"An 8-foot-tall statue of Navajo leader Manuelito has stood in Gallup for more than 100 years.

For most of that time, it was propped in a second-story niche of an old adobe trading post, facing out over the railroad tracks. It was moved to a glass-covered enclosure when that building was replaced. And since 1993, the statue has been inside the warehouse, which is now locked and vacant.

Longtime Gallup grocer Joe Di Gregorio and his wife, Christine, own the statue. They took custody after the building's owner, in negotiations to sell to an out-of-state buyer in 1983, turned to Di Gregorio and whispered, "Don't let the bastards take the Indian."

Di Gregorio didn't. He agreed to take custody of Manuelito and promised to keep him in Gallup.

But the last time Di Gregorio took a look at the imposing piece of art, standing alone in a darkened building, he decided it was time to give Manuelito a new home.

"I saw him there, and I said, 'This is wrong,' " Di Gregorio said. "You walk by him and you almost see a tear. It's like, 'Get me out of here.' He's in a cage.""

Get the Story:
Leslie Linthicum: Navajo Leader Stands Tall (The Albuquerque Journal 3/11)