The Saint Paul globe., 1899-05-28
4 short Frontier stora.
Judge Flandrau Tells Piece History Rob
bary, Two Desertons Capture and Suoade

! = y
In 1856 I was United. States Indian agent
: for the Sfou$. my sageneies were at Red
Wood, about thirteen miles above Fort
Ridgely, and at Yellow Medicine on a
river of that name emptying into the
Minnesota about fifty miles above the
fort. Under the treaties with these In
dians the government paid them large
sums of money and great quantities of
goods. semi-annually, at the agencies
Up to short time before the event which
Lam about e,to relate these payments
were made by the Agent, but for some
reason. best known sto the government,
. the making of the payments was turned
over to the superintendent OF Indian IT.
fairs having charge of .Sthe tribes The.
manner Of making these payments before
the. change. was this; Il would receive
from the superintendent at st. Paul the
money in silver and gold (this being long
before the days of greenbacks). amount
ing to full wagon load, and take it up
to- the agencies, while the goods would
be- delivered at the agencies by the con-
tractors in steamboats,. A census of the
Indians would be taken and the money
and goods equally divided among them
Afterthis duty was withdrawn from the
agents and imposedS UPON the superin-
tendents, of course an Responsibility for
the money and goods was shifted from
the former, and laid upon the latter
which was to me a. great relief. as I had
transported many $agYn leads of specie
. from ST. Paul to thenagencies without
guards and at great personal and finan-:
cial risk. A payment ssvas due early in
July, 1857, and the Superintendent had
brought the money"as far as Fort Ridge
ly. Arriving at that point. news came of
much excitement anrbng the Indians at
the agencies, which was not at all un-
usual, as thousands Of savage fellows
used to. come in from the Missouri river
country and make trouble for our tribes
about payment time. and the superintend-,
ent decided it was prudent to leave The
money at Fort Ridgely until matters
quieted down. There was no vault or
other place in which To deposit the money
at the fort, OFT was placed in a room
occupied by the quartermaster' clerk, a I
Frenchman an enlisted man, and he with
another soldier: a German, who was the
post baker. were put in charge of it.
This Frenci1man had been selected from
the ranks of Capt. Sully's company as
quartermasters clerk on account of his
superior education, hfs excellent penman-
ship and his good character. I always
have thought he was some unfortunate
young gentleman, serving under an as
sumed name. The money was all in stout
mint boxes. holding each $1,000. in silver,
and in gold about $25, ,OoO or more. there
being usually ione or two boxes of sold.
The boxes were spread on the floor Of the
room, and the men, slept on them.
The constitutional convention to frame
the organic law forethe proposed state Of
Minnesota had beerR called to convene in
ST Paul on the 13th5daynof July, 1857, and
the people. of the Mtnnesota ia valley had
done me the honor 90 etAct me member
OF it: | had delayed Starting for St.
Paul until a day or1two2before the meet
ing of the convention and having heard
rumors that there wpulA be trouble in or
gan1zing 1t, felt very anxious to be there
on the opening dag. . The only mode of
transportation, except ehe river in those
days was the dittfe canvas-covered
stages of M. o. WaakAr & Co.. which
would hold four insfde, comfortably and
six on a pinch. When the down-stage
reached Traverse dSsaS5pux on the morn
Ing Of the 18th of jay ie was full-that is.
there were five insbae. three on the back
seat and two on tf}eJfront and one man
on the seat with the driver. insisted
strenuously on goiRgss and said 1 would
ride in the boot rStaere than not go at
all. my insitence. of course, having ref
erence to my desire to be at the opening
of the convention was admitted and
took my place on the front seat with
my back to the driver and my knees in 1
terlecked with those of the passenger on
the back seat, who faced me. AT this
time l had heard nothing Of what had
happened at the fort The fact was that
the two men who had been placed In
charge of the money had opened one of
the boxes of gold and, taken out q bag