CHAPTER XXIX.

THE EFFECTS OF BAD WHISKEY UPON SAVAGE INDIANS—THE WRETCH TRIBOLLET—SOME OF THE CHIRICAHUAS SLIP AWAY FROM MAUS DURING A RAINY NIGHT—THE BURIAL OF CAPTAIN CRAWFORD—CROOK’S TERMS DISAPPROVED IN WASHINGTON—CROOK ASKS TO BE RELIEVED FROM COMMAND IN ARIZONA—“GERONIMO” INDUCED TO COME IN BY THE CHIRICAHUA AMBASSADORS, “KI-E-TA” AND “MARTINEZ”—TREACHERY SHOWN IN THE TREATMENT OF THE WELL-BEHAVED MEMBERS OF THE CHIRICAHUA APACHE BAND.

“Alchise” and “Ka-e-ten-na” came and awakened General Crook before it was yet daylight of March 28th and informed him that “Nachita,” one of the Chiricahua chiefs, was so drunk he couldn’t stand up and was lying prone on the ground; other Chiricahuas were also drunk, but none so drunk as “Nachita.” Whiskey had been sold them by a rascal named Tribollet who lived on the San Bernardino ranch on the Mexican side of the line, about four hundred yards from the boundary. These Indians asked permission to take a squad of their soldiers and guard Tribollet and his men to keep them from selling any more of the soul-destroying stuff to the Chiricahuas. A beautiful commentary upon the civilization of the white man! When we reached Cajon Bonito, the woods and grass were on fire; four or five Chiricahua mules, already saddled, were wandering about without riders. Pretty soon we came upon “Geronimo,” “Kuthli,” and three other Chiricahua warriors riding on two mules, all drunk as lords. It seemed to me a great shame that armies could not carry with them an atmosphere of military law which would have justified the hanging of the wretch Tribollet as a foe to human society. Upon arriving at San Bernardino Springs, Mr. Frank Leslie informed me that he had seen this man Tribollet sell thirty dollars’ worth of mescal in less than one hour—all to Chiricahuas—and upon being remonstrated with, thewretch boasted that he could have sold one hundred dollars’ worth that day at ten dollars a gallon in silver. That night, during a drizzling rain, a part of the Chiricahuas—those who had been drinking Tribollet’s whiskey—stole out from Maus’s camp and betook themselves again to the mountains, frightened, as was afterward learned, by the lies told them by Tribollet and the men at his ranch. Two of the warriors upon sobering up returned voluntarily, and there is no doubt at all that, had General Crook not been relieved from the command of the Department of Arizona, he could have sent out runners from among their own people and brought back the last one without a shot being fired. Before being stampeded by the lies and vile whiskey of wicked men whose only mode of livelihood was from the vices, weaknesses, or perils of the human race, all the Chiricahuas—drunk or sober—were in the best of humor and were quietly herding their ponies just outside of Maus’s camp.

“Chihuahua,” and the eighty others who remained with Maus, reached Fort Bowie on the second day of April, 1886, under command of Lieutenant Faison, Lieutenant Maus having started in pursuit of “Geronimo,” and followed him for a long distance, but unsuccessfully. As “Chihuahua” and his people were coming into Bowie, the remains of the gallant Captain Emmet Crawford wereen routeto the railroad station to be transported to Nebraska for interment. Every honor was shown them which could indicate the loving tenderness of comrades who had known Crawford in life, and could not forget his valor, nobleness, and high-minded character. General Crook, Colonel Beaumont, Lieutenant Neal, and all other officers present at the post attended in a body. Two companies of the First Infantry, commanded, respectively, by Captain Markland and Lieutenant Benjamin, formed the escort for one-half the distance—seven miles; they then turned over the casket to the care of two companies of the Eighth Infantry, commanded by Captain Savage and Lieutenant Smiley. The detachment of Apache scouts, commanded by Lieutenant Macdonald, Fourth Cavalry, was drawn up in line at the station to serve as a guard of honor; and standing in a group, with uncovered heads, were the officers and soldiers of the Eighth Infantry, Second and Fourth Cavalry, there on duty—Whitney, Porter, Surgeon R. H. White, Ames, Betts, Worth, Hubert, and many others.

