The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1911-12-06
OFFICER CLEANS UP
THE LAW BREAKERS
Puts in Summer on Cheyenne Res.
ervation With Excellent
Results

fury at this term of federal court
half of that number were from the
Cheyenne Indian reservation; not
that that reservation is any worse
than many of the others, but Thos.
j. King, Jr., Indian agent at that
place. has been making a special eff
fort to rid his territory of law break
ers.
OF the eighteen cases examined
into by the grand jury, very large
per cent Of the indictments were turn
ed in, several of which have already
been made public. Possibly the most
credit for this work should go to
ID. L.. Crowder of North Yakima.
Wash, special officer of the Indian
department of the interior, who was
detailed to assist Agent King last
May.
The reservation had been troubled
a great deal with cattle and horse
thieves for the past five years. and
Mr.. Crowder was sent out there to
apprehend those thieves. That he had
been successful is shown by the fact
that William Travessie and Louis
Benoist have been indicted for steal
ing two horses valued at $40 each
from Allan Fielder, and John F.
Smith was indicted on charge of
having stolen a steer valued at $40
from Charles Corn. Besides these
three more indictments We're handed
down by the grand jury that have not
been made public as yet.
During the month of August, Off
Ger Crowder was sent to the Stand
ing Rock agency to try his skill at
experimenting a band of cattle thieves
that had been operating on that res
ervation for the past four years Sew
eral other officers had failed to Sc
cure evidence against this bold band
but inside of thirty days Mr.. Crow
der not only had the gang rounded
UP, but had secured the confession
of one of the party. This confession
was made by Mrs. Anna Burdick,
wife of the ringleader of the gang.
She confessed that her husband,
Charles Burdick, and several others,
had been in the habit of running off
cattle, butchering them in a draw
and then taking the dressed carcasses
to market. 1t was their aim to Sc
cure unbranded stock, but in case
they rounded up a critter that was
branded they would cut off the brand,
mince it up, and scatter it over the
prairie for the coyotes to destroy all
trace of their guilt.
They We're bound over to the fed
eral court from Shields, and the case
was set for trial at this term Of fed
eral court now in session at Fargo
but was held over until the spring
The sale of hard cider had become
a regular business on the reservation
lit being claimed by the dispensers
that it was a notwithstanding bever-
age. Mr.. Crowder went after this
practice, and although it was con-
tested for some time, he obtained the
acknowledgment of the wholesalers
that it would produce intoXication.
and after considerable work finally
routed it out of Eagle Butte, Lem
mon, Isabel, Timber Lake, Cheyenne
Junction, Dupree, Mclaughlin, McIn-
tosh and other points on the reserva-
ton. The dealers, when they saw
that Mr.. Crowder and the government
meant business, gave UP the practice
with but little trouble.
The apprehension and the securing
of evidence against bootleggers and
others for selling whisky was a
harder task, but Mr.. Crowder sue
ceeded in gaining information enough
to cause indictments to be handed
down against Fred Peterson, Chas.
p. Green and A c. Clark, as well as
several others who have not yet been
apprehended. Green and Peterson
both pleaded guilty and Clark has
not been arraigned as yet.
Besides the above Mr.. Crowder
succeeded in stopping the introduce
ton of 1913 pints of whiskey into the
reservation early in June. He heard
that a grip containing that amount of
fire water was being sent from Mo-
bridge onto the reservation and i'm
mediately got on its trail. He hound
ed the bootleggers so close that they
threw the grip from the moving train
and the bottles We're broken.
Mr.. Crowder was also employed to
secure information against the set
tiers who have been cutting timber
on Indian allotments, and made ex-
cellent work of that likewise. Charles
S. Holloway was indicted on three
counts for having committed that Of
Tense, and several more indictments
were handed down which have not
yet been made public.
This practice has reached a crisis
on the Cheyenne reservation, Agent
King stating that it was the worst
evil he had to contend with. The In
dams have become to be lava biding
citizens. but the depredations on their
lands from settlers clearing their en-
tire allOtments of its timber, which
is the most valuable asset of the
land, and thus depreciatng its value
| to a small amount of its worth with
standing timber on it, has so aroused
their passions that it was feared that
trouble, and serious trouble, would
result
1t was therefore determined to
pick out a few of the worst cases and
make examples of them in order to
put a stop to the practice Several
indictments have been returned only
awaiting the arrival of the defend
ants for arraignment before they
will be punished.
Mr.. King speaks very highly of the
services of Mr.. Crowder during the
past summer, and the results obtain
ed from his work. The latter is ex-
.o+3.,. 1.ar. cn,p this rarp1