St. Paul daily globe., 1893-01-30
TO PLUMBER POOR 10
An Act to Rob the Indians
Pushed Through Congress
by Nelson.
How the Pine Ring Planned
to Secure the Red Lake
Timber.
False Appraisements for the
Government and All Out
SIDE the Ring,
And Correct Ones for the In
sideps--NOble Fires an
Honest Agent.

Honest Agent.
Special to the Globe.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29.-The Fifty
first congress passed an act which was
approved by the president JAM II. 1889,
and which was entitled IAN Act for the
Relief and Civilization of the Chippewa
Indians in Minnesota" AS the sequel
shows, it had better been entitled an
act to rob these Indians. From what
was said at the time of the passage of
the act. it was presumed that the pur-
pose was to virtually buy from those In
dians the Red Lake reservation" and
the ''W hite Earth reservation" Ihe
Indians were to cede these lands to the
United States, and then they were to be
surveyed and timber on them was to be
appraised. and according to this survey
and appraiSement the Indians were to
be paid at the rate of So per thousand
feet Of timber. The execution of the
provisions of the act were entrusted to
the secretary of the interior. in whose
care was left an appropriation OF S6O,OOO
to pay the expenses. This amount is
to be reimbursed by the government to
the Indians out Of the proceeds Of
Tlae Sale of tEae LAND.
The act provides for commission of
three persons at compensation of $40
per day. whose duties are to negotiate,
etc, with the indians; also six apprais-
ers at Sc per day, including expenses.
After the negotiations were completed
the survey was to be made, and the land
divided into forty acre tracts, or sec
.tions, and then the timber was to be
appraised by the appraisers already re-
ferred to; their reports to be filed with
the commissioner OF the general land
office. and duplicates were also to be
filed in the office of the register of the
land Office of the district in which the
lands were situated, and copies OF these
appraisalS were to be furnished to any
one desiring them by the commissioner
of the general land Office. These valua-
tions and apDraisements were to show
with partIcularity the amount and
quality of the pine timber on the tracts,
and those valuations and appraiSementS
were to fix the price for the land at IS
per thousand feet of timber on the land.
Looks Well on tIae Surface.
The provisions of the act set the de-
tails of procedure forth fully,and every
thing on the surface looked all right,
and if its provisions had been faithfully
carried out it's title would not have been
a misnomer, but while the surface
looked all right the whole affair, from
beginning to end, was scheme to cheat
the indians and TO enrich a few OF the
plutocrats in Minnesota. The combina-
TO En
of the deal were MesSrs. Walker, Pills
bury, Washburne, Davis and Nelson.
Washburne and Davis are the United
States senators from Minnesota, and
Knute Nelson is the governor of that
state. 1t was Nelson who was chosen
to prepare and engineer it through con-
gress, and when it became law he
declined further service i'll congress, so
he could become one OF the commission
ers at $40 per day salary, so that he
could manage the deal he had made
with his associates. What has trans
pired since shows that the deal involved
the robbery of the Indians, and with a
part of the ill-gotten gains to aid Mel
sons election to the governorshlp and
Harrison's reelection to the presidency.
IfNelson and Harrison had been elected
these pirates would have succeeded in
their robbery scheme, and would have
reimbursed themselves for the contrlbu-
tions to the corruption fund of the cam
paign fund, both of state and nation.
How 1T rs to Be Bone.
From what has already been stated it
will be seen that the government fur
nishes the money to pay for the ap-
praisement of the timber to be sold, and
the secretary of the interior appointed
the appraisers. AS the combination of
plutocratS already named had furnished
large sums Of money for the Harrison
CORRUPTION fund in 1888, they had Spe
cial claim upon the administration and
had appointed on the commission and
for appraisers persons of their own
choice, and such as would serve their
purposes best.
After giving them the commission
and favor of the appraisers, Secretary
Noble made a pretenSe OF sincerity, and
appointed William Bull, of this city, an
expert in timber valuation, ana E. B.
Rockaway, OF Wisconsin. When Mr.
Noble, with some flourish, Informed
Bull that he was the secretary'S own ap-
pointment, and to him he would look to
unearth any frauds or crookedness he
might see, but he further directed Bull
to report to one Otis Staples, who was
chief appraiser, and to whom the
others were subordinates. Mr.. Bull
took the secretary at his word, pro-
ceeded to duty, and the moment heagot
to the field of operations he discovered
that the whole thing was fraud; that
the pretended valuation and appralse-
ment
Was No Appraisement
at all; that the appraisers were in fact
working for the Walker and Pillsbury
gang. and were fixing things in general
to rob the Indians and cheat the govern
ment. Mr.. Bull having taken the secre
and facts and quietly left for Washing
ton, where he brought the whole matter
to the personal attention OF Secretary
Noble. He showed the secretary that
the appraisers, under the direc-
ton of the chief, Otis Staples,
were making undervaluations and
false appraisements for the use
of the government and correct and true
ones for the use of the Walker. pills
bury and Nelson gang. He showed the
secretary that the valuation of cel-ain
SQUARE was fixed for the use of the
government at 250,000 feet of timber,
while a duplicate was furnished the
Walker, Pillsbury and Nelson comblna-
ton, on which by private marks and in
dications, the actual value was fixed at
400, 600 feet. This proportion of valua-
tion and method of work was followed
in the entire performance. 1t was also
shown that Otis Staples. the chief,
directed his subordinates not to report
any f1rty-acre lot that had less than
10000 feet of timber Oh it, thereby
throwing into the
tho C.,,n
these smaller tracts when they bought
the larger tracts, including the smaller.