The Execution of Cherokee Bill

The execution of Crawford Goldsby, alias Cherokee Bill, on March 17, 1896. Cameras were not allowed at hangings, but a young man took a picture with a Kodak and hid it under his coat; this sketch was later made from that photograph. Fort Smith National Historic Site.

Crawford Goldsby, the outlaw known as Cherokee Bill, was hanged at Fort Smith for the murder of Ernest Melton. This account of his last days comes from a site bulletin of Fort Smith National Historic Site.

Waiting for the gallows

Until the last few days, Cherokee Bill seemed unconcerned about his coming execution. He spent most of his time playing poker with other prisoners, handling the cards through the bars of his cell door. Five days before the hanging he accepted religious counsel from Father Pius of the German Catholic Church in Fort Smith, and he saw the priest every day after that.

The morning of March 17

He woke at 6:00 a.m. on St. Patrick's Day, 1896, singing and whistling, according to other prisoners. Through the late morning and early afternoon his last visitors came: his mother, his brother, his stepsister, the priest, and Amanda Foster, who had been his nurse when he was a child.

Some 2,000 to 3,000 onlookers surrounded the gallows enclosure. Newspapers described the scene as, "though not disorderly, … one of indescribable excitement." People perched on stone walls and on the roofs of nearby buildings, houses and sheds, and one rickety shed near the gallows collapsed under the crowd on it.

The hanging

As 2:00 p.m., the scheduled hour, drew near, Bill said he was ready whenever they were. Handcuffed and shackled, he walked from the jail to the gallows with four guards, his mother, Father Pius and Amanda Foster. On the way he reportedly said, "This is about as good a day to die as any."

On the scaffold he looked over the crowd, saw his mother and told her, "Mother, you ought not to have come up here." She answered, "I can go wherever you go."

The death warrant was read and Father Pius said a short prayer. Bill stepped onto the trap door and called to the crowd, "Good-bye, all you chums down that way." His arms and legs were tied and a black hood was put over his head. At 2:13 p.m. he dropped six feet; his neck was broken and death came quickly. Twelve minutes later the ropes, handcuffs and shackles were removed. His body was placed in a coffin and taken that day to Fort Gibson, where he is buried.

Unlucky 13

After his death, many people remarked on how often the number 13 appeared in his story:

• a $1,300 reward was offered for his capture after he killed Ernest Melton;
• his first death sentence was pronounced on April 13;
• he killed Larry Keating on July 26 — two times 13;
• Judge Parker took 13 minutes to charge the jury in the Keating case;
• the trial itself took 13 hours;
• 13 witnesses testified for the prosecution;
• the jury took 13 minutes to find him guilty;
• and he dropped through the trap at 2:13 p.m.

Sources

• National Park Service, Fort Smith National Historic Site: "The Execution of Cherokee Bill (Site Bulletin)."
• A typing error in the source ("fell though the trap") is corrected here.