Promise, An Indian’S
An Indian’s promise was trusted to bring in fugitives, showing integrity and faithfulness.
“Sonny” Smith, charged with the murder of Frank Miller, sat in the sheriff’s office at Tulsa, Okla. His two sons were fugitives from justice on the same charge.
“Let me go,” pleaded the half-breed Creek Indian to the sheriff of the county, “and I will go and bring in the two boys you are looking for. If you do not let me go you will never catch those boys.”
Sheriff Newblock smiled grimly.
“What guarantee have I if I let you go after the boys that you will come back? You know you are charged with a capital offense.”
“You have the word of an Indian that he will come back,” replied the half-breed. And the sheriff, with a knowledge of Indian character, let “Sonny” go as a special commissioner to hunt his own boys in the swamps and hills and bring them in.
As time passed there was much grumbling in the community that the sheriff had let a cold-blooded murderer loose among the people. The victim was a young man, popular in the town and connected with the best families in the country. But on the fifth day “Sonny” appeared with his two sons and their wives and all the rest of the kin of the tribe of Smith.
“Here I am,” he announced proudly, “and here are my two boys, whom I arrested in the swamps of the Arkansas, close to Muskogee. I would have written to let you know I was on the trail, but the most of the time I was away from the railroad lines and could not quit the trail long enough to mail you a postal. And if there is anything against me I am going to stay here and fight it out.”