Geronimo's Great-Grandson Wants Bones Returned

Sunday, June 17th 2007, 3:12 pm

By: News On 6

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- Legend has it that Yale University's ultrasecret Skull and Bones society swiped the remains of American Indian leader Geronimo nearly a century ago from Fort Sill in Oklahoma.

Now Geronimo's great-grandson wants the remains returned.

Harlyn Geronimo, of Mescalero, New Mexico, wants to prove the skull and bones that were purportedly taken from the Indian leader's burial plot in Fort Sill to a stone tomb that serves as the club's headquarters are in fact those of his great-grandfather.

If so, he wants to bury them near Geronimo's birthplace in southern New Mexico's Gila Wilderness.

Fifty-nine-year-old Harlyn Geronimo says that his ancestor died as a prisoner of war and remains one because his remains have not been returned to his homeland.

If the bones at Fort Sill aren't those of Geronimo, Harlyn Geronimo is certain they belonged to one of the Apache prisoners who died at the Army base. He says they should still be returned.