Having been detailed, in company with Captain Charles Morton, Third Cavalry, to conduct the remains to the city of Kearney, Nebraska, and there see to their interment, my official relations with the Department of Arizona terminated. I will insert, from the published official correspondence of General Crook, a few extracts to throw a light upon the history of the Chiricahuas. Lieutenant Macdonald informed me, while at Bowie, that the “medicine men” present with his Indian scouts had been dancing and talking with the spirits, who had responded that “Geronimo” would surely return, as he had been stampeded while drunk, and by bad white men. Under date of March 30, 1886, General Sheridan telegraphed to Crook:

“You are confidentially informed that your telegram of March 29th is received. The President cannot assent to the surrender of the hostiles on the terms of their imprisonment East for two years, with the understanding of their return to the reservation. He instructs you to enter again into negotiations on the terms of their unconditional surrender, only sparing their lives. In the meantime, and on the receipt of this order, you are directed to take every precaution against the escape of the hostiles, which must not be allowed under any circumstances. You must make at once such disposition of your troops as will insure against further hostilities, by completing the destruction of the hostiles, unless these terms are acceded to.”

General Crook’s reply to the Lieutenant-General read as follows:

“There can be no doubt that the scouts were thoroughly loyal, and would have prevented the hostiles leaving had it been possible. When they left their camp with our scouts, they scattered over the country so as to make surprise impossible, and they selected their camp with this in view, nor would they all remain in camp at one time. They kept more or less full of mescal. To enable you to clearly understand the situation, it should be remembered that the hostiles had an agreement with Lieutenant Maus that they were to be met by me twenty-five miles below the line, and that no regular troops were to be present. While I was very averse to such an arrangement, I had to abide by it as it had already been entered into. We found them in a camp on a rocky hill about five hundred yards from Lieutenant Maus, in such a position that a thousand men could not have surrounded them with any possibility of capturing them. They were able, upon the approach of any enemy being signalled, to scatter and escape through dozens of ravines and cañons which would shelter them from pursuit until they reached the higher ranges in the vicinity. They were armed to the teeth, having the most improved arms and all the ammunition they could carry. Lieutenant Maus with Apache scouts was camped at the nearest point the hostiles would agree to his approaching. Even had I been disposed to betray the confidence theyplaced in me it would have been simply an impossibility to get white troops to that point either by day or by night without their knowledge, and had I attempted to do this the whole band would have stampeded back to the mountains. So suspicious were they that never more than from five to eight of the men came into our camp at one time, and to have attempted the arrest of those would have stampeded the others to the mountains.”

General Crook also telegraphed that “to inform the Indians that the terms on which they surrendered are disapproved would, in my judgment, not only make it impossible for me to negotiate with them, but result in their scattering to the mountains, and I can’t at present see any way to prevent it.”

Sheridan replied:

“I do not see what you can now do except to concentrate your troops at the best points and give protection to the people. Geronimo will undoubtedly enter upon other raids of murder and robbery, and as the offensive campaign against him with scouts has failed, would it not be best to take up the defensive, and give protection to the business interests of Arizona and New Mexico?”

Crook’s next despatch to Sheridan said:

“It has been my aim throughout present operations to afford the greatest amount of protection to life and property interests, and troops have been stationed accordingly. Troops cannot protect property beyond a radius of one half mile from camp. If offensive operations against the Indians are not resumed, they may remain quietly in the mountains for an indefinite time without crossing the line, and yet their very presence there will be a constant menace, and require the troops in this department to be at all times in position to repel sudden raids; and so long as any remain out they will form a nucleus for disaffected Indians from the different agencies in Arizona and New Mexico to join. That the operations of the scouts in Mexico have not proved so successful as was hoped is due to the enormous difficulties they have been compelled to encounter, from the nature of the Indians they have been hunting, and the character of the country in which they have operated, and of which persons not thoroughly conversant with the character of both can have no conception. I believe that the plan upon which I have conducted operations is the one most likely to prove successful in the end. It may be, however, that I am too much wedded to my own views in this matter, and as I have spent nearly eight years of the hardest work of my life in this department, I respectfully request that I may now be relieved from its command.”

