It wasn’t until Ned Anderson, former Chairman of the San Carlos Apaches of Arizona, started agitating in the eighties to have Geronimo’s remains returned to his native Arizona that he learned the true state of affairs. On arched walls inside are carved slogans in German: “Wer war der Thor, wer Weiser, Bettler oder Kaiser? Ob Arm, ob Reich, im Tode gleich,” or, “Who was the fool, who the wise man, beggar or king? Whether poor or rich, all’s the same in death.” Nearly a hundred years after the robbery of his grave, the skull and bones of Geronimo remain captive in the Tomb of his enemies. The skull and thigh bones of Geronimo’s corpse were stolen and taken to a sombre stone windowless edifice in New Haven, Connecticut known as ‘the Tomb’, where Yale university’s elite student’s ‘order’ ‘Skull and Bones’, holds its secret meetings every week. There it lay until 9 years later when the grave was disturbed by members of a secret student society (including Prescott Bush) who were stationed at the fort on military duty at the time. When he died, his body was buried in the Apache cemetery of Fort Sills. Throughout his imprisonment, Geronimo never stopped asking to be allowed to return to his homeland in the Southwest, but his request was never granted.
He even rode in President Roosvelt’s 1905 inaugural parade. After being captured by the American army with his 35 braves at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona in 1886, Geronimo was held as a prisoner of war at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, until his death in 1909, apart from the occasional outing to be exhibited at shows and pageants as a national attraction.
SKULL AND BONES GERONIMO FREE
Geronimo was one of the last tribal leaders of Native Americans to remain defiant, rebellious and free until the colonization of the country by the whites was complete. Sounds unlikely? But this is precisely the situation which faces Harlyn Geronimo, great grandson of the iconic Native American Apache rebel leader, whose name he has inherited.Īfter the massacre of his wife and three children by Spanish troops in 1858, the original Geronimo, (real name Goyathlay, “One who Yawns”), took up arms against the Mexicans and Americans as they broadened their horizons on the continent, forcing the original inhabitants to be confined to arid, government-sanctioned ‘reservations’ where they could be taught to obey the rules of their new dollar bosses.
How would you feel if you knew that the skull of your great grandfather, stolen from his tomb, was being used in the secret ceremonies of a spoilt elite brat pack whose members have included some of the most powerful men in the world? A bit pissed off, right?Īnd if you also learned that the American President, George W Bush, his father George and his brother Jonathan, have taken part in these ceremonies, and, what’s more, in fact, that the President’s great grandfather, Prescott Bush, was one of those who had stolen the skull from its grave in the first place, it wouldn’t be surprising if you felt a little outraged.
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