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Said to have been the fiercest
Apache next
to
Geronimo, as well as a notorious
outlaw of the late 19th century, was the
Apache Kid.
Born in the 1860’s on the
San Carlos Reservation in
Arizona,
the “Kid”
was most likely of the White Mountain
Apache.
Named Haskay-bay-nay-natyl, "the tall man destined to come to a mysterious
end," the pronunciation was too much for the citizens of Globe, who simply
called him "Kid."
Learning English at an early age, he worked at odd jobs in Globe and was
soon befriended by the famous scout, Al Sieber.
At that time, early settlers of the Southwest
faced numerous raiding bands of
Apaches and
General George Crook had come up with the idea to use
Apaches to
fight other
Apaches. Enlisting
Apache
Indians
from San Carlos and other reservations, the enlisted scouts could locate
the trails that the hunted
Apaches
traveled.
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Apache Kid
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In 1881, the
Kid
enlisted in the
Indian Scouts and was so good at the job that he was promoted to
sergeant in July, 1882. The following year he accompanied
General George Crook on the expedition of the Sierra Madre.
The
Geronimo Campaign of
1885-1886 found the
Kid in
Mexico early in 1885 with Sieber, and when the Chief of Scouts was
recalled in the fall,
Kid
rode with him back to San Carlos. He re-enlisted with Lieutenant
Crawford's call for one hundred scouts for Mexican duty, and again
went south in late 1885. In the Mexican town of Huasabas, on the
Bavispe River, the
Kid
nearly lost his life in a drunken riot in which he had been a
participant. Rather than see the
Apache Kid
shot by a Mexican firing squad, the judge fined him twenty dollars,
and the Army sent him back to San Carlos.
In May, 1887 the
Apache Kid
was left in charge of the
Indian Scouts and guardhouse at San Carlos when Captain Pierce and
Al Sieber, an anglo scout, were both gone on business. Though the
brewing of tiswin, a beverage made of fermented fruit or corn
was illegal on the reservation, with the white officers gone, the
Indian Scouts decided to have a party. With the liquor
flowing freely, a man named Gon-Zizzie killed the
Apache
Kid’s father, Togo-de-Chuz.
Kid’s
friends, in turn, killed Gon-Zizzie. However, the killing of
Gon-Zizzie was not enough for the
Apache Kid,
who then went to the home of Gon-Zizzie’s brother, Rip, and killed
him.
Apache Kid (middle) with two
other
Indian Scouts.
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When the
Apache Kid
and the four other scouts returned to San Carlos on June 1, 1857, both
Captain Pierce and Al Sieber were there ahead of him. Captain Pierce
ordered the scouts to disarm themselves and the
Kid was
the first to comply. As Pierce ordered them to the guardhouse to be locked
up, a shot was fired from the crowd who had gathered to watch the display
of events. In no time, the shots became widespread and Al Seiber was
hit in the ankle, which ended up crippling him for life. During the
melee that followed, the
Apache Kid
and several other
Apaches fled. Though it was never determined who fired that shot that
struck Sieber, it was for sure not the
Kid nor
the other four scouts ordered to the guardhouse as they had all been
disarmed.
The Army, reacting
swiftly, soon sent two troops of the Fourth Cavalry to find the
Apache Kid
and the others who had escaped. For two weeks the cavalry followed
the fugitives along the banks of the San Carlos River, when finally, with
the aid of more
Indian
Scouts, located the
Kid and
his band in the Rincon Mountains.
The soldiers seized upon
the Apaches'
horses and equipment while the
Indians
fled by foot into the rocky canyons. In negotiations with the
soldiers, Kid
relayed a message to General Miles stating that if the Army would recall
the cavalry he and his band would surrender. When Miles complied, the
Apache Kid
and seven members of his band surrendered on June 25th.
The
Kid and
four others were tried court-martialed where they were found guilty of
mutiny and desertion and sentenced to death by firing squad.
However, General Miles was upset over the verdict and ordered the court to
reconsider the sentence. When the court reconvened on August 3, they
were re-sentenced to life in prison. However Miles was still not satisfied
and reduced the sentence to ten years. Beginning their sentence in the San
Carlos guardhouse, they were later sent to
Alcatraz.
However, their conviction
was soon overturned on October 13, 1888, due to prejudice among the
officers of the court-martial trial and the
Indians
were returned to San Carlos as free men. Causing an outrage among
the citizens of the area, a new warrant was issued in October, 1889 in
Gila County for the re-arrest of the freed
Apaches for
assault to commit murder in the wounding of Al Sieber.
At the trial on October
25, 1889, four
Apaches including the
Apache Kid
were found guilty and sentenced to seven years in the Territorial Prison
at Yuma. While being transported to the prison the
Apache Kid,
along with several others escaped. During the fighting that took place
during the escape, the three guards, Glenn Reynolds, Eugene
Middleton and W. A. Holmes, were overpowered. Glen Reynolds was
killed, Middleton was wounded and Holmes apparently died of a heart
attack. Middleton later recovered, saying the
Kid had
prevented another of the
Apaches from
"finishing" him by bashing his head with a rock.
The
Kid and
the others fled, their tracks obliterated by a snowstorm. It would be the
last "official" sighting of
Apache Kid,
though unconfirmed reports of his whereabouts would continue to filter in
for years.
 Over
the next few years the
Apache Kid
was accused of various crimes and said to have led a small band of
renegade Apache
followers, raiding ranches and freight lines throughout
New Mexico
,
Arizona and
Northern Mexico as he hid out in the Mexican Sierra Madre Mountains.
Others insist that he became a lone wolf who was despised by his own
people and was terribly feared by the Anglo settlers. Some accounts have
the Apache Kid
kidnapping an
Apache woman until he tired of her, then killing her, before
kidnapping yet another. Reportedly, the
Kid
preyed on lone ranchers,
cowboys, and prospectors, killing them for their food, guns, and horses.
Before long, a price of $5,000
was placed on his head by the
Arizona
Territorial Legislature, dead or alive, but no one ever claimed the
reward.
It is impossible to
determine how many of the crimes he is blamed for that he actually
committed.
During an 1890 shootout
between Sonoran Rurales (a branch of the army) and
Apaches, a
slain warrior was found to have Reynolds' pistol and watch, but he was too
old to have been the
Kid.
After 1894, reports of his crimes came to an end. Some sources claimed he
died at this time while others argue that he crossed into Mexico and
retired to his mountain hideout.
In 1899, Colonel Emilio Kosterlitzky, head
of the Rurales, reported him alive and living with other
Apaches in
the Sierra Madre. In the interim, there were several unconfirmed reports
of his death - by gunshot or by tuberculosis. However, southern
Arizona
ranchers continued to report
Apache stock
raids into the 1920s.
There are so many
different variations of the crimes committed by the
Apache Kid,
all with the purpose of exacting revenge for the treacherous way in which
the
Apache
scouts had been treated by the army, that even historians cannot agree on
exactly what he was responsible for, nor when he died.
Seemingly, his namesake "the tall man destined
to come to a mysterious end" was a prophecy.
Though the
questions are many regarding the death of the
Apache Kid, a gravesite memorial
can be found high in the San Mateo Mountains of the Cibola National Forest
in
New Mexico.
Here is yet another place that the
Apache Kid was said to have been
killed, after having been hunted down by local ranchers angered by his
relentless raids. Reportedly, to mark the site of the
site of the
Kid's
undoing, the vengeful posse blazed a tree, the hacked remains of which you
can see to this day. The grave is one mile northwest of
Apache Kid
Peak at Cyclone Saddle.
Kathy Weiser/Legends of
America, © April, 2005
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