Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 July 1899 — INDIANS DEFY THE NATION. [ARTICLE]

INDIANS DEFY THE NATION.

Walla Tonka la Put to Heath in Spltd of Court’* Order. William Goings, the Choctaw Indian, known also by the name of “Walla Tonka,” was executed St Alikidhi, I. T., for the murder of his uncle, Mason Goings. The execution took place at 2 o’clock, and was a sickening eight. A quilt was spread on the ground near the cdnrt house, and near it four Indians placed a coffin. A few minutes later the prisoner, in charge of Sheriff Watson and a deputy, and escorted by tw«ity light horsemen, marched down the line of spectators. Goings bade them good-by, and knelt on the quilt blindfolded. The sheriff bared his breast and painted a spot over the heart; he then stepped back four paces, rested a rifle over a bench and fired, but missed the painted spot. Goings fell back and moaned an hour before expiring. Water was poured down his throat a number of tjmes to hasten his death by strangulation. A writ of habeas corpus was granted by Federal Judge John R. Thomas, but when it was delivered by two deputy marshals the sheriff refused to receive it. While the execution was proceeding District Attorney Clay remarked: “We are making history.” It remains to be seen what action the United States Government will take for defiance of the writ. Walla Tonka was a full-blooded Choctaw. He was born in the Indian Territory twenty-four years ago. In his 18th year he stabbed and killed his uncle, Jacob Lewis, and shortly after engaged in a saloon fight in which he shot and killed Bull Henderson. He was tried on both charges and acquitted, but was convicted of murder of another uncle, Mason Goings, in 189 G, and was sentenced to be shot on Aug. 25, 1897. Tonka was a member of the Choctaw baseball club, and was respited in order to finish the season without the loss of so valuable a player. 1