GERONIMO
to me, "Why did you leave the reservation?" I said: "You told me that I might live in the reservation the same as white people lived. One year I raised a crop of corn, and gathered and stored it, and the next year I put in a crop of oats, and when the crop was almost ready to harvest, you told your soldiers to put me in prison, and if I resisted to kill me. If I had been let alone I would now have been in good circumstances, but instead of that you and the Mexicans are hunting me with soldiers." He said: "I never gave any such orders; the troops at Fort Apache, who spread this report, knew that it was untrue." Then I agreed to go back with him to San Carlos.
It was hard for me to believe him at that time. Now I know that what he said was untrue,[1] and I firmly believe that he did issue the orders for me to be put in prison, or to be killed in case I offered resistance.
- ↑ Geronimo's exact words, for which the Editor disclaims any responsibility.
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