Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 91, Number 21, 18 March 1896 — GAME TO THE CORE. [ARTICLE]

GAME TO THE CORE.

Cherokee Bill, the Outlaw, Hanged at Fort Smith, Arkansas.

He Walked Unflinchingly to the Gallows, and Met His Death With a Smile on His Face.

FORT SMITH (Ark.), March 17.— Cherokee Bill was hanged here this afternoon. The drop fell at 2:13, and he was dead in ten minutes. He never moved a muscle, and smiled when the cap was adjusted. Cherokee died as he lived —game to the core. He walked unflinchingly from the jail to the gallows and met death with a smile on his face. His mother was brought out of his cell at 1:30, and Bill said that he was ready to go at any time. Promptly at 2 o'clock he was brought out of his cell, and at the jail door was joined by his mother and aunt. He walked by them. Bill said in reply to the question if he had anything to say: "No, I came here to die, not to talk." Turning, he kissed his mother good bye, and with a smile on his face walked to his place on the trap. Father Pius said a prayer while the doomed man was being pinioned. Bill recognized friends inside the inclosure, and calling them by name bade them good-bye. To Ed. Reed, Bill Starr's son, he called out: "Good bye Ed; good luck to you, old boy. Take care of Dollie." He caught sight of a kodak in the crowd, and asked that no pictures be taken of him. He was smiling when the cap was drawn over his head. The noose was adjusted, and at 2:13 Turnkey Eoff sprung the lever and threw the trap. Bill's wonderful nerve was inherited from his mother, who stood by him on the gallows without flinching or shedding a tear. She took the body to Gibson at 3 o'clock.

Crawford Goldsby was the euphonious name conferred upon Cherokee Bill when he was born at Gibson, February 10, 1876. He was one of the few sooners who infested the Indian Territory during the reign of terror of 1894, and belonged to the Cook gang. He worked with Bill Cook on the ranches in the Creek Nation near Tulsa.

Cherokee Bill became an outlaw at the age of 14. He shot a man with whom he had quarreled, and from that time until his arrest he was on the scout, suspicious of every one except his mother and sister, and counting no friend so dear as his trusty Winchester rifle.

Bill's last robbery was the one which cost him his life. On November 9th he and Verdigris Kid were robbing Lenapah, when Ernest Melton looked out of his window to see what was going on. Bill saw him and sent a bullet

through his brain. For this crime he was convicted on February 27, 1895, and on April 15th was sentenced to be hanged on June 25th. One of the many murders charged to Bill was that of Agent Richards of Nowata. Bill denies this charge.