Description

An article from the Prescott Weekly-Journal Miner newspaper concerning Indian scout Mike Burns "Hoomothya" (b. c. 1865 - d. 1934).

Born around 1865, the Kwevkepaya Yavapai Hoomothya (“Wet Nose” or “Moist Nose”) was orphaned as a result of the slaughter of his extended family at Skeleton Cave during December of 1872. Captured by the troops who killed this band of Yavapais, he was taken in as a temporary ward by Captain James Burns, who renamed the child Mike Burns or as he also was known-- “Apache Mickie.” Mike Burns remained with the U.S. Army for many years, then was sent as one of the first student to Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. After that he pursued additional education but in spite of his academic efforts he always was hard pressed to survive in the white world. He eventually served several enlistments as an Indian scout, and then returned to his native Arizona where he married a woman from his tribe and took up residence at several places including Fort McDowell.

On July 15, 1908, the Prescott Weekly-Journal Miner reported that Mike Burns, an “Apache Mohave Indian,” was registered to vote in the upcoming election on July 14, 1908, claiming that “He is the First Indian in the Territory to take advantage of the Act of Congress of 1906, entitling educated Indians who have severed tribal relations to the full rights of citizenship.”