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IltarCeS7. Totty
-*IA^ 7 1937
The Alma Missacre
^lir family left eman ,Texas Sept,22, 1879 for Arizona where one
of my uncles was supposad to be living le came by Deming where we were
warned that the Indians were out and we"-Aad better not go by Cookes Peak one
of the Indians favorite places of attact. Yy father never havirc, had spy
dealirr with any i.rdians ,was not afraid of the Indians and came on by the
Peek luck was.apparent17 with us for a bin. snow storm care qp ,and we nev..
er saw an Indian.
Ihen we Pot to silver City the weather was so disagreeable that fatheN
Pot 8 PlEler3 for us to stay 4hile in Silver City we heard that my uncle was
in the Prise° Valleysarea up in the h1lS mining
vather took us to the Prisco Valley and settled.de made the third farr.
ily in the valley.
Up in the hills mexican sheep men became any because VT
,a00\
settlers were coming into the valle) yq;told the Apaches that the white settlatlf,
1
would be easily taken as they were new to this country ,and as the Apaches
were always ready tc ttact an easy victim they were ready to raid the
new settlers at once
In the later part of April 1880 the Indians under thetr
chief ,Victoria -at the Cooney mine up in the hills.The attact was made jus
as the men were Taiting work for the day.Three of the men from themine were
killellanother ,Yrr.Taylor was shot in the le p the shot breaking his leg
rr. Taylor hid out in a near by cave. The rest of the men scattered into
the hills. T/othe- and we children slept in the wagon ;as-dihe only
house that we had was a leanto. Then Iwent out to the wagon to go to bed
I heard a strange noise up in the hills. I ran into the house and said,
"There is something up in the hills". The entire family cane out to listen,
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when they didn't hear anything theytrie +-o mqle me believe that it was th
frogs down in the uwamp,Ihad been raised in town ,and any :unusual noise
.attracted my attention ,and IkneTi the noise I heard was up in the hills
-And wasn't anoise usually heard at niaht.After the family had one to bed
'could not sleep ,because Ikept thinking about the noise in the hilld.I
rot ur and Aft on a bit trunk in the front of the wagon.I heard some loud
telking ,an soon
decided that it wqs over at the Roberts house.Ithouhht
that probably that some of tie family was sick and peedingh,help .1 was just
ready to wake up mother when I heard a horse coming .Thinkirg that it was
some of the Roberts family I waited to see what the party wanted. Tthe
horse came up on the far side of the leanto.I called wg3 are on this
side of the house A man rode around he house and asked 'here is your
father
T rerlied "In thehouse asleep.
"Iewake him ,and tell hid that the Apaches tVel'ut,that he had
better get all of his stocik in the corriti-.at once and get ready for an
attact. Ihaverrethe time to awakeWhim as I must go warn others."
I thanked the man 1 and ran to thei,h,.-.use to awakeNfatheT
The family soon wo4...s busy father put the stockin the corral and went
after ry brother and uncle that slgo*.in the store across the creek
When the men came back my uncle and oldest brother stayed at the corral
to mard the stock. Mother and I started to moulding bullets for our old
44 Winchester.
Mr. C ooney and another man called Chick came down from the
hills and told us that they hadltieen hiding in the hills after the attact
at the mine When night came they bega*o hollow so the dogs would bark
and they could get their bearing thereby explaining the noise that I La,
heard.
Mr. (looney had been an Indian scout for five years ,and
said that we need dot wor-y that the Indians would raid their cabins and
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not bother th- sattlers we did not worry as we thought that 7r. Cooney
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knew what the Indians were likely to do. Te laughed and moulded bnlle
he rest of the nip.ht.
Then morning cane Chick kept wanting to return to the mine.Mr.Co
P! coney the indians will just raid the cabins but it is not safe to
a up there now as the indians arstillin the country." Chick insisted
-erted to go if they could barrow sore horses to ride. My fatherdid not
have any horses as we drove mules from 9herman, and he was using thee
to make his crop.
'he men went over to the -obe-ts Ranch anddobtainod horses
td make the trip.
