The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1895-08-03
KILLED BY CHEROKEE BILL.

ing In Locking the IrisonerS in Iheir
Cells.
FoRT Smith. Ark, July 2T.-Chero-
kee Bill, the notorious criminal out
law, who is at present under sentence
of death, has another life to answer
for. A little after 6 o'clock Friday
evening r. c. Eof, the turnkey of the
federal Jail, as is his custom, was max
ing the rounds of the cells, engaged
in locking the prisoners in for
/ the night. The federal jail
is composed of three tiers,
the lower floor being given over
to those convicted OF murder. CherO-
kee Bills cell is on this floor, on the
north side. The usual manner Of fast
ening the cells is by means of a lever
located in the corridor, at the end Of
| the cells. After this is done the turn
key goes inside the steel grating
which surrounds the three tiers and
locks each cell separately. He had
! performed this duty on the south side,
and had gone around to lock those on
| the north side. He was accompanied
on his rounds by Lawrence Heating,
the night guard, who always keeps on
the outside of the steel grating in or
der that he may be able to suppress
any riotous demonstrations on the part
of any of the prisoners. As Eoff came
to the cell next to that occupied by
Cherokee Bill, he experienced some
difficulty in locking the cell door, and
remarked that it had been tempered
with. AS he was endeavoring to re-
lease the KEYS Cherokee Bills cell door
was thrown violently open and the
outlaw stepped out with a cooked
revolver in his hand. Throwing it
down on Heating. the guard, who was
only a few feet away, he said:
Throw up your hands, Cd d-n
you, or l will kill YOU"
Hardly were the words out of his
mouth before the fatal shot was fired.
Heating, seeing his danger, turned
slightly around, and the bullet struck
him in the side. He staggered toward
the stone wall neal him and sank to
the floor. lie was dead in a few min
utes. Eoff, seeing his own danger,
abandoned his keys and started to run.
As he turned to the corner of the tier
! Of cells Cherokee Bill fired at him, but
failed to hit him. Turning the next
! corner, only a short distance away,
| Eoff continued his fight down the
south corridor, until he reached a cut
off, where, by standing in the doorway
| and clinging to the cell door, he had a
partial protection from the bullets.
| While in this position Cherokee Bill
fired three shots at him, but none of
them took effect.
At this juncture George Lawson, an
other of the guards. who was upstairs
in the i~ailer's Office at the time the
firing commenced, appeared on the
scene with n Winchester, and began
firing in Cherokee Bills direction, but
the closely-woven grating prevented
his taking good aim, and his shots
went wild. Seeing that his attempt
to escape had proven futile, Cherokee
: Bill ran back to his cell. Other guards
| ran to Lawson's assistance, and a reg
ular fusilade was kept up for some
time.
Finally Cherokee Bill agreed to give
up his revolver if the guards would
! promise not to kill him. lie turned it
over to Henry Starr. and by him the
murderOus weapon was passed out to
the guards. A search Of Cherokee
Bits cell revealed the fact that he had
in his possession enough cartridges tou
have killed fifty men. While the eX-
element was at the highest his sister,
who has been in the city several days,
appeared among the crowd of excited
citizens who had congregated on the
outside, and created such a disturb
ance that it was found necessary for
an officer to lodge her in the county
Jail. Cherokee Bills brother is also in
city. and the supposition is that either
he or his sister furnished the weapon
with which the desperate did his
deadly work.
This is the second time within a
month that a revolver has been found
in Cherokee Bills possession. George
Pierce. who is under sentence of death,
is believed to have been implicated in
the plot. As Turnkey Eoff ran along
the corridor he looked back and saw
Pierce chasing him. In his hands he
held the leg of Il table, with which he
thought to brain Eoff.
Heating. the guard. was carried out
side the Jail and laid on the grass. He
never spoke 4 word after receiving his
death wound. He was a faithful and
popular officer, and his death is deeply
deplored. The shooting INSIDE the Jail
attracted Z large crowd on the outside,
and when it was definitely known that
Cherokee Bill had added another vic
tim to his list indignation knew no
bounds. Lynching was openly advo-
Gated, and had not United States
Marshal Crump arrived on the scene
when he did and securely locked the
heavy iron doors of the jail, it is prob
able ,Cherokee Bill would now be
dangling at the end of rope. A squad
of fifty armed guards were on duty last
night to repel IN expected attack.
Crawford Goldsby, alias Cherokee
Bill, alias Gorilla, is only 10, but has
been convicted of train robbery and
murder. One murder ease is pending
in The supreme court of the United
States, and a charge of killing his
brother-in-law is still on the docket
bar.