Haskay-bay-nay-ntayl ( 1860 – in or after 1894), better known as the Apache Kid, was born in
Aravaipa Canyon
Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness is a wilderness area located in the U.S. State of Arizona.
Access
The wilderness is administered by the BLM and is located northeast of Mammoth, Arizona in Graham and Pinal counties, about southeast of Phoenix. Pe ...
(25 miles (40 kilometers) south of San Carlos Agency) into one of the three local groups of the
Aravaipa/Arivaipa Apache Band (in Apache:''Tsee Zhinnee'' – ″Dark Rocks People″) of
San Carlos Apache
The San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation ( Western Apache: Tsékʼáádn), in southeastern Arizona, United States, was established in 1872 as a reservation for the Chiricahua Apache tribe as well as surrounding Yavapai and Apache bands removed fr ...
, one subgroup of the
Western Apache people
The Western Apache live primarily in east central Arizona, in the United States. Most live within reservations. The Fort Apache Indian Reservation, San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Tonto Apache, and the Fort McDowe ...
.
As a member of what the U.S. government called the "SI band", Kid developed important skills and became a famous and respected scout and later a notorious
renegade
Renegade or The Renegade may refer to:
Aircraft
*Lake Renegade, an American amphibious aircraft design
*Murphy Renegade, a Canadian ultralight biplane design
*Southern Aeronautical Renegade, an American racing aircraft design
Games
*'' Comman ...
active in the
borderlands A borderland or borderlands are the geographical space or zone around a territorial border.
Borderland or borderlands may refer to:
Places
* Borderland, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in Mingo County, West Virginia
* Borderland (ele ...
of the
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
states of
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
and
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
in the late 19th and possibly the early 20th centuries.
His exact date of birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been born sometime in the 1860s. His year of death is generally given as 1894, but some New Mexico cattle ranchers claimed he was alive until the 1930s. The
Apache Kid Wilderness
Apache Kid Wilderness is a Wilderness area located within the Magdalena Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest in the state of New Mexico. in
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
is named after him.
[Julyan, Bob and Till, Tom (1998) ''New Mexico's Wilderness Areas: The Complete Guide'' Westcliffe Publishers, Englewood, Colorado]
p. 207
The
Apache Kid character in
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
was also named after him, but otherwise has no connection.
Early history
![Apache warriors 1880BW](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Apache_warriors_1880BW.jpg)
Haskay-bay-nay-ntayl was captured by
Yuma Indians as a boy, and after being freed by the U.S. Army, he became a street orphan in army camps.
As a teenager, in the mid-1870s, the Kid met and was essentially adopted by
Al Sieber
Al Sieber (February 27, 1843 1844 was a leap year, leading to some confusion about Sieber's birth date. His tombstone in Globe gives his birth date as 1844, as does the book ''Chief of Scouts''. Both are incorrect. – February 19, 1907) was a Ge ...
, the Chief of the Army Scouts. A few years later, in 1881, the Kid enlisted with the
U.S. Cavalry
The United States Cavalry, or U.S. Cavalry, was the designation of the mounted force of the United States Army by an act of Congress on 3 August 1861.Price (1883) p. 103, 104 This act converted the U.S. Army's two regiments of dragoons, one r ...
as an
Indian scout, in a program designed by General
George Crook to help quell raids by hostile bands of
Apache. By July 1882, owing to his remarkable abilities in the job, he was promoted to
sergeant. Shortly thereafter he accompanied Crook on an expedition into the
Sierra Madre Occidental
The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American ...
. He worked on assignment both in Arizona and northern
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
over the next couple of years, but in 1885 he was involved in a riot while intoxicated, and to prevent his being hanged by Mexican authorities, Sieber sent him back north.
Sometimes he is also counted as
White Mountain Apache
The Fort Apache Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation on the border of New Mexico and Arizona, United States, encompassing parts of Navajo, Gila, and Apache counties. It is home to the federally recognized White Mountain Apache Tribe of th ...
, but it does not match his family background. He was the son (some sources say grandson) of Togodechuz/Togo-de-Chuz, chief of the so called "SI band" and he had very high prominence in that particular band. Kid married into another important family, becoming the son-in-law of the prominent "SL band" chief
Eskiminzin
Eskiminzin ( ''Ndee biyati' / Nnee biyati: "Men Stand in Line for Him"; or ''Hashkebansiziin'', ''Hàckíbáínzín'' - "Angry, Men Stand in Line for Him", 1828–1894) was a local group chief of the Aravaipa band of the San Carlos group of the ...
(''Hashkebansiziin'' – "Angry, Men Stand in Line for Him", 1828–1894), his wife was possibly Nahthledeztelth. Because Eskiminizin was also a band chief of another Aravaipa local group consequently, that gave him high status very early on.
Arrests and trials
![Apachekid](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Apachekid.jpg)
In May 1887, Sieber and several army officers left the San Carlos post on business, and the Kid was left in charge of the scouts in their absence. The scouts decided to have a party, and brewed up what was called
tiswin
Tiswin (also known as Tesgüino and Tejuino in Mexico) is an alcoholic beverage brewed from corn. Tiswin is also the sacred saguaro wine of the Tohono O'odham, a group of aboriginal Americans who reside primarily in the Sonoran Desert of the south ...
