Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1904-07-22
100 MUCH GRAFT
=: UP At B0NESTEEl
Town Has Suffered a Severe
Disappointment in Its
Share of Crowds.
BAD CROWD IN CONTROL
Correspondent Recently in the Rosebue
Gateway Town Tells Something
About the Actual Conditions
There.
Sioux City Tribune:

6lOUX CITY ITlDUHGs
What's the matter with Bonesteel?
A correspondent who was recently in
Bonesteel is able to answer the question
with authority.
There is a great deal the matter with
Bonesteel, ind It is largely too much
graft"
BonesteeI is disappointed, II expected
TO draw the largest crowds during the
registration, and yet Yankton is beating
II daily. This Notwithstanding the fact
that Bonesteel is on the edge OF the res
ervation and the only point from which
a personal investigation OF the reservation
may be made.
The tented city has a large population,
the large majority In the graft business.
What's your graft?'' Is a common salu-
tation on the STREETS OF Bonesteel.
The trustees OF Bonesteel made an ar
rangement with a firm of gamblers, for
which the gamblers paid them 500 a day.
Magner & Stanton are the head of this
firm. Magner Is one OF the squarest gam
glers In the business, as gamblers go, but
he has been unable to cope with the situ-
alton. TIL trustees, anxious to make as
much money as possible, failed to provide
adequate police protection. They have
employed two good men, assisted by a
force OF locals so green that the Bonesteel
cows have an irresistible inclination to
nibhle at them at they pass.
Bad Crowd in Control.
The result is that the town is absolutely
In the hands of grafters. thieves n
thugs. Some OF the best men" I'm the
country are at Bonesteel. daily plying
their trade. IL all the well known GRIM
lnals who are un%blushingly in evidence at
Bonesteel were TO be arrested the result
would Do "a small fortune IN rewards. The
gamblers and g~rafters realize they can
not rely on the protection OF the police for
their own interests. Each one that has
any money interests at stake has provid-
ed IN arsenal OF his own, and woe to the
man who would attempt to rob these
Joints"
To minimize what little police protection
Is oforded, the gamblers and g~rafters
awe ~inaugurated a policy OF lntimida-
ton. A few days ago John Westfield, a
former Sioux City police detective, I'M
Cured the enmity of the gang, because
he was supposed TO have tipped off some
OF them. He was waylaid in broad day
light and knocked down. kicked and bru-
tally beaten into insensibility. As soon
as he recovered he left town. Nothing
was done about the matter. which was
accepted as a matter of course.
There Is hardly a square" gambling
game in the town. Everything is a brace
game. For several days the street was
filed with fiat joints in which none but
the booster" and the "capper" can win.
These became so Migrant that they were
finally taken or.
The Various "Con" Games.
Confidence games are In full swing.
The Reuben" with a roll" has about one
chanc in 100 OF getting out with IL. One
Of the fayorite games is progression"
IN this game the stakes are constantly
doubled until the outsider has reached his
limit, and the money Is then taken in and
the man elbowed out of the crowd.
Touches OF all sorts are pulled off daily,
and the telegraph office at Bonesteel is
crowded with people wiring home for
money, many Of them with a "con" man
at the elbow, urging haste.
Th fraternal order dodge IS being
worked to a finish. Men are here who are
possessed of the grips and passwords OF
the different orders. When a promising
subject arrives In town he Is given the
grip and the high sign OF distress. and be-
fore he learns what Is being done with
him he is relieved of his coin. A gang
of pickpockets, four In number, from
Omaha, has been working the town ever
since the opening, and do so with the ut
most impunity. People are safe In COM
ing 10 Bonesteel II they are cautious, but
for the sake of the green ones 1t is up
to the people of Bouesteel to do some-
thing.