Goings, William   
July 13, 1899   Indian Territory

In the spring of 1897 William Goings, whose Indian name was Walla Tonka, and fellow Choctaw Indian Wallace Crosby murdered Williams’ Uncle, Sampson Goings, an Indian deputy. This was reportedly the seventh murder by Goings so both Indians were tried by the Choctaw tribal council, found guilty, and sentenced to be shot in late July 1897.

The Indians were released from custody on the understanding that when the time came for their execution they would appear at the designated place, which was the custom and had never been violated. Goings was a famous Indian ball player and his team had a game – a cross between tennis and football, but with the rough and tumble tactics of the latter – in Kansas City on August 1 so the game was postponed a few days and the execution was postponed until November 4.

When the date arrived Goings appeared at Alikchi, Indian Territory and made ready to face the firing squad, and hundreds of whites and Choctaw Indians gathered nearby to witness the spectacle. However, on Wednesday, November 3 a courier arrived from Tuslahomo, the Indian capitol, with a stay of execution pending a new trial granted by the supreme court of the Choctaw nation. When the courier arrived Goings observed, without emotion, “Maybe me play more ball now.”

He was retried at the December term of the Choctaw court, again convicted and sentenced to die by firing squad, and then a series of writs of habeas corpus followed as the U. S. Federal Courts tried to establish jurisdiction their over the Indian Territory, but the date was finally set for early 1899. Goings, in the meantime, had joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show which featured Indian ball games for audiences in the north and east, and the show was in Michigan when the word arrived that the time was near. However, Goings went missing and was chased through Arkansas and Louisiana, but he kept hidden in the mountains until the day set for his execution had passed and he then returned to the Indian Territory. However, since he had already been sentenced all that was required was to set the new date of execution, and it was scheduled for July 13, 1899.

An application was made to Federal Judge John R. Thomas pleading for a writ of habeas corpus, and it was granted and telegraphed from Tulsa. A deputy arrived at Alikchi at dawn Thursday and presented the writ to District Attorney Clay and Sheriff Thomas Watson, and it required them to deliver Goings to Muscogee on July 22, but the sheriff refused to receive it and asserted that only Choctaw Judge Abner James could stop the execution. A runner was dispatched but Judge James was ill and returned a verbal order to continue with the execution, unless there could be shown some law which allowed the Federal court to intervene. The sheriff and district could find none and proceeded with preparations for the execution to occur at 2:00 p.m.

On the fatal day a few minutes before 2:00 p.m. four Choctaw Indians appeared and prepared the site in front of the courthouse by delivering Goings’ coffin, spreading a quilt nearby, and positioning a bench four paces away from the quilt. In a moment thirty year old Goings appeared with the sheriff and deputy, with twenty “light horsemen” marching on either side. As he passed through the spectators he bid them farewell, then knelt on the quilt and was blindfolded. The sheriff bared his bosom, painted a white mark over his heart, and then stepped back four paces and rested his Winchester rifle on the bench. He fired one shot but the bullet missed its mark. Goings fell backwards and moaned piteously for an hour before he bled to death.

Water was poured down his throat several times hoping to strangle, or drown, him and put him out of his misery but this failed to complete the task. While the execution was being conducted the light horsemen, armed with Winchester rifles, had faced the crowd and kept two deputy U. S. Marshals from interfering. The U. S. Congress, between the time Goings was first sentenced to die and the time of his execution, had abolished the jurisdiction of the Indian tribunals and as Goings lay dying District Attorney Clay observed, “We are making history” by defying the Federal court.

On July 15 U. S. Marshal Bert Brown and a posse left Antlers for Alikchi with arrest warrants for twenty-seven persons charging them with contempt for refusing the writ sent by Judge Thomas. The posse returned to Antlers on July 18 with District Attorneys A. H. Clay and Simon Tyler, the latter also clerk of the court. Sheriff Watson could not be found and the other twenty-four warrants were not served at the time.

 Hawarden Independent [IA]: July 20, 1899. Logansport Daily Reporter [IN]: July 14, 1899. New York Times [NY]: November 7, 1897;  July 14, 1899. The Galveston Daily News [TX]: July 15, 1899. Weekly Wisconsin [Milwaukee]: July 22, 1899.