Page:Life among the Apaches.djvu/46

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LIFE AMONG THE APACHES.

set the Government at defiance, because it costs so much to reduce him to subordination. I will give you an instance in point. During the American war, Manuel Gandara loaned the sum of four hundred thousand dollars to the Supreme Government, receiving its acknowledgements for that amount, with interest at the rate of ten per cent, per annum. After the war, during the administration of Peña y Peña, an election for Governor took place in Sonora, in which Manuel Gandara and Manuel Monteverde were the competitors. These families were as deadly rivals as the houses of Romeo and Capulet; and when the voting was over, each candidate claimed the election. As usual, neither applied to the Supreme Government for arbitration, but each summoned its forces and engaged in civil war. Gandara was backed by his numerous friends, peons, and the Yaqui Indians, while Monteverde enlisted the interests of many prominent Sonorians, and the Opatah and Papago tribes. War raged for a long time, until Monteverde applied to the General Government for protection. Gen. Urea was sent with a force of three thousand regulars to suppress Gandara, and for a time succeeded. At this stage of the proceedings, Gandara called upon the Supreme Government to refund his loan of four hundred thousand dollars, threatening that if payment were not forthcoming, he would assign his claim to the British Government. This threat had its effect, and soon after Gandara was put in possession of an order, emanating from the Secretary of War, to the effect that Urea had been operating without proper warrant of authority, and that if Gandara could catch that officer, he was at liberty to suspend him by the neck. This thoroughly frightened Urea, who immediately returned to the capital."