Omaha daily bee., 1883-02-26
Hanging the Wrong Man.

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1 shall always blame him that he
William was placid. I knew him
for three years, and only three times
did I know of his o~onntenanoe under.
going . change for even q second.
Once he met q grizzly face to fsoe,
and that placid expression gave way to
q look OF surprise and interest. He
was pursued on another occasion by
twenty.four Indians, and his ooun,
tenanoe expressed homesickness. The
third change 10 what I I'm going to
tell you about.
There had been q good deal Of rob
bling and killing around the camp that
summer, and somehow 1t had been
impossible to Icy . hand on one Of the
perpetrators. The men had become
rolled and desperate, and II was gen.
orally understood that the first
offender who fell into the clutches
would step of the head Of q barrel to
be brought up suddenly by q rope and
. limb. a.
One day when some Of the boys
were returning from Pot.Luek Greek
with -four and pork, they came upon
the placid VIM, Bowers In . bad situa-
tion. He wss bending over the body
Of q man named Powers, who had
been settled by the thrust Of q bowie,
and his hands were bloody.
The placid William was nabbed.
What did he doi Nothing at all9
What did he ssyl Why, when the
boys laid hands on him he quietly re-
marked that he discovered the body
only five minutes before, and was In
speoting 1t In hopes to discover sigma
Of life.
Too thin.
And too placid to f. that crowd.
The camp didn't waste any valuable
time over Williams case, Within the
hour q court was convened, William
wal arraigned, and the dead body was
placed In sight of all. circumstances
we're against the prisoner, but there
were some things we forgot. William
had been a quiet, honest, civil resi-.
dent of Diamond guloh, He had
mover been known to carry q bowie-
knife. He had, been down the
trail to wash some shirts, and had
discovered the body on his return.
Hs scarcely knew the murdered man
by sight, and could therefore have had
no drudge against him. The victim
had little or no money, while the &C.
'cused had the biggeat pile Of any man
In camp.
But placid William should have
kicked.
Which he didn't do worth q cent.
He pleaded not guilty In . careless,
Indifferent manner, - II the result was
Of no particular consequence TO him.
He told about going to wssh his shirts
and Of the finding Of the body, but
there was nothing anxious about him.
'~'n you believe ms lot me 60; II
you do not believe me bring on the
That was the sum and Substance of
his defense, and 1t was bad for vii.
liam.
When 1t was too late we saw where
he could have proved his record clear
II he had tried to, but We had sent
him to answer before the highest court
Of all.
Well, the court could scarcely fell to
convict under the circumstances, ard
In less than an hour 1t became the
duty of the judge to arise and
civilian, you have been found
of murder. Does 1t make any
great difference to you whether you are
hung this afternoon or to-morrosi
Weather's liable to change, you know,
and we may not have suoh an after
again for a week."
The placid William replied that he
would be ready in half an hour, and
no was.
He went to his shanty, accompanied
by Col. Smith, and when he had dis.
posed of his property and written q
to friends In the east, he walked
to the gallows tree, mounted
the barrel, and eve winked an eye
whom the moose was slipped over his
head.
Then came q painful pause.
William was about to be launched
Into the great unknown.
It IL a serious thing to kick . barrel
from under the feet OF o fellow man
aud let . rope catch and choke him to
death. We felt It 30, and when the
pause came We could hear each Others
hard breathing.
civilian Bovers!" solsmly re-.
marked tho judge, ''you Are about to
hane!"
"Yes," calmly replied the prisoner.
"And now onoe more ! ask you II
you are guilty Of the awful crime3"
"No," was the equally calm reply.
But he had been tried, convicted
and sentenced, and the sentence must
be carried out. If WAS when the man
advanced to pull away the barrel that
Williams countenance lost its p~lscidity,
For five seconds he seemed q stranger
to us oil. A white shadow crossed his
face, a look If fear crept into his eyes
and his jaw fell.
Then placid William was himself
again. He braced right up, shut his
teeth hard and he died with a coun-
tenance as unreliable as a stone.
A week afterwards q robber who was
fred ON and fatally wounded confessed
that he was guilty of the murder for
which william Bowers had been hung.
That was a nice mess for us, and there
we're many solemn faces as We gathered
around the judge and asked him what
could be done about 1t.
"walI, I reckon we'd better have an
INQUEST, If thar be no obi sctions," wa
the reply, and we had one.
We Viewed the rope, the barrel, the
tree and the grave, and the verdic,