Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 14

ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE. SUNDAY. APRIL 14. .1901. CHIEF GERONIMO A GOOD INDIAN NOW.

SHOAL, WARE SHOAL!" SHOAL, WARE SHOAL. 1 LITERARY LETTER fcr v. Number 72, the Staunchest of Lightships, Set to Guard the Graveyard of the Sea Off Cape Hatteras. -5c Famous Apache Leading a Very Com-r fortable Life as a Prisoner of War at Fort Sill. If WRITTEN FOR THE DEMOCRAT ANT CHRONICLE WRITTEN FOR THE DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE.

medicine man, find it takes a man who can talk with uuseea beings to make a really deep impression, on the Indian. Geronimo made his first raid in 1SS4, when he marched against the town of Arizona, and, with a few warriors, succeeded in wiping out the whole population of 500 souls. This was followed by other atrocities, until he was raptured in 1887, having cost the United Stales government almost one million dollars in giving chase to him. lie and his band of 200 fighters were taken to Fort Pickens, Florida, but, owing to the hot climate, they could not live there and were transferred some five years ago to Fort Sili, where they have IIE IS TO-DAY. since remained, witn tue exception or a trip to Omaha three years ago.

It was during the Spanish war that Geronimo made threats to escape, and did attempt it He only got a few miles from the fort when overtaken. Since then he has been on his good behavior. The only fault now found with his conduct is his persistent lying about his treatment by the soldiers. So far as his wanting to die is concerned, except when he is obviously bidding for sympathy, he seems to be enjoying life well enough to live until the last trumpet sounds. Geronimo is small in stature, possessed of a keen face aud a piercing eye.

The blue in his eye is of that peculiarly steely color that arouses unpleasant sensations in the mind. His face is wrinkled and his hands are small and rough. His color is a dark red. Geronimo smokes cigarettes these days and would drink fire water had he the privilege. He has six wives, but lives with none of them.

His favorite daughter, Eva, lives with him when she is at home. He gives her sufficient mouey to send her to an Eastern school eight months in the year. Geronimo does not work; that is, such as raising a crop of corn or millet. He gets, rent free, a two-room house to live in, but he keeps his ponies therein and resides, himself, in a tepee. All of the Apaches who are held as war prisoners live in tents and keep their horses in the house furnished to them.

The Apache village is on an open plain in sight of Fort Sill. In summer the tepees catch all of the dust and in the winter the snow Hur ries into the doors. It would not be a white man's notion of comfort, but the Indians like it. In the valley near the fort are some very handy places to pitch a camp, but they will have none of it. A few weeks ago Geronimo's daughter, Eva, was taken ill with some skin disease and was placed in the government hospital at the fort.

A large boil appeared on her neck. Geronimo told the white physician in charge that it should be opened. The white medicine man told Geronimo that it should Dot. When the doctor was not watching the old warrior pulled out a jack knife and opened the GERONIMO 'AS sore. The soldiers placed him in the guard house for three days, but the girl improved daily thereafter.

Among the Apaches Geronimo is called an excellent doctor and they will have no other. Hundreds of people drive fifty miles in a rickety stage coach from the railway station through the Kiowa and Comanche reservation in order to get a glimpse of this noted fighter. He has learned to watch for them, and when they approach he assumes a very dignified and injured air, always repeating his plaintive story of how he longs for death. While little in sympathy with modern civilization, the old chief appreciates one of its inventions, the camera. He charges $5 for his picture.

But there are those who can fool the old man. He has not yet awakened to the ways of kodaking. He thinks all pictures are taken by looking under the cloth, which covers a large camera. Visitors frequently get him in range and take snap idiots without his knowing what they are up to. But the moment a professional photographer brings v-V- -J4- I OSIAII FLYN'T (whose real name, Josiah Flynt Willard, has often, been given to the public) has been called upon by the New York city police department to prove he really exists.

The situa-is most amusing. Mr. Flynt spent some fifteen years of Ms that tion has adventuresome life in the company or tramps and criminals, two years of that tame being spent in connection with various police organizations. About a year ago he suggested to the editor of one of the leading magazines a series of articles on- criminals and police of our large cities, aud, his idea being accepted, five or six separate articles were prepared. The first two have thus far appeared, one on Chicago and the other on New York.

