On Feb. 18, 1909, the New York Times reported that Geronimo had died the day before at Ft. Sill, in Lawton, Oklahoma, where he was officially a prisoner of the United States. The cause of death was given as pneumonia.
Eight days later Mark Twain wrote to his daughter Jean, who was a strong advocate for the civil rights of Native Americans: "That poor old Geronimo! I am glad his grand old patriot heart is at peace, no more to know wrong & insult at the hands of the Christian savage."
Elsewhere, in this same letter to Jean, Twain comments on President Theodore Roosevelt's plan to undertake an African safari soon after leaving office in March 1909. The author didn't think much of Teddy's policies or his personal values: "The wild creatures the President is going to Africa to hunt are very much his superiors in morals, conduct, disposition & respectability, I think."
Roosevelt's safari, which had the support of the Smithsonian Institution, captured or killed over 500 big-game animals like the one featured below in a photo from the Smithsonian's archives.
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