Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Legend of the Kid by Sarah Black What history writes about the . The Kid’s fame has bred a confusing array of legends, but one of the clearest account comes from Dan Thrapp’s biography, , Chief of Scouts . Thrapp presents several versions of the Apache Kid story, offering insight into their accuracy. The Kid may have been born in Aravaipa Canyon in 1860 as a member of Chiquito’s band, or perhaps he was from Wheatfields, north of Globe, a White Mountain Apache born in 1868. All agree that he was tall and had piercing dark eyes. He often wore a black felt hat, and boots, when available. His family appeared in Globe around 1875 and the Kid began to pick up small jobs in saloons and stores. There he drew the attention of Al Sieber, a German immigrant who served in the Civil War, prospected in and , and finally settled in Globe. Sieber made the Kid his protégé, even teaching him his own version of frontier-style cooking. One of the few portraits available of the Apache Kid. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Photographer: Erwin Baer. General Crook created the in the early 1870s, and hired Sieber as a civilian commander. Sieber shared his success with his young assistant. The Kid enlisted in the scouts as a teenager and rose to sergeant quickly. He took part in the battle of Big Dry Wash, the last pitched battle with the , with Lt. George H. Morgan’s Troop E, Third Cavalry. Two years later “Sgt. Kid” was promoted to First Sergeant. General Crook returned to in 1883 and promoted Al Sieber to Chief of Scouts. He and the Kid followed helped the general track in . Officers and newspapermen agreed that the Apache Kid had “amazingly keen” eyesight. On one expedition where the commanding officer could barely make out an approaching party through his field glasses the kid could not only see them, but he could tell how many whites, mules, and horses there were. When they caught up to the group, he was exactly right–according to legend. The Kid may have been off bit, but Sieber taught him to be an expert tracker. He probably estimated the numbers by the amount of dust raised and other tricks of the trade. By the summer of 1887, the Kid had served on several campaigns in Mexico and married one of Aravaipa Apache Chief Eskiminzin’s daughters. That summer the San Carlos Indian Agent, Captain Francis C. Pierce, and Al Sieber went north to Fort Apache. Without considering the consequences, they left the young Apache Kid in charge of the scouts and the guardhouse. While they were gone, a band of Apaches who lived about ten miles north of the agency decided to brew a batch of tizwin, a native corn beer prohibited by American authorities. Then they went on a binge. The story goes that an Apache scout named Gon-zizzie killed Togo-de-Chuz, the Apache Kid’s father, at this party. Then some of the Kid’s friends killed Gon-zizzie in retaliation. The Kid got drunk with the others, and then several of them headed south to Aravaipa Canyon and killed Gon-Zizzie’s brother, Rip. When he testified in court, the Apache Kid said that Rip killed his grandfather six months earlier. Several days after they killed Rip, the Apache Kid and the others returned to San Carlos to turn themselves in. One soldier remembered sitting in front of the agency at 5 p.m. on June 1, 1887 and seeing six or seven armed Apaches approach on horseback. The Kid rode up to Sieber’s tent and told him he wanted to talk. Sieber sent for Captain Pierce, and a crowd began to gather. When he arrived at the back of the tent, Captain Pierce took the scouts’ guns and issued his one-word order: “calaboose” (he wanted them to turn themselves in at the guardhouse). Unfortunately, a scout named Antonio Diaz added his own interpretation in Apache; he told the men that if they did not comply they would be sent to Florida, where Geronimo was sent the year before. Just then in front of the tent an Apache fired one or two shots and pandemonium broke loose. Sieber no sooner grabbed his rifle and came out of the tent when a .45-70 caliber slug (almost half an inch of lead) slammed into his left ankle and knocked him to the ground. All agree that the Apache Kid fled without a weapon. Some later testified that a scout named Curley shot Sieber. After about two dozen shots, Sgt. Kid and others fled to the north followed by cavalry, who chased them until dark. The next morning the Apaches doubled back and headed toward Mexico. An Indian rushed to Globe to tell Dr. T.B. Davis that Al Sieber was dying. Newspapers across the territory fanned the old flames of fear, hatred, and hysteria, exhorting once again that no Indian could be trusted. Fort McDowell’s Major E. J. Spaulding warned lawmen and settlers to guard their livestock and not travel alone until the Apaches were back on the reservation. The Kid’s band followed the San Pedro almost to Mexico, but then turned around and headed back. Al Seiber, Chief of Scouts.Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Photographer: Erwin Baer. General Nelson A. Miles arrived from his headquarters several weeks later. He saw things had calmed down and was about to return to Los Angeles when he got an important message. A runner told Miles that the Kid and his men would return to the reservation if the soldiers stopped chasing them. The general ordered his men to call off their pursuit. On June 22, 1887 eight Apaches turned themselves in, and three days later the Kid and seven others followed suit. Miles said he realized the scouts might not understand the charges against them, but ordered a general court-martial “as if they had been white soldiers.” The trial seemed to be a mere formality. Defense objections of soldiers’ biased and prejudiced testimony were overruled. Witnesses said they did not see the Kid with a gun and that he had fled the scene as soon as he could. Captain Pierce testified that he saw some men on horseback loading their guns. He told Sieber to look out, they were going to fire. So far, the evidence pointed away from the Apache Kid. The court met in Sieber’s room on July 3 rd because pain was intense. Sieber testified that after Pierce took away their guns that afternoon and ordered them to the calaboose, the Kid gave a certain look. Sieber said it was the Kid’s signal for the scouts to grab their guns back. When called to testify, Sgt. Kid said that after they turned in their guns Antonio Diaz told them in Apache that those who did not obey would be sent to Florida. The Kid also testified that he only killed Rip because the man had killed his grandfather. He said he did not have any plans to attack, and would not have given the guns to Sieber if he planned to take them back. On cross examination Sieber said the Kid did not get his gun back, but that his look was definitely what set off the shooting. The verdict came quickly, and the Kid and four others were sentenced to death by firing squad for mutiny and desertion. General Miles opposed the ruling because he felt Diaz’s statement about Florida may have provoked the scouts. The court met again at Fort Thomas on August 3 rd and sentenced the five to life, which Miles reduced to ten years for some and 15 for others. The Kid and the others were sent to Alcatraz for 16 months, but were then returned to San Carlos, where outraged Arizonans insisted they stand trial for civil offenses. On October 14, 1889 Gila County Sheriff arrested all but the Kid with the help of Sieber and Captain John Bullis, the new agent at San Carlos. The Kid was arrested by Deputy Sheriff Jerry Ryan without incident. The jail in Globe now held the Kid, charged with intent to murder Al Sieber, and three accomplices: Say-es, Hale, and Pas-lau-tau. At least six other Apaches were crowded into the jail on other charges. Court convened on October 23, 1889 with Judge Joseph H. Kibbey (later territorial governor of Arizona) presiding. Curley, the man many said fired the first shot, was a witness for the prosecution. Testimony revealed a long-standing feud between Curley and the Kid. The Kid took the stand and said Curley, his enemy, was jealous of his luck with the girls. He said Curley shot Sieber to get him in trouble. Na- Shay-Shay, whom the whites called “Beauty”, was a surprise witness for the defense, testifying to the Kid’s good behavior. Sieber rebutted that the Kid made up the story about Curley to clear himself. Going primarily on Sieber’s testimony, the court found all four guilty of attempted murder and sentenced each of them to seven years at the territorial prison in Yuma. Sheriff Reynolds refused Sieber’s offer to help transport the four to the train depot in Casa Grande, supposedly saying “I can take those Indians alone with a corn-cob and a lightning bug.” He chose William A. “Hunkydory” Holmes to assist him. They chartered a new green and yellow driven by Gene Middleton and reached Riverside, forty miles south of Globe, the first night. They got up at 5 a.m. the next day and headed for Casa Grande to catch the 4 o’clock train to Yuma. A Mexican prisoner named Jesus Avott rode inside the coach. The Kid and Say-es were in separate handcuffs while the other Apaches were handcuffed in pairs. Just about dawn they reached the foot of a steep ridge. Traveling in a sandy wash with so many people on board was too much for the horses, so Reynolds, Holmes, Avott, and the prisoners shackled in pairs got out and walked. The stage made it up the hill and then got quite a ways ahead of the walking prisoners. Middleton drove around a rocky outcropping and stopped to rest the horses. Then he heard a shot. As the men on foot got close to the rocks, one pair of shackled Indians moved up close to Sheriff Reynolds while the others