Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-26
OFFICIALLY ALIS f..
But the Indian was as Dead as n
Door Nail.

From the Chicago Inter Ocean
When half a dozen army officers get talk
ing of old times a the Army and Navy Club
some curious bit of forgotten history is al
ways brought TO light. The ether evening
an officer who has been in the service for
thirty-tive years related a story of the early
days of California that was historic, tragic,
serio-comc and curious.
when California was newly acquired ter
r'tory." said he, General FlournOy was in
command of cur forces there with head
quarters at Sacramento. The settlers were
troubled by frequent Indian uprisinGs, in
which small marauding band under a
petty chief Matera, Were chiefly concerned.
As soon as the soldiers We're after them
these Indians would break into squads of
three or four and hide until the soldiers had
returned to headquarters. when they would
suddenly reappear and renew their depreda-
items Materd went on the warpath one
day and Flournoy ordered Colonel Ben Bel
of Mexican war fame to lake his dragons
and run him down, saying:
IF you get him alive don't bring him
here: hang him, hang him there, d-n him.
as high Hannah. Now, goodbye, ana
good luck to you.
Colonel Bell caught Matera in due time
and about the first thing the old rascal said
was that he wanted the treatment OF
prisoner of war
".You do, do you?' said Colonel Bell
You'll get it, Do you see yon limb? point
ing to a huge branch about thirty feet
above their heads. When the sun rises to-
morrow morning you'll swing there, and if
you don't swing quite as high as Hannah
i'm do the business all right
AT sunrise the next n ornng Matera was
hanged. and a few hours later his boi y
was cut down and buried. Being satisfied
that the uprising had received its quietus,
Colonel Bell set out on his return trip and
reported at headquarters the following Mon
day morning. Within an hour of his arrival
General Flournoy was in full possession Of
all that had been done to crush the out
break. When Colonel Bell told him that,
agreeable to Instructions he had hanged
ole Matera, and most appropriately on a
Friday morning, the general exclaimed:
Good Lord. man. You didn't do that?'
Yes, l did, said the colonel, and We'll
have no more trouble in that quarter
Without drumhead court-martial?'
asked the general.
"'Of course said Bell We took him
red-handed, smoked MIN out of q cave.
Every settler knows him to be the leader
of the gang What need of drumhead?
The sooner he was disposed of the better.
Therell be no mere butcherng there, you
bet. I've taught them lesson they won't
forget"
a bad business but We must make the best
of ii. We must have the adjutant draw up
charges and specifications Immediately
charging all the crimes in the calendar
against him, giving the names of twenty
five settlers as witnesses. and find him
guilty on every count and sentence him to
be hanged. We must forward the findings
to Washington for approval and trust to
luck
This was done at once. A voyage to the
states via Panama then required from three
10 five months under favorable conditions.
After many days the findings of the court
martial in the Matera case were delivered
at the War Department. Jefferson Davis
was then Secretary of War, and was, as is
well known, a great stickler for the routine
of procedure and the observation of techni-
cal niceties then in recognized usage in the
conduct of courts-martial. After careful
investigation of the charges and critical
examination of the evidence. he concluded
that the extreme penalty of the law was
not warranted and disapproved the findings
and provided for another form of punish
ment for Matera. This decision was start
ed on it's way back to the golden coast, and
after months 1t reached Sacramento.
Consideration ruled the hour of its re-
ceipt by General Flournoy. What was to