A U.S. OFFICER ON INDIAN- HONESTY. 105 



servations respecting the honesty of the Apaches, a 

 tribe almost always at war with the whites, and one 

 of the most dreaded of all the tribes upon the frontier. 

 Some few of them however had entered the U.S. 

 Military Service, and of these 



"no instance" (he says) "can be adduced of an Apache 

 sentinel having stolen any of the Government, or other pro- 

 perty, he was appointed to guard. Apache scouts, enlisted 

 to carry on General Crook's campaign against 'Geronimo', 

 remained for nearly a week at Fort Bowie, and during that 

 time made numbers of purchases from the post trader, Mr. 

 Sydney R. De Long. These were all on credit, and some 

 months after, wishing to learn something definite in regard 

 to the honesty of this much maligned people, I went to Mr. 

 De Long and asked him to tell me what percentage of bad 

 debts he had formed among the Apaches. He examined his 

 books and said slowly, 'They have bought $ 1780 worth, and 

 they have paid me back every single cent.' 'And what 

 percentage of bad debts do you find among your white 

 customers ? ' A cynical smile and a pitying glance was all 

 the reply vouchsafed."* 



Mr. Delano, an Indian Trader in California and Ore- 

 gon, gives his testimony to the same effect: 



"I was completely in their power, and might have been 

 killed or robbed at any moment" (he tells us) "but while I 

 was with them I was not aware that I lost the worth of a 

 dollar, though I had $5000 worth of goods with me at the 

 time. Yet they would steal from passers-by, but my con- 

 fidence in them was never abused, "f 



This makes good what we have already stated 

 respecting the peculiar views of Indians in the matter 



* On the Border with Crook, by John G. Bourke, Capt. 3rd Cavalry 

 U.S.A., 1892, p. 124. 



f Life on the Plains and in California, by A. Delano, 1857, p. 310. 



