Technorati Tags: The Apache Kid,people,southwest
High in the San Mateo Mountains of the Cibola National Forest in New Mexico is Apache Kid Peak, and one mile northwest as the crow flies, at Cyclone Saddle, is the Apache Kid gravesite. The hiker who comes across the marked site in such a remote area may wonder who the Kid was, and perhaps will ask himself why, so far from the usual tourist attractions, such an elaborate memorial has been assembled. In the story of the Apache Kid, much of it fact and part of it legend, rests one of the Southwest’s many intriguing sagas.
The Kid was born in the 1860s, possibly a White Mountain Apache, and his family settled at Globe, Arizona Territory, in 1868. His name, Haskay-bay-nay-natyl (“the tall man destined to come to a mysterious end”), was too much for the citizens of Globe, who called him “Kid.” The Kid learned English, worked at odd jobs in town, and was soon befriended by the famous scout, Al Sieber. In 1881, the Kid enlisted in the Indian Scouts, probably at Hackberry, Arizona Territory, and showed such aptitude for the job he was made sergeant, eventually rising to the rank of first sergeant within two years.
The Geronimo Campaign of 1885-1886 found 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 Lt. Crawford’s call for one hundred scouts for Mexican duty, and went south in late 1885. In the Mexican town of Huasabas, on the Bavispe River, Kid nearly lost his life as the result of a drunken riot in which he had been a participant. Rather than see Kid shot by a Mexican firing squad, the Alcalde fined him twenty dollars, and the Army sent him back to San Carlos.
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Technorati Tags: person,people,history
In the days of the Old West, New Mexico was home, at one time or another, to many of the more colorful desperadoes. The Clantons, William Bonney, Jesse Evans, William “Curley Bill” Brocius, Clay Allison, Doroteo “El Tigre” Sains, Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum, John “King of the Rustlers” Kinney, Jim Miller, and Johnny Ringo are a relatively small sample. Because of its remoteness and proximity to the Mexican border, Southern New Mexico attracted a large number of outlaws: violent men who lived from the labor of others, who were quick to kill, and for whom the conventions of settled society meant little. A man who fit the mold of New Mexican outlaw, and has been largely ignored by historians and folklorists, was José Chavez y Chavez.
Born in 1851 in Ceboleta, New Mexico, little is known of his childhood. José discovered that honest labor is often difficult, and he gradually drifted from petty theft to cattle rustling. By the time of the Lincoln County War (1878-79), José was in the company of William Bonney (Billy the Kid) and his following of thieves and rustlers. During the Lincoln County War, José sided with the Tunstall-McSween faction against “The House” as the Dolan faction was popularly known. The formation by McSween of “The Regulators,” a personal army under a thin cloak of legality, made up of between forty and fifty hardcases paid four dollars a day by Tunstall, turned the sniping of the two Lincoln County factions into open warfare. Among the Regulators were José, Billy the Kid, Charlie Bowdre, Jim French, John Middleton, and Fred Waite. Special Constable Dick Brewer led them.
The murder of John Tunstall on February 28, 1878, by members of the Dolan faction led, on April 1, to the assassination of Sheriff Brady in Lincoln by Bonney and several others. In later years, Chavez y Chavez claimed the killing of Brady to have been his own work. More deaths followed, and a climax of sorts was reached with the “Big Killing” of July 19. McSween, his wife, and their dozen or so allies had barricaded themselves in McSween’s home (among whom were Tom O’Folliard, Francisco Zamora, Eugenio Salazar, Vincente Romero, and Ignazio Gonzalez). The house was set afire, and in the chaos that followed McSween and five of his allies died. José and four others, among them Billy the Kid, fled the burning structure, all save one making it safely to the shelter of the riverbanks behind the burning house. Harvey Morris died in a hail of gunfire before he had gone three steps into the yard.
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