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04 - Dread Apache- That Early-Day Scourge of the Southwest by Merrill Pingree Freeman · Dread Apache- That Early-Day Scourge of the Southwest

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  Speaker 1: Section four of the Dread Apache That Early Day Scourge
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  Speaker 1: of the Southwest by doctor Merle Pingree Freeman. This LibriVox
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  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Brutal murder of Missus
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  Speaker 1: Peck and baby through Little phil Save's mother and sisters.
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  Speaker 1: Brutal murder of Missus Peck and Baby. On April twenty seventh,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty six, a band of Indians appeared at the
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  Speaker 1: ranch of A. L. Peck, about twenty miles from Oro Blanco,
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  Speaker 1: where they found Missus Peck, her baby about eleven months old,
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  Speaker 1: and her niece, Jenny, a young girl of about eleven years,
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  Speaker 1: killing Missus Peck and the baby. They took the young
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  Speaker 1: girl away with them. It was asserted by some at
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  Speaker 1: the time, including Peck himself, that the leader of this
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  Speaker 1: band was Geronimo, but I think this could hardly have
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  Speaker 1: been possible for the reason that the leader was too
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  Speaker 1: young and spoke good English, whereas Geronimo did not speak English.
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  Speaker 1: In giving the story of his life to S. M.
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  Speaker 1: Barrett at Fort Sill not many years ago, it had
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  Speaker 1: to be done through an interpreter. Besides, Geronimo had escaped
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  Speaker 1: from General Crook sixty five miles south of Fort Bowie
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  Speaker 1: and one hundred twenty five miles east of Oroblanco, on
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  Speaker 1: the night of March twenty ninth, only a month previous,
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  Speaker 1: and gone into the Sierra Madre Mountains. It is my
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  Speaker 1: opinion that Geronimo was never seen in Arizona subsequent to
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  Speaker 1: that time until he surrendered to General Miles and was
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  Speaker 1: brought to Fort Bowie the following September. At the time
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  Speaker 1: of the killing of Miss Peck, Peck and a young
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  Speaker 1: man by the name of Charles Owen were a mile
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  Speaker 1: or two away from the house, both being mounted but unarmed,
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  Speaker 1: and were in the act of catching a steer. The
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  Speaker 1: Indians surprising them. Peck's horse was shot from under him
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  Speaker 1: and he was captured and held prisoner. Owen, being well mounted,
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  Speaker 1: made a dash for his life, but ran into another
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  Speaker 1: part of the same band. His horse was shot from
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  Speaker 1: under him, and Owen himself was shot through the neck
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  Speaker 1: and arm, killing him instantly. Those that had Peck were
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  Speaker 1: apparently waiting for their leader for instructions as to what
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  Speaker 1: to do with him. The leader soon coming up. After
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  Speaker 1: taking from Peck his boots, knife, and tobacco, they released him,
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  Speaker 1: telling him, however, not to go home. Before releasing him,
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  Speaker 1: one of the Indians, for some unexplainable reason, gave him
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  Speaker 1: sixty five cents in money. A squaw with this man
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  Speaker 1: had little Jenny on a horse with her. Jenny was
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  Speaker 1: crying bitterly, and when Peck attempted to talk with her,
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  Speaker 1: the Indians intervened and prevented his doing so. About six
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  Speaker 1: weeks later, she was rescued from the Indians by some
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  Speaker 1: Mexican cowboys at a point about forty miles from Magdalena, Sonora,
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  Speaker 1: where she was delivered to Peck, who had gone after her.
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  Speaker 1: As soon as released, Peck went directly home, where he
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  Speaker 1: found his wife and baby lying dead. Shanahan killed Yank
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  Speaker 1: Bartlet wounded. The day following the killing of Missus Peck
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  Speaker 1: and her baby, John Shanahan, who was unarmed, left Yank
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  Speaker 1: Bartlett's ranch in Bear Valley, about eight miles from Oro Blanco,
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  Speaker 1: for his own place about three miles distant, leaving at
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  Speaker 1: the ranch with Bartlett his little son, Phil about ten
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  Speaker 1: years of age, who was there visiting Johnny Bartlett, of
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  Speaker 1: about the same age. Shanahan had been gone but about
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  Speaker 1: ten minutes when Johnny ran into the room where his
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  Speaker 1: father was telling him that he had just heard three
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  Speaker 1: shots and that he thought maybe the Indians had shot
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  Speaker 1: the old man. Bartlett, who had not heard of Indians
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  Speaker 1: being in the vicinity, scouted the idea that on going outside,
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  Speaker 1: saw Shanahan approaching and ran to him and assisted him
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  Speaker 1: into the house. Shanahan telling him that the Indians had
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  Speaker 1: shot him. Bartlett immediately seized his gun, and on going
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  Speaker 1: to the door, a bullet fired by one of the
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  Speaker 1: Indians whistled past his head. There were but three of
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  Speaker 1: the Indians, but having placed themselves in different positions, it
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  Speaker 1: was hardly possible for Bartlett to get a shot at
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  Speaker 1: them without exposing himself to their fire, and one shot
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  Speaker 1: from then, passing through his shoulder, only missed the head
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  Speaker 1: of Johnny by about an inch, blinding him from the
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  Speaker 1: dust of the adobe wall as the bullet struck it.
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  Speaker 1: The fight between Bartlet and the three Indians was kept
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  Speaker 1: up until dark. Shanahan, fatally wounded, was constantly calling out
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  Speaker 1: for water. Bartlett thinks that in the fight he wounded
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  Speaker 1: one of the Indians. Little Phil saves mother and sisters.
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  Speaker 1: Shanahan's story is that a short time after leaving the house,
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  Speaker 1: being totally unconscious of any danger, he was suddenly shot
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  Speaker 1: by an Indian, whom he then saw only about thirty
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  Speaker 1: feet away. Picking up a rock and starting for the Indian,
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  Speaker 1: Shanahan received another shot from behind that knocked him down,
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  Speaker 1: but he was immediately up again and ran back for
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  Speaker 1: the house, Bartlet meeting and assisting him in. Shanahan saw
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  Speaker 1: but two Indians and said he could have killed both
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  Speaker 1: if he had had had a gun. During the time,
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  Speaker 1: Bartlett was keeping the Indians at bay. Realizing the danger
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  Speaker 1: of Missus Shanahan and her two young daughters at their
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  Speaker 1: home three miles away, he told Phil, Shanahan's little son
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  Speaker 1: to steal out of the house by a back way
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  Speaker 1: and go to his home and notify his mother of
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  Speaker 1: their danger and of the shooting of his father. Phil
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  Speaker 1: demurred at first, wanting to stay with his father, who
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  Speaker 1: was suffering intensely, but being told that unless he went,
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  Speaker 1: his mother and little sisters would surely be killed, the
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  Speaker 1: little fellow courageously said he would try to get to them,
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  Speaker 1: and good fortune favoring him, he succeeded in doing so,
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  Speaker 1: finding them in the garden, They all, including Phil, immediately
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  Speaker 1: started for the mountains, where they concealed themselves until the
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  Speaker 1: following day. In the meantime, the Indians had come to
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  Speaker 1: the house and carried off or wrecked everything in it,
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  Speaker 1: and would undoubtedly have killed Missus Shanahan and the two
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  Speaker 1: little girls had not brave. Little Phil, at the risk
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  Speaker 1: of his life, warned them of the danger and of
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  Speaker 1: Section four.