South Dakota
The impact of ‘Wandering Willie,’ South Dakota state treasurer who stole entire state treasury in 1895
PIERRE — When South Dakota Gov. Charles H. Sheldon offered his opening message to the state legislature in January of 1895 in Pierre, he heaped praise on the outgoing state treasurer W.W. Taylor.
“Mr. W.W. Taylor, our efficient and faithful outgoing treasurer is entitled to the thanks of the people for the zeal and energy which he has at all times displayed in the management of his office,” Sheldon said. “And it is a matter of pride to him, as to the state officers with whom he has been associated for the past two years, that he leaves the public service carrying with him the unbounded respect of those who have known his business methods and his desire to preserve the credit of his state.”
The very next day, Sheldon asked for those words to be stricken from the official journal. And with good reason.
The day after Sheldon had given those remarks, Taylor, president of banks in Redfield and Gettysburg who had been elected to two terms as treasurer, had failed to appear in the capital to turn over the treasury to his successor and had, stunningly, absconded with practically all the funds that were under his supervision.
After some quick calculations, officials determined that Taylor had made off with about $367,020.59. That equates to roughly $13.3 million in 2023 currency.
So began a mad scramble to find Taylor, punish him for his deeds and recover as much of the money as possible as quickly as possible. It was a unique case both for the time and today, and also led to a series of regulation reforms when it came to proper handling of public money.
Image Courtesy of Newspapers.com
Even before finding Taylor, with the treasury now essentially empty, state officials needed to make sure South Dakota could meet its financial obligations. They performed a series of financial maneuvers that put the state on comparatively safe, if unstable, ground for the time being.
Ben Jones, state historian for South Dakota, said Taylor was likely trying to navigate a difficult financial times in the country, and loose state laws allowed him to.
“It’s not quite clear, but it appeared he was going to use the state’s money to pay off his debts,” Jones told the Mitchell Republic in a recent interview. “A lot of banks at the time were failing. We’ve gotten used to that since World War II – we expect an economic downturn every five to seven years. It’s not like it doesn’t happen today. But there are things in place to stop the hemorrhaging, and none of that was in place (in 1895).”
Image Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society
With a relatively free hand to deposit and invest state money as he wished, Taylor exercised an immense amount of control on how state funds were handled.
As treasurer, he had broad the power to manipulate state funds, according to
“A State Treasurer Defaults: The Taylor Case of 1895 by C. Perry Armin,”
a reflective piece that appeared in a 1986 quarterly edition of the South Dakota Historical Society Journal.
State public examiners admitted that outside a series of deposits in a few banks in Pierre, they had mostly taken Taylor at his word about the amounts deposited in various institutions. In four years, they had only taken one look at the largest amounts, which happened to be deposited in Taylor’s home bank in Redfield. The deputy treasurer under Taylor, W.A. Burrington, reported that Taylor had made deposits and investments around the country, including in banks in Chicago.
Taylor’s attorney, Charles T. McCoy, testified that his client had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars through failed mortgage companies, real estate investments and a “Head Light Institution.”
State officials were desperate to find Taylor, bring him back to South Dakota and hand down punishment for his transgressions. The lingering question remained, however.
Where did Taylor go?
South Dakota Attorney General Coe I. Crawford petitioned the legislature to offer a reward of $2,000, a little under $73,000 today, for the apprehension of Taylor. The famous Pinkerton Detective Agency was brought in to help track the former treasurer down.
With automobiles still a novelty and no airplanes at the time, the world was a bigger place in 1895, but he managed to leave South Dakota and travel parts of the world when he made his escape. Soon, the Pinkertons were chasing down leads across the country, from Florida to California, and as far abroad as South America, where many countries lacked an extradition treaty with the United States.
Descriptions of Taylor, whose actual first name has been a matter of debate among historians – either William Walter or Walter William – were sent out to police departments around the country. He was listed as “about 5 feet 6 inches, heavy set, weight 190 to 200 pounds, sloping shoulders, light short mustache, ruddy complexion, blue eyes, rather large mouth with hanging under lip, slightly bald, hair tinged with gray, walks with a sort of waddling gait.”
The Pinkertons, despite their reputation for tenacity, were unable to immediately track him down, but eventually Taylor tired of life on the run. Rumors began to circulate that he would turn himself in and return to South Dakota to face the music. The state had paid an agent $800 to accompany Taylor from Chicago, where he had turned himself in, to Pierre in order to insure he would appear and that he would not be arrested by someone else hoping to simply cash in on the reward.
