Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1897-08-19
10! THE POOR INDIAN.
WaIIa Tonaka, an Indian Base Ball Player, is a
Murderer and will 90 Home to be Shot ie
Knows His Fate.

Wednesday, played base ball in Kan
sas City, Mo, on Saturday, writes a
correspondent. He is Walla Tonaka,
full-blood Choctaw Indian, and his
word is all that stands between his
death and liberty. He has promised
to go home to be shot. He will keep
his word.
Grim. silent and honorable to the
terms of his parole, this Indian knows
his fate. He will not try to escape it.
He will be in Indian Territory August
25th and will surrender himself to his
tribe. Then he will face the execution
er. There Will be no bandage about
his eyes. His arms will not be PIN
toned. At his feet will be his coffin
and at his side his open grave. The
Indian executioner will stand ten pa
ces away. A white piece of paper will
be fastened over Walla Tonaka's heart.
The executioner will fire once. No
more will be needed, Walla Tonaka
will fall dead and the next instant will
be in his grave. Yet the man who is
to face all this caught fly balls, scooped
up grounders, muffed few hot ones,
went to bat, ran bases, aud kicked at
the umpire as if he were entering on
long life instead of just closing a short
one.
Walla Tonaka--the government calls
him William Going might escape his
death. He has nothing but his word
to keep him back. But Walla Tonaka
is an Indian, and those who know In
dians know their word is good to the
death. If this were not so Walla To-
naka would not have played base ball
Saturday. He will go back to his
home in time to be killed. No other
idea has ever occurred to him. He is
in honor bound to surrender himself
to certain death.
dams. He was apparently in the same
humor as the seventeen others in the
game, None said much. None smiled
at all. Grunts and mods and cultural
ordinations seemed to be their vo-
cabulary. The condemned man, if
anything, seemed more free from care
than any of the others. He apparent
ly is Indifferent to his fate. Nobody
knows. He is an Indian. All his
tribe are stoics. Death is to them
part OF life. Fear is unknown. Treach-
cry, when word is given. is not to
be-
Walla Tonaka was asked to today to
discuss the story of his tradegy. He
refused. He was asked to talk about
base ball He was silent. Egotism is
not one of his attributes. The shoot
ing scene in the territory, when he
will be a dead man has no more inter-
est to him than the daily ball game.
1t is all part of his life, and with the
popularity of his race he takes things
as they come and not as they might be.
This young Indian is % years old.
He is six feet tall and on his upper lip
is typical Indian mustache mostly
black fuzz. He was first sentenced to
be shot Aug. 6, but the ball team to
which he belongs had a long circuit
picked out and the dates could not be
filled without him. So the authorities
Of the Choctaw nation were obliging
and paroled the young murderer until
August %. Walla Tonaka will not
break the parole.
Tonaka was convicted for killing
his uncle, Sampson Going. a deputy
sheriff of Eagle county. ToLaka and
two other braves drank too much whis-
Ky one day last spring and acted, as
Indians generally do under such CIR
cumstances. in an unbecoming man
ner. Tonaka' 5 uncle, Sampson, attem-
pied to stop the disturbance, and, as
the young men were provided with
rifles, Sampson Going was killed. 1t
was never made quite plain who fired
the fatal shot so Tonaka and ne OF
his companions were convicted by iu
~ Of twelve Choctaw braves Of murder
in the first degree and sentenced to be
shot. Both Of the condemned are out
on parole and both will on hand. Of
their own volition. on thu date set FOR
the execution.
On Monday Of this week the steamer
Gerlache. with crew Of p. sailed
from Antwerpin search Of the South