Can anyone give me some information on the August 1, 1891 executions of John Frog and Jackson Wolf??? If possible I need the source of the information. Also, any information about the Seminole judicial system Light Horse organization would also be appreciated.

Bout all I could find in a brief search is an item in the Ft. Worth Gazette, p.4, July 7, 1891, relating Frog and Wolf killed another Seminole for threatening to kill them. The article went on to say both were staying home awaiting the Seminole court which was to convene within a week. The New York Times for August 2, 1891, p. 6 has an article saying both were executed on the 1st for the murder of John Harg. Then the article says: "The whole tribe joined in paying tributes of respect to the men who had been shot...The decree of the council had wiped out all blood feud between the families, and the whole tribe united in the ceremonies attendant upon the burial. This link shows the execution date and method: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.or...anIndianRegistry.pdf
For a good discussion of the Seminole light horse go to: http://www.seminolenation-indi...y.org/lighthorse.htm
I'll do a more detailed search later....

Thanks Tower!! Thats a beg help. I am trying to find the sources I used for a paper written in the early 1990's. In those days I used end notes instead of footnotes and I lost a page of the endnotes. What a nightmare. I am currently not having much luck finding the source for the following passage. It sounds like Angie Debo, but I haven't been able to find it. Does this ring a bell with anyone???

Much like the Creek and Choctaw tribes, the Seminoles also followed a type of Mosaic Law that placed great faith in the honor of the accused. If found guilty of murder, a Seminole citizen paid with his own life, but was allowed to return home first and told to report back on a specific date. According to some sources, no Seminole ever failed to appear.
Seminole executioners seated the condemned man on a rock with his back to the execution tree. They then blindfolded him and affixed a piece of heart-shaped paper to his chest. The Lighthorsemen then formed a firing squad, but one of their rifles always contained only blank cartridges. No one ever knew who actually killed the condemned man.
On July 18, 1896, the Seminole nation performed its last execution at Wewoka, Indian Territory. The Seminole court found a young man named Pulmuskey guilty of murder and sentenced him to die. He returned after his six-month reprieve to face his executioners. In a break with tradition, Pulmuskey asked permission to choose his executioner, a request the judge granted. He chose his best friend whom he knew was a crack shot, and positioned the paper heart over his chest himself. As his friend fired the fatal shot, the victim’s mother aimed a camera and recorded her son’s death.
Like other tribes, the Seminole used corporal punishment to deter minor crimes. A minor crime rapidly became serious, however with repetition. In the Seminole Nation, no man ever received more than three whippings in his lifetime. The fourth infraction resulted in a death penalty.

The earliest use of the term Mosaic Law when applied to the Muskogean tribal customs I can find is with Josiah Gregg, in Commerce on the Prairies… another use is found in the Chronicles of Oklahoma,Volume 15, No. 1, March, 1937, EARLY LIFE AMONG THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES by Edward Davis
p.70: The Mosaic Law of "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" was nowhere more ceremoniously followed than among these Indians. It was the task of the clan to avenge the injuries of its members at the hands of an outsider. Men were punished for injuries to men, and women for injuries to women. If a man committed murder and fled, his own brother or nearest relative would be punished in his place. The culprit who fled would forfeit his place in the clan and become an alien without a home. This custom must have brought about the state of mind that later brought the condemned man, released on his own honor, to the place of execution on the set day.40 Williams, (ed.), Adair's History of the American Indians, 150-165. This can be found at http://digital.library.okstate...s/v015/v015p070.html
I can’t find the case you mentioned and that bugs me because I’ve seen it before.

Okay, Art Burton, in his book Black, Red, and Deadly, Eakin Press, 1991, at page 136 quotes Robert Johnson as having witnessed the last Seminole execution. Johnson says Pul-musky and John Factor got drunk, got in a fight, and Factor was killed. He then gives a description of the execution including the claim Pul-musky returned after sentencing for his execution. Ceaser Payne and Cumsey (John Tecumseh) Bruner were the lighthorse who shot Pul-musky. Hope this helps.
Forgot to say this is from the Indian and Pioneer interviews. They are available on line at the Western History library, University of Oklahoma; also at OHS, but not on line, and several other libraries.

Thanks again Tower!! I have Art's book but didn't think to look there. The other links and information are a great help!! Maybe I can get this all tracked down after all!!

