Cheraw gazette. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1835-1838, 1837-04-19


CONTINUE to 60 upon it once month Tor
the six months, claiming to occupy, ard ne
will make out his occupancy. lie mus
also ..cuHirate." This. am told, is done
by building n little pen Of rails, and sowing
OATS or turnips or radlshes upon ten or
twelve square feet of ground; and thus the
"ccIuQL settler" occupies and cullira'eS'
and becomes the merilorious recipient OF
Your large bounty. My colleague informs
tne that he travelled through a part of these
public lands not long since, last summer
believe. and he saw great numbers OF these
lite pens, with something growing IN
them. did not think to ask him whether
they were squar; or triangular, built with
; three rails or four.
! [Mr. MoRaIS They were triangular,
built with three rails.
Mr.. EwIyG. | should have guessed so,
for the economy Of laboris important, and
the "dciual sctilcr' could thus save one
rail for the whole height Of his pcn-no
small ma'tcr. But after proving this occu-
parcy and cultivation, these actual settlers
, sell their claim at an advance Of some two
or three hundred dollars, to large capital
ISIS, who have their agents always at hand,
ready TO purchase, and they 20 again be:
yond TIC survcy, and "actuaIy culirate"
another pen full Of something that will
grow in shade, and SCI! again. Thus
squat.ng becomes regular profession.
A gentleman lately from Chicago informs
me that he knew a great number Of the pre-
cmp,ion claimants about that place some
years ago, who gotthclr claims allowed and
shortly after disappeared, he knew not
wh:rc; but last summer as he was going
ac:oss the country to tic Prairie du Chen
he found and recognised them as old &C.
oainta:ces. They were OH the fine lands
upon Rock river, waiting to take advantage
of the next pre-. .cmption law. / DO not say
that this is the habit Of all who squat upon
the public land for the purpose Of obtaining
a pre-. compton; am aware thatlt Is not;
but it is tic business Of many, and most OF
the prc.cmpsions fall into and pass through
the hunds of those who are employed for
the purpose by the large capitalists, or who
go in advance of him, and cater for him.
The pre-cmption laws (Gor we have tried
them for few years past have already
produced a most fruitful crop of fraud and
perjury. From papers sent each year to
the Committee on Public Lands, it appears
that in many cases even the prc:ence Of
possession or cultivation was not rcsorted to
in ordcrto get a presumption or a float,
which could be laid on the finest land in the
United S.atcs-:le choicest and most COM
manding s7o's, and take them at 81 %
per acre. There was actually set up somc-
where in Louisiana a manufac:ory of affi-
davis, in which the whole proof with the
JUSTICES certificate, and every thing else nc.
cessarv for the commencement Of the title.
were forged, leaving q blank for the name
Of the occupant and the tract Of land.-
There is now pcndino case Of French
settler by the name of Baubicn, who, about
the year 1904, got permission to put up his
hut under the guns Of the Ynlted States
fort at Chicago. When the prc-emption
law was passed, as the United Safes had
not sold this fort, he claimed it as pre-
emption. He was several times refused,
but at last his claim was admitted by the
, register and receiver, and he got his cer;i-
icale; his application for a patent is now
pending. understand that the land ne
claims on this state of his case is worth
more than million Of dollars. That in
order 10 obtain an influence, and power
by which it should be secured, he has dis.
posed Of parts Of it, on very cheap terms,
10 men of high political standing, wherev-
er he could find them. A valuable part of
ii, am told, is now owned by members Of
Congress, and God knows TO what point
this in:ercs: and influence may at last cx-
tend, far enough, presume, to secure the
emanation Of a patent. 1t is a subject
. worthy the inquiry of committee Of Con-
gress.
These prc.cmption laws have not only
produced violence and bloodshcd among
hose who strove as rivals for choice
spot; they have not only produced fraud
and perjury, and corruption, but they have
taught your citizens 10 despise your laws,
to resist by violence their due operation,
and form great and extensive combina-
tons to oppose them. 1t is we'll known by
those who have attended the sales of pub
lie lands in the Northwest, that violence and
intimidation are used at those sales, anJ in
the presence Of the officers of the United
States, to put down competition. Men who
arc occupants orp.rn;end to be SO, Or who
buy the privilege Of comAns IN as an oc.
cupant, and am told that any v::..2 may
buy that privilege of the association for
five or ten dollars, gather together in a
group by the stand at the place Of sale,
and when tract which they have selected
is proclaimed, some one VINO has a good
strong voice cries out "PRE-EMprloN;" and