From the Leavenworth Conservative,

    We have repeatedly denounced the practices of indian traders and agents. That there has been systematic imposition upon the government, and the indians also, will not be doubted by any person ordinarily conversant with indian affairs. We publish the following letter from a gentleman who recently returned from the plains, whose opportunities for information have been great:
    "Last fall, when Bogy and Ewing came out to visit the indians on the Arkansas, there came in at Fort Larned, a band of Apaches for their goods. Colonel Wyncoop, the agent, had none, for the goods had been delayed; D. A. Butterfield, a trader who was on the ground, had some. Bogy and Ewing bought from him what was called fourteen thousand dollars' worth. The amount given to the indians was not considered by parties present to exceed the value of one thousand. Butterfield stated that infantry coats that cost him one dollar twelve and a half cents, he got eleven dollars for, and black blankets for which he gave thirteen he obtained twenty-three dolars for. After Bogy and Ewing left, there was a settlement between trader Butterfield and agent Wyncoop, the latter receiving for his share of the transaction four thousand dollars. Butterfield's clerk,--a Mr. Barrow, now in St. Louis, and David Renick, now in Denver, who was his wholesale-man, are cognizant of this fact. I saw the entries myself, accounting for the money given to Wyncoop, and know that all the value received which Butterfied [sic] ever got was Wyncoop's agency in making the sale for him.
    Butterfield made an agreement with the Kiowa indians to rob his train, in order that he might put in a claim for losses. He told of the agreement he had made after returning from the Kiowa camps on his first outfit to Fort Larned, but owing to a disagreement between himself and his drivers, he was unable to carry out his design for several weeks, but it was finally executed. He told T. R. Curtis, the interpreter, and a Mr. Coriell, beef contractor, of the arrangement prior to its successful consummation. When his wagons next went south of the Arkansas, they were loaded only with flour, beans, dried apples, and the cheepest [sic] articles he could find. The indians emptied them but sent back the trains--something they never would have done had there not been a pre-arrangement about it. How much Butterfield claims for his loss is not definitely known, but whatever it is, it must bear the certificate of Wyncoop, which I think he can obtain.
    A man named Thomas Kincaid went out from Fort Zarah with indian goods to trade; he got them at the post; he he [sic] had no money to purchase such an amount; there was no one there with goods to give away but Colonel Leavenworth. I do not assert that Leavenworth gave Kincaid these government goods, inasmuch as he has denied the charge, but the other facts in connection with Kincaid I personally know.
                                                                            J. ELLIOTT WILLIAMS.

Source:

Williams, J. Elliott, "How Indians Are Swindled By Traders," Daily Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colorado, Tuesday, 24 September, 1867, page 3.