The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-07-25
THE PASSING OF THE NATIONS

1 The laws and customs of the Five 1 Civilized tribes are fast nearing their l end. With them goes out a form of
 government which was worthy of study,
 inasmuch as l. showed the way in
 which governments develop, and re-
 presented stage which the Anglo-Sax-
 on race had passed centuries ago. Probably the most highly developed of
 all Indian governments was that of the
 Cherokee nation Of late years it had
 shown very little difference from the
 governments established by the white
 man. but in an older time it had very i many interesting features As is the
 case in most primitive governments, the
 clan was the social unit and everything turned upon It. The clan is responsible
 for acts of its members, and in case , of wrong doing the clan was looked to
 to. administer proper punishment It also had to make reparation for any in
 jury inflicted upon member of fanother
 clan. Thus. if a: horse were stolen and
 the theft discovered, his clan had to
 make it good. ->a
 As much attention was paid to the 1 clan relationship and it's incidental re-
 ouirements as is now paid to blood re- llationship, and the clan was essentially one family. Inter-marriage between
 members Of the same clan was strictly forbidden, and any violation of this rule 1 was punishable by death, which came as sure and speedy as to the one who was convicted of murder. The clan al- ways followed the mothers side, and violation of any of the laws of the clans
 was considered to be the highest crime
 known. At the time when the Chero-
 kees first began to 1ningle with the white men during the early settlement of America, there were seven clans
 among them, known by these names: Wolf" Panther Bird" 3"Deer'' Blind Savannah" Fish, and "Cub.' The penalty for murder was always
 death. There was one possibility, how- ever, of the murder escaping punisll-
 ment, which is strikingly like a provis-
 ion in the old Jewish laws. In the early
 days of the tribe, according to the
 statements of old Cherokees, there were
 three cities of refuge" known as Telli-
 co. Chota and Gituwa, situated in east
 Tennessee. These, towns existed per-
 i~pS pClOtC tuG IAtSLuWdH UEEdUlZHIl00
 was known to the Cherokees. If man
 killed any one and succeeded by flight
 in reaching one of these towns he could
 not be killed by the relatives of the person slain. -.
 It was customary in the early days and up until several years after the war of the rebellion, when man killed another. for the relatives of the slain to hunt the murderer and kill him, which in most cases was done with the same kind os weapon the other was killed with. In the early days, in some instances where the murderer fled the country, the avengers. would slay the brother of the murderer. Very many culprits never tried to escape, but met their fate with stoical indifference. They would go to the place appointed and the nearest relative of the victim would act as executioner and kill him with the same weapon, inf1icting a wound in the same part of the body. After the organization of the Cherokee tribal government in the Indian terri tory, when a Cherokee was charged with crime and tried in the Cherokee Soalto pL loL LO ttiu d LSW years dII6r the civil war, all the jury desired was positive proof that the accused com- mitted the crime;'i it mattered not what l plea was made or reason given for its | commission, the jury convicted the &C., | cused; the plea of self-defense was un- known to the fullb1ood jury and the | early Cherokee courts.
 AS soon as the accused was convicted | he was sentenced and led out by the | judge for execution. If he had stabbed i. his victim the sheriff would appoint l some one, generally relative of the | doomed mans victim, as executioner, | and the prisoner would be stabbed to | death in the same manner as he in turn | had killed his victim; if he shot his | victim, the executioner would shoot him l in the same part of the body If the accused was tried for stealing or for | any of the lesser crimes, the punish | ment inflicted was that the prisoner | would be tied to tree and his clothes 1 from him and the sheriff would | administer as many lashes with green hickory switches on the defendants bare back as the trial had prescribed | for the offense. The first conviction for stealing horse the defendant got 30 | lashes, the second offense 100 lashes, and for the third offense of stealing a horse the death penalty wa indicted.- City Journal