dropped back by Deputy Holmes. Two Apaches grabbed Holmes while Pas-lau-tau grabbed his rifle. At the same time, the other Indians jumped the sheriff and wrestled for his shotgun. Pas-lau-tau ran up and shot Reynolds with Holmes’s rifle. Legend says Holmes died of fright, but it was most likely a heart attack. The Apaches gathered up the guns and keys and hurried to catch the stage. Avott got there ahead of them and warned the stage driver. Middleton pulled his pistol to keep the Kid from escaping, but at the same time an Apache shot him in the head. The Indians freed the Kid and Say-es, and the horses bolted away with the empty stage. Jesus Avott rode off to Florence with the news, and Middleton managed to get up and start walking back down the road where he met another stage driver, Shorty Saylor, who took the news to Globe. They telegraphed Sieber, who organized a twenty-man scouting party. Troops joined the search from every army post in southern Arizona, but a snowstorm came up and wiped out the Apaches’ tracks. Although there were many reports of Apache Kid attacks, as well as his death, in the next twenty years, none were ever substantiated. It may be that the Apache Kid lived as late as the 1930s with a small band of Apaches high up in Mexico’s Sierra Madres, a fugitive for life for a crime he probably did not commit. The Legend of the Apache Kid by Sarah Black. Over 15,000 Web Pages in Archive presents Volume 7024. Edgar Rice Burroughs Hunted the Apache Kid Two years soldiering in the at Fort Grant provided decades of creative inspiration for Tarzan�s creator. by Frank W. Puncer. Click for full-size pages Company A of the Apache Scouts was mounted and ready to hit the trail from Fort Grant, Arizona Territory, in search of the renegade Apache Kid in 1898. Panoramic view of Fort Grant showing Officers� Row, artificial Lake Constance with fountain (far right), and troopers of the 10th U.S. Cavalry in formation. Mt. Graham is in the background. Apache Scouts at Fort Grant, Arizona Territory. ALL-TEXT VERSION DATELINE: Fort Grant, Arizona Territory, Saturday, May 23, 1896. Edgar Rice Burroughs, age 20, arrived here today to begin a harrowing ten-month tour of duty with the 7th U.S. Cavalry. A graduate of Michigan Military Academy, Burroughs had recently failed the entrance exam to West Point. Yet youthful optimism led him to believe a commission might still be attained from the ranks. Enlisted at Detroit with consent of his father (former Civil War Maj. George Tyler Burroughs), underage Ed had now achieved his rather perverse but expressed desire to be sent to �the worst post in the .� At Fort Grant his high hopes for rapid advancement would soon be crushed upon hard Arizona rocks. Unknown to Burroughs, those same jagged rocks concealed a living legend�the Apache Kid. Kid roamed ghost-like through the remote mountain vastness, a $5,000 bounty on his head on both sides of the border. Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose own legend was still unlit, would soon join the hunt for this famed phantom outlaw�thus tying his name forever to the Apache Kid saga. Burroughs� Arizona adventure began the previous day in the roughneck cowtown of Willcox. Arriving by rail with one dollar in his pocket, he had missed the daily mail and passenger stage to the fort. �Terribly hungry and equally sleepy,� Ed found a room at (probably) the Willcox Hotel. Bedeviled by bed bugs Burroughs abandoned his cot, spending most of his first night in Arizona perched uncomfortably on the hotel�s front porch. Posted to Fort Grant In 1896, Edgar Rice Burroughs posed (standing, left) with soldier friends who formed �The May Have Seen Better Days Club� at Fort Grant. Each member was from a different troop and all came from prosperous families. They met once each month after payday at the headquarters stables where Burroughs cared for 14 horses. The following morning Burroughs boarded the stagecoach for Fort Grant (possibly driven by ). Decades later, Ed recalled of this trip: �There were other passengers, but only one whom I remember, a painted lady from the hog ranch three miles from the post� She was not very old, but she was motherly and kind hearted. We dropped her at the hog ranch and I never saw her again.� One can only wonder if this �painted lady� voiced some encouraging words to new recruit Burroughs, headed to his first duty station. Her kindly impression lingered with him for life. Sworn in and assigned to Troop B, U.S. 7th Cavalry under command of 1st Lt. Selah R. H. �Tommy� Tompkins, Pvt. Burroughs now began his training and indoctrination. An accomplished horseman, he easily adapted to mounted cavalry drills. Saber exercises he quickly mastered as well. Burroughs soon became disenchanted with the lot of junior enlisted men at Grant, whose chief duties amounted to what he ruefully referred to as ditch digging and �boulevard building.