Posted on 02/16/2024 5:05:01 PM PST by CheshireTheCat
On this date in 1894, a young Indian named Joe Dick was executed outside the courthouse of Eufaula in present-day Oklahoma.
At the time, Eufala was part of the Muscogee Creek jursidiction of Indian Territory. Until the 1898 Curtis Act, the tribal governments in Indian Country enjoyed full legal jurisdiction, up to and including application of the death penalty.
One interesting feature of that jurisdiction (previously noted in these annals) was the absence of standing jails to incarcerate death-sentenced prisoners. Joe Dick was only loosely guarded and on “Christmas week, he told the officers that were guarding him that he was of a lively nature and would like to attend some of the dances that were going on through the country.” They happily loaned him a horse and saddle, and Joe Dick was as good as his word: after dancing all night, he returned and “reported the next morning for breakfast.”....
(Excerpt) Read more at executedtoday.com ...
Thanks for posting this! My Great-Grandfather was a judge there so he might have been one of the ones who passed judgement on this guy. I still have his original copy of the Constitution of the Muskogee Nation.
When even murderers had honor.
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