Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-01-16
HOW JOE WEAKENED.
Az NJ. QUAD.

In that great horseshoe bend Of the
Little Bear-Paw Mountain, which
catches a great flood of sunshine at
MONDAY, we had q village Sixty strong
and sturdy men were digging into the
base of the black-topped mountain in
search of silver.
We were not in luck, and though
each man was gloomy and discouraged,
there was no excuse for murder We
had banded together to share and share
alike, and if fortune smiled on one all
would receive benefits.
One night, when the days toll of fifty
seven men yielded an estimate of only
six dollars, the miners cursed and swore,
and felt like striking each other We
were short of provisions, new tools were
needed, and the men turned in for the
night with determination to strike for
some other locality if the next days
work should exhibit like barren results.
At midnight there was a great cutlery.
1t was not an Indian attack, as each
miner anticipated when he rushed out.
but a horrible murder had been COM
mitted, and the murderer captured by
one of the sentinels. A miner named
Joseph Swain, but hardly known in
camp by any other name than Joe,
occupied a tent III company with an old
man named Arnold. The two men
were on good terms, but while Arnold
had about three hundred dollars in gold
coin, acquired in other speculations,
Swain hadn't dollar outside of the
common fund. The gold was buried
In the earth under the bed on which the
two slept, and Swain could not get it by
night without arOusing his companion.
Had he secured it during the day and
made off, he would have been overhaul
ed very quickly, and his punishment
nothing less than hanging. 1t could be
no more if he added murder to the rob
berry; and that night, when we all felt
SO bitter against luck, aud when partners
felt SO much like striking each other,
Joe Swain murdered the man who had
done the most for him. He was getting
away with the gold when halted, and,
though he made a sharp fight for lib
,erty, he was tied hand and foot within
five minutes after the first alarm. r
Arnold was dead, stabbed in three or
four places, and the gold was found in
Joe's belt. There was no show for the
murderer He could not even plead
the impulse of heat ofpassion Indeed,
he was not the one to seek to avoid con-
sequences He made statement to the
effect that he had deliberately murdered
and robbed the good old man, and
added:
Now, boys, there's no use in great
fuss over this matter. Put guard over
me, and the rest of you go back to your
sleep. You'll hang me Of course, and
when morning comes shall have re-
quest to make. [ shan't Try to get away,
and I'm not going to play the baby when
the last hour comes"
Joe Swain was known among us as a
game man. He had fought Mexicans,
trailed Indians, and killed three or four
white ruffians who had made them
selves a terror to certain localities
Armed with his bowie knife, he would
have been a match for any four of us;
and it was owing to us presence, more
than that Of any one else, that our vii
lage was not troubled with the roughs
and gamblers who attached themselves
to other camps like teaches.
Murder was a crime that could not
be palliated in mining camp Had it
been any thing else, majority of the
men would have been in favor of letting
Joe jump the diggings and 60 unpun-
ished. But when they looked in on the
white-faced and blood-stained corpse of
the good old man who had been like
father to all Of them, each heart hard
n,,oI ,,ct ~ ~
man said to the other:
"Joe Swain must hang for this p
There was no need of a trial. When
he was brought out after breakfast, he
said
Boys, don't want any fuss ofer this
thing. [ billed the old man, and it is
your duty to swing me up to limb. [
knew what [ was up to, and / knew I'd
have to stretch rope if couldn't get
away. | don't deserve kind word, and
I shan't look for my sympathy. The
request | want to make is that you
won't hang me Till sunset [ know it's
bad to have one OF these affairs hang
ing around camp all day, but yet it
won't make no great diferenceto you,
as long as you are working for almost
nothing. Now, then. all in favor of
waiting till sunset to hang me say
!" Ave p
"Aye!' shouted every man around
him.
"Those opposed will say No y
Not voice was heard. -.
The ayes have it, and | am to be
hung at sundown," continued Joe. II
want to write half-a-dozen letters, sleep
for two or three hours, and hpoe you
won't crowd III on ne. Select your tree,
get your rope ready, ard when the time
comes III be on hand.
If Joe had been captive in the
hands of the Indians, and was to be
burned at the stake at shutdown, every
miner would have wagered his outfit
that Swain would have died game. In
this case, where he was to meet dis
graceful death at the hands of men
who had worked and fought beside him
for months, most of the miners thought