month of October, 1885, while Geronimo was making his
raid through southern Arizona, my brother and I rode through Railroad
Pass from Pinaleno ranch to the Lorentz Place, a distance of fifteen
miles. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon that we ascended to
the top of a hill to take observations and see if anything was
happening out of the ordinary. We saw nothing unusual until we were
about to leave when we noticed somewhat of a commotion on the old
Willcox and Bowie wagon road which parallels the Southern Pacific
track. The distance was too great to see distinctly with the naked
eye, but looking through our field glasses, which we always carried
when out riding, we could plainly see three loaded wagons standing in
the road. The drivers had evidently unhitched their teams and, mounted
upon the horses' backs, were riding furiously in a cloud of dust down
the road towards Bowie.

I asked the judge, who was a resident and supposed to be familiar with
the customs of the country while I was only a tenderfoot, what their
actions meant. He admitted that he did not understand their conduct
unless it was that they had concluded that they could not make Willcox
on that day and were returning to some favorable camp ground which they
had passed on their way up, to spend the night; but the manner of their
going was certainly peculiar. After watching them disappear down the
road we rode on and reached our destination in safety.

The incident was forgotten until a few days later when we were in
Willcox a friend inquired what had become of the Indians which had
lately been seen on our range. We replied that we had not seen any
Indians nor known of any that had been there. He then related to us
how only a few days before three freighters had seen two Indians ride
upon a hill and halt. The sight of Indians was enough and their only
care after that was to get away from them. They quickly unhitched
their horses from the wagons and rode ten miles to Bowie where they
gave the alarm and spent the night. The next morning, having heard
nothing more from the Indians during the night, they took fresh courage
and ventured to return to their wagons, which they found as they had
left them unmolested, when they continued their journey.
When the freighters were asked why they did not stand off the
Indians they said that they only had one gun and not knowing how many
more redskins there might be decided that to retreat was the bett