Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1882-08-19

Pettigrew and Hand Some people have
asserted the Black Hills counties will %
solid for the latter named candidate
| There IL nothing to Indicate that Sucl
will be the case. The old settlers of the
Black Hills will remember that George
| Ii. Hand was 4 member of what was
known as the old Yankton townsits
ring. This ring was composed of men
some Of whom secured appointments e
Offices in Pennington, Custer and Law.
renee counties when they were first or.
ganized, and, coming out here, proposed
TO the people Of Rapid City to locate the
county seat Of Pennington county at this
point If the citizens wouid give them
one-half of the townsite for SO doing
They were the men who located tie
county seat of Lawrence county at Crook
against the will of nine-tenths Of the
people of that county, and who, when
the citizens of Rapid City refused to
give them one half the tOwnsite, located
county at Sheridan. A brother of
George II. Hand was the appointed to
the Office of register of deeds in Law
renee county. That the reign Of these
men in the Black Hills was against the
will of our people, and that they made
themselves obnoxious is evinced by the
fact that at the first election we were
authorized to hold they were ousted al
most to a man. There were one or two
exceptions, but those were men who
settled here with their families. and
who showed they had come here to
make for themselves homes rather than
for the purpose of plundering the Black
Hills pioneers. What do the Black
Hills counties owe to Hand? What
claim has he upolrthcir vote? 1t is said
for him he has been long identified with
the conduct of our territorial affairs
But during the time he has been in Of
flee he has in 10 way benefited us. or
laid us under any obligation. His in
fucnce, such as it has been, as a mem.
ber Of the Old townsitc ring. tended to
rctard, rather than to aid MS. lie was q
friend and co-worker with John l.. PEN
nington, the governor who said, when
petitoned for aid by the people of the
Black Hills in the winter Of lS76--'77.
that we were outlaws deserving Of no
Atsaf.. H.,
whole outside world and so far as he
was concerned We might remain so he
would give us no countenance. Such
were the men with whom George H.
Hand was identified about the time the
people Of the Black Hills were trying to
secure right of possession 10 this miner
al region Mr.. Pcttigrew is the one man
to whom We are to-day indebted for Il
prospect Of having in a short time con-
tinuous chain Of settlements connecting
the Black Hills region with eastern Da-
kota; Of having a railroad built to bring
in capital and immigration SO necessary
to the prosperity of this country His
bill for the opening ofthe Sioux rescrva
ton has become law before the re-
serve will bc opened there will be some
delay of course, but by his persevering
work, and by that alone, we have al as
surance that the vast tract of fertile land
which has been living useless, cutting us
off from the civilization Of the east, will
be opened to settlement and cultivation.
BY and through his efforts we will have
this region, sufficient in all natural re-
rources for becoming a great state, be-
come populous and prosperous. BY his
efforts we have an assurance of railroad
communication with the east-an asslIr-
ance which could not have been secured
in any other way than through the open
ing up TO settlement of the reserve.
Then do the people Of the Black Hills
owe anything to Mr.. Pettigrew Are
the benefits to accrue directly TO us
through his efforts Of sufficient magni
tude to place us under obligations to
him? Can the people of the Black
Hills, in the face Of Mr.. Pettigrew's sue
cessful work for the passage Of the reser-
vation till-a measure which will ben
eft us far more than the people Of any
other portion of the erritory-answer
this question in the negative. On one
hand we have Pettigrew, to whom we
owe more than to any other one man
On the other we have Hand, to whom
we owe nothing, unless it be in the way
Of return for the share he had in the at
tempted townsite steals Of 1S76-'77
The delegates sent from the Black Hills
| to the Grand Forks convention may he
called upon to choose between the two
men named. To which should they
give theirvotes?
Mr.. Hand seems to possess qualifica
tions for ingratiating himself with carpet
bag politicians During his whole his
tory in this territory he has "stood in
with the executive. Pennington, o
Alabama, the man who declared thu
people of the Black Hills outlaws un
worthy Of protection" was his patron
and Ordway, of New Hamsphire, b.
whom the territory has the misfortun,
Ia ha ,,nuo~nnl ~ thn ,~nn.a.. t;..>.> !;