The Apache Kid and other outlaws

by Ted Stillwell

Most of the time Indians are shown as either "bloodthirsty savages," or as "noble warriors," rather than for what they really were - just people like you and me. In reality, there were Native Americans in every walk of life from ranchers and farmers to nurses, teachers, and lawyers - there were even some pretty bad and notorious Indian outlaws!

A Ute Indian named Tavasse was a horse thief. He was arrested in 1864, and jailed in Pueblo, Colorado, but escaped after killing both of his guards with an axe.

Joe Bird, a Choctaw who lived in Kansas, killed his mother-in-law, for which he received 100 lashes. A few weeks later, he murdered his wife and for that dastardly deed, he was sentenced to be shot at dawn. Wives were apparently worth more than mother-in-laws.

There was also the well-known Crawford Goldsby, better known as "Cherokee Bill." Goldsby, a member of the Bill Cook Gang, was a much wanted killer in the Indian Territory during the 1890s. As luck would have it though, he finally ended up swinging from the hanging tree.

Now let’s take the "Kid," he was a real killer! He was mean, and seemed to have no compassion for anyone or anything. No one knew for sure just what turned him bad, but some writers believe it was when his poor father was murdered, but whatever the cause, he became one of the most feared and hated men in the Great Southwest. Whites and Indians alike kept themselves and their women out of sight whenever he was reported to be in the area.

So who was this "Kid" so feared by all? It certainly was not "Billy the Kid!" This "Kid" made "Billy the Kid" look like an amateur when it came to being an outlaw. This was the "Apache Kid," and he was the real thing.

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