Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1908-05-21


plat discloses scheme as dark as hell
and yet as plain as day, n scheme to
defraud the government of the United
States into whose senate chamber this
"good faith" homesteader is seeking
to break.
A MANUFACTURED DEFENSE
Why was it necessary for this hon
est homesteader to say to Blount that
he would "assist him and the other
young men financially" but that ~
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 themfo Why should such things
occur to the mind of one who is doing
purely kind and lawful actq A bene-
factor never manufactures a defense
for possible criminal prosecution for
dong good to his neighbors. 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-
tously assistingf Honest men do not
prepare evidence in advance to meet
possible exigency. If one gives to
the Children IS 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
thief.
What did this philanthropic citizen,
this loyal statesman, want of this
Every rough, stony and billy" pas
ture land "of little actual values'
Did he intend to repair thither and
among his goats and sheep commune
with nature and 10 pennance for his
broken pledges to his constituents He
was intended for pastoral life and
the stony and hilly 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 hero
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
$I.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 "de-
fense,n II never expected to get 1t
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
large amount and / kept no account
Of this
He says he talked with the special
agent about the right of the boys to
prove up (thus taking fatherly in
terest in them), and he was told that
il would not work, and so the boys
signed relinquishments. The boys were
more sincere than the statesman. Mr.
Crawford never relinquished this home
stead. neither did he keep an FAC
COUNT of the funds advanced to the
boys-bat he did keep their rclinquish-
mentsi The land department finally
cancelled Crawford IS entry on the
ground Of fraud.
One Peterson, Scandinavian, had
been presumptuous enough in 1908 to
file next TO Crawford's homestead
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 body made
great by 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 character assassin connected
with the old railroad machine of South
Dakota. Mark that True, and "the
hanjo is the hand of Coe j. Crawford.
He assassinated 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 deservcdly. 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. 1t was by
his own hand that he was trappedj 1t
was by his own confused tongue that
he convicted himself.
This issue Of mud singing was
presented by Mr.. Crawford when he at
tempted virtuously to blame the stall
warts for his expose and sought to pose
as martyr. Examine the plat Weigh
his own statements given above and
determine his guilt or Innocence.
There is no need Of going elsewhere on
upon others words. Con-
fessedly this man was an enemy Of HIS
country in 1901, unless you believe that
he fled on that hiily, rocky, worthless
piece Of land In good faith, intending
to make II his permanent homo.
We shall expect his counsel to plead
in extenuRtion and excuse again that
'sthsrs have dsas ~ san>"