After several hours the horses returned .-riderless with
blood on them Mr. Potter and Mr. Mbtsiner jumped on the horses and took
off up the mine as it was feared that the men aad run into trouble and
needed help.The men were ambushed by the Indians. Potter's gun was shot
fror his hand/the jar of hthe shot injurin-, his arm, but he drew his six.
shooter and fought his way out of the ambush, and rode back to the ranch
before the Indians were able to attact the ranch
Theindians had always feared Capt. Cooney and when
they sew that they killed him they rejoiced. They thought that if they
could surprize Cooney the settlers were not expecting an attact The
war-iors left the squaws td mutiplate the bddies of Cooney and Chick;.
Then the horsee returned riderless the Roberts family
decided to send out an alarm A man rode over to our house and told us
to hurry to the oberts house.
My father thought thatwe should fortify our
place assour house was on a plain and the Roberts house was at the foot
hill,and the Indians could shoot down the hill Mother insisted that we
pd on over to the:Roberts Aanch My ther said
that he would stay with the stock at the corral. 7e filially --et the two
white mules to thswagon and started for the ranch.
l'at he was going finally rather than let him PO alone Mr? Cooney oon-
S
sew ser-e e,ttl- st rdine on hil , e cattle were watchirl
7othe- said -7aw r'stee h irdins e conine the
eate're then."
'"h nothe-,' is olen of tiee ilose ott1e --e letchine
us th i-ilens eeen't near ::et
7'ew jest woeld e -t earee A nother would uree Tier to drive
_17-4-• ;raw would jest teese and never drive any faster 73Wore
to he top of th hill nd th- catt1e.
etart- to ern and our selee- w's buli 'Te indimns edre coeine
r3 us. I ,erebted
leiseRp
4- 1.
.1rivie-e. lore ahen ee
e,iI teine
-rn'7 ealled "It isn't loaded .The shells are In my telt."
rel, hl4w-s s n.mw telt •and very stiff. Itu&pe; tut could ne* ceet eny of
sh-lls out paw WPS l'ivine very fast nd 'w,s peietine the eun nt
the ladiens in !lopes nnt they Teull stay tack le' they sew a eun .If I he;
Fib71 to loel th-, cur could never hit the indiees the een was
1-opecir,- around so as feth really rahi-r- a rece for tl'io Roberte
ra-chr:w screened to the family to lie down in the wsleon so th indiavked
tble1/45,010-10111*neetiy. ullet :.ors ahizzing around ls. Tie
Indians wer- frettind. noeeer e71 te-tinie "y brdther was st ndin# Ibt
core?.1 wetchine t'ee attect ,but eoell riot help usrs his 'nn w not
:7.ore rer r
Rano'," saw foe trontle we
- teel:
were in and SiY of th- non rode t to help us by
lives
of non rode between us and the. indiens. The iedians
to Moot Ht A--
i r' r:1', T1 on the hor7,Pi- the e fore eivireg- us a chance
to eet to the ranch le were, traeeline t-7 qe: speed by the tjeee we
the ranch .-7 had to pass ty the -Ion3,:' and nulled ue- te 11.11441414
oad lo e shed .Just as we halted one of thewhite mules [email protected] dead, the
firs,- shot of the apaches to tn'e effeee for th-y were sure shootine
e 7Thaveeeki-
wi7d e rot oit of tle wareon down th 777s-1. —y sister said
seen any Indians She h, bee- leine down in the waedn. She decided
to peep around the corner to see an indian,A#hot missed her head about
ms t- th- hous2 7;e Tere c:1, to hays t 7eap a ditch the men told
us as soon as there was a slack in the firing to make for the honse.THe
fir-inp cease 7 and we knew the indians we -e surrounding the place.
dash for the house, the children made it across altight ,but
iktla-tmo fraid moth er would be unable to make the leap across the
ditnh as she was short and weic,.hed about one hundred and sixty-five
pounds. -Then mother came to the ditch she leaped across that ditch
as spry as a deer.3he said it was time to pet in a hurry.
The house was a long house made of logs with a door at
each end .he beds were placed around the wall of the room ,and the
women and childr n put in the center of t--1 room for protection.