It is this latter article hich has stirred up trouble in New York city. Mr. Murphy, the newly appointed police commissioner, and Mr. Titus, the head of the detective bureau, have taken offense at some of the charges made by Mr. Flynt.

A few days ago they started a general search for Flyut and, failing to find him. Chief Murphy is satisfied that they have "got the best of Josiah Flynt," while Captain Titus says he does not believe such a person as Josiah Flynt exists. The latter excuse seems too ridiculous to consider. Mr. Flynt's "Tramping With Tramps" gave him a world-wide fame, to which his "Notes of an Itinerant Policeman" and "Powers That Prey" have added very considerably Possibly Captain Titus never has occasion to open a book catalogue or keep posted on such excellent literature on criminology as Mr.

Flyut has produced. After all, the whole pretence of trying to find Flynt is too evident. Those who know the police department in New York city say that Flynt could be found withm an hour if the police so wished, but many friends of Flynt feel that he knows the police aud criminal world well enough to keep out of the way of arrest. THOUGH the fact may not be fully ap- I prcciated, Mr. Flynt is doing a world of good ia just such articles as those which he is now publishing.

He carried on a systematic iavestigation of existing conditions in the large cities and secured the opinions of politicians, municipal officials, and "protected" and "unprotected" offenders. "The corrupt public official," says Mr. Flynt, "is the unknown thief in the United States. The known thief is the man whose 'mug (photograph) is in the rogues' gallery. In many respects th known thief is less dangerous than the unknown, and my investigations have been successful if they direct public attentioa to the position of the latter in our municipal life." THE present series of articles will be included in a volume which Mr.

Flynt is now preparing for fall publication under the title of "The World of Graft. In telling how has collected his material, Mr. Flynt says: "The methods I employ depend wholly upon circumstances. In each city and town visited I made it my business to learn to know aud understand the local tramps and criminals and important police aud other municipal officials. In Chicago and Pittsburg, thanks to acquaintances, I easily got at th truth, and for other large cities, letters to and from criminals aud other people to be interviewed helped me to the information without difficulty." to the present writing Mr.

Flynt has not yet been found. His publishers hare been besieged for explanations and information as to his whereabouts. It is the general impression that the polite do not wish to find Flynt. At any rate the matter seems likely to subside. From what can be learned, Mr.

Flynt is still in the city and at present is planning to sail for Europe shortly, where he will collect material for stories, articles, and anotlwr book. This time he will go to ltussia, possibly on to Siberia and Manchuria, and, if he gets that far, he plans to go through China and return some time next year to New York by way of San Francisco. 0 NE might easily picture Mr. Flynt's present dilemma as that of one between the devil and the deep sea. If the criminals alout whom he writes should discover his identity, his life would not be worth much, and the police who are exposed desire nothing better than Flynt's early demise.

But Mr. Flynt is not the kind of a man to let these trifles worry him. He proposes to go right ou investigating crime and criminals, the means of stopping one and catching the other, and those who know him feel confident that, while produciug realistic literature, he will be teaching us sociological truths that one can scarcely appreciate the importance of now. FKAXCIS WALTON," the name which is coupled with that of Josiah Flynt under he title "Powers That Prey," is the noin de plume of Alfred Ilodder, a former professor of belle-letters Bryn Maw. Mr.

Ilodder, as may be judged from the foregoing, is not the same type of man as Mr. Flynt. The former studied sociology from the text-books and the latter went to original sources. Mr. Ilodder has had, however, a great deal of literary experience, having written under various pen names, and it was not strange that he should have celebrated with his friend Flynt on a series of criminal stories.

At the present time Mr. Ilodder is engaged iu finishing up a novel on which he has been working for several months past. A Trifle Slow. London Answers. Croft has left Plymouth now.

One little sentence exiled him. You see, he had a fine old timepiece in the hall, hanging on a nail. His wife says he deliberately loosened that nail. However that may be, his mother-in-law one day rushed into the drawing room in a state of great excitement. "Oh, dear oh, dearie me!" she cried.

"That heavy, horrid old clock has just fallen with a terrible crash on to the very spot where I was standing only a moment before!" Croft was quite cool and collected. But he murmured abse.ia-nilndedly: "I always said that that clock was slow!" The Drama of Approval. Baltiuinre American. A custom in Cuba that is rather amusing to those who have not seen the same thing done in some of the European theaters is that of selling the tickets for one act only. If at the end of that act the people of the audience are pleased with the play they go to the box-office and secure a ticket for the following act, and so.

on to the end of the presentation. There have been plays, so well advertised that the rising of the curtain showed the house to be packed; while the people not being pleased with it, each act would be played before fewer numbers until during the last act the house has been practically empty. -S4 -St two would keep her afloat. Partly td strengthen her hull, she is provided witli three decks built almost as strongly" aa those of a warship. In order to resist the rremenaons strain when rocking in th waves.

