St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-13
PIERRE DEPOPULATED.
Citizens Of South Dakota's
Capital Swell the Crowd
Of Boomers.
Thous ands Cross Over to the
Mile Square and Locate
Claims.
Whisky Flows Like Water and
the Revels Of the Romans
Are Eclipsed.
Troops Powerless to Preserve
Order and Join in the
Orgies.

special TO the Globe.
PIERRE, S. d., Feb. 12.-At 4 O'Clock
this afternoon official orders came to
Lieut.. Tassin to withdraw the troops
stationed at Fort Pierre and place no
further hindrance in the way of settlers
going on the reservation. When the
news first became known in this city
the scene that ensued was scarcely
ever equaled. The city became
perfect bedlam from one end
to the other, and In few minutes
horses hitched to every imaginable con-
veyance were headed for the reserva-
tion and lashed to run by the boomers,
ard it seemed like a race of life or
death to see who would be the first to
get across. The banker deserted his
desk, the laborer dropped his pick and
shovel, while business houses were all
closed and the proprietors mounted
wagons or horses and joined in the
mad stampede. Hacks and 'busses
were ready, and in many instances
S25 was paid for ride across to Fort
Pierre. Many went on foot. lacking
other means to get across. In less than
forty minutes Pierre was almost de-
populated. and not enough members of
the legislature were left in the state
house to form a quorum.
ON WENT THE CRAZY CROWD
without minding road or anything, even
crossing the river at spots where the
ice was marked dangerous. In a few
minutes hundreds of men, wagons and
horses were sWarmlng up over the
bluffs on the border of the reservation.
Your correspondent secured standing
room OH dray, which went thunder
ing over the frozen surface of the Mis-
souri, river, with some thirty
men on board. When the crest
Of the high bluffs was reached
on the old Deadwoed trail an
exciting scene was witnessed. Away in
the distance was a train of conveYanceS
dashing along, and the NUMBER of per-
sons who reached the lands is estimated
at 5000. Here and there boomers had
stopped and were trying to hold land
upon which they expected to locate and
others were conteSting their claims.
Within two hours after the troops
had been withdrawn, and about
the time darkness began to set in,
hundreds of tents and shacks dotted the
reservation uplands for miles. What
was yesterday the home of the Sioux
braves had been transformed into Sc
ries of little villages, all under the con-
troll of whites. Tonight a constant
drain On the immense lumber yards In
the city has been made. until they are
utterly depleted, and the lumber is be-
ing taken in some case as far as tWen-
ty-five miles out on the newly opened
lands. Hundreds of shanties will be
built before morning on what has hith-
erto been an uninhabited waste. Many
reports of
TROUBLE BETWEEN SETTLERS
who have taken the same claims are
coming in. At Fort Pierre, where
whisky and gambling has always been
prohibited, everything is turned wide
open, and squaW men, half-breeds, and
in some cases Indians, are joining in a
drunken reyel with white men, who
have flocked in there by hundreds, and
the people are terrorized. Wagon after
wagon load of whisky and beer, as
well as every known gambling de-
vice. has been sent over from
this city this evening. The troops
are pOwerless to preserve order even if
they had authority, and the soldiers are
joining in the general melee. Fred
Pettigrew is chief of the vigilance COM
mittee on the mile square, and with a
band of 100 men is trying to -disperse
lllC IlOU. Ii bIduSpllCu tU-udy tIdV tllc
man badly Injured and landed in the
guard house last night was not v. E.
Prentice, but one John II. Cummings,
an Oklahoma boomer, who was one of
the first to break through the lines on
Monday, and was afterward arrest
ed and locked up. EX-Territorial
Auditor Ward and ex-Congressman
John j. Kleiner headed a band of
twenty boomers who crossed the river
eleven miles below this city, and sue
ceeded in making camp at Deadman's
creek, at the head of Bad river, seventy
five miles west of here. a detachment
of cavalry under Lieut.. Godfrey
| rounded them UP and drove them back
| to Pierre, they arriving here just as the
| news came that the boomers could 20 or
the reservation. The band then re-
traced their steps to the spot whence
they had been driven, where they will
found a county seat. The weather i:
| like summer.