Ouachita County ArArchives News.....AN INDIAN EXECUTION. June 13, 1845
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Lora Peppers loradpeppers@hotmail.com January 30, 2015, 12:32 am

The Wilmington Journal [Wilmington, N.C.] June 13, 1845
From the N.O. Courier, May 23.
AN INDIAN EXECUTION
  Through the politeness of Mr. Barstow, says the Natchitochez [sic 
Natchitoches] Chronicle of the 17th ult., the agent of the government for 
conducting the late Choctaw emigration from Mississippi to the West, we are 
permitted to publish the following extracts from the journal of W.R. 
Douglas, giving an account of the execution of a young Choctaw, according to 
the law of that race.  It appears that on the arrival of the emigration at 
Bond's store, in Arkansas, the Indians procured whiskey in spite of the 
previous promises of the proprietors not to sell them any, and in spite of 
the warm remonstrances of the government agents.  The consequence was 
disorder and fighting among many of the Indians.  While the brother of Ty-
ah, and another Indian were engaged in a fight, he came up to the rescue of 
his brother, and gave the other Indian a blow which produced death. - Blood 
for blood is the stern law of the savage race; and, without a murmur, he 
submitted to the fate awarded to him by his judges.  The murder was 
perpetrated on the 15th of March :
[Extract from the Journal.]
  MARCH 17. - This night was the time selected for the execution of the 
Indian who had committed the murder at Bond's store.  The friends of the 
deceased had demanded his blood, and their savage law was ready to give it.  
From the night of the 15th, to that of the 17th, Ty-ah had ample time and 
opportunity to have escaped; for no guard was placed over him - his 
movements were not even watched; his enemies knew too well the influence of 
an early education that robs death of its terrors, and inculcates a chivalry 
which is now almost extinct among the pale faces.  Ty-ah would not escape; 
but resolute and firm, he stood his ground.  The family from which he sprung 
were never to lose chaste by a dastardly escape from a punishment which he 
was taught to believe just.
  At the earnest solicitations of those in attendance, who represented that 
it would be in violation of the laws of the State through which they were 
travelling, they agreed to postpone the execution until the two divisions 
should be united.  Ty-ah was present during this conversation, and I watched 
him closely; he conducted himself like a Roman; he discovered not the 
symptom of fear, not the quivering of a muscle; his eye was endowed with a 
fierceness of lustre, which I had never seen before, and the tones of his 
voice, as he expressed his willingness to die there if they wished it, 
possessed, in an eminent degree, that fullness and melody so characteristic 
in his race.  His firmness and noble bearing, of that trying time produced 
reflections in my own mind, anything but favorable to that race which stands 
first among the human species.  A white man, surrounded by similar 
circumstances, would have thought only of his personal safety; no desire to 
make reparation for a wrong; no regard for the honor of his family would 
have influenced him; his education would have prompted him to steal the 
fleetest horse in the camp, and in thirty-six hours, Texas would have had 
another inhabitant.
  On the 18th, the Division united at Miller's Bluff on the Ouachita.  On 
the 19th, the Indians held a council and determined that Ty-ah should die.  
He will be shot to-morrow.  Our detention at this point has forced us to 
become unwilling spectators of the most tragical scene either of us ever 
witnessed.  The mournful death strong [sic] and the savage war-whoop 
informed us that Ty-ah's moments were numbered.
  Dressed with more than usual elegance, after the peculiar fashion of his 
race, and surrounded by his friends, he approaches the place selected, and 
throws himself full length upon the earth, that the measure of his future 
home might be taken.  The grave was completed : the sun was high in the 
heavens, and the stern decree of the council must be enforced.  Ty-ah is 
dead, and he died the death of the brave!  Unflinching he looked death in 
the face. - With a strong yell of defiance to his enemies, and the kind word 
of parting to his friends, he walked firmly up to the brink of that grave in 
which his remains were to be shortly entombed.  He uttered no complaint of 
the savage law which had condemned him; he made no reproaches against the 
more savage judges that had enforced that law, but with a composure which 
could only be inculcated by the stern religion of their fathers, he bared 
his bosom, and from the unerring rifle of his deadly foe, received the shot 
that he believed was to send him forth upon the happy hunting-grounds 
promised him by the great and good Spirit of his race.  The report of the 
rifle was instantly followed by the wild, unearthly shrieks of his wife and 
kindred.  They threw themselves upon his body, and began that plaintive 
wailing, peculiar to that people, in a manner that drew tears from every 
eye.
  They buried him as became a warrior, with rifle and pouch by his side.  In 
death he was arrayed in the same fanciful garb which in life had so graced 
his manly form.
  His grave is now filled up - the blood-thirsty law of his race is 
satisfied - the kindred of Cun-no-antam-be have had their revenge!  Ty-ah 
has preserved the honor of his family, and how the stillness of the night is 
interrupted only by the wailing of his wife, his children, and his aged 
mother.


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