Wigwam and War-path Or the Royal Chief in Chains Part 60

It is now 10 A.M., October 3d, 1873. The four men are led on to the drop; their arms and legs are pinioned. Captain Jack is placed on the right; next to him, Schonchin, then Black Jim, and then Boston Charley. Four hempen cords hang beside them,--_two_ swing clear to the left; the _two_ villains who broke the long armistice on the eleventh of April with a war-whoop are resting on other men's coffins in the wagon below.

The four men are standing on a single strand that holds the drop. One stroke of an axe would end this terrible drama, now. The polished blade is waiting for the dreadful work. JUSTICE perches with folded wings on the beam above. Her face is blanched. She says, "My demands would be satisfied with imprisonment for life for these helpless, blood-stained men,--'twould be more in harmony with my Father's wishes; but those whom he has sent me to serve, clamor for blood, for life. If this must be, why the two men in the wagon below? Why the four unfettered villains yonder? I cannot understand by what authority I am compelled by my masters to witness this partiality. _Here, over these betrayed victims do I enter my solemn protest._ I see before me another power that evokes my presence, the State of Oregon, represented by Sheriff McKenzie, in whose hands I see a paper signed by Gov. Grover, and bearing my own countersign." With faith in the power of the general Government, she folds her wings and sits calmly watching Corporal Ross of Co. G, twelfth Infantry, adjust the instrument of death to Captain Jack's neck. It differs from the one used by this chief on Gen. Canby, but is equally sure; and the chief's nerves are even steadier now than they were when he shouted, "Kau-tux-a."

Corporal Killien measures the diameter of Schonchin's neck with the end of another rope. The old chief's eyes do not glare now as they did when he drew from his side a knife with one hand, and a pistol with the other, and shouting, "Blood for blood!"--chock-e la et chock-e la,--fired eleven shots at the chairman of the "Peace Commission." He was excited then; _he is cool now_.

Private Robert Wilton is putting a halter on Black Jim's neck, while Private Anderson is fixing a "neck-tie" that will stop the voice that taunted Dr. Thomas, in his dying moments, with the failure of his G.o.d to save him.

Justice smiles on Anderson's hand while he performs this worthy act in vindication of her honor.

The ropes are all adjusted; the soldiers who have performed this last personal act walk down the steps.

Forty millions of people, through a representative, read a long list of "wherefores" and "becauses," including the finding and sentence of the courts, to the patient men standing on the drop, thousands of eyes watching every movement.

At last the adjutant reads the following short paper from the _forty million_, to the _four_ men on the scaffold; the _two_ men in the wagon.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, August 22, 1873.

The foregoing sentences, in the cases of Captain Jack, Schonchin, Black Jim, Boston Charley, Barncho, alias One-eyed Jim, and Slolux, alias c.o.k, Modoc Indian prisoners, are hereby approved; and it is ordered that the sentences in the said cases be carried into execution by the proper military authority, under the orders of the Secretary of War, on the third day of October, eighteen hundred and seventy-three.

U. S. GRANT, _President_.

While the words are being interpreted the adjutant draws another paper from a side pocket in his coat. In a clear voice he reads sentence by sentence, while the majestic form of Oliver Applegate repeats, and Dave Hill interprets into the Modoc tongue:--

(General Court Martial Orders, No. 84.)

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, WAs.h.i.+NGTON, September 12, 1873.

The following orders of the President will be carried into effect under the direction of the major-general commanding the Division of the Pacific:--

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, September 10, 1873.

The executive order dated Aug. 22, 1873, approving the sentence of death of certain Modoc Indian prisoners, is hereby modified in the cases of Barncho, alias One-eyed Jim, and of Slolux, alias c.o.k; and the sentence in the said cases is commuted to imprisonment for life. Alcatraz Island, harbor of San Francisco, California, is designated as the place of confinement.

U. S. GRANT, _President_.

By order of the Secretary of War.

E. D. TOWNSEND, _Adjutant-General_.

_Justice_ whispers, "What does that mean?" Those two men voted for the a.s.sa.s.sination on the morning of the 11th of April, and volunteered to bear the guns to the scene of slaughter.

The chaplain offers a prayer, the last notes of Dave Hill are dying on the air as he finishes the words in the Modoc tongue.

