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The Dread Apache--That Early-Day Scourge of the Southwest

Tucson, Arizona November 14 1915

The Dread Apache--That Early-Day Scourge of the Southwest

BY DR. M. P. FREEMAN

A short time ago, idling through a collection of early-day photographs, I came across two that vividly recalled the closing scenes in that bloody frontier drama in which the Apache was the chief actor. For many years the relentless foe of the pioneer, wary, tireless, cowardly and treacherous, he was the very incarnation of fiendishness, if possible, more pronounced in the squaw than in the man. Never meeting you in the open, always in ambush, concealed behind the big granite boulder, the point of a hill or a clump of brush, he and his fellows patiently awaited your solitary coming, all unconscious of danger, then--the crack of the rifle and it is all over. Today he might be a "sniper", but in the days of his hellish activities the word had not yet been given its more recently enlarged meaning.

How many breakers of the wilderness, hardy, fearless old-timers, were sent to their final rest by this early scourge of the desert, who can say! Some place their number at two thousand, some say more, others less. This does not include the soldier boy, whose profession it is to risk his life, and when necessary, his duty, its sacrifice. Of the number of these there is probably a record somewhere, but of the old pioneer, only an estimate. In the valley, on the mesa and the hillside, on the mountain-top and in the deep shadows of the canyon, everywhere this broad land is dotted with their unknown and unmarked graves.

Captain John G. Bourke, author of "On the Border with Crook," and "An Apache Campaign," who was with Gen. Crook, tells us that the Apache "is no coward, but that he has no false ideas about courage, that he would prefer to skulk like a coyote for hours and then kill his enemy, rather than by injudicious exposure receive a wound." May we not attribute to the chivalrous spirit of Capt. Bourke, not to criticize a foe, his delicate way of putting this?

No, I do not recall that this early plague of the old pioneer ever "injudiciously exposed" himself unless driven to it. "Skulking like the coyote," as Capt. Bourke so well expresses it, is my conception of his bravery. If forced to the open he would undoubtedly make a brave fight, but I have never heard of his voluntarily seeking that open, meeting his enemy on anything approaching equal terms.

Paris Adopts Name of Apache

Being over in Paris a few years ago, a friend who had lived there a number of years, and who was as familiar with Paris from basement to roof-garden, as I am with Congress street of our good old town of Tucson, suggested one evening that we visit the "Apaches". Expressing surprise that any of my people should have wandered so far from home, I suggested as a substitute the Moulin Rouge. However, the Apaches were agreed on, and in the evening, my friend, bringing a policeman with him, called for me at my hotel.

Arriving at the door of the Apache rendezvous in due course, we three--my friend, the policeman and myself--are readily admitted, the presence of our policeman assuring that, and we find ourselves in an underground dive, a large room with a low ceiling, barely furnished, dimly lighted, and reeking with the sour odor of stale beer. Looking about the room, by the dim light as it forces its way through the dense gloom of tobacco smoke, we are enabled to see two other policemen besides our own--there are two stationed there day and night--and a score or more of the toughest-looking lot of cut-throats I had ever had the pleasure of coming in contact with. This was the retreat, the gathering place, of as bad a lot of thieves, thugs, robbers, burglars and murderers as the world could boast of, and Paris, in seeking a name for them that would embody all of these characteristics, had searched the world over, and was almost in despair of finding a single word that would express all that is mean, wantonly cruel, murderous and cowardly, but at last attention was directed to the Apache of Arizona, and then it was discovered that the word which would embody all that and more had been found. And that was why I was enabled to find some of my own home people away off there in the world's center of fashion. Settling for a few bottles of the vilest beer possible to brew, as a tip to the house, I was soon ready to ask my friend to call his policeman and get us away from this vile den.

Judge McComas and Wife Murdered.

It is scarcely more than a quarter of a century, March, 1883, since Judge McComas, his wife and their little son Charlie, about seven years of age, coming from Silver City, New Mexico, to Lordsburg, were ambushed by a band of Apaches from San Carlos, the Judge and his wife killed, and poor little Charlie carried off to the Sierra Madres in Mexico, where, a few years later, an Apache squaw reported that on their camp being attacked by United States troops, Charlie, being frightened, ran off into the mountains, where he is supposed to have died of hunger and exposure.