� This led to keen contempt for the post�s commanding officer Col. Edwin Vose Sumner, Jr. (son of Civil War Gen. Edwin Vose �Bull� Sumner). Of his commanding officer, Burroughs recalled: �Sumner was a very fat man who conducted regimental maneuvers from an army ambulance. It required nothing short of a derrick to hoist him onto a horse. He was then and is now my idea of the ultimate zero in cavalry officers.� Burroughs noticed considerable tension between many of the officers and enlisted men. He laid all blame for perceived low troop morale squarely on the post commandant�s shoulders. In contrast, Burroughs had great respect for the Buffalo Soldiers he interacted with. �A couple of companies of the 24th Infantry, a colored regiment, were quartered at Grant at the time I was there. They were wonderful soldiers and as hard as nails� On several occasions I worked under colored sergeants, and without exception they were excellent men who took no advantage of their authority over us and on the whole were better to work under than our white sergeants.� Army Life in Arizona Situated near the southwestern slopes of the lofty Pinaleño range, Fort Grant boasted comfortable living quarters, a well-stocked commissary, even an artificial lake adjacent to Officers� Row. For relaxation soldiers could patronize the post canteen. Beyond that a motley collection of saloons, dance halls and gambling dens beckoned from nearby Bonita. Come payday a lonely trooper might visit the local bordello or �hog-ranch,� there to have his saddle-weary ashes hauled with the professional assistance of a soiled dove. Fortunately, the future author of Tarzan and John Carter of Mars preferred to indulge his creative muse in his spare time. Burroughs enjoyed sketching scenes of post life, jotting down notes and impressions, and writing letters home. These creative efforts, combined with vivid memories, later inspired Burroughs to pen two insightful novels of the : The War Chief (1927) and Apache Devil (1933). Burroughs was treated at the Fort Grant post hospital for dysentery contracted from contaminated drinking water. Burroughs recalled being maltreated by uncaring (and drunken) medical officers, as well as an abusive hospital steward. With the arrival of summer electrical storms, Burroughs noted, �The drinking water became impossible because of the rain and I presently achieved dysentery.� He soon landed in the post hospital where his sufferings continued unabated under the care of a pair of drunken medical officers and an abusive hospital steward. Burroughs recalled, �I was so weak that I could scarcely stand and they would not give me anything to eat �but castor oil.� He recalled being punished severely for attempting to devour an unauthorized crust of toast. He later wrote that �the most disagreeable part of my service at Fort Grant were my various contacts with the medical department.� Relief came in a call to duty. Burroughs remembered: �There was always a lot of excitement at Fort Grant. The Apaches were corralled at another post not far distant [San Carlos Reservation] and there were constant rumors of another uprising similar to those led by old Geronimo. The Apache Kid and his band of renegades were giving trouble in the south� We were always expecting boots and saddles and praying for it.� The Apache Kid As Burroughs later recalled, a man and his daughter had been murdered on the Solomonville trail, and the Apache Kid�s band were the presumed perpetrators. In late August, B Troop was ordered out on scout to hunt for the Apache Kid. Still suffering with dysentery, Burroughs pleaded his way out of the hospital in order to ride with his troop. The ensuing journey followed a wagon trail �short cut� over the high crags of Mt. Graham. This became a hellish ordeal for Burroughs, who was literally falling out of his saddle most of the way. �All during this march I was carrying fourteen pounds of ammunition and weapons around my waist�a weight which did not greatly alleviate the intense abdominal pain I was suffering.� In the field several weeks, B troop was at times split into two-man patrols sent out in different directions. Years later, Burroughs observed: �As I look at it now, we were just bait.� In his memoirs, Burroughs recounted an interesting anecdote about B Troop�s Apache scouts: �We went into camp on the Gila River, not far from Duncan, Arizona. We camped in a grove of large cottonwoods beneath a low cliff. Our Apache scouts camped at a little distance from us and nearer the cliff. At night, sometimes, we heard owls hooting at the top of the cliff and the call would be answered from the camp of our scouts. The old timers said that the renegades were communicating with our scouts and it was thus that they kept in touch with the movements of the troop.