The Tiffin tribune. [volume] (Tiffin, Ohio) 1848-1859, 1857-11-20
The Greatest Swlndle Yetl-57OO
Acres OF Public Land Sold a,
-Four Cents an Acre,

AMo AAGQtNoA AMAAWAG A0H--0AWN
Acres OK Public Land SOLD
Four Cents an Acre,
We have intelligence from the West "
another swindle just oonsummated byth
land agents Of the government, the an
daoity Of which surpasses even that OF
he famous Fort Smelling fraud The
Fort Ripley Reservation Minnesota, con
! ssting Of itty,seven thousand acres OF
land, was on Tuesday Oct e., knocked
oH al auction to some Democratic specu
lators, at the rate Of FOUR GENTS PEI
ACRE fifty THOUSAND acres 20
as good lAud rs Minnesota holds, worth,
At the lowest estimate Of oultyalors ol
che soil, .fUe dollars 0n acre, and for which
the government could huUe received one
dollar and tloenty fec cents per acre on th,
lay Of sale. In short, my ssusn Mou
sand acres Of iaa9 Aavs been doaatsd to
kndUes For SO, $50 Instead Of 6eiRs soto
10 farmers and actual occUDarfs for 3 81 =
25O-Or instead Of being made to bring
into the treasury its full worth. S5S5.
J00 We think il is not speaking unrea
sOnably 20 characterize this transaction n,
equaling in iniamy anything ever perpe
-ra,ed by any Set Of nf5n or government,
in any age. By it the people, the tax.
payers Of the country are swiuuled out o
animmense amount, Tor the benefit ola few
politicians of the dominant party. There
is not even the excuse that the land was
'old to actual settlers.
The circumstances Of this affair were
rs follows. We take the narration Of
correspondent Of the Chicago Tribune,
writing from the spot the day after the
sale:
The Fort Ripley Reservation is situated
IN Todd county, on the Upper Mssissip
pL II WAS occupied legally or not, by
! ifty or sixty DemacFatSo..l hey resided
on the landA81d Intended (S Sc6uf9 their
claims like regular pie-emptionsts. or
perhaps, much in the way Indian Reser-
vation sales are managed These persons
formed claim association which met the
day before the sale to adopt measures for
securing their titles. The government
tgents or few confederate sooundrels
who were employed for that purpose. sent
in proposition TO the claimants that ir
they (Glaimants) would not bid on the
lands, they Mr. Buchanau's agents)
would cut of the who tract and guarsn.
iee the occupants their titles at one dollar
per acre or twenty five cents per acre less
than they were expecting TO pay. The
sale came of duly and regularly. and@ be-
agents bid on the whole domnn at an
average of four cents per acre. Some OF
Il, for the fun Of the thing. was run up
to twenty-five cen,sl and still greater
portion at one cent per acre. The aver
age was four cents. These facts can wil
be verified by eye witnesses Of the who'll
transaction. When the sale was over the
scales dropped from the eyes Of the set
lers. They saw that those faithful SER
wants Of the people had lied their homes
away from them for nothing and were
proposing now to steal one dollar, or
more accurately. niuety-six cents for ev-
-IeTy acre Of the purchase. But they al
lege in excuse for their blunder that il
they had not accepted those terms. the
sharks would have run the land out Of
their reaoh--so they were. not like asses
between bundles Of hay. but like sheep
with wolves on one side aud butchers on
the other.
These agents were the same that sold
Fort Smelling Reserve and tho Lake Pepin
Indian Half-breed Tract.
The FoRrHooMINo MESSAGE. - The
Washington correspondent Of the New
York Courier writes:
The President is busy with the prepa-
ration of his Message. IL is very likely
that he NAV disclose the most important
p oceedngs relative to the lslando Of Cuba
The acquisition of that Island is to be a
darling object with Mr. Buchanan's ad
ministration, aud whatever policy or
statesmanship can suggest towards It's
transfer from Spain to The United States
will be done. and much, il cannot b.
doubted, has already been done. How
much Mr.. Buchanan has this object at
heart is shown by his liberal offer Of
$3.50. .O0O.O00 for IL, while Secretary Of
State, and by terms Of the Ostend Mani
festo which was carefully prepared by
him, in such q manner as to Justify the
forcible seizure of the Island, II Spain
should continue to refuse our generous OF
p Ileia lOF IT, ~ X " IEiuHIhhulu laib Llltl
the nearly incredible offer Of more money
for Cuba than has bsen paid for the whole
enormous quantity Of our public lands.
was concealed from the knowledge Of the
public for six years after II was made BY
Mr.. Buchanan. This, however. was 10
perfect accordance with thesecrAtiye char
acter Of that administration. Mr. Polk's
+ FIRST message disclosed many startling di-
plomatic movements on the Oregon. and
other questions of which not the slightest
suspicion existed while they we're under
adyisement.
The President has passed several hours
OF every day fora week past at the State
Department preparing, as is believed,
that part Of his Message concerning oar
foreign relations.
: Heavy FiTe---ll. Il. Depot Destroyed.
: CNcMEArI. Nov. 4-The depot Of q
Illinois Genital Road, at Cairo. was. with
all its contents destroyed by fire Sunday