The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-05-22

plat discloses a scheme as dark as haQ
and yet as plain as day, a scheme to
defraud the government of the United
States into whose senate chamber this
Hgood faith'' homesteader is seeking
to break.
| A MANUFACTURED DEFENSE
Why was it necessary for this hon
est homesteader to say to Biount that
he. would 'sassist him and the other
young men financially" but that "1
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 themi" Why should such things
occur to the mind of one who is doing
a purely kind and lawful acts A bene-
factor never manufactures a defense
for a possible criminal prosecution for
doing good to his neighbors. What
treason had Mr.. Crawford for thinking
"lease," or "take the title or pos
session, directly or Indirectly, from
these poor boys whom he was g%ratui-
tously 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 tins
every rough, stony and lilly" pas.
ture land "of little actual valuc?"
Did he intend to repair thither and
among his goats and sheep
with nature and do p%ennance 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,
hilly, 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
%ingeniously selected, not by boys, but
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 S'isolat-
ed $racts'' of forty acres each, which
are never filed on but are eventually
sold outright for the minimum price OF
$1.25 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 Nde
fense,N s.I 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 thai
more Objectionable people. 1t was not
a large amount and I kept no account
!of this.o
He SAYS he talked with the special
agent about the right of the boys to
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. MI
Crawford v relinquished this home.
stead, neither did he keep an Gao
c%ount' of the funds advanced to the
boys-but he did keep their relinquish-
ments! The land department finally
cancelled Crawford's entry on the
ground of fraud.
One Peterson, a Scandinavian, had
been presumptuous enough in 1903 to
file next to Crawford IS. sthomestead"
and he was evidently one of the "more
objectionable" neighbors. Yet Craw-
ford and his banker, Richards, will, we
dare say, accept the votes of these
"more Objectionable people" to aid
in securing his seat in a body made
great by a Webster and a Sumner.
Whom does Mr.. Crawford blamei Re.
ferring to the investigation by the
government into his gauzy fraud, he
says: "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 ssthG
hani' is the hand Of Coe I. Crawford.
He assassinated his W character
when he made his "good faith" home
stead entry; when he procured the boys
attempted to clear his shirts of the
filth that followed such entries and
when he sought to blame his govern
ment for treating him d~eservedly. Yes,
and it was he who was ~"connectel
with the old railroad machine" We
will "mark that" Verify he was
"hoisted with his WI petard." He
spoke wiser than he meant. 1t was by
his own hand that he was, trapped; it
was by his own confused tongue that
he convicted himself.
This issue Of .'mud-slinging'' was
presented by Mr.. Crawford when he at
tempted %virtuously to blame the stall
warts for his expose and sought to pose
as a martyr. Examine the plat. Weigh
his " statements given above and
determine his guilt or innocence.
There is no need Of going elsewhere or
depending upon others words. Con-
fessed1y this man was an enemy of his
country in 1901, unless you believe that
no fled on that hiily, rocky, worthless
piece Of land In good faith, intending
to make IL his permanent home.
We shall expect his counsel to plead
in e%xtenuation and excuse again that
I" othezs have deAs the same"