[…] Geronimo himself was undeniably the star attraction. By February 1887 Fort Pickens was seldom receiving fewer than twenty visitors a day and, on some occasions, this rose to over 450. Typically, the arch-realist made the best of a bad situation. He made and sold bows and arrows, quivers, or canes. In a slow, conscientious hand he learnt to print his name in capitals, and signed the items to further increase their value. He charged artists to pose for their paintings, while signed photographs were an old stand-by. Initially his autograph sold at ten to the dollar, but by the twentieth century and with inflation whey were fifty cents a piece.
Another of Geronimo’s ingenious scams was to remove the buttons from his coat, or the hat from his head, and then sell them to the punters gathered at railway stations to see him. When the train pulled away, the wily old shaman would sew more buttons back on and take out a fresh hat, which he had brought especially for the occasion.
Source:
Cocker, Mark. “The Caged Tiger.” Rivers of Blood, Rivers of Gold: Europe's Conquest of Indigenous Peoples. Grove Press, 2001. 254-55. Print.
Original Source Listed:
Debo, Geronimo, pp. 400-5.
Further Reading:
Geronimo (Mescalero-Chiricahua: Goyaałé [kòjàːɬɛ́] "the one who yawns"
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