, a type of
liquor. During the drinking, several became intoxicated, and an altercation between a scout named Gon-Zizzie (a member of a third Aravaipa band, the "SA band") and the Kid's father, Togo-de-Chuz, resulted in the Kid's father being killed. In turn, friends of the Kid killed Gon-Zizzie. The Kid also killed Gon-Zizzie's brother, Rip. On June 1, 1887, Sieber and Lt. John Pierce confronted the scouts involved in the altercations, and ordered them to disarm and comply with arrest until the incidents could be handled properly through investigation. The Kid and the others complied, but a shot was fired from a crowd that had gathered to watch the events. Several other shots were fired from the crowd, including one that hit Sieber in the ankle. During the confusion, the Apache Kid and several others fled.
The army reacted swiftly, sending two troops of the
4th Cavalry in pursuit of the escapees. The Kid and his followers evaded the soldiers, while relying on assistance from sympathetic Apaches. The Kid contacted the army and explained that if the soldiers were recalled, he would surrender. They were, and he did, on June 25, 1887. The Kid and four others were
court-martialed, found guilty of
mutiny and
desertion, and sentenced to death by
firing squad
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are ...
. In August, the sentence was commuted to
life in prison
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
. General
Nelson A. Miles
Nelson Appleton Miles (August 8, 1839 – May 15, 1925) was an American military general who served in the American Civil War, the American Indian Wars, and the Spanish–American War.
From 1895 to 1903, Miles served as the last Commanding Gen ...
intervened and further reduced the sentence to ten years in prison.
The five prisoners were sent to
Alcatraz
Alcatraz Island () is a small island in San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military pris ...
, where they remained until their convictions were overturned in October 1888. They were freed, but in October 1889, Apaches in the area enraged by their release were able to force the issue of new warrants, and again the Kid was on the run. Again the Kid and the others were arrested, and again they were convicted, this time sentenced to seven years in prison.
Kelvin Grade massacre
The convicts were initially imprisoned in
Globe, Arizona
Globe ( apw, Bésh Baa Gowąh "Place of Metal") is a city in Gila County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,249. The city is the county seat of Gila County. Globe was founded c. 1875 as a mining ca ...
, but were soon arranged to be transported to
Yuma Territorial Prison
The Yuma Territorial Prison is a former prison located in Yuma, Arizona, United States. Opened on July 1, 1876, and shut down on September 15, 1909. It is one of the Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites on the National Register of Historic Places ...
. During the prisoner transfer, on the morning of November 2, 1889, nine prisoners, including the Apache Kid, escaped by overpowering two guards, Sheriffs
Glenn Reynolds
Glenn Harlan Reynolds (born August 27, 1960) is Beauchamp Brogan Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee College of Law, and is known for his American politics blog, '' Instapundit''.
Authorship Instapundit blog
Reynold ...
and
William A. Holmes, and a stagecoach driver,
Eugene Middleton. In what was later called the
Kelvin Grade massacre
The Kelvin Grade massacre was an incident that occurred on November 2, 1889 when a group of nine imprisoned Apache escaped from police custody during a prisoner transfer near the town of Globe, Arizona. The escape resulted in the deaths of two s ...
, Reynolds was shot by
Pas-Lau-Tau
Pas-Lau-Tau (d. March 1890), also known as "Pash-ten-tah" and "Bach-e-on-nal", was a 19th-century Apache army scout.
Background
Pas-Lau-Tau's date and place of birth are unknown, though he was likely from the San Carlos Reservation. He had one ...
and Holmes died of a heart attack; Middleton was shot in the head, but survived, and stated later that he would have been killed outright had the Kid not intervened and prevented his death. Middleton elaborated that he had offered the Apache Kid a cigarette, and this was why the Apache kid had left him alive. The prisoners escaped into the desert. Militias, bounty hunters, and U.S. Army soldiers cooperated over the following months in a manhunt for the escapees, all of whom were eventually recaptured except for the Apache Kid.
Last years
For years there were unconfirmed reports of sightings of the Apache Kid, but nothing ever came of any of them. Over the next several years, the Kid was accused of or linked to various crimes, including rape and murder, but there were never any solid links to him being involved in these or any crimes at all. For all practical purposes, he vanished.
During an 1890 shootout between Apache renegades and Mexican soldiers, a warrior was killed and found to be in possession of Reynolds' watch and pistol. However, the warrior was said to have been much too old to be the Apache Kid. The last reported crimes allegedly committed by the Kid were in 1894. It was in that year in the
San Mateo Mountains west of
Socorro, New Mexico that Charles Anderson, a rancher, and his cowboys killed an Apache who had been
rustling cattle and who was identified at the time as the Apache Kid.
That identification is also contested.