The Pierre Daily Capital newspaper dated June 12, 1895, summed up the search with a dash of humor.
“WHOOP! Wandering Willie Works Westward With Waddling Walk, Weary, Wrecked, We Will Wonder Where Wandering Willie Went,” the paper headlined a news item on the developments.
On June 21, Taylor surrendered to state authorities and was freed on $25,000 bond to appear before the regular term of the Hughes County circuit court at Pierre in August. He pleaded guilty to an indictment on the charge of embezzlement, and he was sentenced shortly after to a term of five years at hard labor in the state penitentiary.
However, through a series of legal machinations, that sentence was reduced to two years. This was another example of how ineffectively some laws of the day were written.
Armin, writing in the 1986 journal piece, noted: “In short, the law that was supposed to cover the embezzlement of public funds failed to mention the actual taking of government money.”
Image Courtesy of Newspapers.com
Taylor received four months off his sentence for good behavior, eventually serving 18 months in the state penitentiary.
The reduced sentence was controversial, with many members of the public and newspaper editors alike stating that Taylor had gotten off easy. The Sioux Falls Evening Argus-Leader was particularly pointed in its assessment.
“(The court’s decision is) the blackest day which South Dakota has known since her entrance into the Union … The whole world has watched this matter. It has noted that men who stole a few dollars worth of bread or money have been sent to the penitentiary for years, but that the rich, influential, popular and politically powerful thief who steals a quarter of a million gets a punishment of only a year and a half,” the paper wrote, adding that it would have been better to let Taylor escape entirely rather than the state hand down as soft a sentence as it did.
Jones said the light sentence is part of what set the wheels in motion for stronger regulatory laws governing public money. It raised the flag that it was time for South Dakota to move away from the territorial laws that still influenced state regulations and to come up with a modern code of conduct.
“People of South Dakota aren’t going to let that continue. I think a lot of them said if you make off with six figures of public funds, you need to do some time,” Jones said. “It’s not something you should be able to make a plea and walk.”
Image Courtesy of Newspapers.com
The fallout of the incident went on for years, and involved securing assets and property from Taylor, as well as several individuals and bondsmen who were suspected of being accomplices in some form, including some of his lawyers and his father.
The real estate acquired by the state from Taylor and his bondsmen remained on the state books and part of the subsequent treasurer’s annual reports, earning money through sale or lease, for nearly another 100 years, until 1983.
The state legislature subsequently made changes that required the treasurer to more closely record their work and to make it more easily open to inspection. Banks were also required to file an additional, similar report to the governor in regard to state funds.
Another provision was to require the state treasurer to show all state funds in cash. Through that rule, in January of 1897, the citizens of South Dakota were treated to the sight of nearly $300,000 in state funds being brought from banks in Chicago and South Dakota to Pierre under the protection of armed bank messengers and a company from the National Guard for the purpose of being hand-counted.
Further drama ensued when a train carrying the funds became stuck in the snow near Highmore, where “neither rescuers nor would-be robbers could reach it.” The event was not repeated out of concerns of practicality.
“The level of detail they employ after (Taylor) is quite astonishing. They make them truck it to Pierre. And this is an age before computations. It’s very physical, whereas today it’s all digital. That was quite the task for people to load it up in the middle of winter with all the security. The National Guard and police accompany it,” Jones said.
Image Courtesy South Dakota State Historical Society
Taylor himself moved to Chicago following his prison term, though his story is cloudy following his time in South Dakota. He reportedly worked as a secretary for the Cycle Skate Company of Chicago, and also worked as a clerk before moving to Glenwood, Illinois, where he died on Dec. 21, 1916. The cause of death was suspected to be alcoholism, a condition that could have fed his money management problems as a South Dakota state official.
But his legacy remains, partially as a reminder of the dangers of poor regulation and partly for his actions’ impact on statewide politics. The Republican party took a temporary hit in popularity, and Populists and Democrats were able to take control of the state legislature. Andrew E. Lee, a member of the Populist Party and the third governor of South Dakota and successor to Sheldon, became the first non-Republican governor of the state in 1897, although Republicans would regain the governorship again from the end of Lee’s term in 1901 until the election of Gov. William J. Bulow, a Democrat, in 1933.