� Apaches feared owls above all creatures, believing them to be embodied spirits of dead relatives, so it is unlikely any Apache would communicate in this fashion. Burroughs� anecdote is far more revealing in what it says about the older soldiers� suspicions and distrust of the loyalties of Apache scouts. Of Apache women Burroughs observed: �A never ending source of interest to me were the Apache scouts and their families. We saw little or nothing of their women, though several that I did see among the younger ones were really beautiful. Their figures and carriages were magnificent and the utter contempt in which they held the white soldier was illuminating, to say the least.� Birth of a Novelist B Troop never encountered Apache Kid or his band. But Burroughs found an important part of himself on the backbone of Dzil Nchaa Si An (�Big Seated Mountain,� the Apache name for Mt. Graham). Sick as he was, he probably should have remained at the fort. But had he done so he would have regretted that choice the rest of his life. Diagnosed with a heart condition (which made receiving a commission impossible) Burroughs was discharged from the Army on March 23, 1897. Lt. �Tommy� Tompkins, whom Burroughs greatly admired, gave him an �excellent� character rating. Burroughs� legacy of frontier soldiering lives on in his two masterful Apache War novels written nearly a hundred years ago. Within their pages Geronimo, Juh, and live again, along with Shoz-Dijiji the Black Bear and his beloved Ish-kay-nay, Cibeque medicine man Nakay-do-klunni and others. Painstakingly researched, written from the heart, and daringly presented from the Apache point of view, The War Chief and Apache Devil contain all the love, hatred and pathos of human existence caught in the crucible of war. MEET FRANK PUNCER. A life member of The Burroughs Bibliophiles, Frank W. Puncer has collected, studied and written about the life and works of Edgar Rice Burroughs for 45 years. As a resident of Arizona, Puncer has a special interest in Burroughs� Western novels. FRANK PUNCER IN ERBzine ERBzine 6281 PART I ERBzine 6282 PART II ERBzine 6283 PART III: Photos and Links. MORE ERB'S CAVALRY DAYS IN ERBzine www.erbzine.com/mag34/3469.html. 1896-1897 at Fort Grant with the U.S. 7th Cavalry 1. Arizona Adventures 2. Sketch Book Memories 3. Fort Grant Today 4. Fort Grant Photos 5. Bloody 7th Scrapbook 6. Apache Kid Scrapbook. EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS AND THE APACHE ERBzine 3482 Captain Bourke's Influence On the Border with Crook ERBzine 3483 Text and Illustrations ERB References ERBzine 3484 Scrapbook: Art and Photos Indian Wars and Apaches ERBzine 3484a Apache 3-D Photos 28 Stereoviews. The Art of Edgar Rice Burroughs Rough Pre-Release Images of Early Years Sketches WILD WEST and CAVALRY DAYS www.erbzine.com/mag27/2767.html. ERB'S APACHE NOVELS The War Chief www.erbzine.com/mag7/0773.html. BILL HILLMAN Visit our thousands of other sites at: BILL AND SUE-ON HILLMAN ECLECTIC STUDIO ERB Text, ERB Images and Tarzan® are ©Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.- All Rights Reserved. All Original Work ©1996-2019 by Bill Hillman and/or Contributing Authors/Owners No part of this web site may be reproduced without permission from the respective owners. Legends of America. Exploring history, destinations, people, & legends of this great country since 2003. The Apache Kid – Outlaw Legend of the Southwest. Said to have been the fiercest Apache next to Geronimo , as well as a notorious outlaw of the late 19th century, was the Apache Kid. Born in the 1860’s on the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona, the “Kid” was most likely of the White Mountain Apache. Named Haskay-bay-nay- natyl, “the tall man destined to come to a mysterious end,” the pronunciation was too much for the citizens of Globe, who simply called him “Kid.” Learning English at an early age, he worked at odd jobs in Globe and was soon befriended by the famous scout, Al Sieber. At that time, early settlers of the Southwest faced numerous raiding bands of Apache and General had come up with the idea to use Apache to fight other Apache. Enlisting Apache Indians from San Carlos and other reservations, the enlisted scouts could locate the trails that the hunted Apache traveled. In 1881, the Kid enlisted in the Indian Scouts and was so good at the job that he was promoted to sergeant in July, 1882. The following year he accompanied General George Crook on the expedition of the Sierra Madre. The Geronimo Campaign of 1885-1886 found the Kid in Mexico early in 1885 with Sieber, and when the Chief of Scouts was recalled in the fall, Kid rode with him back to San Carlos. He re-enlisted with Lieutenant Crawford’s call for one hundred scouts for Mexican duty, and again went south in late 1885. In the Mexican town of Huasabas, on the Bavispe River, the Kid nearly lost his life in a drunken riot in