Later he joined the US Army's Apache scouts, serving at Fort Verde between December 1874 and May 1878 and was given the nickname Mickey Free.

[5][6] As sixteen-year-olds, the two met and fell in love but Telles did not marry Maria Jesus, perhaps because of resistance from Santiago's parents.

In 1858, Maria Jesus and her two children, Felix and his half-sister, Teodora Rangel, met and moved in with John Ward,[8] an Irishman who had migrated to the Arizona Territory and started a ranch.

[11] He went immediately to Lieutenant Colonel Pitcairn Morrison at Fort Buchanan and believing that his stepson had been taken by Chiricahua Apaches, insisted on military intervention.

What he did not realize was that the opening of Fort Breckinridge on Aravaipa Creek and the San Pedro River in the Pinal homeland was forcing all raiders to go east.

[15] On 4 February 1861, on orders to retrieve the child at all costs, Bascom went to Apache Pass to seek out Cochise, son-in-law of Mangas Coloradas.

Telles was adopted and raised by Nayundiie, a White Mountain Apache, and became foster brother to Tlol-dil-zil, later known as John Rope.

[18] In his time as a bounty hunter, Free tracked the Apache Kid, who at one point had a $15,000 reward on his head.