Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-25

please. advanced to the door of his CELL
All right, SIR said he. I'm ready any
| time you are
! We'll, do You know, we all got to pinch
| ing ourselves. and the sheriff looked like
| q in a trance. Young Taseom stood
/ there in the open doorway of his cell, posi-
| lively smiling in our 2feeth. l never saw
| such absolute transformation in my life.
He looked man all over The sheriff
| looked at the lpad quizzically for minute.
Boy said he finally, I guess there's
| something in you after ALL
"Tascom smiled and put his hands in po-
sition to have them tied. The priest was
| as much surprised at his equanimty as any
| of us.
The Choctaw was next. He was sitting
alone in his cell. Ed Rlnggold, the mar
| shal, could jabber some pidein Choctaw
| that he picked UP down in the territory.
Come along; old mans waiting, times
| up is what he afterward told us he said
to the Choctaw.
when the sheriff threw omen the door
| OF the CELL and that ornery, mean-looking
devil, who had been bowling to beat the
Dutch, and trying to tear his hair out, only
| half an hour before, walked silently out,
| with never the CULVER of muscle and look
| ing us all fair in the face with nothing be-
seeching in his gaze-well. it seemed so
totally out of the question that / don't
suppose a man of US believed the evidence
| OF his senses. The Choctaw looked at Tas-
CON- standing serene, with his arms tightly
bound, pointed to his breast, as if to ask
l tic QutSlluH. Me, 100! ana lIDfn1ulatelS
placed his arms in position 10 have them
bound.
We'll. the sheriff now thought the worst
part of his work was over.
Trouble Ahead.
"'Your turn to fall in now, Birdsall,'
said he. throwing open the door to the des-
perado's cell.
Turn for WHAT said Birdsall in an
ugly voice.
ITO take that walk up the steps we've
had In mind for some time past said the
II don't need no walkin' said Birdsall,
sllleniy; an you all's a-goin' t hev a
time maxim me do any walkin'!
of course, we all saw right away there
was going to be trouble. and heavy trouble.
with the very man We had figured on most
for stoiid indifference on this morning,
and it certainly surprised us heap.
Take him and bind him. said the
sheriff. quietly, his face white with surprise
and determinations; and give him show
at you
Three of the marshals were on BirdsaIl
In q twinkling. For few minutes he gave
them the fight Of their lives. bowling and
eursing like mailman. trying to bite and
gouge and kick them. But when they
finally got him down and secured his arms
and legs his cursing suddenly ceased. He
began to scream for mercy-for just an
other hour to get ready-for another trial
and to yell out the fraction of the Lords
Prayer that he knew, all in terrible junl-
| BILE that was frightfui to hear, and ali the
time writing on the floor of the prison
corridor like man in his death throes /
never saw human being cave in SO utterly
after life that, however wicked and dew
iish had never yet been cowardly. think
| it made every one of us there watching 1t
more or less sick
The Cherokee F1uked.
while he lay there shouting. with the
other condemned and bound men standing
I 1t.
opened the door Of the Cherokee's cell. The
Cherokee had been standing at the bars Of
the cell, watching it all, with terrified
expression on his face, that had only been
b1utally sullen for months, and when the
sheriff opened the coor the giant fell for
ward on his knees. He had probably
learned the trick al the mission school ON
his reservation, and also the trick of put
ting his palms together appraised, in the at
titude of prayer. The attitude struck us
dumb-not that there anything abject
about 1t. but that this herculean and per-
fectly heartless fiend who had been taking
his life in his hands almost since his boy
hood, and had often been on the very brink
of death from wounds should now fall into
a posture that ne had probably not seen
since his earliest youth, and beg for his
worthless life, was the surprising part of
it. He did not make the slightest resist
ance his arms were tied, but the tears
ran down his hardened copper-hued face in
a stream, and he fell on his side, moan
ing.
Here was an exact turning around of
things that set the coolest in the party
wool gathering. But the sheriff ordered
| the legs of the Cherokee and Birdsall to be
tied and this was done, neither man max
ing any effort to resist, but both wailing
piteousy that their lives be spared. 1t
had been the original intention to hang all
four of the men at the same time, the trap
having been so set, but this was now seen
to be out of the question. Birdsall and the
big Indian had to~be carried uD the steps
of the scaffold, the white man alternately
revling and praying and the redsktn taking
his all out in a steady wailing.
Two Died Game.
"Tascom and the Choctaw, stlu perfectly
impressive, were meantime kept below In
the corridor, awaiting their turn. Both
walked steadily up the steps of the scaffold
after the trap had been reset, and they sub
mitted to the fixing of the black caps and
the nooses with the same composure they
had exhibited when they We're pinioned.
The Choctaw only gave a little groan when
his feet were pinioned, as if 1t hurt, and
the rope was relaxed.
"Tascom was asked if he had anything to
say.
Nothing he replied in clear voice,
except that it came to me all of sudden
this morning that if had been a dog in my
life wouldn't be one in my death
And l guess my side partner here
nodding toward the silent Indian, must
have had the same sort of feeling this
morning, from the way he stacks up, eh?'
Then they both went into the air, who
had been ours in life, Tascom said, but
surely not towards in death.
This" concluded the secret service man,
was only one of the hanging bees that
served to convince me that any man who
attempts to figure on how criminals are 60
ing to act at the finish has whole lot of
hefty job his hands,