Justice whispers, “What does that mean?” Those two men voted for the assassination 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 crushing 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.
To Jeff. C. Davis, U. S. A., Commanding Department of Columbia,
Portland, Oregon:—
At the hour of the execution of Captain Jack and his co-murderers at Fort Klamath, on yesterday, the sheriff of Jackson County was present with bench-warrants and certified copies of the indictments of the Lost-river murderers, and demanded their surrender to the civil authorities of this State for trial and punishment. A writ of habeas corpus has also been issued by Justice Prime, of the circuit court of Jackson County, commanding that the indicted murderers be brought before him, and cause be shown why they are withheld from trial. I respectfully ask that you communicate the proceedings to Washington, and that final action in the premises be taken by order from there.
L. F. GROVER, Governor, Oregon.