As I noticed you're doing research on the broader subject of capital punishment, let me say the Creeks and Seminole governments got into a fairly harsh wrangle because the Creeks believed the Seminoles too aggressive in meting out death sentences and too quick in carrying them out. The first legal execution in Indian Territory I believe was in the late 1890's, '98 or '99.

THE ARIZONA REPUBLICAN
Phoenix, Saturday Morning, August 8, 1891

AN INDIAN EXECUTION
____________________

How Two Seminole Indians Bravely Faced
______________________

Their Doom at Wewoka, Indian Territory
________________________

The Oldest Chief Of The Tribe Makes A Short Speech Before The Executions



Wewoka, Indian Territory, Aug 7.

Late in the afternoon of July 22 there filed from the Council Chamber of this nation at this place the high council of the Seminoles. They had been sitting in deliberation on the case of two tribesmen who were charged with the murder of a member of the nation. As they came from the room where they had been deliberated for seven hours, the crowd, which had gathered in the stockaded courtyard fell back and rainged themselves in a line to listen to the decree which was delivered by the old chief of the nation. Slowly the members of the council walked out headed by the old chief who wended his way to a large flat rock which was sunk into ground near the western line of the stockade. Here the councilmen paused and the oldest chief mounted the rock and held up his hand. As the signal was given, a hush came over the assembled Indians and not a sound could be
heard.
“Let all be silent that they may hear the decree of the council. Blood has flowed from the body of Harg. The widow and children cry for food, and there is none to give them. Death came through John Frog and Jackson Wolf, and it is our thought there was no cause for the shedding of blood. Now this is our decree:
“When the sun shall kiss the death rock on the sixth morning, then shall John Frog
and Jackson Wolf pay the debt by giving their lives into the family of Harg,
that they may wipe out the stain, for our fathers have said it, that blood must be wiped out by blood. And to the widow and children of th murdered man shall be given the substance of John Frog and Jackson Wolf sufficient to keep them from want for one year, it is so decreed."
The council then walked from the enclosure and were followed by the
assembled tribesmen. The two condemned men were in charge of the Light horse, and were kept under heavy guard. The captain was held responsible for them until the day when they were to pay their last debt to the kinsmen of the man whom they murdered.
On the third of July the Indians were preparing for the celebration of the coming holiday. During these preparations, a quarrel arose which ended in a fight in which Harg was shot and instantly killed. The killing was done by the two men who were arrested at once by the captain of the Light Horse company, and the council convened on the following Monday to hear the evidence and assess the punishment. The trial was marked with great deliberation and it was Wednesday before it closed. All the testimony relative to the killing had been received and then followed talks by those who were interested and who sought to influence the action of the council. First came relatives of the dead man and told how the
widow and children were without support; how Harg had been a good man to them and how the tribe had lost a valuable member. Then came the friends of the accused who argued that no good would come of taking two men from the tribe.
They, too had wives and children who would suffer and the tribe would have to care for them.
After all that was said that the council announced that the decision would be announced in two weeks time. Until then accused should remain in custody of the Light Horse and should be brought before the council on the evening of the day when the decision was to be rendered. On the morning of the day in question the council assembled in the chamber and began their deliberation. The doors were closed and none were admitted but all around the house sat the friends of the dead man, and those of the accused. Patiently they sat for seven long hours while those who had the fate of the two men in their hands carefully deliberated. The decision was known to the council within a few minutes of the assembling but they thought it might not look well to make such a hasty announcement and they sat and smoked, talking of all the possible features of the case until they thought none could find fault with them and then they filed out and gave their decision.
In compliance with the decree of the council, the prisoners were guarded by
Light Horse until the morning of that Tuesday, when as the day broke, they were aroused and taken into the enclosure which surrounds the council chamber. This enclosure is built in the form of a stockade and is about fifteen feet high, forming a perfect prison itself when the gates are locked. About fifteen feet from the eastern side of the enclosure is a rock, circular in shape, which is known as the death rock. The large stone is flat on top, and is sunken into the ground until only about two feet appear above the surface. Ever since (1855?1866?) have all the executions of the tribe taken place. The Seminole have greatly increased in enlightenment since they were the terrors of the south in the everglades of Florida under the command of King Payne and Billy Bowlegs, but they have retained all the vicissitudes of the tribe the custom of allowing the relatives of the murdered to enact the death penalty, and on this stone blood has been poured out on many occasions. The brown rock is dyed with many stains which neither time, sun, or weather have obliterated.
Within the enclosure were the relatives of the murdered man, and those of the two who were to pay the penalty for their crime. This company consisted of about fifty men, who, with the council and one or two invited guests and members of the Light Horse were all who were allowed in the enclosure. The death rock is so situated that the sun does not strike it until about 11 o’clock, and as the death penalty said “it must be kissed six times” the execution could not take place until the sun shone on the rock. It was while waiting for this moment to arrive that a scene was witnessed which could not probably be implemented on any other portion of the globe. It was a scene which could not occur under any other conditions of life than those which surround the red man. It was fate that they should die and the old spirit was still dominant enough to make them die without giving a sign of fear. Their time had come, and they would go.
As the first tinge of dawn lighted the sky on the morning of the 28th the rapid beating of a drum roused the village and called together the members of the Light Horse company. It was the signal of death. With the dying away of the sound, men. women and children came from the house and the village was alive with the preparation for a holiday. There were hurried preparations for the morning meal and one went toward the enclosure surrounding the council chamber. Neither the dead man, or those who were to suffer the penalty had relatives from the village and from the outlying country came those who were to be the principle actors in the tragedy. As they rose there came from the woods along the creek which runs north of the village those who had camped there throughout the night ready to be on hand at the earliest possible hour for the ceremonies which were to take place.
Frog and Wolf had been kept under guard at the council chamber term and at the first drum beat they were given their last breakfast. Both ate heartily and then they were marched between two file of the Light Horse into the enclosure. Here had already assembled those who were to witness the closing scene.
The condemned men were loosened from the bonds which were about their
arms, and they at once mingled among the people who were within the stockade
apparently as free as any who were there. They passed from group to group and chatted and talked as if they had no thought to death.. They talked as if they were going on a long journey, and bade their friends farewell in a laughing manner; the whole scene was that of a pleasure party, and to one who did not know the real meaning of the assembly it would have appeared as a holiday gathering; this was continued all morning while the sun slowly crept toward the death rock, which was shunned by all in the hours of enjoyment.
Finally the fatal hour approached, and a silence came over the crowd. The
relatives of the murdered man drew away to themselves and cast lots to see which should have the duty of avenging the death of Harg. This was soon decided, and then the two doomed men walked toward the death rock. As they proceeded they began singing in a low tone a particularly monotonous song; louder and louder it became, until the sound could be heard some distance outside the enclosure. Then those on the outside knew that the hour of death was near, for they heard the death song of the Seminoles which had been sung by the dying ever since the tribe broken away from the Creek nation many years ago.
Side by side walked the condemned men, and side by side they sat upon the rock. Calmly they folded their arms across their breasts and looked at the men who were soon to end their lives. Not a sign showed that they feared the end. Six men stepped from the relatives of the murdered man and with loaded rifles took their places about ten yards in front of the doomed men.
The captain of the Light horse approached and bandages the eyes of the two, and then stepped back and gave the command to fire. Six reports rand out, and two bodies pitched heavily forward and lay still. The work had been well done, and with the deaths, had been wiped out the crime, and the bodies were treated with the honor due dead members of the tribe. The whole tribe joined in paying the tributes of respect to the dead men and they had such a funeral as would have been accorded them, had they fallen in battle. The decree of the council had wiped out all blood feud between the families and the whole tribe united in the ceremonies attendant upon the burial.


http://www.newspaperarchive.co...wer.aspx?img=3337809

Out standing find Dan.

Really outstanding Dan!! I think I may subscribe to that newspaper archive. Do you recomend it or was this just a fluke?

Well worth the money to subscribe to. I subscribe by the year, but you can subscribe monthly to see if it suits you.

Here is the address if anyone wants to subscribe.

http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Default.aspx

A newspaper citation on the Pul-musky execution can be found in the Muskogee Phoenix 10/15/1896 (p4c4); also, there is a photo of the condemned in the Oklahoma History Center photo collection under "persons - #20187". Seminole leaning against tree with heart-shaped target on chest. Photo by Cottie Holloman at Wewoka. (Note: The name on the photo has been mis-transcribed as "Polmslery".)