The fate of this desperado was yet undecided by the Committee. He was not without strong hope of escape, and his good conduct was doubtless attributable to the belief that both Howie and Fetherstun would interpose to save him. The evening of the day after the death of Pizanthia, the Committee met. The case of Dutch John came up for discussion. If it had been consistent with the laws prescribed for the government of the Committee, John would have been banished; but his guilty, blood-stained record demanded that he should die. He had been a murderer and highwayman for years, and the vote for his immediate execution was unanimous. The decision was reduced to writing, and a member of the Committee deputed to read it to the prisoner, and inform him that he would be executed in one hour. The wretched man was overcome. He rose from his blankets, and paced several times excitedly across the floor. Like Plummer, he then resorted to supplication. “Do with me as you please. Disable me in any way, cut off my hands and feet, but let me live. You can certainly destroy my power for harm without taking my life.” “Your request cannot be complied with,” said the messenger. “You must prepare to die.” “So be it, then,” he replied, and immediately all signs of weakness disappeared. “I wish,” he continued, “to write to my mother. Is there a German here who can write my native language?” Such a person was sent for. Under John’s dictation, he wrote a letter to his mother. It was read to him, and he was so dissatisfied with it that he removed the rags from his frozen hands and fingers, and wrote himself. He told his mother that he had been condemned to death, and would be executed in a few minutes. In explanation of his offence, he wrote that while coming from the Pacific side, to deal in horses, he had fallen into the company of bad men. They had beguiled him into the adoption of a career of infamy. He was to die for aiding in the robbery of a wagon, while engaged in which he had been wounded, and his companion was slain. His sentence, though severe, he acknowledged to be just.