Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1879-04-17
TRIUMPH ToR JUSTICE.

ingston has been announced. Inc cnerRo
was that DR.. Livingston had made use OF
fictitious voucher for the purpose Of de-
frauding the government, with al impl'ca-
ton that the voucher was forged. At the
time this was alleged to have occurred Dr.
Livingston was agent for the lower Yank-
tomas Indians, at Grow Greek agency, In
Dakota, about one hundred and eighty
miles above Yankton. he had occupied
this position of trust for q number Of years
and was known all along the river as one
Of the most efficient agents in the service.
His Indians were we'll provided for, were
happy and contented with their lot. Years
of faithful service and the uniform success
of DR.. L%ivingston's efforts to subdue the
wild natures of his savage wards and bring
them under willing subsection to the gov
eminent, should have brought its recogni-
ton from the agents of the government and
have induced them to move With decent
caution in the pursuit Of evidence with
which to break down q character which a..
ways had been the very embodiment Of in.
tegrity. But 1t was not so. The more Ell.
Gent the man the greater seemed to he the
necessity for extraordinary efforts to de.
stroy the confidence the government re-
posed In him.
General Hammond, first as superinten.
dent of Dakota Indians and afterwards -
inspector OF Indians, was in the field,
clothed with even more authority than the
constitution permits. 1t was q dangerous
experiment to place such absolute power
in the hands of a man so totally unit to
use it. Hammond began his work upon
the presumption that every man appointed
to a position in the Indian service from the
Episcopal church wa dishonest. His
hatred Of the representatives of this leli.
gious organization moved him to pursue
them with relentless and unceasing vigor,
to the end that they might not only be re.
moved from the service but overwhelmed
with the odium Of complete disgrace. The
result was that four Of the principal agents
along the river, all appointees from the
Episcopal church, were summarily dismiss.
ed from the service and the personal
property OF three of them seized by
military force. Of the four
thus arbitrarily cut of during a period Of
their greatest usefulness. DR.. Livingston was
one. The other three have never been
brought to trial and never will be, as there
are no charges against them. Under the
sanction of the commissioner of Indian
affairs and the direction of General Ham
mond, intelligence of the disgrace of these
four men was flashed over the wires to all
the leading newspapers of the land, and
then the government abandoned fur
Their operations against three of them and
concentrated its efforts upon DR.. Livinge-
ton. The world was told that they were
all thieves and defaulters and there the
agents af the government rested their case
so far as three of their victims were cop''
cerned. 1t was the towards resort and a.
such should be branded with the name 1t
deserves.
After q long process of detective and legal
manipulations DR.. Livingston was arraign.
ed for trial. The government brought to
bear against him every point within Its con.
troll. The prosecuting attorney did his
duty as q sworn officer and contested every
inch of the ground. A jury of unusual in.
!elligence and fairness sat in judgment up
On the case. The court gave to the gov
eminent side the advantage of every favor
.ble point in the law. The charge against
he defendant was deliberately AID dis.
oassionately tried and a verdict of not
guilty promptly rendered. People who +
'est understand the merits of the case re.
dice with earnest rejoicing over the com.
olete yindication received by DR.. Livipgs.
:on at the hanes of q jury of his peers.
community has never wsvered in its
'elief of his innocence, though 1t may have
cared the result of the Vaccinations of the
powerful and merciless combination array.
d against him. The witnesses for the
prosecution were generally of Q class not
'oted for . fine conception of the truth.
They haYe, many of them, been for . year
d the hands of the enemies of the defen.
lant-dependent upon them for bread and
1t was therefore not an unreasen.
Ible fear that DR.. Livingston might nnal.
be made the victim of circumstances.
But this danger has been happily passed.
In this hour of the triumph of right and
usticc We have not much to say regarding
and Dougherty, the chief mani.
,ulstors of the charges against Dr.. Livings.
on. The Press and Dakotaian has pre-.
iously paid its respects to them In various
rays. II now only desires to remind them
hat the public does not forget. They may
'ndeavor 10 convince themselves that they
vere only performing . duty. bat the pub.
ic will always believe that duty stops .