Comanche Page #2

and my people is ancient.

no one in truth can

say when it began.

When the Spaniards first

explored here

around 1707, they were

received with open arms.

It seems the Indians had

had some tribal belief

that the white man

come from the East

It would be something

special, almost a god.

Well, the white man came and he

proved to be really special, all right!

They discovered silver and forced

the Indians at gun point,

to work in mines for them.

It was slave labor, paid for

with beatings, brutality

and death, at the whims

of the overseers.

The Comanches got sick

of that. They rebelled.

They massacred every Spaniard

they could find.

By the time the Comanches,

Navajos and Pueblos

had avenged themselves,

There wasn't much left in the

settlements of Pueblo and Taos.

There wasn't much left

of people, either

with all the torture

and mutilation.

A pretty messy business.

So the, the Spaniards

passed a law,

offering a bounty for every

Comanche scalp.

Ranging from $25 to

$100 a scalp.

The $100 was for the warriors.

you got $50 for a squaw

and $25 for a baby,

the Papoose.

Correction, sir.

Since our Independence,

the Mexican government

has revoked it.

No longer will Mexico pay for the

scalp of the Comanche.

Your government is to be

complimented, Senor,

but renegades on both sides

of the border got rich.

They made big business out of

hunting down Comanches.

Looking for scalps, like

animals for their pelts.

Once they staged a big fiesta

and invited the Indians.

More than 400 came.

Men, women and children.

And they massacred them

all for their scalps.

So, that's the way it is:

Comanches kill Mexicans

to get even with

the Spanish,

And, the Mexicans kill Comanches

in revenge for that.

- It's become a way of life.

- I can see how it began.

But the Comanches must

throw away their war paint,

or we'll have to make them.

If they knew they'd paying a

bounty for the scalps,

It would make big medicine

with them.

That's right.

We could base peace

talks on that.

I don't know.

I still think troops are the answer.

People can't go on killing

each other forever.

You see, Commissioner, the

Comanches are known

as "lords of the south plains".

They're a very proud

warrior race.

Maybe they'd sit down

and talk peace,

but they'd get right up

and go again,

if they weren't given

honorable terms.

As the personal emmissary of

President US Grant,

I have explicit powers

to make the peace with the

Comanches and get it ratified.

But, naturally no agreement is good

unless it's fair to both sides.

If we could only get through

to Quanah Parker!

Parker? Quanah Parker?

Chief of the Antlopes, the

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes