The daily gazette., 1878-07-24
SECOND EDITION
Q ROW CREEK,
From the Army and Navy Journal.

From the Army and Navy journal.
If the startling frauds of the Crow
Creek Agency teach the people the need
of destroying root and branch, the pres
ent system of Indian management, the
revelation will not have been fruitless.-
There is one point in this affair which has
not been commented upon, but which is
of some importance. Though the pres
ent disclosures are the result of Mr.,
Hayt's recent tour of inspection, the
seizure of the Grow Creek, Lower Brule,
and Cheyenne agencies was made by
army officers four months ago. 1t was
done so quietly and effectively that before
the official thieves could save themselves
or destroy any evidences of their guilt,
the work was complete. Agent Living
ston denounced the conduct of the sol
diers capturing his Office safe as an I'M
warranted interference with civil author
ity, and was not going to submit at all, if
there was law in the land to help him.
We have sometimes wondered what would
have happened il he had had under his
sole control, as agent, a strong body of
armed, uniformed, and equipped Indian
police, composed of picked men, organ
lied under the system that Mr.. Hayt has
recently, under the act of Congress, es-
tablished on some of the reservations.-
With so much at stake the agent might
have shown fight; the Indian police, re-
ceiving their pay from him, and sworn to
obey him absolutely in case of conflict,
would have fought also; and the result
probably would have been, at very least,
the destruction of the evidences of guilt,
and the making off with much undstri-
buted booty.
The Crow Creek fraud is the hardest
case of stealing, perjury, and forgery re-
corded for many year, even in the an
mails OF the Indian Bureau, so rich in that
way. There was complete conspiracy
between agents and traders for using the
whole agency as mere machinery for
plunder, while false vouchers and forged
pay-rols were only individual details of
a universal system of thieving. We
specially call attention to the fact that
Livingston began his career of roguery
eight years ago, soon after his appoint
ment as agent. He had the highest
recommendations, and his accounts were
as nearly right as the Indian Bureau re-
quires. 1t is therefore clear that under
the bureau system agency stealing can go
on continuously upon colossal scale for
eight years, without detection. Living
ston and his pals have been able to salt
down their proceeds in lands, three Neva-
da silver mines, two cattle ranches stock
ed from the Crow Creek and Cheyenne
agencies, and other solid evidences of
substantial prosperity.
Their plan seems to have been very
simple, consisting of three branches;
first, to take possession of everything
which could come under Mr.. Wemyss'
phrase of "portable property" secondly,
to use the agency to bring toll to them;
and thirdly, to make out fraudulent and
forged papers for use at Washington
These practices escaped the eagle g, es of
several successive Secretaries of the In
| terror, and still more Indian Comm g.
| sioners. The agency and tue trading
post at Crow Creek played into each
others hands, the traders warehouse be-
ing in'ide of the stockade, ten feet from
the agency warehou e, and stocked from
the latter. The tricks of this ring were
So various that no doubt OF the S170.O00
| appropriated to Livingston's agency dur
ing seven years, the thieves got An enor-
nous part. They sold agency wood to
the steamboats,, and ag ncy hay 10 the
Black Hills wagon train; they kept a
boarding house with agency beef, milk,
to board there; they fe,i their priva
stock on Government stores,a ,and pocket
ell the earnings made by the Govern
ment blacksmith shop from private jobs;
they sold the crops on he agency farm
| III y stole and sold Indian annuity goods
and rations; they paid Indians in their
own ratioss and annuities for large
quantities of hay and wood put up by
them, charged the Government for this
hay and wood in their accounts, and
then resold them to private PERSONS; the
cloth, muslin, Oracco, and hardware, as
well as provisions, sent to the Indians,
were appropr ated TO pay the trader,
clerk, head farm r, and families of en-
pleyes; private servants were carried on
agency pay-rolls, and moving machints,
wagons, and stock belo uging to the re-
|servation W re so d in order that the ring
might pocket the proceeds.
Not sati fled with this they practised
the Tweeds system of fraudulent vourh-
ers. They drew rations for annuities for
800 more Indians than W re on the
agency; they Gu off whole bands from ra-
tions, dozen times years, for alleged
offenses, and tue rations so saved W re
not accounted for; on Yankton q iim was
nominally allowed S62 ton for Bloss-
burg coal; by scrimping the fations issued
something was got in that way Tor the
thieves; indians working for few days
were put on the rolls at $50 or $50 a month |
for a quarter or for year; Living ton |
had vouchers for 1888 expended in pre- |
sents of money 10 Indians, while the lat |
ter say that about $50 was given; seven |
tons of Ray were bought, and an account |
rendered for seventy. The employees
were required to vouch for fic itious
sums aud, being extremely ignorant, !
most of them did so without question. |
Joseph Mcdonald, laborer, never had a |
hay contract, but he voushes for one of |
81 600; Scout Hooker's name was put to a |
voucher for 81 ,l6O for hauling logs, but
he testified that he never received it, and
becoming fright ned, for some unex-
planned reason, after his testimony, he
went into loft and shot himself dead.
Forged vouchers and false vouchers
have been found by scores, for sums
ranging from $50 to 81 800.
TIL difference between the property
reported on hand and tia actually found
show how cool the thieves W ere To
bacco, reported, 2,2l2 pounds-found,
6,305 pounds; potatoes, reported 100
bushels-found, 200; horned cattle, re-