Thoroughly disheartened, Roman Chiquito…
source date: 1891
availability: public-domain

and when Roman, through his white friends, remonstrated the agent gave as an excuse that “Roman Chi- quito was a promising young man and that his spiritual welfare demanded that he should not be removed from the christianizing influences surrounding him on the reservation” ( !) Thoroughly disheartened, Roman Chiquito removed with his family to Three Rivers, still on the reservation, but thirty miles from the agency; here he set up his tent, opened a farm and endeavored to earn his own living. His family beside himself, consisted of a younger brother named Carpio who was subject to spells of violent insanity, and two sisters. The younger of these, a beautiful girl named “Bo- nita,” was the belle of the Mescalero tribe. Roman and his family were soon on terms of friendly intimacy with his neighbors at Three Rivers, one of these Mr. Patrick Coglan, a stock raiser, had in his employ as chief herder a Mexican named Nicolas Acosta, who was a warm friend of Roman and his family and fre- 'quent visitor to Roman’s tent. One afternoon and while Roan was absent, Acosta, in returning from the range stopped at Roman’s tent and was