Page:On the border with Crook - Bourke - 1892.djvu/201

 Government was allowing them rations and clothing in quantity sufficient to eke out their own supplies of wild food. This action of the "Muchos Cañones" had a very beneficial effect upon the campaign which began against the Apaches in the Tonto Basin a few weeks later. It humbled the pride of those of the Apache-Yumas who had never been in earnest in their professions of peace, and strengthened the hands of the chiefs like "Jam-*aspi," "Ochacama," "Hoch-a-chi-waca," "Quaca-thew-ya," and "Tom," who were sincerely anxious to accept the new condition of things. There was a third element in this tribe, led by a chief of ability, "Chimahuevi-Sal," which did not want to fight, if fighting could be avoided, but did not care much for the new white neighbors whom they saw crowding in upon them. "Chimahuevi-Sal" made his escape from the reservation with about one hundred and fifty of his followers, intending to go down on the south side of the Mexican line and find an asylum among the Cocopahs. They were pursued and brought back without bloodshed by Captain James Burns, a brave and humane officer of the Fifth Cavalry, who died sixteen years ago worn out by the hard work demanded in Arizona.

It does not seem just, at first sight, to deny to Indians the right to domicile themselves in another country if they so desire, and if a peaceful life can be assured them; but, in the end, it will be found that constant visiting will spring up between the people living in the old home and the new, and all sorts of complications are sure to result. The Apache-Mojaves and the Apache-Tontos, living in the Tonto Basin, misapprehending the reasons for the cessation of scouting against them, had become emboldened to make a series of annoying and destructive attacks upon the ranchos in the Agua Fria Valley, upon those near Wickenburg, and those near what is now the prosperous town of Phœnix, in the Salt River Valley. Their chiefs "Delt-che" (The Red Ant) and "Cha-lipun" (The Buckskin-colored Hat) were brave, bold, able, and enterprising, and rightfully regarded as among the worst enemies the white men ever had. The owners of two of the ranchos attacked were very peculiar persons. One of them, Townsend, of the Dripping Springs in the Middle Agua Fria, was supposed to be a half-breed Cherokee from the Indian Nation; he certainly had all the looks—the snapping black eyes, the coal-black, long, lank hair, and the swarthy skin—*