General Crook and the Fighting Apaches / Treating Also of the Part Borne by Jimmie Dunn in the days, 1871-1886, When With Soldiers and Pack-trains and Indian Scouts, but Employing the Stronger Weapons of Kindness, Firmness and Honesty, the Gray Fox Worked Hard to the End That the White Men and the Red Men in the Southwest as in the Northwest Might Better Understand One Another

by Edwin L. Sabin

“No, sir. My mother and father were killed by the Apaches, but I lived with Joe Felmer. He’s post blacksmith for Camp Grant.”

“Lieutenant Ross and Moore and I have seen him there often, general,” put in Lieutenant Bourke. “He calls Joe Felmer uncle, but they’re not relations, as I understand.”

“No, sir; we’re not,” said Jimmie. “Joe is mighty good to me, though.”

“Did the Chiricahua treat you well?” asked the general.

“Yes, sir; but I don’t like them.”

“Why not?” And General Crook slightly smiled. When he smiled his face was kind and fatherly.

“Because they wanted to make me an Apache, so I’d help them kill Americans and Mexicans and steal cattle. They torture people. And they killed Lieutenant Cushing, too!”

“How do you know that?” sharply queried the general.

“They did, didn’t they, sir? I saw his shirt. Taza was wearing it.”