The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-08
FORT SMITHS GALLONS.
THE BUSIEST CRIMINAL TREE IN
THE COUNTRY.
Notes at the Court House Where the
Criminals Of I..dian Territory Are
Tried-White Men Are Making the
Loot Trouble.

NIUE dS tiio Sout I1OQSS w mere C06
Criminals OF I-dian Territory Are
Tried-W hite Men Are Making the
Lost Trouble.
From, the Ne7c York Sun
The news that the United States court at
Fort Smith, Ark, was closed for want of
funds, an / that hundreds of prisoners were
TINS de. led the right of trial, while score
or more Of murderers enjoyed a delay in
iusti; e, ecallal to those New Workers who
read the paragraph the vague fact that they
had for years had their attention called to
this town in ouly one way-as a scene of
gallo Us executions. Whoever has formed
an idea of the place without having been
there must naturally have concluded
that it Is rough border town,
built around military garrison.
where the red men and the despera-
does of the Indian territory are tried and
executed for offenses peculiar to the border
I'VE don't admit eN cry body into the gal
lows house, said George Maledon the most
expert and enthusiastic executioner
in the country, 1--WE just let in the
representatives of the press, the doctors,
the coroner's jury and whatever strangers
nappel W ne Ill uoWn. Au llrSC we ola not
have the gailows inclosed, and | have seen
1000 persons here witnessing an execution;
but that was not good thing and now the
number admitted is very small. never
will forget the first hanging | snperin-
tended on this gallows. 1t was IN 1875, and
the man was Joan Childers, an Indian. who
had murdered u man in the Indian terri
tory. He could not believe that he
was going to he hanged, and he smoked his
cigar up 10 the last moment. EXCEPT for a
tiny little cloud of brown vapor that hung
just overhead, the sky was as clear and the
day was as bright as over was seen. Must |
throw away my cigar! Are you really 60
ing to hong meg said Childers, when the
black cap was brought out. His feet were
paced in the proper position just across the
crack between the two doors, and the min
ister hurried down to join the spectators on
the ground. pulled the trap, the doors on
which the Ind an stood fell apart, ana just
at at instant there burst from that little
brown cloud the sharpest and most vivid
lash of lightning that any one ever saw or
heard tell of, instantly accompanied by a
shock OF thunder terrible beyond descrip-
zion. Every man turned pale, women
tainted and fell on the earth, and to this day
the colored people say that the devil reached
out in that bolt of lightning aud carried off
the soul of the desperate man."
Illus was buo IdIl1OuS HtllONS UTo6 luUTO-
duced to the work it was to have in such
plenty. The hangman, thin and bent
little figure, with long hair and grizzled
beard, pats its beams with his hand as one
has seen an engineer fondly stroke the burn
ished metal of his machinery. The hang
man wears great Colts revolver on his
hip, stuck in a leather case attached to a
belt all fringed with cartridges There are
twenty-four candidates for his work in the
calls in fho iail md oOf+ -, i
under sentence of death and to be hanged
this month. On the left of the court house
Is little building which used to be
guard house for refractory soldiers when
the place was garrisoned, but it is now
used as female prison. Female prisoners
are few compared with the men, vet they
sometimes gather in twelve and thirteen at
a time. The principal wickedness of the
women in the Indian territory is that of
smuggling liquor among the red men. Be-
hind the dismantled fortress betn cen it and
the low and muddy channel of the Arkan-
sas, is an uninteresting- looking stone
shaped somewhat like chimney, and rising
some four or five feet above the grass. 1t
is an important monument. 1t marks not
only tn boundary between Arkansas and
the Indian territory, but it divides two di-
visions of the territory-the country of the
Choctaws and the country of the Chero-
KEGS
The court has jurisdiction over offenses
by white men against the Indians in the
territory or by indians against white men,
as well as all offenses in which only white
men, not citizens of the territory, are con-
cerned. The laws of the Indian territory
are administered by Indian courts. The In
dians have very complete and excellent
code of laws and system of courts, but they
exercise jurisdiction only over citizens of
the territory. The federal court Is for the
trial of all other cases in which citizens of
the United States are concerned The In
dian territory is refuge for desperadoes
from all the southwestern country. They
flee there from justice. They settle there
on squatters' claims.
Other wicked white men form bands of
horse thieves, dispersed through the
territory in series of stations,
along which horses stolen from
Texas are passed into the other states
and vice versa. Still another lot of rene
gade whites carry on a brisk business by
smuggling whisky into the territory, the
presence Of all liquors there being forbidden
pnder heavy penalty. Though the Indians
of the territory are far superior TO those of
the plains, and always were, even in their
savage state, they possess the true Indian
craving for stimulants. These rascally
white men buy the cheapest possible liquor
In small quantities, smuggle it into the
territory, multiply it three times by water
and then add pepper-sauce, gunpowder and
other diabolical ingredients to give it the
tone and character that makes it saleable.
There are no moro contemplate or unruly
white mon in the world than those different
Kinds that are attracted to this peculiar
and sparselyssettled region. They are di-
rectly or indirectly responsible for seven
tenths of the law-breabng that occurs there
Not content with their own acJs of VIC
lence, they either tempt or excite the In
dlans to follow their example They tempt
the women and boys to smuggle in liquor:
they urge the braves to join in horse steal
ing; they lnfiame other poor wretches to
commit murder and robbery. The Indian
territory is divided into two parts The east
ern half is the home of the five civilized
nations-the Cherokees, the Choctaws, the
Sreeks, the Chickasaws and the Seminolcs.
These are the Indians who are supposed to
i've by the white mans industry, and who
really do so to some EXTENT who have
little villages, schools, statute books and
courts; who elect their own governors and
legislative bodies, and who inhabiJ lovely,
rlch and fertile agricultural and timber
country.
over this part, called the provinces of
be Five nations, the court at Fort Smith
mas Jurisdiction. The other part of the
territory is the home Of the wild Indians
ana is great cattle region. Over one-half
OF u rules the federal court for the North
ern district of Texas; over the other half
rules the federal court Of the Kansas dis