The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1893-01-28
4 STRANGE CRANK.

| - - ossSUOVA OvessW0e
He Has Committed Many Crimes and
VIII Continue tho Wicked Work.
II am not 4 square man and don't
pretend to be," said c. F. Reed
yesterday.
C. F. Reed is, perhaps, one of the
most remarkable criminals in any
American prison to-day. He is at
present serving 180 days in the
county Jail on nine charges of land
frauds. Reed has had q career in
crooked practices extending all over
America, says the Denver Republi-
can. And yet he makes the boast
that he never took = drink of in
toxicating liquor in his life, never
smoked cigar and never but once
admitted to his confidence man
who drank, land that" said Reed,
accounts for my being in Jail here
for the first time in my life"
Reed and his partner, Hamilton,
were placing claims on timber lands
in Washington and doing conf
dence game there when they came
to grief. Hamilton went free; Reed
vent to Jail. He is very far from
being an ordinary man. His father
served three terms in the United
States Senate and was thrice the
Governor of one of the States Of
this Union, and his uncle is one of
the. greatest silver men in America
to-day. OF course. it is easy to un.
derstand that Reed is not his name.
II know but two things we'll" I"
said Reed yesterday. Zone is SNUG
Cling opium, the other politics. But
with all that can say truthfully
never took cent dishonesty from
an honest man in all my life. OF
course / operated that timber steal
very successfully in Tacoma, Seat
tie, Portland, Denver and San Fran
cisco, especially in the last place,
where cleaned up $14 900 in thirty
days, but the men who went in went
in with their eyes wide open, know
ing that they would have to swear
to the lie that they had entered
into no contract when they proved
up, and they were every one scoun-
drels, willing and anxious to rob
the Government. The scheme is to
get some one to take up 100 acres
of timber land, agreeing to give US
$40 for our trouble in locating them,
with the understanding that they
would get 5000 in four months.
They wanted to rob the Government
and we robbed them. We used to
place timber claims amounting to
from / 600, 600 to 100000 of feet
a year valued at from SO cents to
81 a thousand on the stump.
"But that is all through with, and
my dream now is to get out of here
and go into politics and opium
again. There is more excitement
in either one, especially opium, and
l long for the chase of the revenue
cutters again.
"Those were great old days up
on the sound, when l used to fool
the excise officers, and want
to get back to them again. You
know, smuggling is perfectly legit-
innate up there, provided you are
not caught att. Everybody around
the sound smuggles, and some Of
the wealthiest men have made their
money that way. Why, just look
at the figures: Opium is bought in
Victoria at from IS 25 to IS IS q
pound and the duty on it is $12.
By smuggling it the duty, of course,
is saved, and it sells at $40 in Seat
tie and $14 in Portland, SIG in Butte
and $40 in the Sandwich islands.
"Of course I had quite > large
hand and foot both in that sort Of
work and many . time on = dark
night have run under the prov Of
the cutter without being caught.
They were after me very warm for
. long time, but they never caught
me but once, and that was for
switching the dummy
"Switching the dummy simply
consists Of selling . man q trunk
of fine opium at say IS % . pound
and when he comes to take it off
in a boat give him trunkful of
sand instead. Sand is cheap on
the sound. / came pretty close
to running navigation on the CO.
.lumbia river that way. I used
to smuggle in Cinnamon, too. and
got $35 apiece for every one Of
them. Many . time as / rowed
along with muff1ed oars from San
Juan island l have heard the whiz
of q bullet close to my ear, and the
cry Of halt which was never re-
sponded to.
"Oh, yes, about that switching
the dummy story. Itwas German
and a Frenchman, and they wanted
to be smugglers. sold them $50
pounds at 81 : pound, which they
intended smuggling. Out in the
middle of the Columbia river they
opened the trunk and discovered
the switch. They dumped the sand,
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