Indian Executions

"At the last legal execution in the Creek nation I was present," said Leo E. Bennett, the government agent for the five civilized tribes, to a Washington correspondent of the St. Louis Democrat. "The details were very different from an execution in the army. A squad is detailed, and some of the guns are left unloaded, so nobody can teil who flres the fatal shot. At this last Creek exeeution the condemned man was seated on the ground, with his back against a tree and nis legs stretched out in front. [Ie was not bound to the tree, nor wcrc his hands tied. .lust, bef ore the execution some one put a bandage over his eyes, but the prisoner tore it olï and threw it away. Perhaps the strangest part of proceeding was tbe selection of the execiitiom re 'l'!.:-t was left to the condemneil man. Me was told to piek out t'.io two ; ïen whom hu wanted to do the shoot';: Strange to say, une of his selectio is was his consin. Botb men vrere. from the light horse of the nation. The two men without any unnecessary d'.la;, out in front of the demTii'ii man twelve or fifteen feet, knelt di ■■■ a Icveled their revolvers, steadving their barrels with their left hands, a id Elrcd. Both bullets struck the Ie over the heart and not more t!:nn in inch and a half apart. The m;::i feil over on his side and in a few :■ ras dead. Aceording to the Crecli Inw the third offense of larcer.y ís punishable with death. For the fir.-t offense the penalty is fifty lashc:;. '-ui for the second 1' is one hundred lashes on the bare back. If there is an attempt to curry out the death penalty ;;;r:iin for lareeny. 1 intend to try the effect of habeas corpus in the federal eourt at Fort Smith. Hhooting a man or an Indian for larceny would come onder the constitutional prohibition of cruel und unusual puDishment. At lenst 1 shaÚ seo what Judsje l'orter thinks of 1' l' proposition. The last Creek esccutiön occurred several years ago. A ( reek woman V7as condemned to be shot not long since, but she was pardoncd by the ehief. The Seminóles are the only other eivjlized lnaiaus who shoot their condemned."