"here wane thirty -one men in the housepisides the six members of the
Colter family ,five in the 7oberts family and six in the Meader family.
ry brother couldn't stand thesuspense of not knowinp
what happenedto us ,made a ride for the ranch, and arrived with out
a scratch Luck wassurely with us for bullet had hit all around us
and not a one was injured. The indians were able to keep up a constant
fire as fifteen warriors would drive up and fire then4top back to re-
loadtheir guns and another fifteen would take their place thereby keep
up a constant fireas they were always moving in a circle. There were
two hundredand thirteenwarriors counted.
mhe indians surrounded the house some shooting down the hill
many of the shots lod,,-ed on the dirt roof, others knocked holes in the
wall mikinmo_nsafe to move about as the Indians could see any movnent
in the house through the cracks.
Late in theafternoon one of thesmall children was crying
for some thing to eat ,and the food was all across the room in the
cupboard. Tly brother was standing on one side of the cupboard ,and I
wished to take his place as I knew that he was tired .1 asked Mts. Robi-
erts if the milk was in the cupboard when she said it was 4 had an
excuse to PO after the milk as the children hadn't had any thing to
eat all day.
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I made a dart across the room safely I alike& qtretherdo you wantme
to take your place foe awhile?"
"ro, it is toodangerous as the Indians have nearly hit me
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several tires through the cracks in the wall."
triL
The girls in those day&wkretaught to shoot -es same as the
boys .T have spent many hours at tarFet practice with my brothers Ond
father.
"t. Wilcox was standing on the,otherside of thecupboard
spoke up and said "Agnes when you start back across the room you go
as fast as possible; those Indians are shooting at every thing they
see move 7
Before I started back Mr.Wilcos saw his partner out in tie
yard trying to get to the house 1 Mr. Wileox stepped to the door to
aid his partner in gettinp to the house by exposing himself .Idarted a—
crossthe room and as I handed the child the glass of milk Mr. Wilcox
criedeMy Pod ,boys I'm shot." He stood his gun down by the door facing
and walked over tothe firepLace and laid down Before anyone could
veach him he was dead.
larly inthe fight an_apache had been shot the wstrier rolled
down theditot that we had to jump,into thewater.We thought that he wes
dead which he probalA.y.was.,but he disappeare4.1then Mr.ftery tried to
pet to the house,Mr. Murry had gone into the hills early inthe morning
to roundup some cattle when he heard thefiring he knew the Indians
had attaite; and hid ,out _in the hills.Iate.in theafternoon he &aided that
it wns time to try to make it to the house,but he tried to come in too
early. The boys sure fid have to do some real shooting to makivthe ind;;*
lane stay back in order for Mr. ,Murry ete pet to the house.Thile the
boyewere makinp every effort to get Mr. Murry to the house the Indian
in the ditch disappeared.Whether the Indian wps injured nndsaw a ahantz,
to pet away or one of the other warrldrs slippedadown and carried him ts
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away or what happened to him wasnever known.
Mr, ?osterumderstood theepache language end signs he told
.1.the boys that tictoria was trying to get his warriors to rush down the
hi l' on the house, is our ammunition was low he cautioned the boys to
never shoot unless theywere sure of the shot.7or if the epaohes ever
did ret to the house tt would be all off with to settlers.As the warrf
lore could soon capture the place as they had plenty ammunition, The
Indians always had ammunition a indian scout would always ro out with
alot of amrmnition when h= returned he never had any he would tell
his com andinr officer that he shot at rabbits and btrds but he was
storinr tt away for future use as he knew he would peobably be back
with the tribe the next year, many times he sent his ammunition to
hie tribe. The warriors made several rushes for the house but the
boys made it toohot to ret toc;close.
The apaches are superstitious about flottino. after nirht,
and when datk came the imdians made carp at the present site of Alma.
'Ike the yelling and whoopinr really came off.They danced and Imade
merry for they had the white settlers penned •men soon beoametof
their fun makirp,and sent a few shots ove- in their direction. The
Indians moved 0 little father away and no more was heard of them ,so
close to the ranch.
"7e fio.ured that we wer- in for 8 seirre and had better fill
everything with water. If the Indians were to out the ditch we would
probably have to olve up the fight from thirst.
Two mem volunteered to try to get through to 6ilver 4ity for
help and amrunition.mo go to Silver ttey must go by the indtanccamp.
The men came around and told us all pod —bye they never expected
to come back, and 'don't su-rose anyone in the room ewer expected to
see ther apaint but Ica was merciful for they went bythe camp safely.
At t ranches alone the road thny wer, able to secure fresh mounts.
The men arrived inSilv-r Oity early the next and crave the alarm
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rushe over to the Port.
