The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-12-08

upon the mercy Of the court and pleaded
guilty.
Tall and erect. as handsome rogue as
ever wore a government blanket or filled
his red hide with bad liquor he stood be-
fore Judge Hanford. Then came the
terrible words Two years at hard labor In
the United States penitentary at Mcneil
island and a fine Of 500 and costs" Spen-
GERS jaw dropped and a pallor crept over
his dusky features, classic but married by
debauchery and the scars OF a dozen
drunken fights. He had played the limit
and had lost in his reckless game. The
sentence was the heaviest In the power of
the court to give for the crime. At one
turn Of the cards he lost all.
None will there be to mourn for Oscar
Spencer, renegade and informer. treacher-
Gus to red man and white man alike.
dirunkard and gambler. the hated bully Of
his own tribe and all others with whom he
has ever been associated. Even the mark
of Cain is on Spencer's brow and yet this
desperate In bronze Is a college graduate
and In the thirty odd years of his life has
had far more opportunity to become gen.
tleman than two-thirds of the average
young men in Seattle.
Spencer Is a typical product of the gov
ernments well, meant attempts to educate
the Indian. He was sent to an Eastern
Indian school when a boy and there re-
ceived better education than falls to the
lot OF the average WHITE n1dfl. EVEN HOW
he speaks English with scholarly purity
and writes splendid hand. 1t is said that
he Is one of the best educated Indians In
the state. After leaving the Indian school
and returning to his own tribe however, he
speedily dropped the veneer of civilization.
His sentence to prison is the result of the
life he has since led.
For the past four or five years Spencer
has been as regular an attendant upon the
United States grand jury as the Federal
Judge, the district attorney or the United
States marshal. No matter where the jury
has held it's sessions Spencer has been on
hand to swear against white men whom
he had persuaded and cajoled into selling
him LIQUOR and at the end Of every term
he has departed with his pockets full of the
governments silver to be squandered in
gambling and debauchery Yesterday was
the first time he had ever appeared before
the grand jury in any other role.
A woman is partly to blame for the
downfall of Spencer. The story of his
courtship and alleged marriage eighteen
months ago and the events that have
followed it would furnish material for
first-rate yellow-back novel; Spencers
bride was comedy Indian girl of the
Spokane tribe, whom he wooed won and
carried away in triumph in spite of the
furious anger of the young bucks of the
tribe. More than that, Spencer was
bold enough to go back among the Spo-
kanes with his pretty wife and fiaunt
his success as a lover in the faces of his
enemies.
His last visit to the Spokanes was two
weeks ago, when he went to their camp
down the river from the city of Spokane
and sold them a large quantity of alco-
hol. A grand spree followed and sew
eral Indians were stabbed in drunken
rows. Spencer's enemies saw their OPP
portunity and had him arrested for bring
ing liquor to them. The case against
him was complete.
Those rascally Spokanes! They have
iobbed me; they are smooth, and l was
q fool to get drunk" So moaned Spen-
Ger in his dungeon cell. To cap the eli
max of his woes pretty Susie, his wife.
sent him word that she didn't love him
and would never live with him again.
Thereupon Spencer wrote out a full con-
fession of his crime and 1t was placed
before the grand jury. He expected
that he would not get more than a month
or so in Jail. and was stupefied when
sentenced to the penitentiary.
1t is hardly three months ago that
Spencer was tried and acquitted of the
murder of another Indian near Yakima.
The only witness to the killing was
Susie, Spencers squaw. who swore that
he acted in self-defense. The evidence
went for to show. however that Spencer
shot his antagonist In fit of drunken
rage and that jealousy was the motive
of the crime. This could not be proved
by a preponderance of the evidence, how
ever.
Five other indictments were returned
BY the grand jury yesterday, all against
men charged with selling liquor to In
dams, The defendants are George San
born. John German, George Wright.
James Kelly and Charles Sweeney.
Sanborn, Wright, German and Kelly
at once pleaded guilty. Judge Hanford
sentenced Wright, colored man, to two
months In the penitentiary and to pay
a flne of 800 and costs. Sanborn is an
old offender and halls from Anacortes.
This is the third time he has been in
dicted for the same offense. He and
others pleading guilty will be sentenced
later.
The witnesses against F. +. Lane,