APACHES DOWN SOUTH

Two North Americans and one Mexican crossed over from Argentina to Uruguay in September of 1917 with the purpose of setting up a Bank heist in the city of Salto. Salto and Paysandú were the two main river cities on the Uruguay River separating this country from Argentina to the west. The gang made Paysandú their headquarters for planning, putting together supplies, purchasing horses and whatever else was needed to carry out their plan. The golpe on the bank, carried out on Tuesday, October 16, 1917, went horribly wrong when the Bank Manager ran for his gun and was shot down in his own office. 

The gang got away in a red Model T Ford,  but were unable to get to their waiting horses to make good their escape. They were captured after two days on the Hervidero Ranch, south of the Dayman River, and returned to Salto where a lynching crowd of thousands of young people had gathered in front of the Police Station. 

The Newspapers called these criminals Apaches, not for any link to the American tribe, rather because the gangs and thugs of both Argentina and Uruguay had taken the Apache name from the youth gangs of Paris who chose this title for their criminal associations.

The Apache gang had made a horrible mistake, they killed one of the most loved heroes in Northern Uruguay; George MacFarlane. George had started the Salto Soccer League and personally taught the young people of the Salto region how to play this "British" sport.