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27 chapters
The Dread Apache—That Early-Day Scourge of the Southwest
The Dread Apache—That Early-Day Scourge of the Southwest
By DR. M. P. FREEMAN 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
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2000 Pioneers Victims of Apaches.
2000 Pioneers Victims of Apaches.
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 mounta
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Paris Adopts Name of Apache
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 m
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Judge McComas and Wife Murdered.
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
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Dr. Davis Shot to Death.
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 warn
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Little Boy Taken From Gastelo Ranch.
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 (now dead) 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 h
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Mexicans Attack and Rob Wheaton.
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
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“Old Charley Meyer,” Law Unto Himself.
“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 n
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“Tommy Gates Displays Magnificent Nerve.”
“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
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Brutal Murder of Mrs. Peck and Baby.
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 a
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Shanahan Killed, “Yank” Bartlett Wounded.
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 s
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Little Phil Saves Mother and Sisters
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 B
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Brave Little Johnnie Bartlett.
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
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General Crook Relieved.
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
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Geronimo Surrenders to General Miles.
Geronimo Surrenders to General Miles.
On April 2, 1886, Gen. Miles, superseding Crook, took command of the Department of Arizona, and in his “Personal Recollections” he speaks of finding here, stationed at Fort Huachuca, a “fair-haired, blue-eyed young man of great intellect, manly qualities and resolute spirit, a splendid type of American manhood”. This “fair-haired, blue-eyed young man” of 1886 was at the time Assistant Surgeon in the Army. He is now Major General Leonard Wood, late Chief of Staff, U. S. Army. On the 4th of Septem
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Apache Kid Begins Bloody Career.
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 l
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Capt. Burgess, Old-Time Scout
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
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Killing of Sheriff and Deputy and Escape of Kid
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
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Sword Presented to General Miles.
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 $1000 was procured through Tiff
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Johnny Greenleaf Mistakes Scouts for Kid.
Johnny Greenleaf Mistakes Scouts for Kid.
As illustrating the trying experiences that one might be subject to during these troublous times when the fear of the Kid was in the very air, I may relate one of a friend of mine, Johnny Greenleaf. Johnny was sinking a well on his ranch, some distance from the house, and had just ridden to where his two men were at work, one in the well and the other on top. Suddenly a number of Indians came in sight, approaching the well. Recognizing them as Apaches, he naturally assumed them to be the Kid and
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What Would You Do?
What Would You Do?
I think I hear one of my readers saying that Johnny’s attempt to escape was a cowardly thing to do. Yes? What would you have done, and what would I, under the same circumstances? Unless idiotic, or too frightened to mount the horse, we would have done just what Johnny did. Assuming that this had been the Kid, as Johnny firmly believed, his escape meant the loss of but two lives, instead of the loss of the same two and the sacrifice of a third—his own—if he remained. But no man knows just exactly
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Stoicism of Indian
Stoicism of Indian
The following incident shows something of the character of these Ishmaelites of the desert. On one occasion five of them had been tried at Florence for the killing of someone in the Superstition mountains, and sentenced to be hanged. The night previous to the day of the hanging, while in their cells, with the death-watch outside, three of them, to avoid the ignominy of death by hanging, committed suicide by self-strangulation. This they could do only by each putting a cord around his neck and de
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“Walapai” Clark and the Kid
“Walapai” Clark and the Kid
One of our early frontier characters was E. A. Clark, familiarly known as “Walapai”, having gained the title years ago when in the government service as chief of the Hualapai scouts. Clark was a giant in stature, measuring six feet three, absolutely fearless and in those olden times equally tireless. Coming to the Territory in ’69, his life and experiences here would fill a volume of intensely interesting reading, but in this limited article I can mention only a few of his closing Indian experie
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Clark Vows Vengeance
Clark Vows Vengeance
Clark, returning home a day or two later and finding his partner dead, vowed vengeance on the Kid, and this, several years later, he found opportunity to gratify. A few months later, Clark and Scanlan having occasion to be away, left a young engineer, J. A. Mercer, at the house, with a caution to be on the lookout for the Indians. Soon after, Mercer discovered three of them crawling up towards the house, but was in time to seize a rifle and fire at them, and as he did so they broke and ran. Howe
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Kid Nears End of His Trail of Blood
Kid Nears End of His Trail of Blood
But at last the end of his career of robbery and bloodshed is approaching. The opportunity that Clark has been waiting all these years is nigh at hand. The Apache Kid’s race is about run. Clark had been away from home, and when returning, on February 4, 1894, passing by the house of Emmerson, a neighbor, about a mile from his own home, he noticed the tracks of three Indians about the house, and going inside, found they had robbed it of its contents. Going on home, he found his partner, Scanlan,
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Closing Act in Great Drama
Closing Act in Great Drama
Clark had been there for probably twenty minutes, when, looking off across an intervening canyon, he noticed three Indians approaching his horse where it was grazing, about 1500 yards away. The Indians not having discovered Clark, who, knowing it would be impossible to get across the canyon in time to save his horse, raised the sights of his gun, and fired at them, not expecting, however, to hit any one of them at that distance, but hoping to frighten them away from his horse. On firing, Clark i
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Kid’s Career Ended
Kid’s Career Ended
Thus ended the murderous career of the Kid, the terror of the Southwest. Clark had undoubtedly hit him with one or more of his shots. Where or how soon after he may have died, no white man knows, Clark being the last one to see him, as the two shots simultaneously rang out on the silence of that night. Had it been the Kid instead of the squaw, Clark would have earned the large reward that was offered for him dead or alive. Tom Horn, an old scout, who spoke the Apache language like a native, came
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