which he had been a participant. Rather than see the Apache Kid shot by a Mexican firing squad, the judge fined him twenty dollars, and the Army sent him back to San Carlos. In May, 1887 the Apache Kid was left in charge of the Indian Scouts and guardhouse at San Carlos when Captain Pierce and Al Sieber, an anglo scout, were both gone on business. Though the brewing of tiswin , a beverage made of fermented fruit or corn, was illegal on the reservation, with the white officers gone, the Indian Scouts decided to have a party. As the liquor flowed freely, a man named Gon-Zizzie killed the Apache Kid’s father, Togo-de-Chuz. Kid’s friends, in turn, killed Gon-Zizzie. However, the killing of Gon-Zizzie was not enough for the Apache Kid, who then went to the home of Gon-Zizzie’s brother, Rip, and killed him. Apache Kid (middle) with two other Indian Scouts. When the Apache Kid and the four other scouts returned to San Carlos on June 1, 1857, both Captain Pierce and Al Sieber were there ahead of him. Captain Pierce ordered the scouts to disarm themselves and the Kid was the first to comply. As Pierce ordered them to the guardhouse to be locked up, a shot was fired from the crowd who had gathered to watch the display of events. In no time, the shots became widespread and Al Seiber was hit in the ankle, which ended up crippling him for life. During the melee that followed, the Apache Kid and several other Apache fled. Though it was never determined who fired that shot that struck Sieber, it was for sure not the Kid nor the other four scouts ordered to the guardhouse as they had all been disarmed. The Army, reacting swiftly, soon sent two troops of the Fourth Cavalry to find the Apache Kid and the others who had escaped. For two weeks the cavalry followed the fugitives along the banks of the San Carlos River, when finally, with the aid of more Indian Scouts, they located the Kid and his band in the Rincon Mountains. The soldiers seized upon the Apache horses and equipment while the Indians fled by foot into the rocky canyons. In negotiations with the soldiers, Kid relayed a message to General Miles stating that if the Army would recall the cavalry he and his band would surrender. When Miles complied, the Apache Kid and seven members of his band surrendered on June 25th. The Kid and four others were court-martialed and found guilty of mutiny and desertion and sentenced to death by firing squad. However, General Miles was upset over the verdict and ordered the court to reconsider the sentence. When the court reconvened on August 3, they were re- sentenced to life in prison. Miles. was still not satisfied and reduced the sentence to ten years. Beginning their sentence in the San Carlos guardhouse, they were later sent to Alcatraz. However, their conviction was soon overturned on October 13, 1888, due to prejudice among the officers of the court-martial trial, and the Indians were returned to San Carlos as free men. Causing an outrage among the citizens of the area, a new warrant was issued in October, 1889 in Gila County for the re-arrest of the freed Apache for assault to commit murder in the wounding of Al Sieber. Apache Kid Wanted Poster. At the trial on October 25, 1889, four Apache including the Apache Kid were found guilty and sentenced to seven years in the Territorial Prison at Yuma. While being transported to the prison the Apache Kid, along with several others escaped. During the fighting that took place during the escape, the three guards, Glenn Reynolds, Eugene Middleton and W. A. Holmes, were overpowered. Glen Reynolds was killed, Middleton was wounded and Holmes apparently died of a heart attack. Middleton later recovered, saying the Kid had prevented another of the Apache from “finishing” him by bashing his head with a rock. The Kid and the others fled, their tracks obliterated by a snowstorm. It would be the last “official” sighting of Apache Kid, though unconfirmed reports of his whereabouts would continue to filter in for years. Over the next few years the Apache Kid was accused of various crimes and said to have led a small band of renegade Apache followers, raiding ranches and freight lines throughout , Arizona and Northern Mexico as he hid out in the Mexican Sierra Madre Mountains. Others insist that he became a lone wolf who was despised by his own people and was terribly feared by the Anglo settlers. Some accounts have the Apache Kid kidnapping an Apache woman until he tired of her, then killing her, before kidnapping yet another. Reportedly, the Kid preyed on lone ranchers, cowboys, and prospectors, killing them for their food, guns, and horses. Before long, a price of $5,000 was placed on his head by the Arizona Territorial Legislature, dead or alive, but no one ever claimed the reward. It is impossible to determine how many of the crimes he is blamed for that he actually committed. During