Jones said he was unaware of any other cases that would directly parallel the Taylor case, either in terms of era or impact. But his actions made waves at the turn of the 20th century and left its mark on the state for almost a century after.
The entire incident was a wake-up call for South Dakota to grow up and to face the reality that it needed safeguards against corruption, no matter how trustworthy a public official may seem.
“The response to him sprouted or furthered a political movement that was already happening, and made it more personal for South Dakota,” Jones said. “But human failing is not legislated out of existence. We still expect people will be corrupt or incompetent and have a distant relationship with the truth, so it is proper and appropriate for government and public companies to put in safeguards to defend themselves.”
South Dakota
Iowa Supreme Court upholds land survey abilities of pipeline companies in Summit case • South Dakota Searchlight
The Iowa Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s decision that Summit Carbon Solutions is allowed temporary access to properties for surveying, because it is a pipeline company that would be transporting a hazardous liquid.
The case involved Kent Kasischke, a Hardin County landowner who refused to let Summit surveyors on his land to survey for their proposed pipeline that would transport carbon dioxide, primarily sequestered from ethanol plants, to underground storage in North Dakota. The pipeline route includes South Dakota.
The Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the case in early October.
Kasischke argued Iowa Code section 479B.15, which allows a pipeline company to enter private land to survey, was unconstitutional because the invasion of property required compensation.
Justice Thomas Waterman, who issued the court’s decision, said Kasischke’s argument “fails.”
“He has no right to exclude the surveyor because section 479B.15 is a lawful pre-existing limitation on his title to the land,” the decision said.
Carbon pipeline company reapplies for South Dakota permit
According to the decision, this is consistent with rulings in “at least four” district courts, including the Iowa District Court for Hardin County that originally ruled in the case, and with Supreme Court decisions in North Dakota and South Dakota.
The decision in South Dakota, while it upheld the constitutionality of a similar statute in the state, was touted as win by those opposed to the pipeline because it said the company must prove it is a common carrier and said surveying was only constitutional if they were “minimally invasive superficial inspections that, at most, cause minor soil disturbances.”
A press release from the Iowa Easement Team and Bold Alliance, groups opposed to the pipeline that supported Kasischke, and his attorney, Brian Jorde, said the Friday Iowa Supreme Court’s decision “sidesteps” questions around surveying.
“Right now Iowa has no guardrails as to the level of invasive activity a pipeline company can do to private property as they can claim anything they want to do falls under ‘survey’ or ‘examination,’” the press release said.
Jorde, who has represented numerous landowners in cases against Summit, said “we will have to go back to the Court” to address the limitations, with a hope that Iowans will be granted the “same protections” as South Dakotans.
As part of its ruling, the Iowa Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s decision that Summit Carbon Solutions is a pipeline company and fits the definition under Iowa Code by transporting a hazardous liquid.
Kasischke argued the supercritical carbon dioxide that would be transported in the pipeline was not a liquid.
Waterman’s written decision said the court relied on testimony from the district court trial for its decision, though he noted that since the district court trial, the Iowa Utilities Commission (then the Iowa Utilities Board) “determined that supercritical carbon dioxide is a liquefied carbon dioxide.”
The CEO of Summit Carbon Solutions, Lee Blank, said in a statement Friday the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision was a “win for infrastructure projects across the state and the nation.”
“It underscores the importance of balancing landowner rights with the need to advance critical infrastructure that benefits communities, agriculture, and the broader economy,” Blank said.
The press release said the ruling “confirms” the company has met “all statutory requirements” and it supports infrastructure “vital to enhancing economic competitiveness and ensuring energy and agricultural sustainability.”
Opponents of the pipeline project said in their press release, the ruling “did not conclude” the proposed 2,500 mile pipeline is a public use, nor that the company is a common carrier.
However, Summit was granted use of eminent domain in August when the Iowa Utilities Commission approved its permit.
A final element of the case was whether or not Kasischke had a tenant on the property who would have impacted Summits’ efforts to provide adequate notice of their plans to survey his property.
Waterman wrote the court agreed with the district court’s credibility analysis calling Kasischke’s testimony on the issue “evasive and not credible.”
Jorde and the Iowa Easement Team called this “puzzling and disappointing, but a minor issue to the appeal.”
The Iowa justices affirmed that Summit complied with notice requirements and the district court’s ruling and injunction.
