An Email Gift

       From time to time, I receive a gift from a reader. Such is the case here: the attached document is the death certificate of Santiago "Jimmy" McKinn.  Tidbits of information have tricked in over the years since I first published "The Captive," which is the story I compiled on the abduction of Santiago McKinn as well as the death of his older brother, Martin.
       On September 11, 1885, Geronimo led a group of raiders into the U.S. seeking, as always, guns, ammunition, perhaps other supplies as well. The location of the ORIGINAL McKinn household (homestead), which I originally believed was located along current New Mexico Highway 61 in the lower Mimbres River Valley, may actually have been located several miles up Gallinas Cañon, to the north & east of NM 61 near current Royal John Mine Road's entrance to the highway.
        If so, it was a lonely place. Father John McKinn left the two boys to watch his herd of cattle ... perhaps 100 head in all.  John McKinn, some say, managed as an Irish immigrant to the U.S. in the 1840s, made enough money gold mining he could buy the herd of cattle the boys were watching. Regardless, he had gone to Mesilla that September 11, 1885 day, for fruits & vegetables. He undoubtedly had put Apache raiding out of his mind as the Apaches had been moved father West, into Arizona.
       Doubtless, 99.99% of immigrant settlers in the Mimbres Valley in 1885 scarcely knew the footprint of a highly motivated, highly skilled raiding party of Chiricahua Apaches could be. Remember: the main bodies of Apaches in 1885, were mostly located south of the Border, in northern Chihuahua & Sonora ... 200 miles away!
      Read my article "The Captive," to learn the entire story. The updated record for the incident will be included in my new book.