Part 60 (1/2)

It is now 10 A.M., October 3d, 1873. The four men are led on to the drop; their arms and legs are pinioned. Captain Jack is placed on the right; next to him, Schonchin, then Black Jim, and then Boston Charley. Four hempen cords hang beside them,--_two_ swing clear to the left; the _two_ villains who broke the long armistice on the eleventh of April with a war-whoop are resting on other men's coffins in the wagon below.

The four men are standing on a single strand that holds the drop. One stroke of an axe would end this terrible drama, now. The polished blade is waiting for the dreadful work. JUSTICE perches with folded wings on the beam above. Her face is blanched. She says, ”My demands would be satisfied with imprisonment for life for these helpless, blood-stained men,--'twould be more in harmony with my Father's wishes; but those whom he has sent me to serve, clamor for blood, for life. If this must be, why the two men in the wagon below? Why the four unfettered villains yonder? I cannot understand by what authority I am compelled by my masters to witness this partiality. _Here, over these betrayed victims do I enter my solemn protest._ I see before me another power that evokes my presence, the State of Oregon, represented by Sheriff McKenzie, in whose hands I see a paper signed by Gov. Grover, and bearing my own countersign.” With faith in the power of the general Government, she folds her wings and sits calmly watching Corporal Ross of Co. G, twelfth Infantry, adjust the instrument of death to Captain Jack's neck. It differs from the one used by this chief on Gen. Canby, but is equally sure; and the chief's nerves are even steadier now than they were when he shouted, ”Kau-tux-a.”

Corporal Killien measures the diameter of Schonchin's neck with the end of another rope. The old chief's eyes do not glare now as they did when he drew from his side a knife with one hand, and a pistol with the other, and shouting, ”Blood for blood!”--chock-e la et chock-e la,--fired eleven shots at the chairman of the ”Peace Commission.” He was excited then; _he is cool now_.

Private Robert Wilton is putting a halter on Black Jim's neck, while Private Anderson is fixing a ”neck-tie” that will stop the voice that taunted Dr. Thomas, in his dying moments, with the failure of his G.o.d to save him.

Justice smiles on Anderson's hand while he performs this worthy act in vindication of her honor.

The ropes are all adjusted; the soldiers who have performed this last personal act walk down the steps.

Forty millions of people, through a representative, read a long list of ”wherefores” and ”becauses,” including the finding and sentence of the courts, to the patient men standing on the drop, thousands of eyes watching every movement.

At last the adjutant reads the following short paper from the _forty million_, to the _four_ men on the scaffold; the _two_ men in the wagon.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, August 22, 1873.

The foregoing sentences, in the cases of Captain Jack, Schonchin, Black Jim, Boston Charley, Barncho, alias One-eyed Jim, and Slolux, alias c.o.k, Modoc Indian prisoners, are hereby approved; and it is ordered that the sentences in the said cases be carried into execution by the proper military authority, under the orders of the Secretary of War, on the third day of October, eighteen hundred and seventy-three.

U. S. GRANT, _President_.

While the words are being interpreted the adjutant draws another paper from a side pocket in his coat. In a clear voice he reads sentence by sentence, while the majestic form of Oliver Applegate repeats, and Dave Hill interprets into the Modoc tongue:--

(General Court Martial Orders, No. 84.)

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, WAs.h.i.+NGTON, September 12, 1873.

The following orders of the President will be carried into effect under the direction of the major-general commanding the Division of the Pacific:--

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, September 10, 1873.

The executive order dated Aug. 22, 1873, approving the sentence of death of certain Modoc Indian prisoners, is hereby modified in the cases of Barncho, alias One-eyed Jim, and of Slolux, alias c.o.k; and the sentence in the said cases is commuted to imprisonment for life. Alcatraz Island, harbor of San Francisco, California, is designated as the place of confinement.

U. S. GRANT, _President_.

By order of the Secretary of War.

E. D. TOWNSEND, _Adjutant-General_.

_Justice_ whispers, ”What does that mean?” Those two men voted for the a.s.sa.s.sination on the morning of the 11th of April, and volunteered to bear the guns to the scene of slaughter.

The chaplain offers a prayer, the last notes of Dave Hill are dying on the air as he finishes the words in the Modoc tongue.

A flash of polished steel in the sunlight and the axe has severed the rope that held the trap, and the thread of _four_ stormy lives at the same instant, and _four_ bodies are writhing in mid-air. An unearthly scream of anguish rises from the stockade, much louder, though no more heart-rending, than escaped the lips of Jerry Crook and George Roberts on the 17th of Jan., or from young Hovey on the 18th of April, while Hooker Jim and Bogus Charley were scalping him and crus.h.i.+ng his head with stones.

The four bodies are placed in the four coffins, and Barncho and Slo-lux ride back to the guard-house beside them.

The sheriff of Jackson County presents to the commanding officer the requisition of the governor of Oregon for Hooker Jim, Curly-haired Doctor, Steamboat Frank, and other Modocs. The following telegrams explain the result:--

JACKSONVILLE, OREGON, October 4, 1872.