The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1913-03-13
HANGING THE
. WRONG MAN
By NJ. QUAD
Copyright. 1913 BY Associated Lit.
erary Press.

You see. William ROverS was rs much
b. bIaule Ms any VI us. and. being be
vas the man who was hung. he ought
to have entered into particulars to Z
further e1ten, than he did.
l shall always blame him that he
didn't.
William was placid. knew him for
three years. and only three times did
know Of his countenance undergoing a
change for even a second.
Once he met = grizzly face to face.
and that placid expression gave way to
q look Of surprise and interest. He
was pursued ON another occasion by
twenty -four Indians, and his counte-
nance expressed inconsistencies. The
third change ID what | am going to
tell you about.
There had been good deaf Of rob.
bling and killing around the camp that
summer. and somehow 1t had been i'm.
possible to Ia! hand on one Of the
perpetrators. The men had become
rolled and desperate. and it was gener-
ally understood that the arst offender
that fell into our clutches would step
of the head Of barrel to be brought
up suddenly BY n rope and \ limb.
Que dsy when some Of the boys were
returning from Pot Luck creek with
dour and pork they came upon the
placid william Bovers in q bad situa-
ton. He was bending over the body
Of Z man named Powers. who had been
settled BY the thrust Of q bowie. and
bis hands were bloody.
The placid william Was nabbed.
What did he do? Just nothing at oil.
What did he say? Why, when the
boys laid hands on him be quietly 70.
marked that he had discovered the
body only dve minutes before and was
inspecting it in hopes to discover sign1
Of life.
Too thin:
And too placid to ft that crowd.
The camp didu't Vaste amy valuable
time over Williams case. Within an
hour n court was convened. william
was arraigned, aud the dead body was
placed III sight Of all.
Well, the court could scarcely fail to
convict under the circumstances. and
in less than an hour it became the
painful duty Of the Judge to arise and
remark:
William, you have been found guilty
OF murder. Does it make any great
difference to you whether you are hung
this afternoon or tomorrow? Wealth
ers liable to change here mighty sud
den. you know. aud we may not have
such an afternoon again for week"
The placid William replied that he
would be ready in half an hour. and
he was.
He went to his shanty. accompanied
by Colonel Smith. and when he had
disposed Of his property and written
letter TO friends In the east he walked
coolly to the galows tree. mounted the
barrel and never winked an eye when
the moose was slipped over his head.
Then came a painful pause.
1t is serious thing to kick barrel
from under the feet Of fellow man
and let a rope catch and choke him to
death. We felt it 80. and when the
pause came we could hear each others
hard breathing.
civilian Rovers," solemniy remark
ed the Judge, you are about to hang!'
Eyes" calmly replied the prisoner.
And now. once more, ask you il
you are guilty Of the awful crime?"
NO" was the equally calm reply.
But he had been tried. convicted and
sentenced. and the sentence must be
carried out. 1t was when the man
advanced to kick away the barrel that
Williams countenance lost its placidi-
IT,. For Ave seconds he seemed a
stranger to US ALL A white shadow
crossed his face, look of fear crept
into his eyes, and his jaw fell
Then placid William was himself
again. He braced right up. shut his
teeth hard. and he died with coun-
tenance az unreliable as stone.
A week afterwari robber who was
fred on and fatally wounded confess
ed that he was guilty Of the murder
for which William Bowers had been
hung. That was a nice mess for Us.
We'd done wrong and We was sorry for
1t, but William orter made a better
aght for his life
One day. six months after the TRACE.
dy, woman came riding into camp
on mule. We saw her when yet 4
long ways of, and we gr0aRed.
As she came nearer we swOre.
| AZ she halted We turned to each 9TH
er and asked:
What Is it? Who Is it?''
She was six feet tall. She had a
broken nose. She had yellow eyes.
She had tusks for teeth. and she chew
ed plug tobacco.
well. critters?' she queried as she
looked us over