Document text
One day Charlie Bachelor came into the camp with the stage
and seemed to be nervous, he seemed to sense that there was
trouble in the vicinity, and after eating decided to change his
schedule in order that he 070fP the Ash Creek, a little north.
west of Duncan, Arizona, after night; in order to cross the
creek after night he stayed at the springs until three o'clock
in the afternoon. When he left be requested that some one go
with him as there wasn't any extra men at the springs and Char.
lie didn't have a man or Passenger along so be bad to go on the
way alone.
When he was about three or four miles from the springs the
Indians were hidden and opened fire on his team; shooting his
white mule and crippling him. The next shot wounded Charlie in
the thigh and arm, but he kept pushing his team on. Finally the
Indians thinking that he was going to get away ran out and sur.
rounded the stage and caused Charlie to turn it over in a small
wash where reeds had grown up. This was an ideal place for the
man to save himself, but in his fright be rushed out of the hole
and up to .the side of the hill thereby making himself a target
for two Indians that were on the side of the hill. The Indians
put two 45-70 bullets through a deck of cards that Charlie had
in his shirt pocket when they killed him. There were five Apach-
es iu the party and when they began to rho^t their horses that
they were riding esonped. The brave p went down to the Ftnge and
rlided it. They got a keg of whiskey and went a little frther
on and got the keg open and proceeded to Fet good and drunk.
Just dhoti* dusk five horses came up the springs and we
put them in the corral. In a short time a negro soldier came
into camp and we told his of the five horses in the corral
and he remarked that Indians had been seen in the district and
that he was going to guard the corral. It was my night to
stand guard and I usually stayed in the shade of the houses on
a moonlight night, I was sitting by the side of the house when
I saw a shadow moving out by the corral, thinking that it might
be the negro I didn't shoot. Then I saw another shadow appear
then I knew that it was the Indians, but as I raised up to shoo
I saw the barrel of the gun of the negro sticking up in the air
after he shot, and jumped and called °Them were Indians T see'd
them." I never wanted to kill anyone so bad in my life for he
missed the Indians and caused them to get away before I had a
shot at them and he was to soared to shoot anything. When he
got to where I was his face was as white as mine and his eyes
were popping out of his head as if he had seen a ghost. The In.
dians didn't come back t6 the springs, and in a few days the
horses were all claimed by their owners that were cattle men in
the vicinity.
The morning after the Indians came into the camp to steal
the horses Jesus Duran came across the body of Charlie Bachelor
and the stage and brought the mail on into town and notified the
authorities. Jim Wood, a sconteled the soldiers to the place
where the Indians killed Charlie, but they wouldn't follow the
trail, instead they turned back to the old trail, when they
could have soon captured all five of the warriors as they had
been drinking all night and were still close to the plane where
they killed Charlie. tell you we old.timers of '79 sure didn't
have much use for the soldiers for they did us more harm than
good; they were all afraid of the Indians and the Indians knew
that they were far more skillful in the fighting of the frontier
than the soldiers and usually laughed at the modes the soldiers
used. The Indians were sure that they didn't try to massaore a
gathering of frontier men though. The day Judge McComas was kill-
ed and I shot the Indian in the shoulder the same band of Apaches
stole all of the horses of Lyons and Cambell.
We went over on the Middle Gila, the nrerent Red Rock, to gat-
her corn for George Cook. My job was to ride around the field
and keep the cattle out of the field as there weren't any fences
at that time. I was riding one night when the wind harnened to
blow my way and I received a scent that told me the Indians were
in the wood by the field. I had every sensitive sense of smell
and to this fact I can attribute the fact that I am alive today
for it has saved me more than once, when I smelled thenindians I
turned back, and went to the side of the house for I was afraid
to tell the men that I smelled Indians for they would give me
the horse laugh, when morning came the Indians had stolen all the
horses including the work horses.
The Indians soon learned that I could tell when they were
around and I didn' have any trouble with them.
Ceaser Brook.