Judge dismisses Geronimo lawsuit

A lawsuit filed by descendants of the Native American chieftain Geronimo, who claimed some of his remains were stolen in 1918 by the secretive Skull and Bones society of Yale University, has been dismissed by a federal judge.



The lawsuit was filed last year in Washington by 20 descendants who want to rebury the Apache warrior near his New Mexico birthplace.

It claimed that during the First World War, Skull and Bones members, including Prescott Bush, the grandfather of former US President George W Bush, took the remains from a burial plot at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where Geronimo died in 1909.


Judge Richard Roberts last month granted a Justice Department motion to dismiss, saying the plaintiffs did not establish the government had waived its right not to be sued without its consent.

He also dismissed the lawsuit against Yale and the society, which is not officially affiliated with the university, saying the plaintiffs cited a law that applies only to Native American cultural items excavated or discovered after 1990.

Geronimo died aged 79 as a prisoner of war at Fort Sill after decades spent fighting against US and Mexican expansion into Apache lands.

The Skull and Bones illustrious membership includes three former US presidents, including Mr Bush and his father.