The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-02-04
BID, But 50 ERVY
Cowboy Doc Tanners Death
on the Trail.
GOING TO COPPER RIVER
Killed Two Men and Was
Promptly Lynched.

Seattle, Wash, Feb. 3.-''Boys. string me
up if you like but remember you are
hanging the steadiest man with a siv
shooter that ever came out Of Montana
You say it's all right to hang me. and
guess it is. I'm only sorry I didn't get
the rest Of them"
With these words Cowboy Doc Tanner
faced his executioners on the morning OF
January at Valdes Pass. The men who
passed sentence on him were members Of
a party of Massachusetts prospectors
bound for the Copper river country,
Alaska, and the crime for which Tanner
paid the penalty was the killing OF n. A.
Call of Worthington, Mimi, and William
a. Lee of Lowell Mass.
The expedition consisted Of forty men,
and NJ. f. Tanner had joined them in
Seattle on their way north. He was sup
piled with an outfit and taken into MEM
bership, but, unmindful of that fact, he
was quarrelsome and so overbearing that
his companions decided that he must leave
the party. On the evening of January I, a
meeting was held in Calls tent, ana dur
ing the conference the statement was
made:
I'VE must get rid of Tanner; let him
take his share of the outfit and shift for
himself. We are up here for business,
and we mean what we say
There were four men at the meeting,
and no sooner had the remark been made
than the flag of the little tent was pulled
aside. The cowboy stood there, six
shooter in hand.
Boys overheard your talk about me-"
he said. I'm here for business"
Before his victims realized what had
happened, Tanner had shot twice. and the
chest. Tanner fired again, but his pre-
ceding shot had extinguished the candle
and the bullet did not take effect. One
ofe the remaining members crouched
down behind some baggage, and the other.
cutting his way out of the tent, gave
the alarm. Tanner, supposing the three
men to be dead, took a station in some
brush and waited 1t was not long before
he was surrounded.
You'd better surrender your gum" was
called out to him.
'If you say so, boys, I'll do it, was his
response, and he then handed over his
weapon. The miners at once convened,
and by an overwhelming majority decided
that Tanner should be hanged. There
was some discussion over the question of
shooting him, but the majority decided on
the rope. When notified of the decision,
Tanner observed that he hoped they
would not tantalize him by stringing him
up and letting him down again before he
was dead. He was led out on the snow
during the early mornin. He fearlessly
allowed the rope to be tied about his neck
and so met his doom. Tanner was buried
face downward.
a. C. Lobbe OF San Francisco, who
witnessed the execution, said he never
saw such an exhibition of nerve. Tanner
declined to make a statement. other than
to say that at years of age he was left
an orphan. Call and Lee had families
Chester Depot, VT, Feb. 3.-With the
town still buried under snow. the tenn
perature fell this morning to 40 degrees
below zero. the coolest ever known here
At Londonderry, the Thermometer regis
tered IS beow.
Wilmot Flat, n. H. Feb. S.-The Their
mometer registered 70 degrees below zero
this morning