September 28, 2025
Going back through my copious Mickey Free and Apache Kid notes I found some great back stories on the Apache Kid and Mickey Free.
Four Peaks Four Legends
There was a time in the mid-1880s when the Apache Kid, Al Sieber, Tom Horn and Mickey Free rode the rez together enforcing their own harsh brand of justice. This is actually true and it's why the painting, above, is in my Geronimo book. In terms of a movie idea, from there, the Apache Kid seeks vengeance (true), Sieber is wounded in the resulting showdown (also true) and Mickey and Tom Horn join forces with N-Jim and go after the Kid who escapes to Mexico. (true, true and true enough)
The Name Game
On the San Carlos Apache Reservation in the 1870s the U.S. Army was charged with writing down the names of each tribal member who was eligible to receive rations. The problem the soldiers had was in the Apache culture, it’s rude to ask an Apache his name. Plus, their names are often hard to pronounce, much less spell. This led to the soldiers giving the Apaches creative monikers such as Mickey Free (a popular, fictional, Irish character in a book one of the soldiers was reading) and Curly, who was probably anything but. Some were descriptive—Cut Mouth—and some names were not creative at all, like A-1. But one of the most enigmatic names given was Fun. Was he? One can only hope.
Daily Whip Out: "An Apache Named Fun"Fun was arrested in the aftermath of the Cibecue affair of August 30, 1881, but he was freed when Al Sieber came to his defense. Three other mutinous scouts were executed. He was always very popular at the dances and fathered numerous children. Fun retired from active service in 1925 and received an "Indian War" pension and lived out his life in Apache high style with his extended family on his ranch near McNary in the White Mountains of Arizona.
"Movies are history's gateway drug."
—Mary Doria Russell
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