Kelvin Grade massacre

Last updated
Kelvin Grade massacre
Apachekid.jpg
The Apache Kid in 1889, as a prisoner in Globe
Locationnear Globe, Arizona
DateNovember 2, 1889
Attack type
Murder, prison escape
Weapons Small arms
Deaths2
Injured1
Victims American citizens
Perpetrators Apache

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 sheriffs and triggered one of the largest manhunts in Arizona history. Veterans of the Apache Wars scoured the Arizona frontier for nearly a year in search of the fugitives, by the end of which all were caught or killed except for the famous Indian scout known as the Apache Kid.

Contents

Background

When the reservation system began in Arizona, the local Apache peoples were among the first to be subjugated. Throughout most of the Old West period, the reservations were undersupplied, which led to starvation, and their operators tended to be corrupt. This led to conflicts such as Geronimo's War, beginning in 1881, during which Geronimo and his band of Apaches left their assigned reservations and evaded capture until 1886. The Apache Kid, or Haskay-bay-nay-ntayl, had for most of the 1880s served as an Indian scout for the U.S. Army in the Apache Wars, having been involved in the mutiny during the Battle of Cibecue Creek and the Crawford Affair. Though many people at the time believed that the Apache Kid did not kill any of the soldiers at Cibecue, he left the reservation system in 1887 after an incident at the San Carlos Reservation. The Kid was also a friend of Al Sieber, Chief of the Army Scouts, who allegedly betrayed him after the Cibecue affair. Sometime in 1888 the Apache Kid was caught, put on trial in Globe for various crimes, and sentenced to spend the next seven years in Yuma Territorial Prison. The Kid had already served over a year of prison time at San Carlos and Alcatraz Island, so the prospect of going to the prison at Yuma was intolerable and he conspired with his fellow inmates to escape whenever and wherever possible.

After the trial, on the morning of November 1, 1889, Sheriff Glenn Reynolds arrived at the jail in Safford to pick up eight Apache prisoners and one Mexican who were to be transferred to Casa Grande by stagecoach, a two-day ride, and from there to Yuma by train. Sheriff Reynolds made arrangements to be taken to Casa Grande by stagecoach owner Eugene Middleton, who had survived several conflicts with the Apaches since 1881. Reynolds also collected $400 from the county clerk to pay the expenses of the trip. Accompanying Reynolds and Middleton was Sheriff William A. "Hunkydory" Holmes. When the prisoners were loaded into the coach the party headed north for Globe. Sheriff Reynolds rode his horse, Tex, while Middleton and Holmes rode in the coach. The trip was long; Holmes spent the time target-shooting with his rifle, while Middleton sang and drank whiskey. After stopping at Pioneer, Arizona for lunch, the party continued on to the Gila River in a rainstorm. Just beyond the Gila was the little town of Kelvin, or Riverside Station, where the party stopped for the night.

Escape

Sheriff Glenn Reynolds Sheriff Glenn Reynolds.jpg
Sheriff Glenn Reynolds

On the next morning, Saturday, November 2, Sheriff Reynolds woke the others early so as to leave by 5:00 AM, in order to make Casa Grande that night before the train was scheduled to leave. Around this time Reynolds expressed concern about a section of the road outside of town known as Kelvin Grade, and also left his horse Tex behind so as to ride in the coach with Holmes. The road was very steep and with the coach loaded with nine prisoners, the horses were not strong enough to pull the wagon up, especially since it had been raining heavily the night before. In order to ascend Kelvin Grade, Reynolds decided the prisoners would have to be offloaded and then walk up. When the party reached the grade, seven of the prisoners were taken off as planned, but the Apache Kid and one other man were considered too dangerous and left on board. Middleton stayed on as well, to drive the coach, while Reynolds led the prisoners with Holmes in the rear. The coach proceeded up the grade first and was followed by the line of prisoners and sheriffs. The prisoners were all in handcuffs and bound together in pairs, except for Jesus Avott, the Mexican in the group. Gradually two of the Apaches moved in close to the unsuspecting Reynolds, and after the coach had pulled out of sight, they suddenly pounced on the sheriff to wrest his shotgun from him.

