The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-10-22
AN EXECUTION ON THE PLAINS.

III the 1921 SDdTDeu
California with high hopes-hopes that
have never, alas! been realized. OF
| that portion of our journey from home
entil we arrived at Kansas, on the Mis-
souri, River. l will not speak. On ar
irving at Kansas, we found large
| crowd waiting to get every thing in
! readiness to start for this land of gold.
and, among the rest, a large train from
| the southern portion of Missouri. to
| which we attached ourselves; and on
| the 10th of May left that place.
1t was not until we got into the Ter
| ritory that we learned the true charac-
| ter of those TO whom we had voluntar-
| lily attached ourselves. They were of
| the usual pike stamp-regular Wes-
| tern men-who had been accustomed
| to hardships all their lives. The por-
ton of our trip to Fort Laramie passed
off very pleasantly. After we left that
| place, however. we had frequent quar-
rels and fights, but nothing of a serious
nature until one day. the 9th of June,
our captain, MIR. NJ, had stopped be-
hind in the morning, and about noon
came riding up to his own wagon, and
spoke to the driver, MIR. T.. rather
harshly about driving so hard, when
the latter became irritated, and struck
him with his whip. M. jumped off his
horse and made toward the driver,
when brother interfered, and some
harsh language was exchanged between
the two, and NJ. turned to go away;
but as he did so, T. struck him with a
! large knife in the breast. Nj. stag
gered, and as he fell, T. caught him by
the hair, ierked his head back, and
drew his butcher knife across his neck,
nearly severing his head from the
body, and poor NJ. fell without q
groan.
The whole affair took place SO quick
| ly that we had no time to interfere. L.
Immediately turned on his heels and
walked slowly away. None thought of
attempting to follow him; we were all
engaged with poor M, who never spoke
after he fell to the ground, and in ten
minutes he was dead. We dug a grave
beside the road and buried him, and
nothing marks his last resting place
save rude board with this inscription:
Here lies the body of George M, born
in Missouri-murdered by Alfred T.,
on the 9th day of June, 1852"
While we were digging the grave, q
horse train came along. and, on being
informed of the facts of the case, start
ed some men in pursuit of the fugitive.
4uC Uu11dk OfCI, We
resumed our journey. and after travel
ling about six miles, overlook the horse
train, who had caught T., and had en-
camped on the banks of small stream
| in the Black Hills. There were, when
we got there, about two hundred wag
ons encamped, waiting to hear the
finale of the tragedy. A large tent
| was pitched, and in this was the court
| to sit and decide whether T. was inno-
cent or guilty. A Judge was elected by
| the assemblage, and the accused ac-
| cepted the election. An attorney was
| appointed for the prosecution, and the
accused selected one to defend him.
Two hundred jurors were then sum-
moned, and out of that number twelve
were selected.
The witnesses for the prosecution
were then called, and testified to the
facts as I have stated them, when the
| Judge asked the defendant if he had
any witnesses. s.No, he had none;
| didn't know that he wanted any" His
/ attorney insisted on introducing evil
| dence, however, as to character, ETC.,
| which was admitted. After the witness
| for the defence had got through, the
Judge asked the attorney for the prose
cution if he had any thing to say. He
said he had not, whereupon the defend
ants counsel rose and addressed the
jury in speech of half an hours
| length. The Judge said that he knew
it was customary to charge the jury as
to law in the premises; but on this oc-
casion he would decline. and would
only say to them to be guided by theil
sense of right, and do nothing without
mature elaboration. The jury then
retired, or rather the court and specta-
tors retired, and left the jury in the
tent.
In about half an hour the sheriff In.
formed the judge that the jury hac
agreed. Upon the assembling of the
court, the Judge asked the foreman i
they had agreed upon verdict; the
reply was that they had. The defend,
ant was then ordered to stand up, anC
the judge inquired of the foreman the
verdict of the jury. A breathles:
silence here reigned in the tent. The
foreman replied that ''the jury had
found Alfred T. guilty of murder in
the first degree A low murmur here
ran through the crowd. whether of sat
isfaction or disappointment we could
not tell. The judge turned to the de-
PENDANT and asked him if he had any
good reasons to urge why the verdict
of the jury should not be carried into
effect. The young mamie was about
twenty-five years old-arose, and, with
a mocking smile on his lips, said he
had; and then. turning to the specta
tors, remarked, well, boys, you have
carried the joke about far enough, .
and with coarse, loud laugh resumed
his seat. The judge rebuked him TO
his unseemly mirth, and then in as brie
q manner as possible passed sentenc,
on him, to wit: That he should b,
hung by the neck until he was dead,
and concluded by exhorting him to pre-
pare to meet his God.
The judge then rose and addressed
the crowd, saying that the carrying on
of the sentence remained entirely with
them, and concluded by putting til,
question-'.As many of you as are il
favor of carrying out the verdict of tbs
jury and the sentence of the court, say
aye As if by one common impulse
every voice shouted AYE" The neg
alive was then put, and not one single
voice was heard. Twas not till Their
that the culprit's stubborn confidence
was shaken
Court was then adjourned, and thu
prisoner remained in the tent under .
strict guard. During that short hour
which to the guard appeared a lifetime
the prisoner seemed to enjoy himsel
amazingly well for a person who had
only sixty minutes to live; he refused