Van Buren Press Van Buren, Arkansas (Crawford County) May 4, 1889 THE SHAD0W OF DEATH- Monday morning was sentence day in the United States Court, and Judge Parker passed the sentence of death upon five prisoners- four men and one woman- who have been convicted of murder during the present term of the court. Contrary to the usual custom of sentencing them to hang on Friday they were sentenced to hang on Wednesday, July 17th, 1889. The first one to be sentenced was Jack Spaniard, a Cherokee. Spaniard is convicted of the murder of Deputy Marshal William M. Irvin, on April 13, 1886, while on his way ot Fort Smith with a desperado name Felix Griffing. He was killed to effect the release of Griffing. A man named Palmer was with Spaniard but had never been apprehended, and it is thought was killed. Felix Griffing was killed, as also was Belle Starr, the only witnesses who were able to give direct testimony. When Spaniard, who is a fine looking yellow fellow with black hair, eyes and moustache, was asked if he had anything to say why the sentence of law should not be passed he merely declared he was not guilty of the charge. Frank Capel was the next sentenced. He is a young man, and it will be remembered that when his old father heard that his son had been convicted the blow killed him. He is convicted of the murder of Minnie O'Dell, in the Chickasaw Nation, on November 7, 1888. The woman had been living with him and bore his name. He mistreated her and she left. He followed her to a house, and intoxicated beat her so that she died. When arrested his mother died of a broken heart. When asked if he had anything to say, he answered that he had nothing other than what he had offered on the witness stand. He was quiet and composed. William Walker, the third man sentenced, is a young negro, and stands convicted of the murder of one Calvin Church, on December 12, 1887, in the Choctaw Nation. Walker is about six feet high; dark brown and scarcely seemed to understand the gravity of the occasion. He gazed around curiously at the crowd and looked wholly unconcerned. He had nothing to say and did not seem to care. He was sentenced to hang with the others on Wednesday, July 17th. Joseph Martin, a white man, was convicted purely on circumstantial evidence of the murder of Ernest Adams on Red River, Chickasaw Nation, July 15, 1888. The evidence went to show that the victim had been shot and his head cut off, while the body was dragged to Red River and then thrown in. The evidence was deemed conclusive by the jury and they found him guilty of the murder. He declared his innocence of the crime and called upon God to bear witness to the truth of what he said. "I wish," he said, "that every body was innocent as I am, I have always been a peaceable, quiet person, and have no murder in my heart. If I die, I die innocent, and I look to my God for relief, and may he take care of my wife and children." He was quite composed but fully realized his position, and looked at it squarely and without flinching. He heard the sentence quietly and without emotion. Elsie James was the last of the quintette. The story of her tedious trials and the crime of which she is convict has been oft times told in these columns. Briefly, she is convicted of the murder of an old man named Charles Jones, who was working on her farm in the Chickasaw Nation, on July 7, 1887, shooting him in her house, and with the assistance of her daughter dragging away the body and burrying it. Margaret James, her sister, was tried for the same crime and acquitted. She is a full-blood Indian and speaks no English. I. M. Morris was called as an interpreter, and when asked if she had anything to say, made a very vigorous protest against the verdict and declared her innocence. She was sentenced to hang on the same date as the others. When the last words had been pronounced, her eyes fell and she turned and followed her guards out without noticing anyone. - Fort Smith Times. Fran Alverson Warren