Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1902 — Chief Geronimo Deposed [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Chief Geronimo Deposed

Geronimo is on the warpath. Not against his pale-faced brothers is the fury of his anger directed. He wants no white man's scalp. It Isr a sort oL family feud —a feud that embroils the entire tribe of Apaches detained as prisoners of war by the United States government*on a reservation in Oklahoma. For Geronimo, known the world over as chief of the Apaches, is chief no longer, a rival has dared to_ usurp him. His squaw and daughters have been ignominiously hustled out of the Apache White House—that is to say, the chief's tepee—and Geronimo, leader of his tribe tor half a hundred years, has returned to his people to find that his power over them has been broken. ' . November, 1901, has been Geronimo’R unlucky month. For dozens “of

years his name has been synonymous with terror in the minds of the white people. To-day, enraged and humiliated, the raiments of his office taken from him and his very presence ignored, he threatens vengeance swift and terrible upon his arch enemy and all those who have conspired to his undoing. Geronimo in this mood 7 is Indeed a foe to flee from —unless one would do desperate battle. That is why there is trouble brewing these days on the Apache land in Oklahoma. It all happened because Geronimo listened to the flattering invitation tendered him by the officials of the Buffalo exposition. , Ho spent the summer there and was a conspicuous feature of the great show. His stay was thoroughly enjoyable, his life at the exposition grounds one of continual comfort and pleasure. As to the future he troubled himself not at all. To be sure, there had been a slight unpleasantness before he left home, stirred up by one Macenhorses, an Apache who had jealously longed" for many years to step into Geronimo’s moccasins. Macenhorses openly accused Geronimo of catering to the wishes of certain cattlemen who leased land, of the Apaches. To this charge Geronimo, always proud, always dictatorial, haughtily disdained a reply. He considered it beneath his dignity to do, and maintained a stiffnecked silence. Then came the overtures of the Bus- . falo exposition people. The chief of the Apaches packed his paraphernalia and departed in all - his picturesque, barbaric glory for the haunts of civilisation and its brilliant center, the Pan-American at Buffalo. He did not think seriously enough of the attitude I of Macenhorses to provide himself any moans of defense. He flattered him-

self that his reputation and the place that he believed he occupied in the esteem of his tribe would keep his position secure,. But Geronimo has been % given. the surprise of his life In this year, 1901. He Is ehoklng over the bitterest pill he has ever had to swallow. He is the maddest Indian In America. The assassination of Maeenhorses Is the next event anticipated by those who realize the mood that the dethroned chieftain is now chafing under, .for never yet has foe escaped Geronlmo’s wrath. , While he was absent in the East Maeenhorses and a friend of his named Nalehe put their energies to good use in undermining his stronghold. ' They actively canvassed against him and succeeded in winning over to their side two-thirds of the tribe,

which numbers only two hundred and fifty. An election was held a fortnight ago and Geronimo was defeated. His lordly raiment was then handed over to Macenhorses, who was formally proclaimed chief. This was the cheering condition of Apache politics when the unsuspecting Geronimo, his sport ended, left the haunts of the pale-face, whose overtures had indirectly wrought his ruin, and hastened home. He immediately challenged Chief Macepborses to fight a duel. The new ruler retaliated by having Geronimo arrested and fining him ten ponies. The band of Apaches on the reservation surrounding Port Sill, though in reality prisoners of war, are practically free, as they have had their liberty for years and show no inclination to escape. They control their own land to rent or use, and live in their own preferred Apache way. Geronimo himself draws. |25 a month a» scout.

Geronimo.