NOVEMBER 2017 • NEBRASKAland 29
Above: Secured at the
center of the fort is the
powder magazine, a
limestone building used to
store gunpowder.
Opposite: After dinner,
soldiers settle down for
a game of chess: Josiah
Miller, John Miller and
Kevin Arnold sit on the
left side of the table;
Mike Bowman and Jim
Habegger sit on the right.
In 1820 one man awaited execution, locked up
on that restless eve. While a few doors down the
women toiled, the offi cers and their dinner guests
will be most pleased.
But outside the westerly wind howled, it sent
plumes of chimney smoke straight into the
punishment room. Being hanged or smoked like
salted fi sh to death, the poor prisoner didn't know
which would come more soon.
