who killed either 3 or 7 people he claimed were witches and caused his children to die, and the other 3 men implicated. About 1901.

This is really a sad story, from what little I've found about it. Did Grant Foreman, or anyone else write about it?

Thanks,
Martha

You ask the most interesting questions. I was aware of Rev. Hotema's case from my research on the Paris court but hadn't really looked into it. As far as I can determine in a brief study, Foreman, nor anyone else, has done an indepth study. Hotema has a bio in the 1891 "Leaders and Leading Men" and frequent mention in early Choctaw Nation history as he was a represenative and senator and a good friend of principal chief Wilson.
He was convicted of killing Vina Coleman on April 14, 1899. As near as I can determine, even though he confessed, he was tried three times using a plea of insanity, with the last going to the US Supreme court where the conviction was affirmed and he was scheduled to be executed. But, President Teddy Roosevelt commuted the sentence to life. Hotema was released but died shortly after returning home.
It really was a sad case, one it seems which was touched off by unrecogciled grief.

Thank you, Tower for your reply. I came across his photo at the Oklahoma Historical Society. I guess the 3 other men implicated, weren't charged? As you say "a sad case, one it seems which was touched off by unrecogciled grief." Thanks again, Tower.

Martha

Solomon "Tissy" Hotema was a highly educated and very prominent, very popular Choctaw leader amongst his people. However, some deep-seated, ingrained superstitions in ones culture can not be easily dismissed, as in the belief in witches and spells and incatations. This was his downfall.

During this period, several people in the community died from un-explained ailments, probably Yellow Fever, or dyptheria, or any number of other diseases being passed around at the time. However, when Hotema's young daughter died, he started looking around for an explanation; and, in his grief, he convinced himself that "witchcraft" was the cause.

He killed an old lady, who everyone in the area believed was a witch, and two other persons, whom I believe were related in some way to the her. I think that he was acquitted for killing the old lady-witch on an "insanity defense"; however, he was convicted on the other murders; because, they just happened to be there, at the witch's house, and were trying to flee.

I have several articles about this incident, which I will, hopefully, find and post tomorrow. Also, I have seen several photographs of Solomon Hotema in the historical books of this era. "McCurtain County - A Pictorial History", by the McCurtain County Historical Society (p.9){at OHS F702 .M3 .M31}.

Supposedly, one of his defense attorneys in the case was Col. Jake Hodges of Paris, Texas. And, a young Moman Pruiett, working in Hodges' Law Office, may have been seated at the defense table -- as an observer. (A slight mention of this event in the book, "He Made It Safe To Murder: The Life of Moman Pruiett", by Howard K. Berry {pp. 109, 111, 113, 115, & 122}.)

I believe that Solomon Hotema died around 1907 in an Atlanta, Georgia, prison!

More later.

Superstition, particularly that dealing with witchcraft is not merely a byproduct of the Salem, Massachusetts, puritans. Within the early history of the Choctaw, the certainty of witches and witchcraft was a basic belief with death or disease often ascribed to witchcraft or evil spirits and witchcraft to some person by an accuser. The alleged witch was usually then summarily dealt with by the relatives of the deceased. Similarly, sometimes wizards, conjurers, and doctors were suspected of failure to do their duty and were killed. This placed a tremendous responsibility on the ones who attempted to diagnose and cure diseases and so a practice developed among the Choctaws wherein a patient, declared by the medicine man to have no chance of recovery, was put out of his misery by strangulation. Because of the capriciousness and barbarity of such practices, in 1828, Greenwood Le Flore called a council to make new laws to replace some of the old ones; one was to put an end to the practice of executing women representing themselves as witches. As time went on additional measures concerning witchcraft were put into place and by 1870, a law read: "Any person who shall kill another for a witch or wizard shall suffer death. And any person who shall publicly state that he himself, or she herself, is a witch or wizard, or shall say that such a person or persons are witches or wizards and he or she knows it to be so, shall receive sixty lashes on the bare back." However, not even such a strong statement was sufficient to prevent Solomon Hotema from exacting revenge on fellow tribal members for what he considered an act of witchcraft.
Solomon E. Hotema a full blood and member of the Ok-la-han-nali clan, was a well known citizen of the Choctaw Nation, described as a man of excellent moral character, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a kind, good neighbor. He was born in 1854 near Grant, in the Choctaw Nation and received his first education at a neighborhood school, and later at the Spencer Academy; his education being completed at Roanoke College, Salem, Virginia. As a young man Solomon clerked in the mercantile establishment of Wilson N. Jones, who by 1891 became the principal chief. In April, 1883, he married Nacy Coleman, daughter of John Coleman, a Choctaw, by whom he had three children only one of which survived. Solomon cared for his people and involved himself in tribal government. In 1888 he was elected county clerk of Kiamichi County, and was county judge 1884-1886. Then, in 1887, he was elected to the House of Representatives and re-elected in 1888 and 1889. In 1889 he engaged in the mercantile business at Grant, Choctaw Nation, and also had a small farm with a herd of one hundred head of cattle and two hundred hogs. In 1890 he was called to the senate where he was considered one of the best speakers in the Choctaw Legislature.
In the spring of 1899 an epidemic of meningitis prevailed in the Cold Springs neighborhood. Many people died of the disease, among them being Cornelia, the little daughter of Hotema born in 1887. According to later press releases, an Indian witch doctor lived at the place and when the list of fatalities assumed alarming proportions a number of people, including Hotema, consulted with him as to the cause of the scourge. The witch doctor asserted that the victims of the disease had been bewitched and he went so far it is alleged, as to name those who were guilty of the dark deeds. Hotema, by now a Presbyterian minister and three companions upon receipt of this information from the witch doctor started on a murderous pilgrimage through the little community, killing two women and a man and wounded a number of others. Hotema was arrested near present Antlers, Oklahoma. Hotema confessed, in writing, asserting he killed the victims because of his beliefs. He was prosecuted, the process beginning in the Indian Territory federal courts which gained jurisdiction over all offenses in 1898. (Since all were the parties Indian, had the incident happened before 1898; Hotema would have been tried in a tribal court and the outcome might have been much different.) On a change of venue his trial was moved to Paris and he was convicted and sentenced by Judge David Bryant to hang. At this juncture, his defense team filed an appeal, but the lower court sentence was affirmed. The murders and the circumstances under which they were committed caused a big stir throughout a large portion of the country and the outcome of the prosecution of Hotema was watched with interest, with reports funneled as far away as New York and San Francisco. One of his companions in the murderous pilgrimage died in jail and the other, at Hotema’s conviction was still in jail awaiting trial. I don't know his fate.


