The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1908-03-05
Have You asa he Congressional
Record Of nseA Is, 1907 l---6el
Copy and ad 4 Through
Proof That Gfalllfd Paid Young Men
500 Each 7 Fle On Lands tor
Big Co., fanpsny
Department ta Thinks Jury Mas
Tampered W Tried to Get Chief
Removed, u ae vas Promoted

oou a. - 1~<tftts tttt NttNtoAo
campaign burM Is still sending out
matter on the md fraud proceeding.
which was twm brought against Cos
1. Crawford bSore the federal grand
jury, the goyeror twice narrowly es-
Gaping indictnNnt for having hired
boys, some Of hem hardly OF ege. to
file on land Ing Walworth county. ad-
joining the pfreery OF the Crawford
Cattle ranch. order that the cattle
company coule set tho land for nsA
and in order tkat 1t might keep away
from these lands some Russians who
wanted 1t and tho were alluded to by
the governor e undesirable neigh
bors.''
The facts lnye sheen printed time
and again, and the sfalwalt news
papers of the State are paying no mora
attention to the matter. II there Is
voter in the state. however, who is In
the slightest Doubt about the facts.
and who waI1s TO know what they
are. he should secure copy of the
Congressional Record of March Is.
1907, and read the great speech OF
Congressman Mann of Chicago. IN
which all the facts are told.
The aff1davits included in the speech
of Congressman Mann show that Goa
/. Crawford. the present reform" gov
ernor of South Dakota. employed
young men Of Huron to go to Wal
worth county, that he paid their ex-:
penses on the trip, tnat he supplied
them with shanty In which to sleep
on the land for few nights. that he
had an agreement to pay the young
men 500 for fling on this land, that
1T was fenced in and used by the
Crawford Cattle company, that Mr.
Crawford actually paid to each the
800, and that the boys testified thai
they did not make the filings in good
faith. but only to get the 800 which
Crawford offered to pay and did pay.
These are the facts which no
amount of adjectives and talk about
plots and "conspiracies" and .'imps
Of hell'' can do away with.
There was no pilot" and there could
be none. The Roosevelt administrer
ton started out to put an end to land
thievery. Many people in high places
were indicted trusted officers of the
land department were put into the
work. The trail In South Dakota ran
across the Crawford deal in Walworth
county. The evidence was collected By
agents of the department.. The depart
ment said to go ahead. and that was
all there is TO It. To charge that this
was done for political reasons is to
charge that the Roosevelt administra-
ton allowed itself to be used In making
criminal chaiges in order to injure q
man politically charge which no
one will believe of President Roose-
welt. Mr.. Crawford does not believe It
himself, but it is the only answer he
can make.
In a pamphlet put out in his own
defense and liberally circulated over
the state, Mr.. Crawford prints an affi-
davit sworn 10 by Julian w. Blount.
who is one OF the young men hired by
him to work this graft, and who
is now in the office of the goy-
ernor at Pierre. In this affidavit.
which Is a practical confession of the
charge as made. Mr. RIount says, un-
der oath, that ahe lCrawfordl would
help US in financial way as he did
not like to have more Objectionable
people get IN there-something to that
effect" The objectionable people" re-
ferred to were Russians, who wanted
the land. Thomas H. Thompson sworo
that Crawford paid him 800 for filing
on the land and adds: my only idea
in filing on the land was to make
800" Henry G. Lamke testifies:
Shortly after the second trip / called
on Mr.. Crawford In his law Office in
Huron, and asked II he could let me
have the money on that homestead.
He said he could and PAID ME 500
AND THE EXPENSES OF THE TWO
TRIPS I Had MADE"
Special Agent McEniry of the land
department., who has since been pro
NOTED by the Roosevelt administra-
tion, wrote to the department that thu
case against Crawford was a clear
one. and that he failed to be indicted
because of political influences THE
only reason I can give for this mis-
carriage of justice" writes Chief Mo
Entry to the department., under date
Ol ApTlt Ii, lSvD, was LHat CRAWFORD
or some of his friends GOT IN THEIR
WORK WITH THE GRAND JURY on
Friday night or some time before the
jury convened on Monday. Last even
ting and this forenoon three of the
grand jurops have said to me that the
evidence in this case was as complete
as in any case before them at this
term, and that as soon as the ease
had been submitted to them q couple
OF the Jurors began talking politics
ana said that this case was poittica
scheme"
The chief added that he did not
believe that because Of Mr.. Crawford's
social and POLITICAL standing the case
ought to be allowed To drop.
1t was again brought up before ths
session OF the grand jury at Dead
wood, and Fno bilI'' was returned by
a vote of II to Z. There is no ques-
ton" writes Chief McEniry, "as to
the quality and quantity of the evi
dence in this case and the result tG