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| Gen. George Crook |
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| Geronimo |
WILES OF THE APACHE.
How General Crook Whipped and Protected Them in
Turns.
General George Crook, the Indian fighter, recently told a reporter some
of his experiences among the red men, and although it has often been his
province to subdue the hostiles, he has not devoted his whole attention to that
part of his duty, but has studied the Indian question, as it is called, in all
its phases, and if practical experience counts anything no man is more familiar
with the wild Indians than he.
Thirty-five years ago be was
graduated at West Point, and, excepting the five years of the late war, he has
been constantly among the very wildest tribes. His last campaign was against
Geronimo and his band, and the surrender of that chief is still fresh in the
public mind.
General Crook said that he had
experience with all the Indian tribes on the Pacific slope from the British to
the Mexican boundary lines, including the Apaches, Sioux and Cheyennes. The
Apaches, he said, now hold land practically in severalty. It was land that he
had himself assigned them, but whether or not it would be granted to them was a
matter for the Government to settle. It was by all means his opinion that the
Apaches should remain where they are.
He had always whipped the
Indians when they were bad and protected them when they were good, and they understood
his position perfectly. He had negotiated many treaties with the Indians, and
many of them bad been broken. In the old time before the War of the Rebellion
the Indians went on the war path out of "pure cussedness," or because
they regarded the white men as usurpers, but that was all done away with now.
The Indians saw that their only hope was to adopt the white men's mode of life.
They understood the situation as well as we did, and took more interest in it
because their very existence was involved.
Indian wars nowadays were the
result of an accumulation of wrongs. When the last straw came to break the camel's
back the Indians went to war and the people of the country, not knowing of any
of the previous wrongs, got the erroneous impression that war was declared on
account of some trivial matter.
In regard to having the Indians
in charge of two separate departments of the Government, General Crook said it
was like two captains on board ship, and was sure to cause trouble.
He regarded the Indians as
superior to the negroes in intellect, and up to a certain point the Indian boys
learn faster than their white brothers, but when it comes to teaching them
anything about civilization or abstract truth they are all at sea. And that, of
course, was easily explained, for they did not have the generations of educated
people behind them. It was all new to them.
General Crook considered the
Apaches the worst and the smartest of all Indians, and said that it was true of
all Indians that they were frenzied when at war and could not reason. When
friendly they would not steal. There was no truth in the story which so many
people believe that the Government issues arms to the Indians. They get the
arms from traders and in a secret manner, and never peach on a man who sold
arms to them.
Without aid from friendly Apache scouts, said
the General, the hostiles could never be captured. The Apaches lived in a country
half the size of Europe, and as rough as any in the world. Over their rough
country the Indians could travel on foot at the rate of sixty miles a day, and
pick up as they went along enough food to subsist upon. An army to follow them
must take along provisions. The Indians always watched their back trail, and
their rear pickets were at least six miles behind the main body. These pickets
saw the pursuers and watched their every move, but were themselves unseen. If
the pursuing force got up to within a mile of their camp, which was always
selected in the worst part of the country, among the rocks, when morning came
the Indians might be fifty miles away in any direction, and traveling over the rocks
they would leave no more trail than a bird. How could they be followed or
captured? It would take a million men to surround the country and anticipate
the movements of the Indians.
When General Crook left the San
Carlos reservation, a few months ago, there were 2,000 Apaches there who were
self-supporting, and he supposed the number was largely increased now. The
Indians at that time furnished a large part of the supplies for General Crook's
force. The white traders disliked him because he bought from the Indians. He
had known the Indians to carry hay a distance of fifteen miles to the army.
They got two cents a pound for it, and one Indian said it was like "finding
money in the sand." But take away the army and there was no market for the
hay and grain, and one of the great troubles on all the reservations was the
lack of a market. He tried to get them to raise cattle and sheep, and told them
there would always be a market for their wool and beef, and many of them had adopted
his suggestions and were doing well. One source of trouble was that the Indians
made a drink out of their corn and barley called "tizwin." This was
not so intoxicating as whisky and the Indians had to fast a couple of days in
order to get drunk on it.
Item.
The Onondaga tribe of Indians has reorganized politically,
discarding the form of government by chiefs and instituting a republic, with
Daniel La Fort, president. The new government has legislative, executive and judicial
departments. All the members of the Onondaga
nation now have a voice in the government. Fourteen of the officers are Christian.
Story of Martin Van Buren.
Among the many stories told by
Thurlow Weed about Martin Van Buren was one narrating an incident which
occurred on the deck of a Hudson river steamboat, on the way from Albany to New
York. The merits of Mr. Van Buren were being discussed when the boat touched at
Kinderhook, and "The Little Magician," as he was called, came on hoard.
One of the party had been dwelling on his non-committalism, and complaining
that "a plain answer to a plain question was never yet elicited from
him."
"I'll wager the champagne
for the company," added he, "that one of us shall go down to the
cabin and ask Mr. Van Buren the simplest question that can be thought of, and
he will evade a direct answer. Yes, and I'll give him leave, too, to tell Mr. Van
Buren why he asks the question, and that there is a bet depending on his reply."
This seemed fair enough. One of
the party was deputed to go down and try the experiment. He found Mr. Van
Buren, whom he knew well, in the saloon, and said to him:
"Mr. Van Buren, some
gentlemen on the upper deck have been accusing you of non-committalism, and
have just laid a wager that you would not give a plain answer to the simplest
question, and they deputed me to test the fact. Now, sir, allow me to ask you:
Where does the sun rise?"
Mr. Van Buren's brow
contracted; he hesitated a moment, and then said:
"The terms east and west
are conventional; but I--"
"That'll do,"
interrupted the interrogator, "we've lost the bet!"—Ben: Perley
Poore in Boston Budget.
Not to be Outdone.
"I have a friend," said a Syracusan, "who paints grapes so
naturally that the birds leave the real article to peck at the pictures."
"Oh, that's nothing," replied
a Utican, "I have a cousin who reproduces dogs so well that he has to nuzzle
them to prevent their barking.''—Rochester Union.
Recommended:
George Crook: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Crook
Geronimo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geronimo
Martin Van Buren: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Van_Buren
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