excerpts from Middle America

Not all in Ellsworth pleased with re-enactment of a public hanging


ELLSWORTH -- Josh Choitz wonders why there is such a fuss about his resurrection of a public hanging skit when other portrayals planned for Ellsworth's Great American Cattle Drive and Cowtown Festival are just as controversial.

"I just watched 'Gunsmoke' the other day. They were hanging somebody," he said. "The whole thing is centered around the wickedest cowtown. It's all about the Old West."

A highlight will be driving 140 longhorn cattle through Ellsworth, marking the end of the cattle drive at 2 p.m. on the 29th. This year is Ellsworth's 140th anniversary.

"My concern is I don't want Ellsworth to be associated with this," Denning said.

A member of the Drovers Hall of Fame board of directors, she doesn't want the skit to overshadow the weekend's purpose. One goal is to raise money to renovate the former Insurance Building, where the Drovers Hall of Fame will be housed.

A number of activities are planned, including a carnival, ice cream social, community barbecue and Cowtown Idol 2007.


"Nobody's denying that a lot of really bad stuff happened during the cowtown era. Lynching is a particularly violent practice of that time. Lynching just creates a whole image. I just don't think we want to go there," she said.

Garnell Hanson said she sees no reason why a fake hanging should be staged, or the "Shooting of Sheriff Whitney," the re-enactment of a real event that is also on the schedule.
"I think the violence should be downplayed, not added to," Hanson said.


Davis, the director of rural health clinics at Ellsworth County Medical Center, said she doesn't support violence, but there is a conflict that the community supports a shooting re-enactment, but not a hanging.
"We're going to have bordello girls all around, too, because we had whorehouses in Ellsworth. Is that another contradiction?" Davis said.

Gruesome and gory?

The image of someone getting shot with "blood and internal organs splattered, that's more gruesome and gory than somebody getting hung," said Mark Roehrman, owner of the Ellsworth Antique Mall and chairman of the Drovers board.


As for the possible influences on children, "You see worse than that on TV," Thomas said.

"A little controversy will create a little more excitement. That doesn't bother me. If people will come and see us, that's what we want," Roehrman said.

The skit starts with a card game that results in a murder, and after a short trial, four men are hung in a set of metal gallows. The condemned will have nooses around their necks, but the ropes are not tied to anything. Choitz said the players will be wearing safety harnesses to protect them in case someone slips.

"The worse thing that could possibly happen is someone will fall on their knees," Choitz said.


"Good Lord, you wouldn't believe the opposition he's coming up against. Our editor in chief here is really raising a fuss," Darrell Choitz said.

All you see is the "optical illusion" of men hanging with masks over their heads, Koralek said.

"When I did this 20 years ago, safety was the first issue," he said.