[''Oral History Tape 7 transcript: Ed Burris interviewed by Ellen Davis'' Socorro County Historical Society, Oral History Project, Socorro, New Mexico]
After that, the Apache Kid became something of a legend. In 1896,
John Horton Slaughter claimed to have killed the Apache Kid in the mountains of
Chihuahua. In 1899, Colonel
Emilio Kosterlitzky
Emilio Kosterlitzky (Russian: Эмилио Костерлицкий; 16 November 1853 – 2 March 1928) was a Russian-born Mexicans, Mexican colonel during the Mexican Revolution. He had also served in the Apache–Mexico Wars, Mexican Apache ...
, of the Mexican ''
Rurales
In Mexico, the term ''Rurales'' ( Spanish) is used in respect of two armed government forces. The historic Guardia Rural ('Rural Guard') was a rural mounted police force, founded by President Benito Juárez in 1861 and expanded by President Po ...
'', reported that the Kid was alive and well and living among the Apache of the
Sierra Madre Occidental
The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American ...
. This was never confirmed.
In his book, ''Cow Dust and Saddle Leather'' (1968), Ben Camp relates in detail his knowledge of the last days of the Apache Kid. Chapter 17 is entitled "The Apache Kid's Last Horse Wrangle". In it, the author describes the scene he witnessed as a 17-year-old, how Billy Keene, a member of the posse, actually had the head of the Apache Kid in Chloride, New Mexico in the year 1907.
The chapter describes how, starting September 4, 1907, the posse split up and tracked down the Apache Kid in the San Mateo Mountains. Camp describes in detail events related by Billy Keene. He also relates how the watch belonged to a rancher named Saunders. Saunders was found dead and another man, Red Mills, was being held in connection with his murder. The gold-filled Elgin watch had been sent to a jeweler to be repaired. The jeweler who repaired it had written down the serial number and inscribed one of his own in the back of the case. The Apache Kid had apparently been known to be in the area of the Saunders ranch at the time of his demise.
In addition, the book reports that an Apache woman was wounded in the shootout. The book continues to describe the events of her search for food. She was eventually captured at the Monica Tanks cabin fifty miles south of San Marcial. When questioned she confirmed that her husband was the Apache Kid and he had been killed at the head of the San Mateo Canyon. She was returned to the
Mescalero Apache
Mescalero or Mescalero Apache ( apm, Naa'dahéńdé) is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan–speaking Native Americans. The tribe is federally recognized as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Apache Reservation, located in south-c ...
tribe. The tribe was informed of the situation and her two children were taken into the tribe.
Legacy
Cattle ranchers continued to report rustling well into the 1920s, often claiming it was the Apache Kid in the lead, but these claims also were never confirmed, and authorities eventually simply discounted any involvement by the Kid, long thought dead by either gunshot or sickness, as those rumors had filtered down also.
Edgar Rice Burroughs, future creator of the Tarzan tales, was a member of the
7th U.S. Cavalry while they were "chasing" the Apache Kid in 1896 Arizona.
Today, one mile from Apache Kid Peak, high in the
San Mateo Mountains of the
Cibola National Forest
The Cibola National Forest (pronounced SEE-bo-lah) is a 1,633,783 acre (6,611.7 km2) United States National Forest in New Mexico, USA. The name Cibola is thought to be the original Zuni Indian name for their pueblos or tribal lands. The name w ...
, a marker stands as a grave, where the Anderson
posse
Posse is a shortened form of posse comitatus, a group of people summoned to assist law enforcement. The term is also used colloquially to mean a group of friends or associates.
Posse may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Posse'' (1975 ...
claimed to have killed the Kid in 1894. According to local residents,
the body was not buried and the bones and shreds of his clothing lay scattered about the site for some years, with people taking some as souvenirs.
Kenneth Alton played the Apache Kid in a 1955 episode of ''
Stories of the Century.''
See also
*
List of fugitives from justice who disappeared
References
Further reading
* de la Garza, Phyllis (1995) ''The Apache Kid'' Westernlore Press, Tucson, Arizona,
* Forrest, Earle Robert and Hill, Edwin Bliss (1947) ''Lone War Trail of Apache Kid'' Trail's End Publishing Company, Pasadena, California,
* Hayes, Jess G. (1954) ''Apache Vengeance: The true story of Apache Kid'' University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico,
* Hearn, Walter (1960) ''Killing of Apache Kid'' no place, no publisher,
* M
cKana, Clare V. (2009) ''Court-Martial of Apache Kid, Renegade of Renegades'' Texas Tech University Press, Lubbock, Texas,
External links
The Apache Kid by James W. Hurst
by Paul R. Machula
by LaVone Luby
The Legend Of The Apache Kid by Sheriff Jim Wilson
oral history{{Authority control
1860 births
2nd-millennium deaths
American escapees
Apache people
Apache Wars
Escapees from Arizona detention
Fugitives
Inmates of U.S. Military Prison, Alcatraz Island
Gunslingers of the American Old West
Outlaws of the American Old West
Prisoners sentenced to death by the United States military
Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States military
United States Army Indian Scouts
United States Army personnel who were court-martialed
Year of birth uncertain
Year of death unknown