The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-02-21
THE RUNNING CINCH.


! It's Meaning and Economical Uses
| Explained by = Western Sheriff.
sit Is in the newly settled regions of the
far west, where bad men congregate and
turn loose, that the running cinch works
to best advantage, and it saves costs to the
community and trouble to the sheriff, :"
said an ex-sherifY from New Mexico to q
! reporter In the office of an up town hotel,
"1t works well all round and satisfies
everybody concerned except the man that
is cinched and he never complains, be-
cause he's dead.
You see, it often happens that sheriff
in a wild and woolly region, with the best
intentions, has live prisoner on his
hands that ought by all good rights TO no
planted. He is responsible for his safe
keeping in a jail that COW could walk
through, and he knows that the man is
dangerous every minute that he lives
The prisoners friends outside are plotting
to help him escape on the one hand and
on the other there is always the chance
that the citizens get up nccktie party
and call for the prisoner with rope,
which is q reflection on the sheriff and
gross dsrespect to the majesty of tho law.
"These things worry the sheriff, and he
thinks he's stood enough of 1t, SO he leaves
matters loose in the Jail, and there is not
much of a watch kept that any one can
see and the prisoner, seeing nothing to
hinder, walks out some day and runs for
it. He does not get far. The sheriff has
everything prepared, with men waiting,
and the prisoner Is bored and ballasted
with lead before he has time to make
much of a show as a pacemaker.
1.-THE Mormons have used the possibil,-
ties of the running cinch the most sys-
Dramatically, and in the days when they
held cards and spades in Utah a gentle
prisoner in their hands was liable to be
overpersuaded If he declined to take ad-
vantage of the chances they gave him to
run. During the building of the Union
Pacific road through Utah the jail at
Brighamville, 40 miles from Salt Lake
City, became famous for this Although
the prisoners comprised the toughest
class Of men, such as naturally f1ocked to
the country as the railroad advanced, no
effort was made to hold them in JAIL
and door or window was always left
open somewhere at their service should
they feel inclined to walk out. But none
ever got away or outliyed his experiment
III lnt III Official
authority are always good shots, and the
prison guards kept their practice up in this
way.
1t was through an atrocious misuse of
the running cinch that the great Apache
chief Mangas Colorado was killed by |
United States soldiers about 40 years ago. |
He had surrendered as a prisoner of war
and was held under guard in camp when
the plot was made for his death. As he |
refused the opportunities given him to run
he was pricked with redhot bayonet
thrust through the wall of the tent in
which he was lying. At that he sprang
from the tent and was killed by the guard
as an escaping prisoner This dastardly
murder, which was wholly without justi-
ication, proved costly crime for tho gov
eminent in the end. After this the
Apaches would not trust the white mans
word, and long wars followed as u conse-
luenoe, in which thousands of lives were
lost and vast expense incurred New
York Sun.