Part I  ---   Betrayal  cont.

     
          Virtually all historical accounts support the scenario that follows:  Cochise drew a knife that had no doubt been hidden in a flap of his moccasin (at least this is the version told most frequently).  With the agility for which he was famous he slit the canvas in Bascom's tent and made a daring and implausible escape on foot up the slope of a small hill, amid a fusillade of lead from astonished soldiers that had been ordered to surround the tent.  Here again accounts differ in that some claim Cochise sustained a leg wound while others maintain he made a clean escape.  It seems unlikely that he was wounded here owing to the fact that he made the following statement to Captain Frank W. Perry eight years later:  "I was wounded twice.  First near Santa Cruz, in the leg twelve years ago.  I had a bad leg for some time afterward.  Next near Fronteras, two years ago, in the neck."   Had Cochise sustained a wound during the most hated and reviled event of his life, he most certainly would have remembered it.

     A somewhat comical sidebar exists to this event.  Cochise later told an American that when he reached the top of the hill, he was surprised to find that he was still grasping his coffee cup.

     Once Cochise had found cover, he shouted down to the Americans, once more protesting his treatment.  When his words drew nothing but more fire, he is said to have sworn revenge, proclaiming that "Indian blood was as good as white mans blood".  Bascom had lit the fuse that exploded into an eleven year period of fear and trepidation for all non-Indians living anywhere near Apache lands!

     A summary of the following days goes something like this:  Cochise returned with a force of warriors to find that Bascom had moved his camp to the comparative safety of the Butterfield stage station.  At this point reports indicate that Cochise was still open to talk, though his patience was wearing thin.  Bascom on the other hand was steadfast in his demands, pressing home his accusations that Cochise's people were to blame for Ward's losses.  In a confusing turn of events, several Butterfield employees who had become passably familiar with Cochise over the years tried to intervene, possibly hoping to help end the standoff.  They approached the Indians while Bascom and a guard of troops were confronting Cochise.  The stage hands were seized by Apaches without warning.  Two of them wrested away from their captors but one of these was shot dead by his own people when he made a dash back to the station (obviously an errant shot or a case of mistaken identity).  The second man was wounded badly but helped to safety.  A third, James F. Wallace, was taken hostage.

     Cochise tried to bargain using Wallace as a pawn, offering to throw in sixteen government mules.  Bascom refused in spite of passionate entreaties from both Wallace and some of Bascom's own men.  Legend has it that a mounted warrior at this point dragged Wallace at the end of a rope  to this death -- a story that is untrue.

     Cochise needed more hostages and found them later the same day when his Indians seized a Mexican wagon train coming into Apache Pass from the west.  Among the Mexicans, who were summarily tortured to death, were three American passengers.   Cochise captured them and later that night had Wallace write a note to Bascom announcing Cochise's intent to trade all the Americans for his family.  Apparently the note, which Wallace had attached to a bush, was not discovered by Bascom's people for at least two days -- ultimately too late to avert disaster.  

     Cochise tried to acquire even more whites for bargaining by attacking another stage as it neared Apache Pass.  He was nearly successful, but the night stage miraculously got through.  Next, undoubtedly feeling desperate, Cochise tried to force the release of his people with several bold attacks upon the station.  Though there were some losses, Bascom's force had little trouble repelling the charges and, in addition, had succeeded in sending two soldiers out for reinforcements.
 

When Cochise received no immediate reply to the note, he took it to be Bascom's refusal to negotiate.  With the added blow represented by the failure of his attacks, it is likely that Cochise felt all was now lost and that his family had either been killed already or would be in short order.   His rage must have been without bounds to have caused him to do what he did next.

     The four American hostages were brutally tortured and slain, and left where the soldiers would discover them when they left the pass.  Cochise must surely have been convinced that his relatives were doomed to have made this move.  Though at the time he was wrong -- his actions would lead to the execution of his beloved brother Coyuntura and two nephews.  In Bascom's defense, it must be said that he was opposed to the slayings (at least by some accounts).  Among the reinforcements to arrive (as luck would have it, after Cochise's forces had departed for Mexico) was a Lt. Isaiah Moore, who told Bascom he would assume all responsibility for the action.  Also to the credit of the Americans, Cochise's wife and young son Naiche would be returned unharmed to the Chiricahua Mountains.