The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1908-05-22
A MANUFACTURED DEFENSE

A MANUFACTURED DEFENSE
Why was it necessary for this hon
est homesteadcr TO say to Blount that
he would "assist him and the other
young men tinanciallv' but that II
would not under any circumstances,
| agree to buy the land from them,
, nor lease it. nor take the title
or possession, directly or Indirectly,
from them?' Why should such things
| occur to the mind of one who is doing
a purely kind and lawful act? A bene-
factor never manufactures a defense
for a possible criminal prosecution for
doing good to his n%eighbors. What
reason had Mr.. Crawford for thinking
that he might be expected to ''buy'
''lease,' or take the title or pos
session. directly or indirectly, from
these poor boys whom he was gratui-
touslv assisting? Honest men do not
prepare evidence in advance to meet
a possible eXigency. If one gives to
the Children's Home he does not with
the gift furnish an abstract to show
the source from which he obtained the
same unless he has the consciousness of
"a thief.
What did this philanthropic citizen,
this loyal statesman, want of this
every rough, stony and hilly' pas
ture land "of little actual valuc?'
Did he intend to repair thither and
among his goats and sheep
with nature and DO pennance for his
broken pledges to his constituents? He
was intended for "A pastoral life and
the stony and billy quality of his
chosen abode was symbolic of his past
experiences.
Yet he holds out to young men the
tempting offer to take this ''stony,
hinv, rough pasture land and he pays
their expenses and is very good to
them and they go and file on crooked
quarters, something like his own.
(These crooked, misshaped tracts are
ineeniously selected, not by boys, bat
by philanthropists who are actually IN
love with their government, with the
pure and simple purpose of leaving here
and there what are known as 'isolat-
ed tracts of forty acres each, which
are never filed on but are eventually
sold outright for the minimum price OF
S1.2J an acre. The plat will show you
examine it. 1t speaks much palmer
than words).
Yes, he pays money for them but, as
he saws elsewhere in this same de
fense.' II never expected to get it
back in any form save and except in
the general advantage of having them
become owners of this land rather than
more Objectionable people. 1t was not
a large amount and | kept no account
of this
He saws he talked with the special
- -. Al, r,rI4 sc thA hnyS IN
prove up (thus taking a fatherly in
terest in them), and he was told that
it would not work, and so the boys
signed accomplishments. The boys were
more sincere than the statesman. Mr.
Crawford never relinguished this home
stead, neither did he keep an "ac-
COUNT of the funds advanced to the
bovs-but he did keep their rcIinquish-
ments, The land department finally
cancelled Crawford's entry on the
ground of fraud.
One Peterson. a Scandinavian, had
been plesumptuous enough in 1903 to
file next TO Crawford IS ''homcstealp
and he was evidently one of the more
obiectionahle'' ncighbors. Yet Craw-
ford and his banker, Richards, will, we
,lare say. accept the votes of these
more Objectionable people, to aid
in securing his seat in a body made
great bv a Webster and a Sumner
Whom does Mr.. Crawford blame? Re-
ferring to the investigation by the
government into his gauzy fraud, he
saws: Somewhere and somehow be-
hind him (the special agent) is the
hand Of a character assassin connected
with the old railroad machine of South
Dakota. Mark that True, and 1.-THE
hanl'' is the hand of Coe /. Crawford.
He assassinatcd his own character
when he made his good faith home
stead entry; when he procured the boys
to enter the crooked tracts; when he
attempted to clear his skirts of the
filth that followed such entries and
when he sought to blame his govern
ment for treating him deservedly. Yes.
and it was he who was CONNECTED
with the old railroad machine We
will "mark that Verify he was
"hoisted with his own petard.' He
spoke wiser than he meant. It was by
own hand that he was trapped; it
was by his own confused tongue that
he convicted himself.
This issue of mud singing was
presented by Mr.. Crawford when he At
tempted v%irtuously to blame the stall
warts for his expose and sought to pose
as a martyr. Examine the plat. Weigh
his own statements given above and
determine his guilt or innocence.
There is no need Of going elsewhere or
upon Others words. Con-
fessedly this man was an enemy Of his
country in 1901, unless you believe that
he fled IN that hiily, rocky. worthless
piece Of land in good faith, intending
to make it his permanent homo.
We shall expect his counsel to plead
in extenuation and excuso again that
- others have 1e1e ~ nmA0