WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- A lawsuit filed by Apache warrior Geronimo's descendants could prove if Yale University Skull and Bones members robbed his Oklahoma grave, the family says.
Among the alleged grave robbers was former U.S. President George W. Bush's grandfather Prescott Bush.
Geronimo's great-grandson Harlyn Geronimo, a Mescalero Apache artist and veteran of two Vietnam War tours, filed a federal lawsuit with 19 relatives in Washington seeking the return of the war chief's remains from a Fort Sill, Okla., grave to New Mexico's Gila Wilderness where Geronimo was born.
The lawsuit was filed under the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which gives descendants a priority claim to American Indian remains. The suit also calls on any remains, including Geronimo's skull, held by the secret Skull and Bones society to be returned as well.
Three Skull and Bones members, including Prescott Bush, allegedly stole Geronimo's skull, some bones and other items, including Geronimo's prized silver bridle, from the Fort Sill Apache Indian Prisoner of War Cemetery during World War I.
Geronimo's skull was then supposedly used in club rituals, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
The lawsuit names Skull and Bones and Yale as defendants, along with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and U.S. President Barack Obama because Geronimo was initially buried on government land.
"In our tradition and culture, he (Geronimo) is not at peace," Kate Geronimo Hernandez, Geronimo's great-great-granddaughter, told the Journal.
"To go on to the next world, he has to be brought home," she said.
