298 A SAVAGE MASSACRE. 



guished chiefs were confined in the calabozo 

 of Paso del Norte. The bereaved cliief, hear- 

 ing of their captivity, collected a band of about 

 sixty warriors, and, boldly entering the town, 

 demanded the release of his consort and 

 friends. The commandant of the place wish- 

 ing to gain time, desired them to return the 

 next morning, when their request would be 

 granted. During the night the forces of the 

 country were concentrated ; notwithstanding, 

 when the Apaches reappeared, the troops did 

 not show their faces, but remained concealed, 

 while the Mexican commandant strove to be- 

 guile the Indians into the prison, under pre- 

 tence of delivering to them their friends. The 

 unsuspecting chief and twenty others were 

 entrapped in this manner, and treacherously 

 dispatched in cold blood : not, however, with- 

 out some loss to the Mexicans, who had four 

 or five of their men killed in the fracas. 

 Among these was the commandant himself, 

 who had no sooner given the word, ^^/Maten d 

 los carajos!" (kill the scoundrels!) than the 

 chief retorted, "/ Entonces moriras tu primero, 

 caraj'o f" (then you shall die first, carajo !) and 

 immediately stabbed him to the heart ! 



But as New Mexico is more remote from 

 the usual haunts of the Apaches, and, in fact, as 

 her scanty ranchos present a much less fruitful 

 field for their operations than the abundant 

 haciendas of the South, the depredations of 

 this tiibe have extended but little upon that 

 province. The only serious incursion that has 

 come within my knowledge, was some ten 