At the same time another pair of Apaches attacked Holmes and took his rifle. The prisoner Pas-Lau-Tau shot Reynolds, who died instantly; Holmes subsequently died of a heart attack. Just after the scuffle broke out, Avott ran ahead to warn Middleton who assumed the firing was nothing more than target practice. When Avott reached the coach Middleton told him to get in but instead he hid in some bushes. Bach-e-on-al was not far behind and shortly thereafter shot Middleton in the head. The bullet went in through the mouth, without hitting any teeth, and exited Middleton's neck. Amazingly, Middleton survived without losing consciousness. After that the remaining prisoners came up and released Kid from inside the coach. One of the fugitives, El-cahn, was going to smash Middleton's head with a rock while he lay on the ground helpless, but Kid prevented it, possibly recalling that Middleton had shared his cigarettes with the Kid the night before.

Aftermath

The Apache Kid The Apache Kid.jpg
The Apache Kid

After the massacre, the Apache Kid and the others robbed the dead sheriffs and Middleton of their clothes, jewelry, and weapons. Next they fled into the surrounding desert while Jesus Avott was still hiding. Once the Apaches were gone, Avott cut a horse loose from the coach so as to ride it to town, but it kicked him off. However, a nearby rancher, Andronico Lorona, who was driving some cattle through the area, noticed the stalled coach and decided to investigate it. There Lorona found Avott and gave him a horse to take into Florence. Lorona then left to tell his foreman about the prisoners' escape, and the foreman sent a group of cowboys to guard the dead bodies. For his part in all of this, Avott was pardoned and did not have to serve time in Yuma. Sometime before the cowboys arrived at the murder scene, Middleton found the strength to stand up, but found that he could not lift himself onto the coach or a horse so was forced to walk and crawl the long distance back to Riverside Station. When Middleton reached Riverside he received medical treatment and told the townspeople what had happened.

Shorty Sayler, a stagecoach driver, took Reynolds' horse Tex and rode it to Globe, forty miles away, to alert the authorities. Sayler stopped and changed horses at Pioneer and then made it to his destination in record time, arriving before noon the same day. The telegrapher at Globe was Dan Williams, who later said; "I happened to be the receiving operator and hastened to Al Sieber with terrible news, whose comment was, ‘I was afraid of that, and that was my reason for offering the scout escort to Casa Grande.' From his bed, Sieber directed a scout detail of twenty men under Lt. Watson to take the trail from San Carlos." Deputy Sheriff Jerry Ryan took Reynolds' place upon learning of his death, but because the escape occurred in Pinal County, Sheriff Jerry Fryer assumed command of the investigation. Sheriff Ryan telegraphed a Captain Bullis at San Carlos who in turn notified General Nelson A. Miles. Over the next several months, until October 1890, American militias, bounty hunters, and United States Army troops searched the Arizona desert for the escaped prisoners, all of whom were eventually caught or killed except the Kid.

Between 1889 and 1894, several murders and skirmishes occurred between settlers and Apaches, most of which were blamed on the Apache Kid and his friend Massai, another former army scout who was said to have been killed by a posse in September 1906. At one point the bounty hunter Mickey Free told Al Sieber that he had trailed the Kid for three months before killing him and carving a tattoo of the letter "W" as proof. The "W" had been tattooed in blue ink on the foreheads of about 100 San Carlos Apaches before the army introduced a new identification system. The Kid is not known to have had a tattoo like this but Mickey Free, who knew the Kid personally, said he did. In 1890, some Mexican Rurales killed an Apache and recovered Sheriff Reynolds' pistol and watch, initially leading them to believe they had killed the Kid. But the dead man was said to be much older than the Kid. [1] In 1896, John Horton Slaughter also claimed to have killed the Apache Kid in the Sierra Madre of Chihuahua, Mexico, where Apache bands were still holding out as late as 1915. But because Slaughter had crossed the international border, he kept quiet about the incident out of fear of getting into trouble with his superiors. A native named Wallapai Clark also said he shot the Kid while he was trying to steal his horse from a corral, and in 1899, the colonel of the Rurales, Emilio Kosterlitzky, claimed the same when his men killed three Apaches.

