Page 126 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

summer of 1856, several Mimbres had visited Janos in Mexico and were thrown in prison as hostages against the return of property allegedly stolen by the Indians. The Apaches, Steck, and Governor Meriwether all failed to win their release, and the relatives and friends that had camped near Janos had returned north by November 1858, physically ill and disillusioned. Steck reported that it appeared the Mexicans had somehow succeeded in poisoning some of the Apaches, probably by means of arsenic-
laced whiskey.154
Another closely related incident took place in
Mexico during the summer of 1858 that would have
far reaching consequences. A large group of
Apaches had entered Sonora, reportedly to conduct
trade at a town near Casas Grandes. While the men
were in town, the Mexicans attacked the camp and
killed the few guards and many of the women and
children. WhenMangasColoradasledtheshat-
tered survivors north during the night, a tragic lone
warrior trailed far behind. Gothlyka (or Gothlay),
later called Geronimo by the Americans, had lost his
mother, wife, and three small children. He swore,
and would exact, much vengeance for the loss of his 155
family.
In his annual report dated August 6, 1858, Steck
praised the friendly attitudes exhibited by the Gila and Mimbres Apaches. He claimed that not a single depredation had transpired on the main road to California and that parties as small as two to five men were now traveling safely from the Rio Grande to
15
Fort Buchanan.
reasonably accurate, but there is evidence that times were not as peaceful as he seemed to think.
Previously, on March 8, Captain Alfred Gibbs of the Mounted Rifles was wounded when he and 15 of his men from Fort Fillmore pursued the Apaches who had stolen stock from the New Mexico Deputy Surveyor, John W. Garretson. During the pursuit, toward Cooke’s Spring, six Indians were killed, the stock recovered, and much of the Indians’ supplies
157
and weapons captured.
The massacre of the E. J. White family of Philadel-
phia was another incident that may have occurred after Steck filed his report. White, his 25-year-old wife, their baby, and two Mexican servants were attacked between Picacho and Cooke’s Spring. White had been appointed post sutler for Fort Buchanan and, anxious to get to his new post, had separated from the train with which they were travel-
ing across Texas. They pushed on ahead in their four-mule ambulance and stopped briefly in Mesilla^ accepting the overnight hospitality of Cozzens. White wished to elicit information regarding the condition of the roads, availability of water and forage, and probability of encountering Indians from Cozzens, who had traversed the route from Tucson to Mesilla about two weeks earlier.
White disregarded Cozzens’ advice that the jour- ney was far from safe and requested that the infor- mation of danger from Indians be withheld from his wife as being “unnecessary and injudicious.” Cozzens, with a Dr. Parker, accompanied the Whites until about 3 o’clock the following afternoon. Some- where on the mesa between Picacho and Cooke’s Spring, after Cozzens and Parker turned back, the Apaches killed White and his Mexican manservant and carried off Mrs. White, her child, and their female servant. The two dead men were found about midnight by ranchers from the Mimbres River area on their way to the Rio Grande.
When the ranchers reached Mesilla early the next morning with the bad news, “the great drum” was beaten to summon residents, and a rescue party was quickly formed. The men from Mesilla reached the scene after two and one-half hours of hard riding. Scouts Manuel Antonio Chaves and Jesus Armijo trailed the 15 raiders south from the ambush site toward the Florida Mountains and early the follow- ing morning found the Whites’ infant lying dead beneath a bush. The rescue party located and at- tacked the Apache camp late that night. Seven In- dians were slain but, during the fray, Mrs. White and her servant were stabbed to death by the few escap- ing Apaches. The men buried both women in a common unmarked grave in the Florida Mountains
160
and grimly returned to Mesilla.
Nevertheless, on Christmas Day, 1858, Steck left
for an extended trip west. He later reported that near Apache Pass he found 600 Apaches (he es- timated 50 men, 130 women, and the balance children) living on or near the main emigrant road to California. He reported that they had not com- mitted any acts of violence on the route in about two years and that he distributed a portion of the presents he had carried west for the Coyoteros and
161
other Apaches.
Tevis gave an entirely different version of Steck’s
distribution of gifts to the Indians at Apache Pass. He claimed that Steck wrote to him that the Agent
The Military, the Indians, and Other Citizens
Steck’s claims may have been
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