Final copy holes for Geronimo

October 9, 2019
   Six days to press. Ed Mell sent me this photo, which he took of me up in the crow's nest of my studio a couple months ago. I may use this for the book jacket.

BBB Hangs Out On Roof

 Also, fixing holes and finding mistakes and painting to fit the obits, like this.

   John G. Bourke fought tirelessly for the Apaches and lost his career over it. He died at the age of 49. He looked much older.

    And, here's a random cutline that goes with the movie pages:

Geronimo was a pulp style villain in early comic books and movies, but in the 1960s with the publication of "Bury My heart at Wounded Knee" and other pro In-din books, the Apache warrior suddenly become a patriotic hero, fighting for his homeland. The trend continues to this day.

   And here's a mini-bio on a writer who figured out the G-Man's story long before anyone else:

Edgar Rice Burroughs Captures Geronimo In Print

   He failed the entrance exam to West Point, so he joined the 7th U.S. Cavalry and asked to be sent to "the worst post in the United States." Edgar Rice Burroughs, 20, got his wish and arrived at Fort Grant, Arizona Territory in 1896 and participated in the search for the notorious Apache Kid. A $5,000 reward had been placed on the Kid's head and almost everyone in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico was out for the reward. Burroughs eventually went out on patrol with the 7th Cavalry, in the vicinity of Solomonville, Arizona. From there, Burroughs related, "We went into camp on the Gila River, not far from Duncan, Arizona. We camped in a grove of cottonwoods beneath a low cliff." Locals believe this is a favorite camping spot known as Apache Grove. Pay attention. This shows up later.

   A heart condition led to Burrough's discharge in 1897 and turning to writing, in 1912 he created Tarzan of the Apes, which beget a book and 25 sequels. By the 1920s he had become a master of pulp fiction, and he set out to write an Apache trilogy featuring Geronimo as the adoptive father of the white Indian hero Shoz-Dijiji. Burroughs published the first of the series in Argosy magazine, but he became so exasperated by the criticism from the editorial staff because they felt he was being too positive towards Geronimo and the In-dins. Subsequently, Burroughs only completed two books: 1927's The War Chief and Apache Devil, first serialized in Argosy All-Story Weekly in 1928 and then published in hardback in 1933.

   In the stories, Burroughs has Geronimo seeking peace, but he is forced onto the warpath by the White Eye's treachery. This plot device was decades ahead of its time.

   And, of course, I know this guy backwards and forwards:

The Outsider

   When he was just a boy he started the longest war in American history. The kidnapping of Felix Ward set off all the fireworks, from the Battle of Apache Pass on through the surrender of Geronimo. It was the U.S. soldiers who changed his name from Felix and nicknamed him Mickey Free, after a popular literary figure of the day, and It's more than a little ironic that Geronimo actually feared him. Mickey was a tough old bird, with his one-eyed stare (allegedly a wounded deer jammed his antler into the young boy's eye). It was the chief of scouts, Al Sieber, who claimed Mickey was "half-Irish, half-Mexican and all son-of-a-bitch." Although members of his original family attempted to re-connect with him, Mickey never met them or reciprocated to their concerns. He was an Apache and he remained one for the rest of his life. But even as an Apache, he remained an outsider, as both sides, the Apaches and the Americans blamed him for the war.  

The Apache Kid
   In 1888, Ski-be-nan-ted, better known as The Apache Kid was sentenced to a ten year term at Alcatraz for a crime he did not commit. Pardoned after serving 18 months on the Rock, the Kid was returned to Arizona where he was re-arrested on civil charges stemming from the wounding of Al Sieber and the subsequent break out and escape. This time he was sentenced to eight years in the Yuma Territorial Prison. While being transported from Globe to the train station at Casa Grande he escaped and was never caught. Some believe he lived out his life in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico.   

"The old gentleman is pretty high priced, but then he is the only Geronimo."

—S. M. McCowan, Exhibit organizer at the St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition