Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1918-09-16
100000 SWlNDLe
CHARGED AT TRIAL
coWpuneher Captures Only Twenty
three Wild Horses in Arizona
In Sir Mnnths

Omaha. Neb.-One million dollars
was obtained from the sale of ''phan-
tom" herds of Wild horses in Coconino
County, Arizona, by the promoters
on trial here, according 10 Government
attorneys prosecuting the case. Many
were victims of the alleged swlndle.
the attorneys say. sums ranging from /
LOCO to $4,000 being wrung from =
them.
Forty-two persons originally were .
indicted by a Federal grand jury on a .
charge OF being implicated in the al .
legged swindle. OF these two pleaded
guilty to using the mails 20 deiraud,
twelve were ~eIeased, and eleven, ar
raigned in the United States District
Court, pleaded not guilty. These eleven
are the defendants in the trial now
on.
Examination of witnesses has de-
veloped that one Of the alleged VIC
tins sought in vain for two months,
with field glasses, for a sight OF the
animals he had purchased.
Joshua A. Robinson, real estate man
OF Draper, S. d., testified he traded
an apartment building at De Soto'
Iowa. value dat $4,000. for ninety head
of wild horses,
81 didn't know much about horses
said the witness. Il went out on the
rocks Of the mountains with field
glasses and looked Tor them. Occasion
ally saw a small bunch two or three
miles away, but not in great numbers
Robinson said cowboys he employed
succeeded after two months in round
ing I'D seven horses, but they did not
bear the brand his horses were sup
posed to have.
Willis S. Mcdonald Of Harding,
Mont testified he traded a SIX room
house and five acres of land for sixty
horses, after being assured he would
have no difficulty in capturing sixty
choice animals
Ebert L. Garner, Belle Fourche, 5,
/ D., said that without having seen any
! cf the horses he exchanged Al SIloO0
: stock OF merchandise at Fayette, Iowa,
and forty-fye lots on Puget Sound,
/ Washington, for 1000 head.
Ed Mason, cowpuncher and cattle
man of Mitchell Neb., testified that he
met Clyde Smith and his brother in
Omaha and thru a deal with the for
! mer made arrangements to get twenty
FIVE OF the wild horses for some prop
| crty he owned at Nilisca Iowa, valued
al $500. He was almost tempted to
back out, he said, when he was tod
| that he would have to 90 out ana
catch the horses himself, but after be-
ing assured the undomesticated equi-
pns would weigh in the neighborhood
O. 1000 poun Is each, as his contract
specified he declared he thought he
would take chance.
But it was different, he testified,
when he went to Flagstaff, Ariz, 10
corral his stock For ten days with
the aid of four cowpunchcrs he was
not able TO rope a single wild ANIMAL
Notwithstanding thet he had been a
"punchar" all his life.
Coconino County is about 2i5 by lSt
miles in area, and Mason was re
solved that he should have some o.
the horses. which, he 'eclared, he haC
seen but had been unable to set within
a halfmile Of. Accordingly, some time
later, lie said, he set out IN earnest
search of the elusive animGls, and II
the course of six months Of constant
camping on their trails was able tC
lasso and bring nome twontythr2t
horses.
These he testified, were very small
and weighed much less than loot
pounds After halter-breakine the
"broncs' and keeping them about
year he was able to realize from Sll
10 $50 per head, he testified.
Bernard c. Black, reputcd as one o.
the lest gunner and cowpunchers Of
Arizona, testified he was hired to &c
with some of the defendants to looE
over the range where the animals
were said to be- He declared there
were wild horses to be seen but tina
ii was impossible to tell how many
there were, because he and the party
never got close enough to catch more
: than a glimpse Of them.