The quarters for the captain, officers and crew are on the main deck, while'' the coal bunkers and other supplies are be low. As the officers and men must remain sometimes for five and six weeks without seeing any one or being relieved, the government has tried to make the surroundings as homelike as possible. Steam heat and electric lights are pro- viuea in eacn camn anu in iurniture, carpets, and fittings would be a credit to a mansion. The ship is equipped with, re- ricerntin snnaratnfl. nnrl Tina oTr C3 I r- plant for distilling water so that an ample suddIv of ice can be maintained in th summer months as well as an abundance of pure water.

To hold the lightship on her station, powerful apparatus was provided. She has nary liner. This is connected by a chain whose links are 1 1-8 inches thick, calcu- lated to stand a strain of 79,000 pounds. Tltwifl cut tTt cx Tiartwvi- nnpliftr tharch 13 xt-Vi a ia known as a kedge anchor, weighing 350 v. waves in a heavy storm.

In order to giva her plenty of room to ride the i rm iew oi uncnor cuuia is pruvjueu. iue anchors are raised and lowered entirely by steam, the ship being equipped with special engines. Electricity furnishes the.il- lumination for the lanterns which are arranged upon two steel masts at a height of 50 feet above water line. Each mast contains a cluster of six arc lamps each of 100 volts. On a clear night their rays can lie seen a distance of 20 miles, while i i i i siuruiy weaiuer it is caicuiaieu uihl tutj captain of a ship ten miles distant can see if.

act ife NJEW GUARD. them through his field glasses, ns they havs an attachment which produces a vivid flash every half minute. The electric current is generated by a set of powerful dynamos operated by steam engines. No. i2 is provided with steam as a mo tire power, in case she should break loose from her moorings.

Her engines are aa large as those in. an ocean tug of the first class and, it is believed, will enable her to battle successfully with the average northeaster. She is also equipped with a mainsail, foresail and jib, principally to steady her in a gale of wind. There is no dangei of her being mistaken for any other craft. The letters on her side are about 10 feet in height and on a clear day can be seen at a distance of several miles in them- selves.

Gutta Percha and Ocean Cables. A writer in the New York Sun says thai gutta percha being indispensable to submarine cables, the tree which yields the precious milky gum from which gutta percha is made has become an object ol very great international interest. Commer-cial concerns as well as governments them-, selves have in the past few years beena giving very close attention to the gutta percha problem. Tropical forests hav been ransacked for the tree or for one so nearly akin to it that a cable-covering product may be had from it, and then a snn I nlnnta. tations of the original tree in regions when heretofore it has not grown.

The forest, ransacking has resulted in failure and the plantations have not yet got beyond experimental stage. Better. Detroit Journal." Tet when I reflect a moment I cannot bnt see that the world Is necessarily better. For now, when I meet a man smoking, I can almost always direct his attention to a building of a least twenty stories high, reminding him that he might own this had he saved all the money he has spent for tobacco. Fifty years ago, when I began my warfare against sin, buildings having even as many ai six stories were few.

I Of course all this makes for morality. ENGINE OF 7X foith his camera, Geronimo demands his fee. He always looks his toughest in his pictures. He likes to strike an attitude of devilish ferocity when being photographed. The older he grows the greater is his desire to make a fiendish appearance.

Five years ago, when he first came to Fort Sill, he was content to wear white men's clothes, and consented to have himself photographed wearing them. Now, when lie poses, he looks like the old-time redskin of the Apache tribe. This is because he sees that his war clothes attract more attention from white visitors. He does his best to give them their money's worth and to lire np to their expectations. In talking about his war experience, he spoke in the Apache language to this effect: "I do not know how many white men I have killed.

It must be hundreds. I have killed many wompn, too. But I never killed a white baby. I like children. I will fight some more some day.

I am good for five years more on the battlefield. I will get out of this some day and then will go back to Arizona and kill some of my enemies. I hate them out there. I want to get even with them. I like the white people her and would not hurt them.