Oaptian vadden had beenout on an imdian scoutieg trip and was ju
just returninp to ti post with thitty-five of his troops and scouts
he ordered his mento turn and march to the 7risco Valley.Themen marched
by silver rlity where seventy-five citzens joined the troops. The meta
were tired but they neverlet this hinder them intheir rush to the
settlers.
me rornire after the battle we were surprised that we weren't
"ied on ,4ut "r. Indien he4 decided thet the white settlers werrnot
to be tnIzen so easily and had sent a runner ever to the an nerlos
-leservntion for more werriors.'he men tecide3 as the Indians w reT0t
botherir0- to try to bury 7r.Tilcox .They constructed a crude coffin
and decided to bury him en t'ee hill behind the honee.If theindians were
eeen core a shot wes to be fired from a pistol.
The men w,:re 2arrin- th-cof.:A.-: up the hill when e shot was
The men he:stily .pleced
the house. Then 01Ht7:ered $1t the hone it 7,:u; dliscoverdd thet
ore of the nen 11.5 ncoi;ort17 dropped hid r.run ,nd made it f'o off7any
!1P77fl later we we e7- able to
fr.rn7 te'er.
ender a tree and mele a run for
.-tout the incident tit it sure wesnit
The we.s 3eventeen head of stool: in naoberts correl wher
the Pie.ht starte but :hey were .11 7-1.71ed. Our o-ld r,.nle stood
'-c7 171T? 'no/Igo
The
in sleet of he rench Ag soon n, he could see the rench witi his field
^e.herIe to see th?condition of thins t ti- toll
the ho 9 --e ere to late ;for 7 see rd ?le-."7hen he wa.
closer to the,rylch he crierr7 3re enrly enoh for Thee men."
The cry )f rejocircr tht2t went or from thet 0_.ron,) could be heerfi for
nnny miles.
J never hit.
dl,en cer.77
7r.Indinn hed early in the nornin moved o into the hills
the' :,,oldiers were comings7he7 went hy
nlre43 Thete the nexican sheepherders were and killed thi.rtyfiTe.nen•
ry because the sheep nen 1.f19 to7d ther thrt the new
settlers wou7d ta.en ,and they hadn't beenz:hle to acc'orrlish
their vittory.q.4nexicse taen prisoner by thi, indiL-.ns told us that the
indirns hcd nir dead' •warriors with them.
fter, thesoldiers arrived and found us safe they decided that it
woull be foolisi to try ofollow the indiand as the men were all tie-.
95 as wellas their mouots.A.so many of the menfrom Silver City were
afoot.
Then we returned hone we didnt have a thing left.Sheriff Mite
hill was inthe valley at the time of the attact and came on to the
ranch ,and father sent ts back to Silver with him.
Sometime after the fight an apache cout came into the mining
camp with Chicks coat onstheone he had on the day he was killed.
The boys at once took Mr Scout prisener.and took possesion of his horse.
he Indian scouts always helped his tribe against the -white people.
nne morning the boys told the indian# that he was td follow them
The Indian asked ''here are you taking me?".
One of the boys answered;"oing to show you the
'es I know th?trail that you will show me ,and it will be
a long one." "'he boys took the scout out and hung him.
My fsther bargained with the boyssfor the :scout b horse.for
thirty- five dollars. 73 had to have anotherhorse 3r mule to make the
crop.
Sometime after the hanging of tte Indian a qovernment man came
by ,and demanded thetorse from theboys .They told .him that the korse
had been .sold and paid for and they guessed that he couldn't have him.
mhe gove-rment agent same to father and demanded the horse
7ather told him7Idon't intend ti let you have thehorae .THe Indians took
everything I had And I have bought and paid for thishkorse,And I
TO
intend to keep it The ap7ent told father the.governnent couldn't
be responsible for thei,:. scouts and father said ,rnItrt-your4M14,44idians
else and we will take care of them:Then father toid hi aid the man
went on about his buSineevnd was never hears of again.
The families that watt An the valley never did receive an,
thine, for their loss as thegovernment agent said that the indians werenir
at war wilth the government.A negro, detachment was sent into the valley
but they were usless Father was talking to one Of them oneind he
said ,1iedaren't shoot at an Indian. Tear, just out here to bury the
dead."
Mrs Agnes Meader Snyder