http://okgenweb.org/~okchocta/pioneer_photos.htm

Oldwest, and Tower, thank y'all so much.

Other photos of him are found here

http://okhistory.cuadra.com/star/public.html

in the Archives catalog

Solomon Hotema, accompanied by Sam Frye, Tobias Williams, and Sam Tarnatubby (all Choctaws) killed Vina Coleman, Mrs. Hull Greenwood, and Alfred Morris, on April 14, 1899, at Cold Spring Church (6m NW of Grant {Choctaw Co.}, I.T.). Documentation of Event:

Daily Ardmoreite 4/18/1899 (pg. 3/col.2) "Solomon Hotema in Antlers jail..."; Indian (Atoka) Citizen 4/20/1899 (1/6) re: Witchcraft Murders; Kingfisher Free Press 4/20/1899 (2/5) re: Witchcraft Murders; El Reno News 4/21/1899 (6/5) "...kills wife, child & brother (sic); Purcell Register 4/28/1899 (1/3) "A Sad Affair" - killed witch, daughter, & spouse.; Edmond Sun Dem. 5/12/1899 (2/4) "Solomon Hotema etal in Antlers jail...";

Daily Ardmoreite {Paris, Tx} 4/15/1901 (1/4) "Witch Killers Acquitted" - insanity defense; Cherokee Advocate 4/27/1901 (1/1-2) {good account of incident}; Kingfisher Free Press 12/12/1901 (2/2) re: Solomon Hotema's Conviction; Kingfisher Free Press 5/22/1902 (8/2); Indian (Eufaula) Journal 6/6/1902 (7/2) re: Solomon Hotema Convicted; Daily Ardmoreite 7/5/1902 (7/3?) "{President} to intercede for Hotema; From Hang - to Life!"; Alva Review 8/7/1902 (2/2) "...sentenced to Hang...President says "Life!"; Ok (Wkly) State Capitol 11/5/1902 (1/5-6; 7/5) Hotema, the Witch Killer, gets Life from Pres. Roosevelt.;

Pauls Valley Sentinel 3/24/1904 (10/4) "Witchcraft (killing)...Solomon Hotema serving Life in Georgia prison"; Daily Oklahoman 6/4/1907 (3/5) "Witch Killer Dies In Prison"; Indian (Atoka) Citizen 6/13/1907 (7/6) Biographical Sketch on Solomon Hotema; died in Atlanta prison.

"Backward Glances: Lamar Co. (Tx) History" by A. W. Neville (pp. 164-165) re: Defense lawyers in Solomon Hotema's witchcraft trial were Col. Jake Hodges and Thomas C. Humphry.

Hotema v. U.S. (Tx) 22US895/186US413/46LEd1225

In an un-published manuscript by Von Russell Creel, entitled "Murders, Thieves, Bootleggers, and Fornicators: Crime, Punishment, and the United States Court for Indian Territory, 1889-1907", Creel writes:

One of his (Thomas C. Humphry) most famous cases was as defense counsel for Solomon Hotema, a Cherokee (sic) and ordained Presbyterian minister who was tried for killing three people he believed to be witches. Acquitted on two counts {insanity defense}, Hotema was convicted on the third, and sentenced to death. In time, Hotema's case went to the Supreme Court of the United States, which affirmed the judgment. President Theodore Roosevelt eventually commuted the sentence to life imprisonment, and Hotema died in the federal penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia. As part of his fee, Humphry received the shotgun Hotema had used to dispatch the witches.

"My Own Story" by Thomas C. Humphry (pp. 13-14) {OHS Archives}.

"Smoke Signals From Indian Territory" by Frances Imon (Chapter 22).

Correction: Hotema v. U.S. (Tx) (The citation for his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court should read - 22SCt895 {1902}, NOT 22US895.)

Wow, I'm impressed at your information, oldwest.
Thank you.
Frye is my soon-to-be-ex-husband's ancestor's family name in Indian Territory, but I don't know if related to this Frye. His Frye ancestor was a Presbyterian minister and married a Chickasaw or Choctaw. My son has the tin-type photo of her.

Tower, I'm curious, what do you think would have been the outcome if he'd been tried by the Choctaw?