The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1895-01-05
HANGING OF Two STICKS
The Old Chief Nearly Succeeds in
Cheating the Gallows.
Gets Eagle Louise to Choke Him With a
strnp-was Nearly Dead When
Discevercd-The Indians Made
No Trouble.

.s no xTOubies - - !
DEADwooD, s. D., Dec. 29.-Protest-
Ing his innocence to the last Two
was hanged here at 1887 yesterday
morning.
Two Sticks last night on earth vas a
very restless and nervous one. All
night long he kept up n rambling com
munication with two death watches,
intersperscd with the low wnilings of
his death song. Toward morning he
grew excited and paced the narrow
confines of his cell with hasty
strides and soon worked him.
self into state Of ner-
v%ousncss. Father Dingman OF Pine
Ridge agency, who was here in attend
ance on him as his spiritual adviser, ar
rived at an early hohr and with sooth-
Ing worcs DOR had him in n state of
tranquility. Two Sticks had been bap-
tized in the Catholic faith last Thurs
day and after Father Dingman had
PRAYED with him and administered the
last rites of the church the death war
rant was read.
Then tho condemned man made n
long, rambling statement. denying his
guilt
Two Sticks Last Speech.
~ am innocent" he said. MY heart
is not bad and never has been. There
are lots of good white men around here
and there is nothing tho matter with
me. God is good and if man tolls Il
lie he drops dead that minute. l can
/ hold ,,> hath 1u. /, 4, anJ en,, r,oo vat
ut the cabin that night the -four boys
did tho killing. / am not afraid to die,
and am ready to die. God made NIL
people and put the same henrt and the
same blood in nll of them. When the
reservation is thiclxly settled and big
towns nre built the descendants of my
people will say Two Sticks is not here,
he was hanged"
When Deputy Marshals Bray and
Beiglemeier went to strap Two Sticks
preparatory for the march to the gal
lows, they found that his hands could
not be strapped together behind his
back on account of n dislocated shout
der. They went for u piece of rope
with which to tic his hands, leaving
tho strap on q chair.
Attempt to Cheat tho Gallows.
aust here M exciting scene took
place. One of the straps could not be
used and the deputies, placing it on a
chair, went to look for q cord to take
Its place. Two Sticks, noticing the
strap, cnrelessly took it up On the pre-
tense of examining it and before any
one could divine his intentions had it
in q slip moose over his head and had
handed the loose end through the bar
Of n cell in which another Indian, Eu-
gle Louise, was confined. In a second
both were excrting their strength to
the utmost, one pulling upon the end
of tho strap and the other pushing
hands III m endeavor to cheat the gal
lows. Two Sticks eyes began to pro-
trldc, his tongue to roll out and his
limbs trembled. In another minute his
effort TO hill himself would have been
successful, and Marshal Peemiller
would have been relieved OF an I'M
pleasant duty.
When the death watch and specta-
tors realized what was going OH a rush
wa made for the desperate Indian.
The strap was pulled from the grasp OF
Eaglo Louise and the marshal and his
deputies were soon struggling about
tho narrow corridor in an endcnvor to
loosen the band, which was slowly
%strangling the old Indian to death. 1t
was q desperate struggle, but numbers
prevailed, and Two Sticks was forced
to postpone his departure until q few
minutes later.
When reprimanded by Father Dig
wan, who has been his spiritual adj
wiser for the last week. the old chief
he wanted to die by an Indians hand
inataoI of a 1vhita nap,u
Not Afraid to Die.
Cords were secured, the Indians
arms were pinioncd to his side ard the
march to the scaffold taken up. With
q song of defiance of the powers of
death upon his lips, Two Sticks fol-
lowed the marshal to the scaffold. IL
he was frightened he did not show it.
and tho suiilo upon his face was
natural. his laugh hearty and his
voice. when raised i'll the song of death,
was without n culver. He greeted ali
lie met on his last journey with q laugh
aud a "How."
The trip TO the scnffold wassa short
one, but it was Il high structure and
the platform could only be reached by
means of a long flight Of stairs. Up
these steps without assistance tho old
brave finally walked and tool his stand
upon tho step without n tremor. When
his ego caught the dangling Moose,
which hung but q few inches above his
head. he gazed ut it for Il momen and
grunted, "Wnshtr," (good) and laughed
aloud.
The straps which bound hislegs wero
soon adjusted and the warrior began a
short speech to the people who had as
sembled to watch the execution.
This was soon finished, and then the
wild, weird notes OF the dcnth song
rose upon the air, but not q tremor
was in tho voice that uttered them.
Evon after the black cap had been nd-
justcd and tho knot frightened, their
cadence rose and foil within the scat
fold yard.
Two Sticks body, his neck fraetured,
hung dangling at the end of q rope.
Justice had been satisfied aud the
blood OF four men, foully murdered,
had been avenged.
There was no excitement. The. ru-
morcd invasion Of a band OF Indians to
rescue him from the laws vengeance
proved to be u myth. There was no
need Of an armed force to attend the
execution. Tho officials did their duty
and did it we'll. Two Sticks neck was
broken by the jerk which stopped his
fall. Ho will be buried here.
Story of the Crime.
On the evening Of February 3, 1883, there
were campcd ut Ike Humphreys ranch on
Trail creek, In the immediate vicinity OF
Pine Ridge agency, four cowboys, r..
Royce, John Bennett, Charles Bacon and
William Kelly. The former two were en-
ployes at she ranch and the other two
were boys from Nebraska, who were in
that vicinity in search OF some horses that
had wandered of. AS they wero seated in
the cabin in the evening Ave Indians OF the
Sioux. tribe, Two Sticks, White Faced
Horse, Two Two, First Eagle and Fights
With, entered the cabin and unceremon-
iously commenced firing on the unsus-
pecting cowboys and did not quit until
the last white. man WAS laid low.
After their murdeyous work was done
they fed to the camp Of old Two Sticks.
4. Nothing was known of the murder until
next morning, when an Indian by. the
name Of Eagle Louise found the ~lifeless
:bodies .ot tho murdered cowboys. The
murder was reported to the agent, who