years, for the old man to
return to Arizona. Let us then be
fair and admit the untold and untell-
able miseries inflicted by him and his
band in those dreadful days of raid
and massacre.
However. did the space of this arti-
Gle allow. we might tell of brilliant
scneralship. dauntless courage and In
credible endurance on the part of the
leader and his band that forced the
United States army and their Next
can and Indian allies into one of the
mos difficult campaigns in the history
nf indian Warfare-a campaign that
testcd to the utmost men like Crook,
Miles, Wood. Lawton and Chaffee. and
that came to an end only when, en-
hausted by famine. thirst and con-
unuous marching through mountains
and deserts. h hedraggled fragments
of the wornou band of men, women
ana children came in and Surren-
dered. No man who fought in that
campaign will sneer at the Apache as
a soldier.
After they CAV up. which occurred
in 1856. il was decided to transport
Them to the east and hold them as
prisoners of War, both for their own
safety ana to prevent them from do
ing further mischief. 1t is interest
ing to note that other Apaches. some
OF whom we're noncombatants. while
a few had actually been scouts for
the United States troops, We're added
TO the captive band. so that finally
4o7 in number were taken to Forts
Piekens and Marion. in Florida, but
a Year later We're transferred to Mt.
Vernon Barracks. Ala. Here their
ranks were so decimated by tuhercu-
!osis that those who remained. num-
oerlng 30S. We're removed to TT. Sill
military reservation In Oklahoma in
1891. Here under the wise direction
of Captain (now colonel) Hugh L.
Scott, they settled in family groups
set at work building houses. breaking
out land and making fences, encour-
aged by the repeated assurances of
government officials. and even of
President Cleveland himself. that
their W'anderings We're over and that
here they were to remain in undis-
puted possession OF permanent homes.
IL homeless hand We're unsophisti-
Gated enough to believe these pledges,
and pressed eagerly forward in the
confidence that not far in front Law
nome and liberty for themselves and
their children. For let it be remem-
hered that then, as now, they were
prisoners of war.
1t is but fair to state that the gov
eminent was. at this time, entirek,
sincere in its promises, and proceeded
IN good faith 20 carry them out. The
llan was to abandon Fl. Sill as a
military post and divide the reserva-
ton among the SOS Apaches; and,
further. because its 23,240 acres were
not sufficient for the purposes, a coun-
q! OF the kiowas, C~omanches and
Alowa-Apaches. within those rcserva-
zion Fl. Sill lay, was called on Feb.
IL, 1897, n its members heartily
assented to the following agreement:
kiowa Agency, -Anadarko, Okla,
Feb. II, 1897.
We, the undersigned, chiefs and
headmen Of the kiowa, Comanche and
kloWa-Apachc tribes. assembled in
open council With our agent. and with
Captain H. L. Scott, Seventh cavalry,
IN charge of Apache prisoners of war.
90 "llillslE agree, having had due
notice and consideration, to the addi-
lions. by executive order, of the fol-
towing described portions of our res
CREATION to the military reservation
OF 1T. Sill, Oklahoma, for the YER
mancnt settlement thereon of the
Apache prisoners of war, who are now
located ON the original TT. Sill mill
lazy reservation by act of congress.
inns addition, as we'll as the original
military reservation, to be used onlv
lor military purposes and for the per
manent settlement thereon of the
apache prisoners of war; a Just and
adequate compensation to be made
therefor when the surplus land of he
remainder OF the kiowa, Comanche
and Apache reservation shall be pur-
chased nv congress, and when no Ion.
ger used for the above purpose said
land shall revert to the kiowa. Co
manche and Apache Indians, unless
it snail have been purchased outright
in the meantime by the United States,
the council proceedings show that
captain Frank D.. Baldwin. Fifth in
fantry. acting agent of the Kiowas
ana Comanches, stated to them that
the only reason the government
wants this addition is to- provide a
home for these Apache Indians. a
place for them to live" In 1901 an
a~adit'onai grant of 1900 acres was
mad by these same tribes for the
use n benefit of h Apache pris-
oners of war
from military orders. documents Of
the department of the interior and
even acts Of congress-. all Of which
prove conclusively that the only
thought on h part of the govern
ment, the prisoner Apaches, and the
klowas n Comanches, was that the
n donated. as we'll as the original
RI. Sill reservation. should provide
homes for the captive
band. Even the veriest tyro in IN
dlan matters would hardly venture the
assertion that the kiowas and CO.
manches made a free gift to the
United States government Of approxi-
mately $4,000 acres Of land for the
enlargement of a military most