THE RENOWNED APACHE CHIEF AND MEDICINE MAN.
Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution.

See page 529.

THE NEW YO
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ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDAN POUNDATIONS.

Among the arts possessed by these red men was that of concocting a beverage from the maguey plant, called "Tizwin, compared to which fusel oil and Jersey lightning are as mild and harmless as Jersey milk. But the Apaches are not at all squeamish as regards the flavor of their liquors; strength and results are all that is demanded, and "Tizwin" had plenty of both. So when they wished to indulge in a debauch they would drink copious draughts of this horrible concoction, which brought out all the latent demon in them, provided it had not already come to the surface.

Ellis, in his "Indian Wars," says: "The climate of Arizona and other parts of the Southwest, for weeks at a time, is like a furnace. Were not the air dry, life would be unbearable to the whites. If those who remained at home had any conception of the sufferings of our officers and soldiers when prosecuting their Indian campaigns, their lips, instead of speaking criticism, would utter expressions of wonder and admiration.

"When the troops were trying to run down the Apaches, the thermometer, day after day, marked one hundred and twenty degrees, and often more. The metalwork on their guns became so hot that it could not be touched with the bare hand. The air pulsated and the soil was baked under their feet. Sometimes, when aflame with thirst, they toiled mile after mile, cheered by the expectation of reaching some spring, they found the Apaches had been there ahead of them and befouled it beyond all use for man or beast."

Various reasons have been assigned to account for the Apache outbreak of the spring of 1885. Perhaps the following is the most probable of those mentioned. Rendered desperate by long-enforced temperance restrictions, the Apaches concocted a quantity of their native drink, "Tizwin," and the braves got uproariously drunk. With returning sobriety came repentance and a wholesome fear of General Crook, who was then in command of the forces in the Southwest and had supervision of the posts and reservations. Such sprees by his Indian charges were strictly forbidden, and surely punished. Lieuten

ant Davis, in command of the post, was interviewed regarding their offense and the probability of punishment. "I must report the matter to General Crook," replied the officer; "I can not say what steps he will see fit to take in the matter."

The braves withdrew anxious and fearful, but concealing their real feelings beneath a sullen gravity. The envoys reported the ominous reply of the lieutenant to the others of the band, and the matter was discussed at length. Among those who had the most to say was a woman, Huera, the squaw of Mangus, one of the principal chiefs of the Apaches, who possessed an influence over the braves seldom equaled by Indian women. More than once her intercession cast the balance in the fate of a captive, and meant death by torture or life and adoption into the tribe. She now addressed the warriors about as follows: "Are you men, old women or children? If old women and children you will stay here and wait to receive your punishment. But if you are warriors you will take the warpath, and then the 'Grey Fox' must catch you before you are punished. Maybe-so you go to Sonora, and he no catch you. I have spoken.”

To her fierce utterances they listened with attention, because she told them what they wanted to hear, and the next day saw them upon the warpath. They had escaped punishment, for a time at least, for it is an axiom of Indian warfare, the truth of which is at once apparent, that you can not do anything to an Indian until you have caught him.

The leader of this band of Chiricahua Apaches is the subject of this sketch-the far-famed Geronimo, the best advertised Indian on earth. He is a son of Tah-Clish-Un, and a pupil of Cochise, from whom he had learned every detail of Indian generalship, and had succeeded him in his marvelous influence over the tribe.

Lieut. Britton Davis, Third Cavalry, under whose control the Chiricahuas were, telegraphed at once to General Crook a report of the case, but the wires were working badly and the message was never delivered. Had the message reached Crook, he would at once have taken action to head them off and it is quite probable

no trouble would have occurred, as he would have nipped it in the bud.

The troops were at once prepared for pursuit, and the long chase began about the middle of April, 1885. Their earliest field of operations was in that portion of New Mexico between the Ladron and Magdalena Mountains and the boundary of Arizona, and just north of the Gila River. "Geronimo knows. this country as well as if he had made it himself," was the quaint remark of a newspaper correspondent; and indeed it would not have suited his purpose better, had it been made to order.

From mountain fastnesses beyond the reach of the ordinary white soldier, the warriors of Geronimo and Naiche could look down upon the troops sent in pursuit. From their hiding-places among the caves and cañons they could make a sudden dash upon scouting parties, or cut off supply trains; and the cunning savages knew how to time these descents so as to avoid danger of diminishing their band.

"But," as Kelsey says, "it was not only in finding secure hiding-places that the Indians were too much for the whites. Had that been all, they might have been surrounded by a cordon of soldiers and reduced by famine. They had pathways known only to themselves, by which they could elude pursuit. Issuing from their rocky caves and lofty eyries, the untiring children of the plains would descend upon the isolated settlements which are scattered over the two territories, and write in fire and blood the message of defiance to the general whom they had once feared. Now and then, perhaps a captive woman or child would be carried off to a fate worse than death; but more often all fell beneath the murderous stroke of the Apache. Possessing themselves of the horses which had once belonged to the murdered settler, they would ride off. However hot the pursuit they were not to be caught.

The cavalry must have rest, not only for themselves, but for their horses. But if the steeds of the Indians tired, they had but to steal others at the settlements which they passed, and