HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY                          209

judge, at Phoenix, in 1894, and re-elected two years later, having a large
majority over his competitor, when only one other Candidate on the same
ticket was successful. In 1809-1900 he gave his attention to probate
practice and the making of abstracts of titles to real estate for the county
in which Phoenix is situated. In 1901 President McKinley appointed
him Indian agent for the White Mountain Apache Indians, who are
located in the mountains in the eastern part of the Territory of Arizona,
a section of the country historical because of its being the rendezvous of
the notorious band of Apaches headed by the murderous Chief Geronimo.
After McKinley’s death, Mr. Crouse was appointed and commissioned by
President Roosevelt, under whom he served until July, 1903, when the
agency and superintendency were combined and placed in the Civil
Service under one head, designated as Superintendent and Special Dis-
bursing Agent. This action removed the position from political prefer-
ment and made the Secretary of the Interior the appointing power, on
recommendation of the U. S. Civil Service Commission, hence, Mr.
Crouse has managed the affairs of the Fort Apache Indian Agency and
its schools during the past five years, strictly as a non-partisan, and holds
his place on the ground of manifest merit as observed and reported by
visiting inspectors. He has been commissioned by three Presidents and
by two Secretaries of the Department of the Interior.
    Mr. Grouse has been unusually and signally fortunate in his never
having met with reverses and been defeated. Of the eighteen years he
has spent in Arizona eleven years have been given to the education and
training of Indians and the management of Indian affairs. This training
consists, mainly, in having the Indian choose of his own accord the cus-
toms of the white man, the speaking of the English language, farming,
stock-raising, cooking, serving, laundering and the proper care of the
sick.
    Although he has never allied himself with any church society, our
subject has great respect for all sincere professors of Christianity. He
prefers to write his eulogies on the hearts of the living, and not upon
inanimate monuments that crumble away, and he knows of no other way
of associating himself eternally with those who have attained to perfect
liberty in what is usually termed death, having no faith in annihilation,
but strong belief in change as God wills it.

    William M. Ridpath, a native of Indiana, born in Putnam county,
October 14, 1845; reared on the farm and given the schooling usually
afforded farmer boys of the West at that period—about three months
every year. In the summer of 1863, although not then yet eighteen years
of age, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifteenth Indiana Infantry as
a private soldier, in Company H, and went to the front, where he
remained until the expiration of his term of service, when he re-enlisted,
taking his place as a private and veteran with the First Indiana Hcavy
Artillery, Battery E, serving until after the close of the war and mustered
out at New Orleans, La., July 26, 1865. Desirous of securing a better
education, he entered the Academy at Thorntown, Boone county, which
was then conducted by his brother, Prof. John Clark Ridpath. After a
thorough course of study there, he entered Asbury (now De Pauw) Uni-
versity, working his way at innumerable small jobs to secure the means
for current expenses, but being blessed with a rugged constitution and
an indomitable will, he persevered and won the goal. After graduation

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