an 1890 shootout between Sonoran Rurales (a branch of the army) and Apache, a slain warrior was found to have Reynolds’ pistol and watch, but he was too old to have been the Kid. After 1894, reports of his crimes came to an end. Some sources claimed he died at this time while others argue that he crossed into Mexico and retired to his mountain hideout. In 1899, Colonel Emilio Kosterlitzky, head of the Rurales, reported him alive and living with other Apache in the Sierra Madre. In the interim, there were several unconfirmed reports of his death – by gunshot or by tuberculosis. However, southern Arizona ranchers continued to report Apache stock raids into the 1920s. There are so many different variations of the crimes committed by the Apache Kid, all with the purpose of exacting revenge for the treacherous way in which the Apache scouts had been treated by the army, that even historians cannot agree on exactly what he was responsible for, nor when he died. Seemingly, his namesake “the tall man destined to come to a mysterious end” was a prophecy. Though the questions are many regarding the death of the Apache Kid, a gravesite memorial can be found high in the San Mateo Mountains of the Cibola National Forest in New Mexico. Here is yet another place that the Apache Kid was said to have been killed, after having been hunted down by local ranchers angered by his relentless raids. Reportedly, to mark the site of the of the Kid’s undoing, the vengeful posse blazed a tree, the hacked remains of which you can see to this day. The grave is one mile northwest of Apache Kid Peak at Cyclone Saddle. Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words. Daydreaming! Reviewing LGBTQIA Books, all formats ! Binge Watching A World of Romance. Author Spotlight – Sarah Black. This was first published spring 2012 and since then my admiration for Sarah Black as a writer has grown stronger. Her characterizations are multidimensional and come fully alive before your eyes, complete with a authentic back story and dialog that fits in their mouths like water in a river. It flows and carries with it the regional characters that the earth has endowed it with. As I said, I can always pick out a Sarah Black character or dialog. Tomorrow The General and the Horse-Lord will be released by Dreamspinner Press and Sarah Black will be here with a guest post to mark the occasion. Scattered Thoughts will mark the occasion too by giving away a copy of this book, courtesy of Dreamspinner Press to the lucky person chosen at the end of the day from those who comment on her guest blog. It’s a fascinating look at one manner in which the author gets to know her characters, don’t miss it. My review will be posted on Tuesday, but really I will say it right now. I loved this story and you will too. Today I thought I would start a new feature called Author Spotlight, highlighting authors who books I love and often recommend. Today the spotlight falls on Sarah Black. Just her name on a cover is enough for me to buy it, She has over 42 books to her name. I aim to read them all. My hope is that this will get you to pick one up as well. Here is her bio from her website Sarah Black Writes: “Sarah Black is a fiction writer living in beautiful Boise, Idaho, the jewel of the American West. Sarah is a family nurse practitioner and works in a medical clinic that takes care of homeless folks (they have lots of great stories). Raised a Navy brat, she’s lived all over the country. She and her son James recently moved to Boise from the Navajo reservation in Arizona. When she isn’t writing, she’s doing something with wool. She learned weaving out on the reservation and now has her eye on an antique circular sock knitting machine.” The author’s love and knowledge of her subjects permeates each story she writes. Whether they feature a former Navajo Marine heading into the desert or a wildlife photographer capturing the photo of the year in a river in Alaska, the authenticity her background brings to each story is unquestionable and the realistic characterizations and locations is never in doubt. I could pick up one of her stories and know it is hers without ever glancing at the cover, her voice is that unique. Sarah Black’s stories have often informed and educated me. In Anagama Fire s I learned just enough about raku pottery and the intricacies of glazes to fire my own curiousity, sending me off into the realms of research and adult education classes on pottery nearby. As a former Park Naturalist I am familiar with wildlife photography, yet she made it fresh once more with Sockeye Love, especially in the scene captured in the title. It had me laughing in joy and the delights that nature continues to surprise me with. The author’s own military background as well as her family’s shines forth in her characters with their own Marine backstories. In Border Roads 