Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1883-09-12

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In Tuesdays Sioux Falls Press there
appears an editorial in the nature Of {
scrap from the secret history Of the past
written by the editor, E. w. Caldwell
1t relates to certain propositions made b,
Ordway, the governor OF Dakota some
three years ago, or shortly after his ar
rival in Dakota with his gubernato1ia
commission. AS prelude to the article
Mr.. Caldwell states that under ordinary
circumstances it might not be considered
proper to give private conversation to
the public, but that Ordway had forfeit.
cd all considerations Of this lpaturea by
giving tolthe newspapers lying state
ments regarding Dakota citizens, many
OF these statements being in the shape
of alleged private Conversations with in.
dividuals. Mr. Caldwell recites that
about three years ego, when he was edi.
tor OF the Pantagraph.. Ord way visited
him in Sioux Falls and told him that he
desired to form a combination Of Ger.
tain leading newspapers in the territory
for mutual benefit and for the control Of
politics. He represented himself as being
powerful factor in. Washington circles
through his former position as sergeant.
alarms of the house of representatives
He said he had cashed for congressman,
and even senators, checks for disreputa-
bic purposes, thus confessing his entire
willingness to engage in any dirty piece
OF busincss) and that such congressman
and senators were in hisspower and dare
not refnse him, any demand he might
make upon them. With this lever he
proposed to control matters at
the Washington end sss,s of ssysthe
of the string, and. with the aid of the
newspapers he desired to secu,e, to max e
himself and his schemes solid on Dskot "a
soil. He said it made no difference to
him whether Garfield or HANCOCK vas
elected-his Influence in Washington
would remain the, same, (by means of
the blackmalling system he intended to
inaugurate for the intimidation of sena-
tors and Representatives.. He then pro.
posed to secure for Mr.. Caldwell the
postnastership q Sioux Fallsif he would
place himself and his e wspaper in the
desired combination. The proposition
was rejected by Mr. Caldwell and Ord
way has since been his uncompromising
enemy. He made one or two attempts
to establish newspaper at Sioux Falls,
but failed! up }e4a, 81, "a: 4yIs /,
The experience of Mr.. Caldwell re-
minds the writer of an experience very
sinilar. 1t was in Ordway's rooms ii,
Valentipe's block, just about the time OF
the assembling OF the legislature Of 1881,
Tat he (Ordway) outlined the
same plan given to Mr.. Caldwell.
spoke of his desirc..to bring into q
combination certain leading newspapers
OF Dakota (for mutual benefit, of course)
whereby the politics and patronage of
the territory might DO controlled, and
impressed upon his hearer the advan.
tages to accrue from an alliance with an
official who possessed his influence at
Washington. He mentioned his desire
to secure the fealty of a Sioux Falls
newspaper and expressed his admiration
for the ability Of, Mr.. Caldwell as an edi:
tor. He asked tie writer 'gifsthere
was not some official position he deared
and told him he was entitled to tile
1iaukton postoffice- Being assured by
the writer that there! was no place to
which he aspired. Ordway said he was
sorry, as lie would like to do something
for him. From this time there was a
growing coolness upon the part of Ord.
way which finally eliminated IN open
rupture, as in the case of Mr.. Caldwell
Ordway made several attempts TO start a
newspaper of his own in Yankton, as
many Of our citizens will remember, but
his project failed, as it failed in Sioux
Falls.
These are two incidents in the caree,
OF the man who goes over the territory
prating about his purity and about the
wickedness of others-two direct at
tempts to corrupt the press and secure
control of political matters Through the
blackmailing process. In certain quar-
tiers he has succeeded in gaining contro
of newspapers, by what means we dc
not know, but our own experience leads
us to believe that if they are not paiG
for their services in some way. it is be
cause those services are not deemel
worth an expenditure of official inhu
ence. IA
From one of the parties engaged IL
the transaction we have secured state
ment OF facts relative to the long delayed
organization Of Hand county. The part,
who gave US this information was a rep
resentative of the interests of st
Lawrence, which was to have been mad,
the county seat of Hand county, but wa
sold out at the last moment, after
square bargain had been made with Gov
ernor Ordway. which specified tina
st. Lawrence should be th
county seat. The pledge required b,
the governor from the parties intereste,
in st. Lawrence was that three delegate
should be elected in Hand county to th
Grand Forks convention and that thes
three delegates should be placed abso
lutely under his control and direction