One night there was an awful time at San Carlos; a train of wagons laden with supplies for Camp Apache had halted there, and some of the teamsters let the Apaches, among whom were the bad lot under Chuntz, have a great deal of vile whiskey. All hands got gloriously drunk, and when the teamsters refused to let their red-skinned friends have any more of the poisonous stuff the Apaches killed them. If it could only happen so that every man who sold whiskey to an Indian should be killed before sundown, it would be one of the most glorious things for the far western country. In the present case, innocent people were hurt, as they always are; and General Crook informed the chiefs that he looked to them to put a prompt termination to such excesses, and that if they did not he would take a hand himself. With that he returned to headquarters. The chiefs sent out spies, definitely placed the outlaws, who had been in the habit of changing their lodging or hiding spots with great frequency, and then arranged for their capture and delivery to the military authorities. They were surprised, summoned to surrender, refused, and attempted to fight, but were all killed; and as the Apaches knew no other mode of proving that they had killed them, and as they could not carry in the whole body of each one, they cut off the heads and brought them to San Carlos, in a sack, and dumped them out on the little parade in front of the commanding officer’s tent.
The Apaches of Arizona were now a conquered tribe, and, as Crook well expressed the situation in a General Order, his troops had terminated a campaign which had lasted from the days of Cortés. The view entertained of the work performed in Arizona by those in authority may be summed up in the orders issued by General Schofield, at that date in command of the Military Division of the Pacific:
[General Orders No. 7.]
Headquarters Military Division of the Pacific,
San Francisco, Cal., April 28, 1873.
To Brevet Major-General George Crook, commanding the Department of Arizona, and to his gallant troops, for the extraordinary service they have rendered in the late campaign against the Apache Indians, the Division Commander extends his thanks and his congratulations upon their brilliant successes. They have merited the gratitude of the nation.
By order of Major-General Schofield.
(Signed) J. C. Kelton,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
Randall and Babcock persevered in their work, and soon a change had appeared in the demeanor of the wild Apaches; at San Carlos there grew up a village of neatly made brush huts, arranged in rectilinear streets, carefully swept each morning, while the huts themselves were clean as pie-crust, the men and women no longer sleeping on the bare ground, but in bunks made of saplings, and elevated a foot or more above the floor; on these, blankets were neatly piled. The scouts retained in service as a police force were quietly given to understand that they must be models of cleanliness and good order as well as of obedience to law. The squaws were encouraged to pay attention to dress, and especially to keep their hair clean and brushed. No abuse of a squaw was allowed, no matter what the excuse might be. One of the most prominent men of the Hualpai tribe—“Qui-ua-than-yeva”—was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment because he persisted in cutting off the nose of one of his wives. This fearful custom finally yielded, and there are now many people in the Apache tribe itself who have never seen a poor woman thus disfigured and humiliated.