The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-30

hangman-Ered Smiths Peculiar Po-
sition in the Criminal History Of the
West Fully Explained - Believes
Every Man He Ever Hanged Was
Guilty.
From the Chicago Times.
He is gray haired. gray bearded pa
triarchial and kindly looking man and has
helped more men into the great hereafter
by the hangman's moose than. any other
living executioner. The unknown manip-
ulators Of the guillotine when Robespierre
was washing his hands in the blue blood
of France are perhaps his only rivals in
recent history. His name is George Nal
edan. He is a Bavarian by birth and
though he was but six months old when
he landed in New York in his mothers
arms he stlll betrays a faint fatherland
accent in his deep basso voice. He is "a
years old, understood, with long. fun gray
beard, brown, filmy eyes, a not unsympa-
thetic face ana small hands. He does not
appear bit hardened and yet the old gal
lows beam down in the battered enclos-
ure OF the fort has been worn smooth in
places where the hangman's rope. tied by
him has rubbed the hard wood every time
human life has been sacrificed 10 the
majesty of the law, for ne has held for
twenty-five years the post Of executioner
at Fort Smith.
Fort Smith has been misunderstood by
the world. 1t has the greatest criminal
court in the world. has in the last twenty
4 three years seen more executions than any
! other place in the world and yet it is not
Fort Smiths fault. She is the victim of
| circumstances 1t is the fault of the gov
eminent of the United States that has
made her name Anathema Arararatha
among the cities of the great west and the
! government and not Arkansas should
shoulder the blame. Here is an illustra-
/ ton: Surprising the state of Pennsylvania
to be territory existing under separate
| system OF government and ruled by an
| other race from that in Its Surrounding
| states with no court to try murder cases
/ where white men and negro non-citiZens
| and Indians charged with numbering
| white men are concerned. Then if for
| the trial and punishment of these crimes
the United States government established
/ a court at Wilmington, Del, or Camden,
! n. j., for all murder cases from the entire
/ state of Pennsylvania 1t is more than
| likely that Wilmington or Camden would
be as notorious as Fort Smith as a place
! of execution.
That is the peculiar position held by
| Fort Smith. Here uurderers, except those
| involving Indians exclusively, captured
| in Indian territory are tried, and, II con-
Victed, hung In 1871 the United States
court was transferred from Van Buren, to
/ Fort Smith. In twentyfOur years from
! that time to the present, ninety-one men
| have been hung, and George Maledan
/ has jerked the fatal lever in every case
except three. OF late there have been
| fewer hangings than formerly. Only two
| men have been executed this year. The
| right of appeal to the United States SUI
preme court in cases Of murder in the In
| dian territory has, during the last Two
years. reduced the number of hanglngs.
There are twenty-six men in the Jail here
| now on the charge of murder. Two are
under sentence of death, the date or their
| taking off being fixed for the 9th of this
month. They will be respited, no doubt
as their cases are to so before the supreme
| court one of these men is big Cherokee
| dressed in the hight of territorial fash
ion, expansive white shirt front low cut
vest, and broad, black SLOUGH hat, and,
| says a. correspondent of the philadelphia
Press, was laughing and cracking jokes as
! he sat playing cards on hospital cot with
one of the Cook gang and another muir
derer when visited the prison,
The court here has jurisdiction only over
| white men who commit murder, steal
| horses and make moonshine whisky i'll In
dian Territory, and over Indians who muir
der white men. OF the twenty-six muir
| derers here now only seven are Indians
| or of Indian blood The vast majority,
! three-fourths at least of crimes against
| life and property in the territory are com
mitted by renegade whites. Men VINO
are criminals from other states who came
into the Indian country two jumps ahead
of the sheriff" They carry i'm whisky, cor
rupt the Indians and build up the crime
terror in this beautiful country. Out of
the seven members Of the Cook gang thus
far unprecedented only one has Indian blood
! on orNIxF xxTaG hflTT
the territory. Thurman Baldna, alias
"Skeeter,' the most notorious. Of the lot,
is an Ohioan.
The government building here is gaudy
brick structure of composite architectural
design in red brick and light sandstone.
| The United States court is located on the
top floor, west side. 1t is one of the finest
court rooms in the country. 1t is finished
| in walnut with wainSeoating, paneled col
umns and heavy cornice in that wood. The
| audience, lawyers and attaches are
| curious mixture of white men, mulatto,
negro and Indian. Judge Parker, stout.
| forid, good-lookhg man, sits on raised
| dais at the south end, entrenched behind
| an imposing array of legal volumes and
| manuscript documents. The jury is at his
| left. The witness sits on a small raised
! platform with a spittoon between his feet.
| Everybody out here chews tobacco.
The Jail stands quarter of mile away
within the enclosure of old Fort Smith.
The gray stone wall is crumbling. The
| gates are broken down. he parade
| ground, and, in fact, the entire place, is in
a disgraceful state of dirt, decay and
patchwork. Rubbish filters the earth.
The outbuildings are filthy, with broken
windows stuffed with old clothes. The
offices are carpetless. The windows are
dirty and the need of soap and brush,
| wall paper, paint and competent Gus
todian is everywhere apparent,
A new building which has been built a g
an addition to the officers or command
ants old quarters, serves as the cell house.
| The quarters are the Jail offices. On the
first floor are the Offices, on the second
| the hospital, large, CHEEKY, well-venti-
lated and well kept place. The jail itself
is like all jails; a babel of sound in which
| laughter, profanity, jeers and cries min
gle. Prayer is the most infrequent thing
/ heard. There is no chaplain in the Jail
The first or lower tier is reserved for the
murderers. The second and third for
other felons.
But 1t is around the gallows that. Fort
| Smiths criminal interest centers. There
have been some very weird and wonderful