I see that there are many more whites than when I was a young mun. I see we could not kill them ail. I do not want to kill all. I have some I went to kill and others I will let alone." No one in hi neighborhood fears Geronimo. Those who know him say that he probably would be willing to fight if he got a chance, but he won't get the chance.

His life it just like that of the ordinary reservation Indian of to-day, except that he is not allowed to carry loaded arms or to leav the reservation. Once in a while he becomes unruly and is then confined to the fort until he quiets down. Sand and the Suez CanaL New York Sun. One of the problems which has given the management of Suez ran.il much trouble is that of the sand that blows into it, eddiag to th dredging expenses. A considerable nunilT of plants have been tried in the effort to fix the sands so that a comparatively small quantity would be blown into the canal.

All of these plants have Tailed except one, which, it is now believed, will be quite effective in keeping the sand in place. This large plant is the casnarina tree. It thrives in the southern Hemisphere, and grows well on the sand banks that skirt the Suez canal. It not only intense drought, but also excessive humidity, which is important, as the northern part of the canal is subject to inundations at some periods and droughts at other seasons of the year. The roots of this tree penetrate the sand so deeply that they tr.p subterranean sources of water.

Many of the trees planted twenty-five years aso have thrived so well in their tew habitat that they are well over forty feet in height. All who have studied the problem of sand fixation are certain that this tree will offer important resistance to the movement of sand along the canal. Steps are being taken to plant it extensively. A' LTHOUGH by no means a dead Indian nor likely to be for a long time to come from all appearances, Geronimo, the famous Apache warrior, is a good Indian nowadays. Not from choice, however, for it bores bim extremely.

The reason he is good, is because, as a prisoner of war at Fort Sill, Oklahoma he has to be. lie Who was once the meanest and most blood-thirsty Indian chief that ever fought the government, now leads a quiet and peaceful life that is in striking contrast to the old days when he roamed the plains at the head of hia braves killing all the whites who crossed his path. Certainly Geronimo has had more crimes laid to hia account than any other living Indian, lie doesn't deny it. In fact, he is rather proud of it. In moments of confidence he admits that he would like to do it all over again.

One of the things over niea ne gloats is that he personally has killed ten whites in a single battle. It is i I ti i i ii i a. u.uL it-i. ui. io iiis oiu age mat he has led forays wherein as many as five hundred pale faces were slaughtered.

He has a deep-set, bred-in-the-bone taste for, murder. Such is Geronimo's English that it is well to hire an interpreter if one desires to get an intelligent talk out of him. Also at is necessary to hire Geronimo. He docs not talk for nothing, a fact of which the "writer was apprised immediately upon questioning him. A dollar bill loosened 'liis tougue, but lo tne first question asked, how he liked his present position, he gave answers rather difficult, to reconcile.

First, he liked the rlace. Then he said that the soldiers treated him badly. As a corollary, he added, that he wished to die. In the subsequent conversatioa his allegations of ill-treatment and his pining for death cropped out with suspicious frequency. It is said by the officers that he repeats this to all while visitors, whereby their yity is aroused and they buy his beadwork and trinkets at a large advance over tTte market Tates.

Ueronimo likes sympathy, particularly when it takes a financial foim. Apparently the old chief has an easy and pleasant life. The ollieers at the fort treat him with kindness and consideration, "allow! eg him all the 'privileges possible" undef the rules governing the conduct of prisoners of war. His position is peculiar this respect, that, although a prisoner, he is also a paid employee of the He draws $33 per month as a scout, though he is not permitted to carry a loaded gun. He has no work to do and spends most of his time making bead work and other fancy articles to sell to 'white visitors.

Out of his trade, the soldiers think, he uunvcs Liiau io luouMiiiu a year. Whew ascd if he had any money laid by foii a day, he replied da his guttural English: "Me no save money. Me spend it for Eva, sqnaws and heap gladness. Me like to have gladness and see fun." Eva is his favorite daughter. By 'squaws" he means his wives.

In the Indian vernacular gladness is synonymous with gambling, and a great deal of the 'old man's money goes into the game and never conies out again. He i3 a very poor gambler, so far as winning goes, but he plays -with that unfailing courage which, when coupled with skill, makes the most successful gamesters. He is a reckless bettor' and runs a strong bluff. He never hesitates about a bet, and if you raise him be will look you straight in the eyes and if he thinks you are bluffing will raise you a stiff sum. One can never read by hi lace- whether or not be has a good hand.

