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Two .Braids, Apache Chief, Finds He Is Not an Ihdian.After Forty Years with the Red Men Thomas Strlngfleld Applies to the Government to Bo Restored to Citizenship'.Washington.-—Two Braids, chief of a tribe of Apache Indians, has made application to tho government to bo restored to citizenship, and this brings to light a Btrange story, for this Indian chief Is not an Indian at all.For nearly forty years Two Braids has been known as an Indian and has supposed himself to be an Indian, but he has just learned of the fact that-he is really Thomas Strlngfleld, white man, who was captured 44 years ago by a band of Apaches in a raid In Mo-Mullen county, Tex. His father, mother and elder brother were killed in the raid, and his little sister was left for dead, with several ugly wounds from the Apaches' tomahawks. But the little girl survived, was adopted and reared by an uncle and is now., living not many miles from the scene of the massacre. Her name is Mrs. Ida Hatfield, and she and her brothor have been reunited.Two Braids tells an interesting story of that part of his life which ho remembers. Reared in an Indian camp, it was natural that he should fall in love with a woman of his race, and about thirteen years ago he married Bright Moon, daughter of another Apache chief and niece of tho notorious Geronimo. Two children were born of this union, a daughter, Nuclei Two Braids, who is now ten years old and has won fame for her horsemanship and rifle shooting, and Starlight, a bright little son now three.Two Braids '■firBt learned tho true story of his life from an old warriorChief Two Braids.named Death Face, one of tho most treacherous of Apaches. About a, year ago on his death-bed this Indian told Two Braids that he had not a drop of Indian blood In his veins, and that he was a paleface and; had been kidnaped by the Apaches 40!years ago In Texas. Death Face could not remember the name of the place, but he described the Incident and the locality. Two Braids took gp the trail, which he followed with dogged tenacity for 12 months. When he had found the spot and met old residents who remembered his parents lie received permission to leave Fort Sill reservation in Oklahoma, and, taking his daughter with him, he traveled back to the scene of his childhood days. He met his sister, and the battle-scarred, uncouth warrior and the gentle paleface woman wept-for Joy ton their recognition was mutual and positive.Though living with the Apaches for 40 years, Two Braidg swears he never took a human life and that he -worried about the crimes his brothers committed on the raids to which he was a party. Twenty-three years ‘ ago, when a band of Apaches was rounded up and captured In. western Texas after a long series of depredations Including murders, burning of. farm property and pillage, Two Braids was In the band. .They were taken to San Antonio and shipped from there to Florida and later to Fort Sill, Okla.Two BraidS hair is long, but not as black and not as coarse as an Indian's. His cheekbones are not high.With his sister he visited the graves of their parents, who were laid to rest, at the mouth of San Jose creek and, on the banks of, the. River Nueces. Two Braids is raising a fund with which to erect a marble shaft to the memory of his parents and the subscription list has grown, to several hundred dollars.
Newspaper Details
Galveston Opera Glass
Galveston, Texas, US
Sat, Sep 04, 1909
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 15 Apr 2025
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