calsfoundation@cals.org
February 7, 2012
On March 17, 1896, American outlaw Crawford Goldsby, known as Cherokee Bill, was hanged at Fort Smith (Sebastian County). Approximately 3,000 sightseers gathered around the gallows, shown here in this engraving, to witness the execution. Just before the trap door was released, he addressed the crowd, saying, “Good-bye, all you chums down that way.” He was buried at Fort Gibson in the Indian Territory.