Therefore that feature of my life is sacred, and
will not be disclosed in these pages.
I would omit entirely mention of the Indian contract, were it not that
old friends may read this, my biography, and wonder at the omission. I
have no apologies to offer for my connection with the transaction, as
its true nature was concealed from me in the beginning, and a scandal
would have resulted had I betrayed friends. Then again, before general
amnesty was proclaimed I was debarred from bidding on the many
rich government contracts for cattle because I had served in the
Confederate army. Smarting under this injustice at the time the Indian
contract was awarded, I question if I was thoroughly _reconstructed._
Before our disabilities were removed, we ex-Confederates could do all
the work, run all the risk, turn in all the cattle in filling the
outstanding contracts, but the middleman got the profits. The contract
in question was a blanket one, requiring about fifty thousand cows for
delivery at some twenty Indian agencies. The use of my name was all
that was required of me, as I was the only cowman in the entire ring.
My duty was to bid on the contract; the bonds would be furnished by my
partners, of which I must have had a dozen. The proposals called for
sealed bids, in the usual form, to be in the hands of the Department
of the Interior before noon on a certain day, marked so and so, and to
be opened at high noon a week later.
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