It was during this same year that a band passing over the Whetstone range of mountains killed a teamster and two of his men and a wood-chopper, who were furnishing wood for the Total Wreck mine.

On July 3, 1885, Frank Peterson, who was carrying the United States mail between Crittenden and Lochiel, was killed by the Indians while returning from Lochiel to Crittenden. A sad feature in connection with this killing was that he had just been married.

Dr. Davis Shot to Death.

On June 3, 1886, Dr. C. H. Davis, a brother of W. C. Davis, of Tucson, coming from the San Pedro river over the pass between the Catalinas and the Rincons, with a wagon and span of mules, was waylaid and killed by a band of these outlaws. J. P. Hohusen and W. H. Wheaton, coming from their homes on the San Pedro the day before, met Dr. Davis going out, and warned him against the Indians, but having been in the country but a short time, he failed to appreciate the danger and made light of the warning.

It was subsequently learned that Hohusen and Wheaton narrowly escaped this same band themselves as they were coming in to Tucson. When Hohusen returned home he learned from his man that the Indians had been at his place the night before the killing of Davis, and attempted to drive off some of his horses from the pasture; but the man, seizing his rifle, jumped into a well which was partly caved in and which naturally furnished him an excellent defensive position, and from this he fired at the Indians, but without apparent effect other than to force them to leave the place. After the killing of Dr. Davis, the Indians, taking the two mules, went to Walter Vail's Happy Valley ranch, in the Rincons, where they left the mules in exchange for a bunch of Vail's horses, shooting, but not killing, Cal Mathews, the herder. From Happy Valley they passed south into the Whetstones, where they shot and killed Marcus Goldbaum. Edward L. Vail, one of the party going out to the scene of the killing, found that the Indians had been gone but a few hours, having also killed a partner of Goldbaum as he was en route to Benson.

Little Boy Taken From Gastelo Ranch.

It was not long prior to this that a band working back from the Sierra Madres to the San Carlos reservation attacked the ranch of Juan Gastelo, not over fifteen miles from Tucson, near Tanque Verde, and carried off with them a little Mexican boy. The news coming to town, a volunteer company was immediately formed by M. G. Samaniego and R. N. Leatherwood, our Bob. Samaniego, having had a brother killed by the Apaches a few years before, was more than keen for an opportunity to avenge his death. The volunteer company, led by Leatherwood and Samaniego, came upon the band, encamped in the neighborhood of Tanque Verde. The Indians, however, being alarmed by the premature firing of a gun, scattered like a flock of quail and got away, but the boy, escaping, was recovered by the volunteers.

On another occasion a band, killing a rancher named Lloyd, four miles north of Pantano, stole the horses of Ed Vail and George Scholefield, near Rosemont, and passing on south, killed a man named Wimple, near Greaterville.

Mexicans Attack and Rob Wheaton.

A trying experience in the life of Wheaton, who narrowly escaped the band that killed Dr. Davis, was when four Mexicans came to his ranch on the San Pedro river one evening, he being entirely alone at the time, and demanded his money, which they said they knew him to have from the sale of some hogs. He, however, denying that he had any money, they proceeded to put a rope round his neck, and strung him up three or four times, each time demanding that he tell where the money was concealed, and he still denying that he had any. During all this time they were trying to find where the money was hidden, and finally discovered it, about , in the window casing. Then the question was debated as to what they should do with Wheaton; whether or not they should kill him. This they evidently hesitated to do, but finally decided to take him out and throw him into his well, probably having in mind that this would not kill him, but would make him a close prisoner for a time. On taking him to the well, however, they found it to be a bored one and therefore only eight or ten inches in diameter. Of course this frustrated that plan, and they returned him to the house, and throwing him on his bed, proceeded to tie him, and after threatening to kill him in case he at any time made them any trouble over the affair, they left him. As soon as they were gone Wheaton succeeded in releasing himself and went to the home of J. P. Hohusen, not far away, naturally nearly prostrated from his fright and the terrible ordeal through which he had just passed. The next day Wheaton, accompanied by Ira Davis, a brother of Dr. Davis, came to Tucson and reported the case to Judge C. H. Meyer, an old-time justice of the peace.