In 1924, after a band of Apaches crossed into Arizona to raid for horses, the Kid’s nephew, Private Joe Adley of Fort Huachuca, confided to Lieutenant John H. Healy of the 10th Cavalry that the Apache Kid was still alive in Mexico. This was mostly substantiated by Guadalupe Fimbres Muñoz, who was captured in 1915 during a surprise attack on Apache Juan’s stronghold in the Sierra Madre. She had been one of the trail guards for the Apaches and had sounded the warning that had allowed the other members of the band to escape. Initially, many thought she was the granddaughter of Geronimo, while others said her father was Apache Juan. However, Guadalupe herself claimed that her father was the Apache Kid. Sightings of the Kid occurred as late as 1935 when he was reportedly seen while visiting friends at San Carlos.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Globe, Arizona</span> City in Arizona, United States

Globe 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 camp. Mining, tourism, government and retirees are most important in the present-day Globe economy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Apache people</span> Native American ethnic group

The Western Apache are a subgroup of the Apache Native American people, who live primarily in east central Arizona, in the United States and north of Mexico in the states of Sonora and Chihuahua. Most live within reservations. The Fort Apache Indian Reservation, San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Tonto Apache, and the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation are home to the majority of Western Apache and are the bases of their federally recognized tribes. In addition, there are numerous bands. The Western Apache bands call themselves Ndee (Indé). Because of dialectical differences, the Pinaleño/Pinal and Arivaipa/Aravaipa bands of the San Carlos Apache pronounce the word as Innee or Nnēē:.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apache Wars</span> Conflicts between the U.S. Army and native Apache tribe (1849–1924)

The Apache Wars were a series of armed conflicts between the United States Army and various Apache tribal confederations fought in the southwest between 1849 and 1886, though minor hostilities continued until as late as 1924. After the Mexican–American War in 1846, the United States annexed conflicted territory from Mexico which was the home of both settlers and Apache tribes. Conflicts continued as American settlers came into traditional Apache lands to raise livestock and crops and to mine minerals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massai</span> Apache warrior (c. 1847–1906, 1911?)

Massai was a member of the Mimbres/Mimbreños local group of the Chihenne band of the Chiricahua Apache. He was a warrior who was captured but escaped from a train that was sending the scouts and renegades to Florida to be held with Geronimo and Chihuahua.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation</span> Indian reservation in Arizona, United States

The San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, 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 from their original homelands under a strategy devised by General George Crook of setting the various Apache tribes against one another. Once nicknamed "Hell's Forty Acres" during the late 19th century due to poor health and environmental conditions, modern San Carlos Apaches operate a Chamber of Commerce, the Apache Gold and Apache Sky Casinos, a Language Preservation program, a Culture Center, and a Tribal College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Sieber</span> American Old West soldier and prospector (1843–1907)

Al Sieber was a German-American immigrant who fought in the American Civil War (1861-1865), and in the American Old West frontier against the Native Americans. (Indians) in the later American Indian Wars of the mid to late 19th century. He became a prospector and later served as a decorated Chief of Scouts for the United States Army dring the subsequent Apache Wars of 1849 - 1886 in the southwestern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apache Kid</span> Apache outlaw

Haskay-bay-nay-ntayl, better known as the Apache Kid, was born in Aravaipa Canyon, 25 miles south of San Carlos Agency, into one of the three local groups of the Aravaipa/Arivaipa Apache Band of San Carlos Apache, one subgroup of the Western Apache people. 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 active in the borderlands of the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico in the late 19th and possibly the early 20th centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Cibecue Creek</span> 1881 battle during the Apache Wars

The Battle of Cibecue Creek was an engagement of the Apache Wars, fought in August 1881 between the United States and White Mountain Apaches in Arizona, at Cibecue Creek on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. After an army expedition of scouts, U.S. Army soldiers 'arrested' a prominent Cibecue Apache medicine man named Nock-ay-det-klinne. The U.S. Army soldiers were taking Nock-ay-det-klinne back to the fort when they were ambushed by Apache warriors. During the conflict, the U.S. Army soldiers killed Nock-ay-det-klinne. Most of the 23 Apache scouts mutinied, in the largest such action of its kind in U.S. history. The soldiers retreated to Fort Apache. The following day, the White Mountain Apache mounted a counter-attack. The events sparked general unrest and led to White Mountain Apache warriors leaving the Fort Apache Indian Reservation to join forces with the Apache leader of the Bedonkohe band of Chiricahua Apache named Goyahkla, better known as Geronimo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Fort Apache</span> Part of the Apache Wars

The Battle of Fort Apache was an engagement of the Apache Wars between the cavalry garrison of Fort Apache and dozens of mounted White Mountain Apache warriors. The battle occurred in eastern Arizona Territory on September 1, 1881.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crawford affair</span>

The Crawford affair was a battle fought between Mexico and the United States in January 1886 during the Geronimo Campaign. Captain Emmet Crawford was commanding a company of Apache scouts, sixty miles southeast of Nacori Chico in Sonora, when his camp was attacked by Mexican Army militiamen. In the action, Crawford was shot and later died; his death nearly started a war between the United States and Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geronimo Campaign</span> 1885-1886 campaign during the Apache Wars