A flash of polished steel in the sunlight and the axe has severed the rope that held the trap, and the thread of _four_ stormy lives at the same instant, and _four_ bodies are writhing in mid-air. An unearthly scream of anguish rises from the stockade, much louder, though no more heart-rending, than escaped the lips of Jerry Crook and George Roberts on the 17th of Jan., or from young Hovey on the 18th of April, while Hooker Jim and Bogus Charley were scalping him and crus.h.i.+ng his head with stones.

The four bodies are placed in the four coffins, and Barncho and Slo-lux ride back to the guard-house beside them.

The sheriff of Jackson County presents to the commanding officer the requisition of the governor of Oregon for Hooker Jim, Curly-haired Doctor, Steamboat Frank, and other Modocs. The following telegrams explain the result:--

JACKSONVILLE, OREGON, October 4, 1872.

To JEFF. C. DAVIS, U. S. A., _Commanding Department of Columbia, Portland, Oregon_:--

At the hour of the execution of Captain Jack and his co-murderers at Fort Klamath, on yesterday, the sheriff of Jackson County was present with bench-warrants and certified copies of the indictments of the Lost-river murderers, and demanded their surrender to the civil authorities of this State for trial and punishment. A writ of _habeas corpus_ has also been issued by Justice Prime, of the circuit court of Jackson County, commanding that the indicted murderers be brought before him, and cause be shown why they are withheld from trial. I respectfully ask that you communicate the proceedings to Was.h.i.+ngton, and that final action in the premises be taken by order from there.

L. F. GROVER, _Governor, Oregon_.

To which was received in reply:--

Shown by the Secretary to the President in Cabinet to-day. It is understood, the orders to send all the Modocs to Fort E. A.

Russell, as prisoners of war, given the 13th September, 1873, will be executed by Gen. Schofield, and no further instructions are necessary. Signed,

E. D. TOWNSEND,

_Adjutant-General_.

Thus was the matter disposed of, no further action being taken in regard to this question.

Gov. Grover expressed what he believed to be the wishes of the people of the Pacific coast, when he demanded the surrender of the Indians who had been indicted by the local authorities. The President and cabinet were actuated, doubtless, by humane and charitable motives in thus disposing of a serious question.

Knowing all the facts in the case, I do not believe it was just, or wise, to cover the worst men of the Modoc tribe with the mantle of charity, for turning traitors to their own race, and at the same time to sanction the sentence of death on the victims of their treachery.

The terrible tragedy is closed,--it only remains to dispose of the survivors, after having placed the four dead bodies in the ground, and filling up the two empty graves, sending the intended occupants to San Francis...o...b..y. The living are ordered to the Quaw-Paw Agency, Indian Territory. Here is the official statement:--

FORT MCPHERSON, NEB., November 1, 1873.

EDWARD P. SMITH, _Indian Commissioner, Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C._:--

Modocs consist of thirty-nine men, fifty-four women, sixty children. Detailed report by families forwarded to Department head-quarters October 30.

J. J. REYNOLDS, _Colonel Third Cavalry_.

_Thirty-nine men!_ Why, Captain Jack had _never_ more than fifty-three men with him, all told. Call the roll, let us see where they are now:--

1. _Captain Jack._ A voice from--well, it's uncertain where,--a slanderous rumor says, from a medical museum, Was.h.i.+ngton city,--answers, "_Here_."

2. _Schonchin. "Here,"_ comes up from one of the graves in the parade-ground, Fort Klamath.

3. _Boston Charley. "Here,"_ whispers a spirit, hanging over one of the graves in the same cemetery.

4. _Black Jim. "Here,"_ comes up through the thick sod beside "Boston."

5. _Ellen's Man. "Here,"_ answer scattered bones that were drawn off the Dry-lake battle-ground, by a Warm Springs scout, with a reatta, and now bleaching in among the rocks of the Lava Beds.

6. Shacknasty Jake, from a skull which furnished several scalps during the three days' battle, when its owner was killed in petticoat, comes in hollow voice, "_Here_."

7. Shacknasty Frank; the ashes of a warrior who was wounded in a skirmish on the fifteenth of January, and died in the Lava Beds, answers, "_Here_."