Philip Thompson, an attorney for the Fort Sill Apaches, said the tribe and the second group of Geronimos didn’t name Skull and Bones as defendants in its motion to intervene in the case filed Tuesday, saying they weren’t going to wade into that debate for now, the Sun-News said.ĩ:45am 2/27/09 - Geronimo Lawsuit Sparks Family Feud: Another branch of the Apache warrior’s family wants remains to stay at Fort Sill, Okla.Ī second family from the Mescalero Apache Reservation claiming to be descendants of Geronimo is planning to oppose an attempt - spelled out in a lawsuit filed earlier this month - to repatriate the legendary Apache warrior’s remains from Fort Sill, Okla., to New Mexico, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported. Harlyn Geronimo also asked for the return of any of the warrior’s remains that may be held by the secretive Skull and Bones Society at Yale University, which was rumored to have not only Geronimo’s skull but that of Pancho Villa. 17 - the 100th anniversary of Geronimo’s death - along with other family members seeking the return of his forebear’s remains to the headwaters of the Gila in New Mexico, the Sun-News said. Harlyn Geronimo, who also claims to be the warrior’s great-grandson, filed suit on Feb.

“This guy is trying to ride on somebody else’s reputation.” “Our objective here is to set the record straight: Our family is the true Geronimos,” Lariat Geronimo said. Lariat Geronimo, also of Mescalero and a great-grandson of the warrior, claims that Harlyn Geronimo doesn’t have a valid claim as a descendant and shouldn’t have a say as to where the original Geronimo is buried, the Sun-News said. “It they want to keep throwing their money around, go ahead.”Ĩ:20am 5/6/09 - Geronimo Family Feud Escalates: Second group of descendants files motion Tuesday opposing removal of warrior’s remains to N.M.Ī second group of Geronimo’s descendants and the Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma went to court Tuesday to oppose the repatriation of the legendary Apache warrior’s remains to New Mexico - as sought in a February lawsuit by Harlyn Geronimo of Mescalero and others, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported. “It’s going to stay there,” he said of the Oklahoma gravesite. Meanwhile, Lariat Geronimo of Mescalero, a great-grandson of Geronimo who disputes Harlyn Geronimo’s ties to the warrior, told the Sun-News his family learned of the judge’s decision about two weeks ago and was pleased with the news. “It is shameful that Geronimo’s remains would be in Fort sill in an Apache prisoner of war cemetery in contradiction to his wishes to live and die and be buried in the mountains where he was born.”Ĭlark said he has asked the federal court for an order to exhume the remains at Fort Sill to determine whether they are Geronimo’s and whether they are all there, the Sun-News said. This judgment does not preclude other efforts,” Clark told the paper. “We’re committed to trying to return Geronimo’s remnants to the headwaters of the Gila and there is new hope that we can find ways to do it.

The judge also said the lawsuit against Yale and the secret society should be dismissed because plaintiffs cited a law that only applies to Native American cultural items excavated or discovered after 1990, the AP reported.Ĭlark told the Sun-News in a telephone interview Tuesday that the plaintiffs haven’t given up the fight.

17, 2009, the 100th anniversary of Geronimo’s death, claiming that the legendary warrior’s remains were stolen in 1918 by members of Yale University’s Skull and Blones society from a graveyard in Fort Sill, Okla., according to the Sun-News. Attorney General Ramsey Clark filed suit on behalf of 20 descendants, including Mescalero resident Harlyn Geronimo, on Feb. Department of Justice motion to dismiss a lawsuit seeking repatriation of Geronimo’s remains, saying that plaintiffs had failed to establish that the government had waived its right not to be sued, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.įormer U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts last month granted a U.S. Efforts will continue to repatriate warrior’s remains to Gila headwaters, lawyer says.Įfforts to repatriate the remains of the legendary Apache warrior to his birthplace at the headwaters of the Gila River will continue, despite recent legal setbacks, the attorney for a group of Geronimo’s descendants told the Las Cruces Sun-News.

Geronimo skull and bones