"Old Charley Meyer," Law Unto Himself.

Old Charlie Meyer, as he was familiarly called, was indeed a character, and had the well-earned reputation of meeting out justice with an iron hand, and, due in a large measure to his eccentric methods of administering justice, was quite popular with the well meaning, but certainly a terror to the evil-doer. Judge Meyer's conception of justice and the language of the statutes frequently failed to be in full harmony, but that, of course, was not a matter for which he was responsible, and should not, and did not, interfere in the slightest degree with the administration of justice in his court. Meyer recalled that four Mexicans had that same day come into his court and, by the deposit of as bail, had secured the release of their friend, one El Zorra, who was being held for some offense, having been unable until then to secure bail. Three of these four men were immediately found and arrested. The fourth, having started for Mexico, was followed by the officers and overtaken at Boley's Well, where, in resisting arrest, he was shot and killed by Bob Cannon, one of the officers. On trial of the other three, Hohusen was able to fully identify one of the bills in the turned in to Judge Meyer's court as one that he had personally paid to Wheaton a few days before. In addition to this, one of the men, Pancho Gomez, having turned state's evidence, they were all three convicted and sentenced to the Territorial prison, Gomez, however, for a shorter term than the others.

"Tommy Gates Displays Magnificent Nerve."

While serving their terms, on October 27, 1887, in an attempted outbreak at the prison, in which these men participated, the prisoners succeeded in getting hold of the superintendent of the prison, Thomas Gates, familiarly known as Tommy Gates, and threatened to take his life if he permitted the guards to fire on them. Notwithstanding this, he ordered the guards to fire, when one of the Wheaton convicts, one Puebla, thrust a knife first into his shoulder and then into his back, seriously but not fatally wounding him. Barney Riggs, a life-termer, then succeeded in getting hold of a pistol, shot and killed Puebla, and for this was subsequently pardoned out, in response to the almost unanimous sentiment of the Territory. In the emeute four of the prisoners were killed outright, and Tommy Gates's display of nerve on the occasion goes into history as a heroic example of self sacrifice in the discharge of duty.

Brutal Murder of Mrs. Peck and Baby.

On April 27, 1886, a band of Indians appeared at the ranch of A. L. Peck, about twenty miles from Oro Blanco, where they found Mrs. Peck, her baby, about eleven months old, and her niece, Jenny, a young girl of about 11 years. Killing Mrs. Peck and the baby, they took the young girl away with them. It was asserted by some at the time, including Peck himself, that the leader of this band was Geronimo, but I think this could hardly have been possible, for the reason that the leader was too young and spoke good English, whereas Geronimo did not speak English. In giving the "Story of His Life" to S. M. Barrett, at Fort Sill, not many years ago, it had to be done through an interpreter. Besides, Geronimo had escaped from General Crook, sixty-five miles south of Fort Bowie and 125 miles east of Oro Blanco, on the night of March 29th, only a month previous, and gone into the Sierra Madre mountains. It is my opinion that Geronimo was never seen in Arizona subsequent to that time until he surrendered to General Miles and was brought to Fort Bowie the following September.

At the time of the killing of Mrs. Peck, Peck and a young man by the name of Charles Owen were a mile or two away from the house, both being mounted but unarmed, and were in the act of catching a steer. The Indians surprising them, Peck's horse was shot from under him and he was captured and held prisoner. Owen, being well mounted, made a dash for his life, but ran into another part of the same band. His horse was shot from under him, and Owen himself was shot through the neck and arm, killing him instantly. Those that had Peck were apparently waiting for their leader for instructions as to what to do with him. The leader soon coming up, after taking from Peck his boots, knife and tobacco, they released him, telling him, however, not to go home. Before releasing him, one of the Indians, for some unexplainable reason, gave him 65 cents in money. A squaw with this band had little Jenny on a horse with her. Jenny was crying bitterly, and when Peck attempted to talk with her the Indians intervened and prevented his doing so. About six weeks later she was rescued from the Indians by some Mexican cowboys, at a point about forty miles from Magdalena, Sonora, where she was delivered to Peck, who had gone after her. As soon as released, Peck went directly home, where he found his wife and baby lying dead.