Geronimo Campaign, between May 1885 and September 1886, was the last large-scale military operation of the Apache wars. It took more than 5,000 U.S. Army Cavalry soldiers, led by the two experienced Army generals, in order to subdue no more than 70 Chiricahua Apache who fled the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation and raided parts of the surrounding Arizona Territory and adjacent Sonora state in Mexico for more than a year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glenn Reynolds (sheriff)</span> American sheriff, cowboy, and militiaman of the Old West (1853–1889)

Glenn Reynolds was an American sheriff, cowboy, and militiaman of the Old West, remembered for his death during the Kelvin Grade Massacre, in Arizona Territory, when a group of Apache renegades escaped from his custody.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battleground Gunfight</span> 1901 gunfight in Arizona

The Battleground Gunfight, also known as the Battleground Shootout, was a gunfight between a posse of American lawmen and the Smith Gang. It was fought on October 8, 1901, within Arizona Territory's Fort Apache Indian Reservation, at a clearing in the forest known today as the "Battleground". Nine Arizona Rangers and deputies caught up with the cattle rustler Bill Smith and his gang. During a long exchange of gunfire that followed, Ranger Carlos Tafolla and Deputy Bill Maxwell were killed and one or two of the outlaws may have been wounded. In the end, the Smith Gang escaped the posse and fled into Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherry Creek campaign</span> Part of the Apache Wars (1890)

The Cherry Creek campaign occurred in March 1890 and was one of the final conflicts between hostile Apaches and the United States Army. It began after a small group of Apaches killed a freight wagon operator, near the San Carlos Reservation, and was part of the larger Apache campaign, beginning in 1889, to round up Apaches who had left the reservations. The American army fought a skirmish with the Apaches near Globe, Arizona, at the mouth of Cherry Creek, which resulted in the deaths of two hostiles and the capture of the remaining three. Two men received the Medal of Honor for their service during the campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apache Campaign (1896)</span> Part of the Apache Wars

The Apache Campaign of 1896 was the final United States Army operation against Apaches who were raiding and not living in a reservation. It began in April after Apache raiders killed three white American settlers in the Arizona Territory. The Apaches were pursued by the army, which caught up with them in the Four Corners region of Arizona, New Mexico, Sonora and Chihuahua. There were only two important encounters during the campaign and, because both of them occurred in the remote Four Corners region, it is unknown if they took place on American or Mexican soil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chato (Apache)</span> Apache warrior

Chato was a Chiricahua Apache subchief who carried out several raids on settlers in Arizona in the 1870s. His Apache name was Bidayajislnl or Pedes-klinje. He was a protege of Cochise, and he surrendered with Cochise in 1872 going to live on the San Carlos Reservation in southern Arizona, where he became an Apache Scout. Following his service as a scout he was taken prisoner after being coerced to travel to Washington, D.C. Chato was imprisoned in St. Augustine, Florida along with almost 500 other Apache at Fort Marion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tso-ay</span> Apache warrior (c. 1853–1933)

Tso-ay, also known as Panayotishn or Pe-nel-tishn, today widely known by his nickname as "Peaches", was a Chiricahua, Western Apache warrior, who also served as a scout for General George Crook during the Apache Wars. Tso-ay was wounded while fighting alongside Geronimo and Chihuahua against Mexican troops, who had ambushed them after the Apache had crossed the border while being pursued by American troops.

Pas-Lau-Tau, also known as "Pash-ten-tah" and "Bach-e-on-nal", was a 19th-century Apache army scout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geronimo Surrender Site</span> United States historic place

The Geronimo Surrender Site is situated above Skeleton Canyon in southeastern Arizona, on a small bluff. Overlooking the canyon, the San Bernardino Valley and San Simon Valley can be seen to the east and west. The actual site is marked by a cairn of rocks, which was erected by Lieutenant Henry W. Lawton, on the spot where Geronimo surrendered to General Nelson A. Miles in 1886.

Pionsenay was a Chiricahua Apache war chief from Arizona. He was a fierce raider who advocated for war against the Americans, in opposition to the sons of Cochise who advocated for peace. Pionsenay killed several white men including U.S. Army Sergeant Orizoba Spence. His actions sparked the Americans' forced relocation of the Chiricahua to the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation.

References

  1. Hayes, pg.162