268 DYING BY PROXY. 
sisting the escape, as so often occurs in civil- 
ized life, were generally the first to apprehend 
and bring the fugitive criminal to justice. 
But among the Choctaws, at least, any one 
might take the place of the murderer, and in 
the death of the substitute the law was satis: 
fied, and the true criminal remained exempt. 
An intelligent and creditable Choctaw related 
to me an affecting incident, for the truth of 
which he vouched. An Indian had remained 
responsible for the appearance, on a certain 
day, of his brother, who had killed a man. 
When the day arrived, the murderer exhibited 
some reluctance to fulfil the pledge, when 
the other said to him: “ My brother, you are 
no brave—you are afraid to die—stay here 
and take care of my family—I will die in 
your place:” whereupon he immediately at- 
tended the appointed spot, and was executed 
accordingly. 
The highest honor known among them, in 
fact, being that of a ‘great brave,’ it reflected 
the greatest credit to meet death boldly. In- 
stead of being visited by his tribe with infamy 
for the crime he had committed, it rather 
tended to make his name illustrious, if he 
met the consequences without fear or flinch- 
ing: whereas, any effort to avoid death was 
attributed to cowardice. It would have been 
esteemed quite as ignominious for the mur- 
derer to flee the established forfeit of his life, 
as for a ‘gentleman’ under the ‘ civilized ¢ 
of honor,’ to back out from a duel. 
But among most of the frontier, as also the 
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