The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-06-06
OF A CROOK
%sarles Davis Worked His Land
Mindle Racket to Make
a Raise.
he of Davis and Cameron From
|tOdy Before Commissioner
DingeyOn.
Butte Miner.

Hong delayed cases held over
N(}tfk3J Davis and William Cameron for
e pn TO defraud the United States
:. ~ le to or dominion over the public
rs hinder color of a Minnesota land
& 5ment company swindle, came up
limited States Commissioner
DIN <bn yesterday.
Ik&fUill be remembered that the de-
, fen6&14ts opened an employment agency
bufeG6 in this city in February last, and
induced several Woodworking laborers
to put up a small amount of money, for
which The defendants alleged that they
would furnish the applicants with en-
ployment in settling on wild lands So as
TO obtain title thereto, which they were
to dispose of to the company. 1t was a
traneparent swindle on the face of it, but
Davis and Cameron were successful in
inducing some men here to agree to their
terms. One of them discovered that he
had been heeced and made complaint to
the authorities, when Davis and Cam
eron were arrested and have been here
pending examination.
The complainant disappeared soon after
and the authorities have since been en-
deavoring to locate him. SO as to convict
the defendants if possible. After a fruit
less search the effort had to be abandoned
and the defendants released. They were
brought before Commissioner Dirgevon,
where United States Attorney Weed APP
peared Tor the government. He stated
the case as it stood; that the government
had only one witness whose testimony
was entirely heresay and that it was use
less to hold the defendants any longer.
At the same time he hoped the marshal
would keep the case in mind and be pre-
pared to renew it whenever evidence was
produced of which there was IA fair pros
pect. The offense charged against the
defendants was one that deserved ex-
emplary punishment of those who
practice it for the defense of the com
munity. On his motion COMMISSIONS
Dingevon formally discharged the pris-
oners.
When they were once more free Davis
became communicative and talked about
the swindle without restraint. He
thought his was as legitimate a game as
any other game of chance that people
were induced to buck against in the hope
of outwitting another. The suckers he
caught, he said. were quite ready to go
into q scheme to rob the government.
He had been most successful in running
the scheme in San Francisco. There, he
said, he caught four out of every five
sheeny clerks in the city, whom he per
suaded into the notion that they could
make $500 apiece by operating in wild
lands in Oregon. He had cleaned up
$4,000 there, but it took the proverbal
course of ill-gotten gains and took wings
with q celebrity equal to that with
which he made it. He went to Denver,
and There was; made a rank sucker
himself, blowing it all in against a two
card box fare outfit in short order. He
got cleaned out and pawned $1,000 worth
of jewelry that went the same way. The
pawn tickets were on his person when he
was arrested here. He and Cameron
then came up to Butte to work theiI
own little racket and had poor success
from the start. suckers proving scarce
One day he saw one of his dupes giving
Chief Leyden, who was her doing de.
tective work on the force, the tip. He
saw their time was up and shut up shop
intending to skip without delay. He
and Cameron got to South Butte and
were preparing to shake the dust of theil
sandals against this city when they were
1abbed and have been in Jail ever since
They don't intend to wait here until the
nissing link comes to the front again.