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Show 366 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE INDIANS. that she had been taken to heaven in a miraculous man-ner and was made a saint. The chief did not believe the story and suspected treachery. There was an old woman who had had charge of the Indian girl. The Apaches seized and tortured her until she confessed the truth. The priest had lived with the daughter as a wife. And when her condition became such as to betray him he had her killed and buried. The Indians found her body and confirmed this treachery. They then raised and killed all connected with the mission and destroyed every-thing possible. They swore vengeance on the priests and their followers and vowed that no Catholic should ever inhabit this valley. I have seen the ruins they made within the last few years, and heard this story from the Mexicans living within a day's travel from this valley. They all dread the Apaches to this day. No Mexican has ever dared to make a home there. From that time until the present the Apaches have been at war with the Mex-icans. When white men first went to the region where the Apaches roam, the Indians looked upon them as a differ-ent class of people and did not make war upon the few white traders they met on the road to the city of Chihua-hua, but they would go in and trade with merchant trains owned by Americans, and in no way molest them. This peaceful state of affairs was broken up in the year 1843. At that time the State of Chihuahua was having a hard time with the Apaches, and the govern-ment offered a large reward for their scalps, ranging from $ 100 to $ 150 per head. This offer got to the ears of Colonel Kerker, of Texas. He raised a company of Texans and went to |