Shanahan Killed, "Yank" Bartlett Wounded.

The day following the killing of Mrs. Peck and her baby, John Shanahan, who was unarmed, left "Yank" Bartlett's ranch in Bear Valley, about eight miles from Oro Blanco, for his own place, about three miles distant, leaving at the ranch with Bartlett his little son Phil, about ten years of age, who was there visiting Johnnie Bartlett, of about the same age. Shanahan had been gone but about ten minutes, when Johnnie ran into the room where his father was, telling him that he had just heard three shots, and that he thought maybe the Indians had shot the "old man". Bartlett, who had not heard of the Indians being in the vicinity, scouted the idea, but on going outside saw Shanahan approaching, and ran to him and assisted him into the house, Shanahan telling him that the Indians had shot him. Bartlett immediately seized his gun, and on going to the door a bullet fired by one of the Indians whistled past his head. There were but three of the Indians, but having placed themselves in different positions, it was hardly possible for Bartlett to get a shot at them without exposing himself to their fire, and one shot from them passing through his shoulder, only missed the head of Johnnie by about an inch, blinding him from the dust of the adobe wall as the bullet struck it. The fight between Bartlett and the three Indians was kept up until dark. Shanahan, fatally wounded, was constantly calling out for water. Bartlett thinks that in the fight he wounded one of the Indians.

Little Phil Saves Mother and Sisters

Shanahan's story is that a short time after leaving the house, being totally unconscious of any danger, he was suddenly shot by an Indian, whom he then saw only about thirty feet away. Picking up a rock and starting for the Indian, Shanahan received another shot from behind that knocked him down, but he was immediately up again and ran back for the house, Bartlett meeting and assisting him in. Shanahan saw but two Indians, and said he could have killed both if he had had a gun. During the time Bartlett was keeping the Indians at bay, realizing the danger of Mrs. Shanahan and her two young daughters, at their home three miles away, he told Phil, Shanahan's little son, to steal out of the house by a back way and go to his home and notify his mother of their danger and of the shooting of his father. Phil demurred at first, wanting to stay with his father, who was suffering intensely, but being told that unless he went his mother and little sisters would surely be killed, the little fellow courageously said he would try to get to them, and good fortune favoring him, he succeeded in doing so. Finding them in the garden, they all, including Phil, immediately started for the mountains, where they concealed themselves until the following day. In the meantime the Indians had come to the house and carried off or wrecked everything in it, and would undoubtedly have killed Mrs. Shanahan and the two little girls had not brave little Phil, at the risk of his life, warned them of the danger.

Brave Little Johnnie Bartlett.

Bartlett kept the Indians off until dark, when it is probable they left, as they were not seen again. Soon after dark, Bartlett told Johnnie that he must go to Oro Blanco and notify the people of the shooting of Shanahan and himself, and that Shanahan was probably dying. When little Johnnie was told that he must do this, like the little hero he was, he simply said: "All right, papa," and immediately started, first taking off his shoes and going barefoot the first mile or two, to avoid making any sound. Johnnie, on foot, reached Oro Blanco, eight miles away, about two o'clock in the morning and gave the alarm. A posse was immediately made up and started for the scene of the troubles, where they found Shanahan dead and Bartlett wounded, and the Indians evidently gone.

General Crook Relieved.

Gen. George Crook came to Arizona in 1870, remaining in command of the department here until 1875, when he was transferred to the department of the Platte, and was reassigned and returned to Arizona in 1882. In 1886, evidently taking exception to an implied criticism from the Department at Washington, and, as he expressed it, "having spent nearly eight years of the hardest work of his life in this department", he asked to be relieved. Crook was criticized in Arizona at the time for a too abiding faith in the loyalty of his Indian scouts, and many of us believed this criticism to be fully justified. There is hardly a doubt that much of the ammunition used by the renegades was supplied them by these same scouts. It was but a few months prior to Crook's being relieved that Capt. Crawford, a zealous and gallant officer, while engaged in his thankless task of ridding their own country of these pests, was treacherously killed by Mexican irregular troops in the Sierra Madre mountains. It is true that these irregular troops were Tarahumari Indians, possibly as wild and uncontrollable as the Apaches themselves, and that may extenuate the treachery to some extent, but the fact remains that the officers in command were not Indians, but Mexicans.

Geronimo Surrenders to General Miles.

On the 4th of September following Miles's assuming command, Geronimo and his band surrendered to him, and on September 8th they left Fort Bowie for Fort Marion, Florida. The point of surrender to Miles was at Skeleton canyon, in Mexico, about 65 miles south of Fort Bowie. The surrender of Geronimo may be fixed as the date of the termination of the many years of warfare between the whites and the Apaches as a tribe, a warfare marked with a cruelty on the part of the Apaches probably unparalleled in the history of the four hundred years of strife between the whites on the one side and the redman on the other.

Apache Kid Begins Bloody Career.

I have said that the surrender of Geronimo terminated the many years of bloody warfare with the Apaches as a tribe, but the Indian tribes may, and do, have outlaws in their own tribe, outlaws for whom as a tribe they are in no way responsible, and for whose acts the individual and not the tribe should alone be held amenable. Even the white tribe is not altogether immune from this infliction. In this class, among others, was the "Apache Kid", who, following the surrender of Geronimo, with a few lawless followers made independent warfare on isolated, helpless settlers, leaving the footprints of his bloody work wherever he went. The Kid, sometimes called the Apache Kid, and at others simply Kid, was an Apache scout occupying the position of sergeant under Al Sieber, chief of scouts. On June 1, 1887, the Kid shot Sieber on the San Carlos reservation, wounding but not killing him, and this marks the beginning of Kid's series of bloody crimes.

Immediately following the shooting of Sieber, Kid, his squaw and sixteen other Indians, left the reservation.

Capt. Burgess, Old-Time Scout

An interesting old-time scout is Captain John D. Burgess, who came to Arizona in 1873 to look after some mining interests for General Kautz and Colonel Biddle of the army, subsequently becoming a guide and scout for the government, and in 1882 was chief of Indian police at San Carlos. At the time the Kid started out on his career, Captain Burgess was working some mines of his own at Table Mountain, in the Galiura mountains. The officer in command of the troops sent out from San Carlos in pursuit of the Kid and his followers, knowing Burgess, immediately secured his services as guide and trailer. Following the Kid and his band, they trailed them through to Pantano, where they had crossed the railroad, and going up Davidson's canyon, and passing E. L. Vail's ranch had accommodated themselves to a bunch of his horses. Passing down the east side of the Santa Ritas, they killed Mike Grace, an old miner, near old Camp Crittenden. Here Captain Lawton, with a troop of the 4th Cavalry, heading them off and forcing them to turn back, they passed by Mountain Springs, near the present Vail station, and were run over the Rincon mountains, where they were so closely pursued that while in camp they lost all the horses they had stolen. They now headed for the reservation, which they succeeded in reaching before Lieutenant Carter Johnson, who was immediately behind, could overtake them, and here they surrendered, and in due course were tried and sent first to San Diego barracks, passing through Tucson on September 3rd, and subsequently, in February, 1888, were transferred to Fort Alcatraz, in the bay of San Francisco. Subsequently, the United States Supreme Court, having decided that the trial of an Indian devolved on the county in which the crime was committed, ordered that all Indians sentenced by other than the territorial courts should be returned to the Territory and tried by such courts. Under this order the Kid and several others were returned and tried by Judge Kibbey, at Globe, and on October 30, 1889, sentenced to imprisonment at Yuma, and were being taken there by Sheriff Reynolds and his Deputy, "Hunky-Dory" Holmes. They were being conveyed by stage over the Pinal mountains, via Riverside and Florence. In the stage were Reynolds, Holmes, a Mexican who was also being taken to Yuma, the Kid and seven other Indians, and Eugene Middleton the driver of the stage, making twelve in all.

