A District of Columbia judge July 27 dismissed the case brought by descendants of the Native American chieftain Geronimo against Skull and Bones, as well as the University and senior members of the U.S. government, in February 2009. Their lawyer, Ramsey Clark, said he is not giving up and will now turn to the agencies in the executive branch and the Department of Defense that his clients previously tried to bypass.
The objective of the original suit was to recover Geronimo’s remains and reinter them near his birthplace at the head of the Gila River in New Mexico. Geronimo is reportedly buried in a prisoner of war cemetery in Fort Sill, Okla., but according to legend, Prescott Bush — Yale graduate, Bonesman, father of former President George H.W. Bush ’48 and grandfather of former President George W. Bush ’68 — looted that grave in 1918 or 1919 and took the chief’s skull, along with some of his other bones and artifacts buried with him, back to the Skull and Bones tomb on High Street in New Haven.
Yale has said it does not possess the remains, but that it cannot say whether the secret society — a separate entity — might have them. A representative of Skull and Bones has declined to comment on the matter.