General Crook had carefully considered the telegrams from his superiors in Washington, and was unable to see how he could allow Indians, or anybody else, to enter his camp under assurances of personal safety, and at the same time “take everyprecaution against escape.” Unless he treacherously murdered them in cold blood, he was unable to see a way out of the dilemma; and Crook was not the man to lie to any one or deal treacherously by him. If there was one point in his character which shone more resplendent than any other, it was his absolute integrity in his dealings with representatives of inferior races: he was not content with telling the truth, he was careful to see that the interpretation had been so made that the Indians understood every word and grasped every idea; and all his remarks were put down in black and white, which, to quote his own words, “would not lie, and would last long after the conferees had been dead and buried.”

The whole subject of the concluding hours of the campaign against the Chiricahuas, after Crook had been relieved from command, has been fully covered by documents accessible to all students, among which may well be mentioned: Senate Documents, No. 117; General Crook’s “Resumé of Operations against Apache Indians from 1882 to 1886”; the report made by Mr. Herbert Welsh, Secretary of the Indian Rights Association, of his visit to the Apache prisoners confined at Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Florida; the reports made to General Sheridan by General R. B. Ayres, commanding the military post of St. Francis Barracks (St. Augustine, Florida); the telegrams between the War Department and Brigadier-General D. S. Stanley, commanding the Department of Texas, concerning his interview with “Geronimo” and other prisoners, etc.

It may be laid down in one paragraph that the Chiricahua fugitives were followed into the Sierra Madre by two Chiricahua Apaches, sent from Fort Apache, named “Ki-e-ta” and “Martinez,” who were assisted by Lieutenant Gatewood, of the Sixth Cavalry, and Mr. George Wrattan, as interpreter. Not all the band surrendered; there are several still in the Sierra Madre who, as late as the past month of January (1891), have been killing in both Sonora and Arizona. But those that did listen to the emissaries were led to believe that they were to see their wives and families within five days; they were instead hurried off to Florida and immured in the dungeons of old Fort Pickens, Pensacola, Florida, and never saw their families until the indignant remonstrances of Mr. Herbert Welsh caused an investigation to be made of the exact terms upon which they had surrendered,and to have their wives sent to join them. For “Geronimo” and those with him any punishment that could be inflicted without incurring the imputation of treachery would not be too severe; but the incarceration of “Chato” and the three-fourths of the band who had remained faithful for three years and had rendered such signal service in the pursuit of the renegades, can never meet with the approval of honorable soldiers and gentlemen.

Not a single Chiricahua had been killed, captured, or wounded throughout the entire campaign—with two exceptions—unless by Chiricahua-Apache scouts who, like “Chato,” had kept the pledges given to General Crook in the Sierra Madre in 1883. The exceptions were: one killed by the White Mountain Apaches near Fort Apache, and one killed by a white man in northern Mexico. Yet every one of those faithful scouts—especially the two, “Ki-e-ta” and “Martinez,” who had at imminent personal peril gone into the Sierra Madre to hunt up “Geronimo” and induce him to surrender—were transplanted to Florida and there subjected to the same punishment as had been meted out to “Geronimo.” And with them were sent men like “Goth-kli” and “To-klanni,” who were not Chiricahuas at all, but had only lately married wives of that band, who had never been on the war-path in any capacity except as soldiers of the Government, and had devoted years to its service. There is no more disgraceful page in the history of our relations with the American Indians than that which conceals the treachery visited upon the Chiricahuas who remained faithful in their allegiance to our people. An examination of the documents cited will show that I have used extremely mild language in alluding to this affair.

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