COCHISE

Though the life of this good and powerful Apache chief deserves as much attention can get, this biography is a poor second to the more significant Cochise by Edgar , published by Whittlesey House this year (p.336). The vital statistics- Cochise's life as head of the Chiricahua Apaches, his false accusation of murder by the U. S. Army and subsequent warfare, the alleviating friendship with Tom Jeffords that led to the eventual peace Cochise had believed in from the start- are all adequately narrated with much comment on Indian ways. But it is jerky reading. Facts come in fits and starts and somehow Cochise and his tribe emerge as figureheads who are not real parts of their environment.