National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-12-18


not without foundation. He might have won
this pale maiden had he managed his love
pleadings properly, or even shrewdly, for that
matter. but he lost because he was ignorant, in
a measure, OF the white mans way of wooing
He certainly failed TO do it right. The old
warrior got her just where he wanted her.
which was in q cosy corner on the portico of
her fathers mansion, and then burst forth
with food of impassionate pleadings for her
love. 'Me Red Cloud, a heap big chief of the
Ogallalas and Minneconjous. You be my heap
big squaw." Here he squeezed her hand and
looked around for the old gentleman. "Go
with Red Cloud, White Swan, beyond the banks
of the Missouri, TO the great shades of the
Black Hills, where the catamount bowls and
the cataract roars. Go''-he Jumped to his
feet, and was about to slide down the back
steps, but it did not prove to be the old gentle
man so he doubled up again and continued:
''Go with the big chief, pale squaw, and he
will teach you the scalpdance of the Ogallalas
and the shin dig of the Minneconjous, and on
the back of the wild horse you shall chase the
black buffalo over the plains, and when the sun
sinks into the western hills you will sing the
pale faces music in the wigwam of the great
chief and listen to the prattle of one little
pap''-he was hit justas squarely between the
eyes as it was possible to be hit, and the pale
maiden snatched his blanket to the further
end of the portico, swept away his war plume,
scalped different parts of his head by taking
the locks out by the handful, and then
screamed murder as she tainted and fell.
h. -,
at the Tombs, in New York city, yesterday
Two of them were launched into eternity with
that apparent ease which always accompanies
skiIlful execution. The third, owing to the
awkward adjustment of the fatal moose, suf-
fered the most excruciating agonies of tor
turing death. Capital punishment is, beyond
the peradventure Of a doubt, one of the
greatest safeguards of the public peace, but
when the penalty of death is inflicted with
unnecessary infection Of pain the inhumanity
of It strikes the community withIa shocking
thrill of disgust and horror. To hang is JUS
tilted both by profane and sacred history, but
to torture Is inimical to a refined civilization.
Our telegraphic dispatches announce that in
the execution Of Ellis ''lhe rope had not been
properly arranged around his neck, and
scarcely had he been hoisted into the air
when be gave fearful scream, and, writing
in tenible agony, clutched the rope with both
his hands, notwithstanding that they were
bound, and, drawing his body up, cried Save
mer His tortures seemed terrible. Three
times he raised himself up, to the horror and
surprise of the spectators, and finally, by his
own effort, succeeded in adjusting the rope
properly around his neck. He then soon
ceased to struggle" CHASTITY spectacle!
Inhuman tortured Unnecessary affiiction!
There is no wonder that We find thousands of
people in this country who are strenuously
opposed to capital punishment when such
scenes as the above are occurring almost
every month in different parts of the land. A
human being dragged by the force of i'm
placable Justice to the fatal noosel human
being with an awful catalogue of crime heaped
up to harrow his soul, with life spent use
lessly-a life fraught with deeds done in the
body which insure an eternally-tortured exist
ence-dragged forth TO the scaffold, from
whence TO be launched into the presence of
the Great Judge, is of itself sight sad and
terrible in the extreme. But where careless
ness and culpable negligence add to this
ecene OorsAe aiu oSohJ, ~ ueSonSS einPJ
monstrous. If for the safety of society; If for
the security of the persons of individuals; If
for the preservation of our public peace, hu-
man lives must be sacrificed by the executioner
in expiation of crime, let It be done humanely,
carefully and with skill. In the old Roman
law, when an executioner destroyed the life Of
a condemned one otherwise than was ordered
by the court, as, for instance, were the SEN
tence ''to be hung" and the executioner used
the guillotine, he was promptly punished with
death. Ifthere be crime in such an act, then