06 - Dread Apache- That Early-Day Scourge of the Southwest by Merrill Pingree Freeman

Dive into the fierce frontier drama of the early-day Southwest, where the relentless Apache was the central antagonist. This podcast, based on a collection of historic photographs, brings to life the chilling experiences of the pioneers who contended with this tireless foe. Experience the Apaches cunning and treachery, their ambush tactics, and the fearsome reputation of the squaw - possibly even more formidable than the man. Listen as we unravel numerous captivating biographies and historic headlines that paint a vivid picture of this tumultuous era. This gripping narrative is brought to life by Laurie Banza.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Section six of the Dread Apache, That Early Day Scourge
of the Southwest by doctor Merle Pingree Freeman. This LibriVox
recording is in the public domain. Apache Kid begins bloody
career through killing of sheriff and deputy and escape of kid.

(00:23):
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,

(00:47):
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 a
mong others was the Apache Kid, who, following the surrender
of Geronimo, with a few lawless followers, made independent warfare

(01:10):
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 Seber, Chief of Scouts.

(01:31):
On June oneh eighteen eighty seven, the kid shot Seber
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 Seber, Kidd, his squaw and
sixteen other Indians left the reservation. Captain Burgess old time scout.

(01:59):
An interesting old time scout is Captain John D. Burgess,
who came to Arizona in eighteen seventy three to look
after some mining interests for General Cots and Colonel Biddle
of the Army, subsequently becoming a guide and scout for
the government, and in eighteen eighty two was chief of

(02:19):
Indian Police at San Carlos. At the time the kids
started out on his career, Captain Burgos was working some
mines of his own at Table Mountain in the Gallura Mountains.
The officer in command of the troops sent out from
San Carlos in pursuit of the kid and his followers.

(02:39):
Knowing Burgos, immediately secured her services as guide and trailer.
Following the kid and his band, they trailed them through
to Pontano, where they had crossed the railroad and going
up Davidson's Canyon and passing E. L. Vale's ranch had
accommodated themselves to a bunch of his horses. Passing down

(03:03):
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 Fourth Cavalry, heading them off
and forcing them to turn back. They passed by mountain
springs near the present Vales station and were run over

(03:24):
the Runcan 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

(03:44):
were tried and sent first to San Diego Barracks, passing
through Tucson on September three, and subsequently in February eighteen
eighty eight were transferred to four Alcatraz in the Bay
of San Francisco. Subsequently, the United States Supreme Court, having
decided that the trial of an Indian devolved on the

(04:07):
county in which the crime was committed, ordered that all
the 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 Kibbi at Globe and on October thirty,

(04:27):
eighteen eighty nine, 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
Pannal Mountains via Riverside in Florence. In the stage were Reynolds, Homes,
a Mexican who was also being taken to Yuma, the

(04:51):
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 overnight at Riverside, about half way between Globe

(05:14):
and Florence, leaving Riverside early on the morning of November
two while passing up a heavy sand wash, the pooling
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 loosen from at
least one ankle to enable them to do so. The

(05:37):
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, drying his
own revolver and covering the kid and the other Indians
still in the stage, he kept him quiet until, on

(05:59):
standing to look back, he was shot through the face
by one of the other Indians. In the meantime, 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

(06:22):
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 a Indians, now armed with
a shotgun, a Winchester rifle and three revolvers, partly stripping
Middleton and the two officers, hastened to get away. Stories

(06:46):
of the manner of their relieving themselves of their shackles
do not agree. One story is that finding a blackness
shop near the mouth of the San Pedro River, they
succeeded in cutting the shackles loose. Ten statement is that
finding the keys in the pockets of the sheriff, they
easily free themselves of their irons, and the plausibility of

(07:08):
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 halfway house between
Tucson and Fort Lowell, as their tracks were seen there,
crossing the road going south. End of Section six