But the weakness of his poker game is that he almost invariably overbids bis hand. Poker and monte are his favorite games, and the Geronimo tepee is the cene of many highly exciting sittings. Soldiers and cowboys often sit in the games with the Indians. One curious and attractive trait of the old chief is that when he makes a big winning at cards or has a large sale of trinkets he gives the proceeds to the little children in camp to spend for school books. Much of his money goes to his favorite daughter, Eva, and his favorite squaw, Ketona.

The daughter of Ketona gets little love from her father. This is because she married a white man, and, what was; still worse in the eyes of the father he was a cowboy. Geronimo is said to be eighty years old. He does not know his agp, He wag with Victoria when that chieftain went against the Mexicans and later be developed into a leader himself. lie is a born leader of Tedekins for the reason that he claims to not only a fighting man but also a MJy iff- w-nYim mi 0:.,: QVI AILORS say that there are two graveyards in the Atlantic, one oft Sable island and the other at Cape Hatteras.

The wrecks that strew the sea bottom around the little piece of land between the Grand Banks and the mainland are mostly caused by the dense fogs that prevail most of the year, misleading skippers westward and eastward bound, untill too late they find themselves upon the rocks. Fog is only a lesser peril of the Hatteras weather. The cape is known the seven seas over, as the worst of storm centers. The fury of its winds, the sweep of its terrible cross-seas, and the treachery of its lurking shoals are by-words in the mouth of every deep-sea sailor. It is here that the government has just set the new and powerful lightship.

No. 72, staunchest of its kind, to warn ships from the invisible perils of the coast. The dangers of Hatteras are generally unseen. Even in fine weather the water at high tide entirely conceals the reefs of jagged rock upon which many a Bhip has beaten herself to pieces. But fine weather is rare thereabouts.

Seldom does the sun rise clear upon the low sand spit running far out into the ocean. Every storm that reaches the coast seems to seek out Hatteras for the display of its greatest violence. During a northeast or southeast gale its rocky, seaward stretching ledges turn the ocean currents into a vortex; and then there is no spot in the oceans of the world more to be feared. Tremendous cross-seas rise and sweep the waters for many miles out to sea. A real Hatteras storm often extends its influence between two and three hundred miles outward.

If the reefs of Hatteras were situated at a different point on the coast line the cape would not have its evil reputation. But they lie in wait at the most easterly point of the South Atlantic coast, and ves- 4U IF i HATTERAS sels bound to and fro between southern ports and such cities as New York and Philadelphia, as well as the fleet of steamships which load at gnlf cities for Europe and coal at Norfolk and Newport News, must pass close by. The cape is also close to the direct route between isoutn At- lantie ports and Great Britain, and if a- jhip captain loses his reckoning even by a few miles, he is liable to come dangerously near it. Since the first American monitor went to the bottom of the sea off Cape Hatteras hundreds of crafts, from the fishing smacks to the liner, have been its victims, and thousands of lives have been lost in its stormy waters, localizing this constant menace to the navigator, the government has spent millions of dollars trying to find something which will give suitable warning to ships. Time and again lighthouses have been planned, and the work gotten under way, but sooner or later, often after months of work, the treacherous quicksands have engulfed the most solid foundations and sometimes a single night of storm has demolished the structure.

Floating.buoys of various kinds have been tried, bu-t these have also been quickly washed away. After careful consideration, the United States lighthouse board decided to have a lightship constructed which would be strong enough to with stand the heaviest seas and provide illumination which could be seen at a long distance on the stormiest night. The first ship tried wasn't of sufficiently heavy caliber. The artillery of the seas was too much for her, and one night she was torn from her moorings and landed high and dry on the beach, the crew just escaping with their lives. No.

72 had just been finished aud was sent direct to Hatteras. She is much larger than the other vessel and the workmen in the yards at Quincy, where she was built, had orders to put the best material into the hull and machinery and to take time enough to drive every bolt and every rivet home. She is 112 feet in length and quite shallow, leing about 20 feet in depth. The hull, made of the best steel, is divided into five water-tight compartments by bulkheads of the same material, so that if the ater should fill three of these, the other SPECIAL ANCIIO Jf 3M I 1 'm- 11 iMmmk'Mi gk lPf ksmm 'si ffs years i i i -f.