“Why don’t you smash that animal?” I called.
The haymaker that Hoske Nehol Gode then received in the face would have
staggered Dempsey. It straightened him up, but very much to my
surprise, it did not fell him. The shock, however, caused him to reel
off the gun, and promptly the stockman recovered it.
“Knock him down the next time.”
And smash went the forty-five over Guy’s head. But he did not drop. A
Navajo of the back-country dresses his hair in a thick mattress across
his scalp. Blood began to stream down his face. He let out a wild cry
that he was being killed, a call for the women to help him. The night
before they had sent a messenger for protection from this bully; but
now they responded to his aid. They came forward, ready to claw us; and
just what was the ethical thing to do then, I am not prepared to state.
“Turn him loose!” I called to the policeman.
“He may have a gun!” said the stockman.
“Then we will have to shoot him,” I said; “Turn him loose.”
The Tewa released his hold, and Guy, wearing one bracelet, made a rush
out of the camp. He wanted no more of fighting, but it was evident that
the place was unhealthy for us. We could hear him crashing through the
brush, while we proceeded to the car. The women followed to the edge of
the timber and shrilled their threats. It was probable that Guy would
find a weapon; so we lost no time in vacating that section of the
Desert.
Later in the day the leader of the clan came to see me.
“I have told Guy,” he said, “to make no more trouble.”
“You may return and tell him something more than that,” I replied.
“Tell him to be very careful not to enter this cañon, for I mean to
kill him if he does.”
That was the last I saw of Guy for several years. He kept to the
back-country, after his hand and head had healed, and avoided the
Agency. He filed off the handcuff. Navajo are expert at that. He was
not prosecuted for beating the women, nor for the burglary. You see,
three days after this affair I asked the United States District
Attorney for an indictment on these charges, and a bench warrant was
promised to assure his arrest by the United States Marshal. The Marshal
asked me what success he might expect to have in procuring this
belligerent, and I related our experience.
“He is one of a gang, and it may be necessary to arrest several of
those fellows. I wouldn’t come alone. Of course, you may deputize some
of my employees, but they do not care for that work. And if you ask me
the easiest and most effective way to serve those warrants, I would say
with a squad of uniformed men from Fort Apache. They were playing ball
in Holbrook when I passed through. The Navajo bad-man respects a
soldier, and he doesn’t respect anything else. He will not be awed by
your badge of office. He doesn’t know what it means.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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