Killing of Sheriff and Deputy and Escape of Kid

The Indians were handcuffed together, two and two, and had shackles on their ankles. They stopped over night at Riverside, about half-way between Globe and Florence. Leaving Riverside early on the morning of November 2nd, while passing up a heavy sand-wash, the pulling being quite heavy, in order to relieve the team, the two officers and six of the Indians got out to walk, the Indians probably having had their shackles loosened from at least one ankle to enable them to do so; the Kid and one of the Indians still remaining in the stage. Suddenly the six Indians that were walking seized the two officers, whom they overpowered and killed with their own guns. As soon as Middleton discovered what was taking place, drawing his own revolver and covering the Kid and the other Indian still in the stage, he kept them quiet until, on standing up to look back, he was shot through the face by one of the other Indians. In the meantime the Mexican, taking advantage of the opportunity, escaped. Middleton, although badly wounded, was not killed; the Indians, however, evidently thought he was dead. He was, however, sufficiently conscious to realize what was taking place and avoided disabusing their minds of their belief, and in due course was rescued and taken to Globe, where he finally fully recovered.

The eight Indians, now armed with a shot-gun, a Winchester rifle, and three revolvers, partly stripping Middleton and the two officers, hastened to get away. Stories of the manner of their relieving themselves of their shackles do not agree. One story is that, finding a blacksmith-shop near the mouth of the San Pedro river, they succeeded in cutting the shackles loose. Middleton's statement is that, finding the keys in the pockets of the Sheriff, they easily freed themselves of their irons, and the plausibility of this is quite evident, as the officers must necessarily have had the keys with them. After their escape the Indians are supposed to have come along the west side of the Catalina mountains, and passed near the Half-way House, between Tucson and Fort Lowell, as their tracks were seen there crossing the road, going south.

Sword Presented to General Miles.

The people of Arizona, having been finally and, it was felt, permanently relieved of this black incubus that had been hanging over them for the many years dating back to their early coming to the Territory, and General Miles having contributed so largely to the result, decided to do something marking their appreciation of the services rendered them, and this found expression in the presentation of a sword. Through a popular subscription a magnificent sword costing 00 was procured through Tiffany & Company of New York, the blade being of the finest steel, beautifully etched, and the hilt of solid gold. The presentation took place on November 8th, 1887, at Levin's Park, at the foot of Pennington street. It was originally intended that the ceremony should take place on September 4th, the anniversary of the surrender of Geronimo, but that day falling on a Sunday, it was fixed for Monday the 5th. General Miles, however, having been injured by the overturning of the carriage in which he was out riding at Santa Monica, California, on August 8th, the presentation was delayed until the date named. Many notables in our country, also the Governors of neighboring Mexican States, were invited to be present. A distinguishing feature in the very long procession leading to the Park was three hundred mounted Papagos, under their chief, Asuncion Ruiz, in all their barbaric splendor of feathers and paint. The Papagos had always been the consistent friends of the whites and the inveterate foes of the Apaches, so they were more than glad to participate in this event. In addition to the conventional combination usually found in parades, there were the 4th U. S. cavalry band and a platoon of United States artillery, William Zeckendorf, one of the very early pioneers, acting as grand marshal. One of the photographs suggesting this article is of this procession, evidently taken from the roof of one of the buildings on the west side of Main street, looking up Pennington street, and shows the parade the full length of the street, the head not having quite reached Main street. The presentation was made on a platform erected for the purpose in the Park. Royal A. Johnson was president of the day, I having the honor of acting as secretary, and Judge W. H. Barnes making the presentation address. One of my duties as secretary was to read the letters of regret from those who had been invited but were unable to be present. Among these I now recall letters from Secretary of War Wm. C. Endicott, Gen. Sherman, and R. G. Ingersoll. Among those present were Major Chaffee, subsequently Lieutenant General, and Lieutenant Wood, now Major General. The other of the two photographs is of General Miles and those on the platform with him, taken as the general was delivering his address accepting the sword. In the evening, following the presentation, there was a reception and ball at the San Xavier hotel, since burned down, near the station; this hotel at the time was kept by Wheeler and Perry.

Johnny Greenleaf Mistakes Scouts for Kid.

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