Page:The Columbia river , or, Scenes and adventures during a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains among various tribes of Indians hitherto unknown (Volume 1).djvu/212

 told them that the prisoner had abused his confidence, violated the rights of hospitality, and committed an offence for which he ought to suffer death; that from an anxiety to keep on good terms with all their nation, he had overlooked many thefts committed while he had been there last August; which lenity, he was sorry to say, had only led to more daring acts of robbery; and that as a terror to others, and in order to show that it was not fear that prevented him from taking an earlier notice of such aggressions, he had now resolved that this robber should be hanged. The Indians acquiesced in this decision; and the chief declared that the prisoner did not belong to their tribe, but was a kind of outlaw, of whom they were all afraid. The gallows being now prepared, Mr. Clarke gave the signal, and after great resistance, during which he screamed in the most frightful manner, the wretched criminal was launched into eternity. His countrymen looked on the whole proceeding with the greatest unconcern; but the unfortunate being himself exhibited none of that wonderful self-command, or stoical indifference to death, which we observed in others, and for which Indians in general are so celebrated. By the time it was supposed life was extinct, Mr.