The Kansas herald of freedom., 1857-01-31

ton is protected by this law. and that
is the one who made the first settle
ment, provided he shall have con-
formed to the other provisions of the
law.
A person who has once availed HIM
self Of the provisions of this act, can
not at any future period, or at any
other land Office, acquire another right
under it.
No person who is the proprietor of
three hundred and twenty acres of
land in any State or Territory of the
United States, is entitled to the benefit
of this act.
No person who shall quit or aban-
don his residence on his own land, to
reside on the public land in the same
State or Territory, is entitled to the
benefits of this act.
No pre-emption right exists, by rea-
son of settlement and inhabitancy of
a tract. unless at the date of such set
Element the Indian title thereto had
been extinguished, and the land sur
veyed by the United States.
Land is not properly legally sur
vcyed, until the surveys made by the
deputies are approved by the Surveyor
General but in accordance with the
spirit and intent of the law, and for
the purpose of bringing the settler
within its provisions, the land is to be
construed as surveyed, when the requi-
site lines are run on the field, and the
corners established by the deputy sur
veyor.
No assignments or transfers of pre-
emption rights can be recognized.
The patents must issue to the claim
ants in whose name alone all entries
must be made.
Sundry descriptions Of land arkich are
exempted from the operations Of this
! act.
l. Landsincluded in any reservation
by any treaty, law, or proclamation of
the President of the United States,
and lands reserved for salines and other
purposes.
2. Lands reserved for the support
of schools.
8. Lands acquired by either of the
last two treaties with the Miami tribe
of Indians in the State of Indiana, or
which may be acquired of the Wyan-
dot tribe of Indians in the State of
Ohio, or other Indian reservation, to
which the title has been or may be ex-
tinguished by the United States at any
time during the operation of this act.
4. Sections of land reserved to the
United States, alternate to other Sec
tions granted to any of the States for
I tne construction OF any canal, rail
road, or other public improvement.
| 5. Sections or fractions of sections
included within the limits of any in
corporated town.
! 6. Every portion of the public lands
which has been selected as site for a
city OF town.
| Z. Every parcel or lot of land actu-
ally settled and occupied for the pur-
purposes Of trade, and not agriculture.
i 8. All lands on which are situated
any known salines or mines.
Persons claiming the benefit of this
act are required to file duplicate afida-
Wits such as the law requires, and to
furnish proof by one or more disinter-
ested witnesses, to your entire salts
faction of the facts necessary to esta-
blish the three requisites pointed out
| in the commencement of these instruc-
tons.
| The witnesses are first to be duly
sworn or affirmed to speak the truth.
and the whole truth, touching the
subject of inquiry, by some officer
competent to administer oaths and
affirmations !; and. If not too incon-
venient, by reason of distance from
your Office, or other good cause, must
be examined by you, and the testi-
mony reduced to writing in your pre-
sence, and signed by each witness, and
certified by the officer administering
the oath or affirmation, who must also
join you in certifying as to the re-
spectability and credit of each witness.
In case adverse claims will be made
to the same tract, each claimant must
be notified of the time and place of
taking testimony, and allowed the
privilege of cross-exan,ining the oppo-
site witnesses, and of producing coun-
terproof, which should also be subject
to cross-examination.
When, by reason of distance, sick
ness, or infrmity, the witness cannot
come before you, you are authorized
to receive their depositions which
must be, IN all other respects, con-
formable to the within regulations.
The notice to adverse claimants
should be in writing, and should be
served in time to allow at least day
for every twenty miles the party may
have to travel, in going to the place
of taking evidence. The proof, in all
cases, shonld consist of simple de-
tail of facts merely, and not Of state.
mants in broad or general terms, in
volving conclusions of law. It is
your exclusive province to determine
the legal conclusions arising from the
facts. For instance, the witness should
not be permitted to state that . claim
ant is the :. head of family, " de-, fol-
lowing the words of the law, but
should set forth the facts on which he
grounds each allegation; because such
8 mode of testifying substitutes the
Judgment of the witness for yours, and
allows him not only te determine the
facts, but the law. A witness may
possibly censcientiously testify that .
minor son, living with q widowed
mother, was the head of 3 family ;
and, in another case. similar in point
of fact, another witness, equally con-
seientious. might testify that the wid-
owed mother was the head of the fanli-