4 members from a platoon return home from Iraq and try to reintegrate in the society they left behind. These veterans are scarred physically and emotionally, holding onto the brotherhood formed in war to help see them through the trenches and ambushes of life back at home. One character is so physically disfigured he hides behind a kerchief, ashamed of how he looks and feeds. Black’s background as a clinic nurse brings this character close to our heart, helps us understand some of the mental and physical challenges he is going through, gives us a man in pain, instead of a victim. I always thought it was a shame this book was narrowed down to m/m fiction as that covered only two of the men from the platoon, the other two were heterosexual. I think it is possible that the inclusion of m/f content hurt this book and caused it to have a lower following than her other books. Either way, this is an incredible book of injured veterans returning home, an issue that will be with us for some time to come. A hard, painful must read. The only time Sarah Black has lost me so far is in Slackline . Slacklining is a practice in which a 1 inch nylon rope is strung between two anchor points. The rope is not tightly strung as in tightroping but looser so it has a degree of play so the rope becomes dynamic (in some cases stretching and bouncing to allow stunts and tricks). In other words, slack not tight. The main character injures himself when attempting to cross the sea of Hoy off the coast of the Orkney Islands in Scotland on a slackline. He was by himself, no backup, no one knew he was there, he was trespassing and didn’t take into account the high winds off the sea and up the cliffs. I started off thinking what an idiot and unfortunately that impression never left me. I will give Sarah Black credit in that the character knew he was flouting slackling rules as well as the local laws, but such stupendous stupidity (especially as a Park Naturalist who has seen people do incredibly insane things in nature) left me with no connection to this character and therefore to the story. But one out of all I have read? I would love to have those odds at the track. And finally when Sarah Black gives you a character that combines her love of the Navajo people and the military, then you have characters that will stay with you long after the book has ended. Lorenzo Maryboy, Navajo, former Marine and cartoonist ( Marathon Cowboys ) or Code Talker Logan Kee of Murder at Black Dog Springs still linger on, in my heart and thoughts. Give them a chance to introduce themselves to you. I know you will love them. I know you will love Sarah Black. You can find her at her website: Sarah Black Writes She has free reads there for the taking. The Legend of the Apache Kid. English prof-slash-cowboy Raine Magrath knows Johnny Bravo is an airhead. A beautiful young Apache film-making genius airhead, but still. They meet in a hot tub during Johnny's first film festival, but he bolts before his work is even shown. When Johnny drifts back to Taos a year later, they slide into a slow cowboy two-step so easily Raine starts to think Johnny might be the one. When Johnny's young cousin Weasel joins them, Raine's life seems complete, a ready-made family to love and protect. Raine is sure that with his gentle guidance, Johnny can achieve the sort of worldly success Raine turned his back on years before. But Johnny has his own idea about what he wants his life to become. Too late Raine remembers that Johnny runs when he feels a chain tightening around his neck. Raine's quest for the perfect family might be the very thing that tears them apart. Cover Artist: Paul Richmond. The Legend of the Apache Kid. We Also Recommend. **4.5 stars** This is the kind of story I want and expect from Sarah Black- smart, complex, and romantic in an offbeat way. Her characters are never one note, and I love that about her books. This story seemed to flow very organically. It never felt forced. The writing was lovely. However, my favorite part of this book was the characters. I loved Raine's father- it isn't often that we see father figures written with so much affection in romances, M/M in particular. Here, Raine's father was written tenderly and beautifully. I loved also Weasel and his development through the course of the book. I think the love story between Johnny and Raine was told in a way that really moved me. I saw their flaws and what they got from each other. I understood them as a couple. I had a little bit of an issue with the speed of their romance and the way that they kind of brushed over the discussion of safe sex, but that is just a personal pet peeve of mine. Overall, this story worked very well for my tastes. I even liked the fade-to-black sex scenes- they fit with the story. This is the perfect story for those that want to try Sarah Black's fabulous writing.