South Dakota
Missouri State football vs South Dakota State: Scouting report, score prediction for Saturday
Missouri State football coach presser before South Dakota State
Missouri State football coach Ryan Beard previews the Bears’ season finale against No. 3 South Dakota State.
Missouri State football will play its final game as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference and as an FCS program when it hosts the two-time defending champion this weekend.
FCS No. 18 Missouri State (8-3, 6-1 MVFC) will host FCS No. 3 South Dakota State (9-2. 6-1 MVFC) on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Plaster Stadium. The game will be the Bears’ finale as they are ineligible to qualify for the postseason because of NCAA rules regarding their move to the FBS.
South Dakota State continues to be a national championship contender with their lone FCS loss this season coming Oct. 19 in a 13-9 loss to FCS No. 1 North Dakota State. The Jackrabbits also lost on opening day in a 44-20 defeat at FBS Oklahoma State.
Missouri State has an outside chance at still winning a share of the MVFC. The Bears would have to beat SDSU while requiring North Dakota State to lose to FCS No. 4 South Dakota.
South Dakota State football features star QB Mark Gronowski
SDSU senior quarterback Mark Gronowski had both power conference and large NIL offers after earning the Walter Payton Award last season. He opted to stay at South Dakota State to try and lead it to its third straight title.
Gronowski isn’t putting up the same numbers he did last year, averaging about 28 fewer yards while already surpassing his season total in interceptions in four fewer games, but he’s still among the FCS’ elite.
He’s a 62% passer and is a capable runner and hasn’t thrown a pick over his last four games.
SDSU football has an elite rushing attack
Ranked third in the FCS in rushing, the Jacks are averaging nearly 250 yards per game with four different backs gaining 50 or more yards per game.
South Dakota State doesn’t have a Joplin-area running back leading the team in rushing this year as it has in the past (Joplin’s Quin Renfro is redshirting after Isaiah Davis was drafted in the fifth round by the New York Jets). But Amar Johnson is getting his turn as the leadback after being an all-purpose weapon last year. He’s averaging just 77.5 yards, but is an explosive play waiting to happen.
The Jackrabbits continue to have one of the best offensive lines in the subdivision. Slowing this down will be a challenge for the Beas, having given up 215 or more rushing yards in three of the last four weeks, including a season-worst 364 yards to North Dakota State last week.
South Dakota State has the best defense in the FCS
Only ranked behind a pair of Pioneer and SWAC schools and a 4-6 Saint Francis team, it’s safe to say South Dakota State has the best defense in the subdivision, considering who it’s faced.
SDSU has a top-20 defense in every category and is first in points allowed, allowing just 12.7 points per outing. The Jacks haven’t given up more than 17 points in a game since the season’s first two weeks.
Score prediction: South Dakota State 34, Missouri State 17
Missouri State hasn’t been capable of stopping the run against the elite offensive lines it’s faced this year. South Dakota State might have the best ground game out of anyone the Bears have faced and that will be trouble heading into their final test.
South Dakota State will play this game motivated by potentially earning the No. 1 overall seed in the FCS Playoffs, hoping South Dakota can knock off North Dakota State. The Bison’s game starts an hour before the Bears-Jacks game, maybe opening the door for SDSU to rest some starters in the second half if they have the game put away.
South Dakota
Man who killed transgender Native American woman in 2022 takes manslaughter plea • South Dakota Searchlight
The man who shot a transgender Native American woman to death in 2022 pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter this week in Pennington County.
Pennington County State’s Attorney Lara Roetzel filed first-degree manslaughter, drug and firearms charges against 54-year-old Gregory Edward Landers in February, about a year and a half after he killed 30-year-old Acey Morrison in his Rapid City trailer.
The case caught national attention in LGBTQ+ circles in part because of the extended wait between the time Landers called 911 to report the killing and the date on which he was indicted by a grand jury in Rapid City. Morrison was honored in 2022 during the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, which takes place each November in memory of transgender people who lost their lives to violence in the preceding year.
Landers pleaded guilty to the second-degree manslaughter charge on Monday in Rapid City, two days before this year’s day of remembrance.
Second-degree manslaughter involves the reckless killing of another human being. The maximum penalty is 10 years in the state penitentiary.
A letter from Roetzel in the Landers case file says she intends to ask for a 10-year sentence with three years suspended at his Dec. 19 sentencing. His other charges were dismissed as part of the deal.
“This case is a tragic reminder of the consequences of reckless and violent actions,” Roetzel said in a statement to South Dakota Searchlight. “By accepting responsibility through his guilty plea, Mr. Landers is being held accountable for the harm he caused. We remain committed to seeking justice for victims like Acey Morrison and ensuring our community remains safe.”
Court documents offer insight into self-defense arguments
Landers told law enforcement he’d shot Morrison in self-defense when he called 911 to report the killing. He maintained that he’d acted in self-defense throughout court proceedings this year.
Most of the documents, exhibits, photos and transcripts associated with his effort to have the manslaughter charge dismissed under South Dakota’s “Stand Your Ground” law are sealed.
The documents that remain public do offer some new details on the situation. Landers claimed he’d let Morrison stay the night after the two connected on a dating app, but that she wouldn’t leave when he asked. He said she’d broken his ribs in an altercation over the shotgun that killed her.
Court documents say he was treated for bruised ribs and a broken hand after the homicide. The lead investigator characterized the break to Landers’ hand as a “boxer’s fracture,” an injury typically associated with punching someone or something.
‘Stand your ground’ law alters criminal justice landscape
Landers argued throughout the proceedings that he’d wrestled a shotgun away from Morrison before shooting her in the chest, and had moved to hire an expert to re-check for DNA on the weapon. In a letter to Judge Heidi Linngren, Landers called himself an innocent man and wrote that he should not be convicted because of “incompetent” DNA testing.
That testing found Morrison’s DNA on the weapon, including near the barrel of the gun, but it had more of Landers’ DNA on it. Her left index finger was blown off in the shooting, according to a motion from Roetzel asking Judge Linngren to deny Landers’ request for immunity from prosecution. That’s consistent with her hands being “at the top of the barrel of the muzzle at the time of discharge.”
Roetzel’s arguments noted that Landers had accused Morrison of performing a factory reset of his phone, presumably to steal and sell it, but later admitted he’d wiped the phone’s memory to conceal information from law enforcement. Landers also said he and Morrison hadn’t had sex, despite DNA evidence to the contrary, and that the physical fight between them took place in a bedroom and a closet that were undisturbed when officers arrived.
“Defendant says he acted in self-defense, but his words have little meaning, given the number of lies he has been caught telling,” Roetzel wrote.
Lead detective resigns
Morrison’s mother, Edelyn Catches of Oglala, grew frustrated with the justice system as she awaited an answer about her daughter’s death.
Just over a year after Morrison’s death, Catches lost her son Daniel Freeman to homicide in an incident that took place on the Pine Ridge Reservation and has yet to draw criminal charges.
Nine months and counting: Slain transgender woman’s family frustrated by wait for justice
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecutes felony crimes on tribal lands. U.S. Attorney spokeswoman Ace Crawford was not immediately able to offer any information on the Freeman case Thursday afternoon.
The charges for Landers were a relief for Catches, but she said the self-defense arguments and an issue with the lead investigator in the case, Cameron Ducheneaux, had her anxious about the outcome.
Ducheneaux resigned from the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office for reasons that aren’t disclosed in the public court file. His resignation is noted in the file, but documents and personnel records that could shed further light on the resignation were only made available to the prosecution, defense and judge.
On Thursday, Catches said she’d been told that Ducheneaux’s situation could have called his credibility into question at Landers’ trial. The trial was initially set to begin this week.
The plea deal means Ducheneaux will not be called to testify at a trial, nor would his credibility be called into question by Landers’ attorney.
“Looking at what we were facing, he actually had a chance of walking,” Catches said Thursday.
Tony Mangan, spokesman for the state Division of Criminal Investigation, said Ducheneaux remains a certified law enforcement officer, and that a hearing on his certification will take place during a meeting of the Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Training Commission meeting on Dec. 4.
The process of working through the self-defense arguments, seeing images of Morrison after the killing and hearing accusations leveled at Morrison throughout was stressful, Catches said.
“It was just way out of Acey’s character, the way he described the altercation,” Catches said.
She’s glad Roetzel pursued the case, despite the wait, and that Landers has now admitted to recklessly killing Morrison.
“It was an uphill fight the whole way,” Catches said. “At least he’ll get something, and it will be on the record that he killed Acey.”
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