Kelvin Grade Massacre

Kelvin Grade massacre
The Apache Kid in 1889, as a prisoner in Globe, Arizona.
Location	near Globe, Arizona
Date	November 2, 1889
Attack type	Murder
Weapons	Small arms
Deaths	2
Non-fatal injuries	1
Victim	American citizens
Perpetrator	Apache renegades

The Kelvin Grade massacre was an incident that occurred in November 1889 when a group of Apache renegades escaped from police custody near Globe, Arizona. The escape resulted in the deaths of two policemen and triggered one of the largest manhunts in the history of Arizona. Veterans of the Apache Wars would scour the Arizona frontier for nearly a year in search of the fugitives, by the end of which all were caught or killed except the famous Indian scout known as the Apache Kid.

When the reservation system began in Arizona, the Apache tribes were among the first to be subjugated. Throughout most of the Old West period, the reservations were undersupplied, which led to starvation, and their operators tended to be corrupt. This led to conflicts such as Geronimo's War, beginning in 1881, during which the Apaches left their reserves and evaded capture until 1886. The Apache Kid, or Haskay-bay-nay-ntayl, had formerly been a scout in the wars against the Apache, having been involved in the mutiny during the Battle of Cibecue Creek and the Crawford Affair. Though many people at the time believed that the Apache Kid did not kill any of the soldiers at Cibecue, he still became a renegade in 1887 after an incident at the San Carlos Reservation. The Kid was also a friend of Al Sieber, who allegedly betrayed him after the Cibecue affair. Sometime in 1888 the Apache Kid was caught, put on trial in Globe for various crimes, and sentenced to spend the next several years in Yuma Territorial Prison. The Kid had already served over a year of prison time at San Carlos and Alcatraz Island, so the prospect of going to the prison at Yuma was intolerable and he conspired with his fellow inmates to escape whenever and wherever possible.