Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-06-02
Indian, Justice.

''By the way" said m oii-tlmcr 70 a
.Sar Begnuila, IJ'teS reporter, looking
up from his morning pap"r, II see they
have sent officers out to Fort Yuma to
arrest an Indian there for killing one
OF his comnanions. That reminds me
ota ease that happened here way back
in the COS, la those days the white
pcoDlc didn't care much about how the
Indians acted, and we let them fight
their own battles. One day 4 part~of
Coahuilas came in with one Of their
| number named COahc Che vas not fat
like a pig, and that was the way he
| got his nance. They took him to the
courthouse and wanted him tried and
punished for killing another Indian.
But as no white man had @ g or knew
ANYTHING about the matter the officers
refused to take charge Of Mr.. Coche,
and told the Indians they would have
10 settle the affair the best way they
could. Wen. they took Cochc down to
Squaw fiat, near Warm creek, and had
u big powwow over him. He WAS
found guilty Of murder and sentenced
to he hanged. The sentence was 10 be
carried out at once. They didn't be-
licvc in giving Coche any chance to ret
off or to appeal to The supreme court.
1.-The court had been held under the
shade Of some cottonwood trees, and
when the trial was over tho Indians
took a rawhide RATA and proceeded to
hang Mr.. Cochc in not the most app
proved fashion. They hauled him up
to a cottonwood limb, hold him a few
moments, and then let him down again.
A lot Of boys (for | was only a boy
thcn) gathered around to see the fun
and u great sight it Wa>. too. Coche
really seemed to rather Ike The thing.
They would haul away OH the RATA and
hang him Up and then let him down.
Between times Coche asked for cigar
cites, and he smoked item with rs
much relish as if he was AZ a fiesta in
stead Of taking part in his ~ cXccu-
ton.
wei, don't You know, those con-
founded indians kept This up thc Whole
forenoon. first hangingand then letting
Cochc down. He would grin and
chalI his companions, and on the whole
didn't seem TO have n bad sort OF Il
time. But along toward noon the IN
dians got a little tired Of the fun, and
| reckon Cochc did, too. SO they gave Il
Enal haul ON the RATA, and then made
the end fast 60 a tree and let the poor
devil strange to death.
- tell Won what, | Just wish that wo-
man that wrote Ramona could have
seen that hanging. ! reckon She
wouldn't have thought quite 50 much
of her Indian pets after that. And
there was another thing | wish she
could have seen, TOO. Why, come TO
think, it isn't more than about \ dozen
years since these nice, pcaccable, inof-
f|cnsiyc, coppcr-colorcd sons Of guns
tried 20 cut a sqUaw all to pieces down
there on the Hat. They drove four
stakes in the ground, stripped the
sQuaw, and tied her hands and feet,
one to each stake, spread-ca2le fashion.
Then they took their knives and began
20 mark out gridirons and such-like
things on her back. Heller? You
just bet she hoilercd. Why, the people
up in town heard il, and theyra RAJ down
and found the squaw bleeding like 4
pig; and what do you suppose the mat
Ter was? Wei, the woman had earned
four bits somehow or other, and didn't
give the money to herbuck. That was
all. How she earned il the buck
didn't care. All that he was mad
about was that sho didn'tgive il 10 him
TO buy whisky. Oh, ! could 90 on and
tell YOU a lot more about those miscr-
able, worthless ours. But | just wish
that woman writer could have seen
some Of the things | have, that's all.