The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-09-08


he had the sympathy of the Indian Office and the sup
port OF Senator owing TO the political influence OF
lhe uoOloT lalhlly ABOVE All ne n"u pciioImcu the
following service to j. W. Bosler who, with the other
members Of
THE INDIAN RING
then controlled the Interior Department as fully as II
now does. The service this;-Durng the absence
of the agent the represented him gave Boscr
vouchers for beef -four bacon, sugar coffee sc, for
$500 20 more than the contract price Of the mcrchan
disc delivered. Thus he averaged $50 oxen at go
pounds each, without weighing any Of them, and, as
soon as the agent returned he found the actual weight
To he 934 pounds each. Major Randall. the military
agent, immediately sent corrected voucher TO the In
dian oice, with notice of the particulars and extent Of
Tue iraud The voucher had, of course, been paid az
Boser prldes himself upon being able TO get his
vouchers, however questionable through all the de-
partments so that he can the money the very
day OF their presentation No reclamation has ever
yet been made although the particulars OF this
ton were brought out before the Congressional Com
mittee and can be in their report and in the
pamphlet entitled the Summing up of Evidence"
&c These frauds by DR.. Roberts Tor the benefit of j.
w. BOsler, were specially brought TO the notice of
Secretary DeanO, To restrain him confirming the
nomination Of the Doctor TO the Grand River Indian
Agency dwell ut this time on the circumstances
nected with the granting OF this voucher because Dr.
Daniels and DR. Saylc have several times been absent
from their reservations government business by
authority of the Interior Department, and this is a
iavoritc mode with the cattle ring for procuring frau
dulen vouchers from some irresponsible acting agent
The agents give bonds but the employees do not;
therefore bold frauds usually committed when the
agent absent from the reservation, and in this
case 1t is usual TO make reclamation, even II the
agent, Immediately ON his return, notifies the Indian
Department of the fraud.
SURPRISING REPORTS.
The correspondence that will presently introduce
will show how an improper character was thrust upon
two of our agents without conference with them, or
with the nominating body; how political influences
brought TO bear upon Me Red Cloud Reservation,
and how Agent Daniels first became dishcartcned.
The improper character Is the now somewhat notori
contractor, ID. j. Mccain, OF whom the late conf
dental clerk of the Board of Indian Commissioners,
who had official cognizance Of his accounts made the
following systematically is singular fact connected
with the Indian that report adverse To the
interests Of ring agents or contractors has been
acted on except appoint a commission, which inva-
Iiably reported favor of the ring and against the
favorable report and all untvobc reports have been
suppressed No better example can be furnished than
McCanns transportation contract for 1873 1874, 1875
and 1876 In lS3-I4 was found that Mccain charged
the government for carrying goods l32 miles, tho actual
distance travelled being ninety Subsequently under
new contract made necessary by the removal OF the
Red Cloud Agency, he was allowed pay Tor distance
OF 2l3 miles, while the department had the
evidence of McCanns wagon master, sub contractors
aud Red Cloud employee showing the distance To be
much less The loss by that single operation was
S4l 600 and Mr. Dcano knew the facts personally, for
he got them directly from through the Chief Clerk
of the Indian Office, as well as officially IRON the Board
of Indian Commissioners The same distance was paid
for the succeeding year. at corresponding loss TO the
public purse McCanns contract Tor the current fiscal
year should be just for impeachment against the
contracting officer of the Interior Department. The
contract was let to HIM from Omaha thus throwing
out the lowest bidder for wagon transportation from
Cheyenne to Red Cloud Agency, which the kind OF
transportation advertised for. BY law the Union Pa
cilc Railroad is compelled to carry government goods
without cash payment the corporation being indebted
The United states. Economy and the public interest
that this law should be carried out and all
government freight carried Tor the government far
possible on that road BY making Mccain contractor
The government is cheated the cash paid him
transportation from Omaha TO Cheyenne And the law
violated in not giving the contract to the lowest
bidder. This Is the correspondence referred to-
cORRFsPOSDENCE
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
wAsHrSeTox, D. G., March IL. 1872
sIRThe bearer, D. j. Mccain, Esd visits Fort Laramie
ton Of supplies the Milestone Agency under his contract
with the n s in g . oe o
Nebraska that Mr. McCann may be of use to in your
Inc Red Cloud indians upon the, their =, own WIT, proper
yaon a. distance from .ho mme Ti ~ne tS
ton to the Secretary Of the Interior and both this
the question be under consideration ut the time of Mr.
visit ss 50 M
well and favoaby known 20 them His influence with Red
d the qualify take part in such
De MG n aas Si AGENT MIN to you
49, '" RID 6LouD AGENCY, April 10, 1872
DEAR sR-I send copy of letter from the milan
Mr. GSn M iSS ss you ws e 9Th @ H ne
perfect these Indians and they are all strangers
dian he any knowledge OF the country in fact,
he st a Red uS Cloud wp e as you man an 'f idea De of hm
his presence Is looked [7on by the Indians Docs
1 Wished 70 know What he was here for and had the
pressed themselves strongly This reflects upon my
some other person selected take place among these
the hys P DO had n aG
the objects of government much desired When
herr o not the man PH RIVER to To-Day hee OF
chiefs and head men chat repeSep,
favor of moving north on TO their reservation
done much to and think Is no less sensible this
rebuke One Of the ehe, kea Dog VINO lost SON short
afcon has put me in the right road me white man Is
shall do he wants me- hope many others have been
understand the goodness of the government write
wish known that 1t from at least not until leave
this place Very respectfully, your obcdent servant
The foregoing letter used at the time because
of the restriction placed upon by the writer but his
resignation and removal now Trees IL from all restrlc
ton.
IN SUBSEQUENT LETTERS
from DR.. Daniels, he complained that large herds of
cattle were forced upon him. when the cattle should
have been delivered needed accordance with the
contract The Doctor became dissatisfied and IT was
with great difficulty that he could be induced to remain,
although the Missionary Association gave him ad
ditional compensation for medical missionary
services The deliveries of cattle at this
Board Of Indian commissioners to question
the OF the vouchers II seemed to me i'm
possible that the best Indian agent had ever seen
could yield TO temptations by cattle contractors, even
when backed by the Interior Department Under this
belief favored his appointment as Indian inspector,
and did not allow myself harbor doubt until he
made the report Of the Spotted Tail agency referred
in former letter. by which Mr. Delano felt war
ranled in rejecting all that Colonel kenble and Captain
Avord, his special commissioners, had revealed of
specific frauds cattle A few days alter DR.. Daniels
had started for the Spotted Tall reservation the
nature OF his report anticipated by the Indian
Ring ut Washington and communicated IN confidence
me- but disbeeved it totally until his fabulous re-
port revealed Its truth then made searching inyes.
tgaton, with the help Of officers from Fort Laramie Of
traders with whom the Doctor had intimacy, and
with some of the former employees on the reservation.
They all concurred in testiiyng that the cattle con-
had vouchers
they had delivered There was, however, evidence
that the agent had enriched himself beyond some
presents that he ought not TO have accepted.
have not seen the Doctor since But from tho
questonings Of mutual friend | infer that he
got sick at heart because inericrcd with, and
because he was not relieved when he desired it, and
that then the employees mlsed him. For long time
he without platform scales and II WAS impossible
for him always to count and weigh the cattle. am far
from feeling unkindly toward him. but l do ccnsurc
most severely those who, instead OF staying up the
hands of agents honOrng and Strengthening their
tempters. 1t is very easy for religonists, who are
hedged round with moral usages and conventional
prOprieticS, condemn a who Is cut oil from all