05/09/1936
Jose Gallegos. 105-year-old veteran Indian fighter, is the oldest applicant for a pension to visit the Old-Age Assistance Commission district office in El Paso.
Mr. Gallegos asked friends to bring him from his Fort Hancock home to make the pension application. "And if I get It," he said, "I'm going to eat better food and fix up my house."
Mr. Gallegos hobbled into the office on a cane, still spry for his age. His trousers were patched at the seat und knees.
Life Tiresome
The aged Indian fighter moved to Fort Hancock 70 years ago and expects "to die there."
"Life," he said, "is tiresome at my age. I can't work any more, and I get tired just sitting around. I feel a little like I'm in the way."
Mr. Gallegos was born at Tome, N. M., five years before Texas won her Independence from Mexico in 1836. He is the only living survivor of the Round Mountain Indian fight. He helped to build forts to protect settlers against the marauding Apaches and trailed a band of 160 that massacred the 18 drivers of a wagon train in 1880.
Heavy Smoker
He has herded sheep and attributes his longevity to his active outdoor life. He smokes two packages of tobacco in his pipe every three days, and “one glass of beer will last me for three or four days,” he said.
"I started chewing tobacco when I was a boy," he said, "but my father made me stop. I started smoking then, and have been smoking since.''
Mr. Gallegos has been married three times. His third wife was his last, he said.
"What would I want to get married again for?" he asked. "So my wife could bury me?"
Comments