The weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1858-1860, 1859-02-15

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tUesrssAssssssf sAe FAnAeslpah 49,,
m. Washingten, Jan. II, 1853.
Anere 70 much talk, in private circles. abou
soe probable success Of great schems fsrme,
among certain speculAtOrs ID high placee. In thi
c'sys % obtain possession Of The iaiand Of Rocl
Island, 10 the State Of Illinois, containing abou
O'ne nundsed acres OF land, and estimated 70 5,
worm upwards Of ~, 0OO, 900. This Island "a,
~ apart - military reservation % long 100 !,
1910, asd nasremained military reservation foI
mo.e .nan forty yeafs. For the last ten year,
various attempts have been made bv snecni.,o..
70 obtain possession Of It 10 some way a ! sns..
uiasion, but they have hitherto been III varte6 X,
soe peomps and active measures of the War n:.
psst@ens few months after Mr.. Buch.nsn'.
I..ueurstion. combination was made In th;s
c'.y, y george w. Jones, United States Sens to,
rom Iowa, and man calling himself N.;o.
,L'oosey, TO become possessed Of the Island. nv
'OU:Gng lot OF squatters upon it, hu,ldin1
0.o'us LOT them to live in, and then setting mn
ton Law. -'.e' '"e psee"P-
Inc agent whom the Government employed to
project the island and keep sQuattere Of. and
who, under former Administrator has 49,. ..u
discharged this duty faithfully, was removed Nv
mr. Buchanan and another appointed IN b;s
pace who, to the surprise and establishment of
pooy, permitted these employees of Jones
suu Lindsey to take possession of the island
protecting them, and doing all in his power to
aid them in the accomplishment of their scheme
q quarrel, it seems, has arisen among these
settlers. and they have ranged themselves into
TWO parties, each claiming the island. Il is re-
ported that one party is represented BY Mont
gomery Blair, Of this city, who was recently
oosscstor to the Court Of Claims, and the other
Rrs'y' Jones' Lindsey Co., by yo1ag M.
rsseh, son Of Senator Fitch, and United Statss
D ", Attorney for the Northern District Of
ILLINOIS, IN Which this island Is situated I. 4
not aremarkable feature in this transaction that
united States Senators, and United States At
1orneys and Solicitors, should be parties to n
'cneme to defrsud the Government of the Un;.
go states out of large and valuable tract Of |
ana worth millions Of dollars, while their DUTY |
> under their oath of office, to protect The |
'ignts and interests Of the United States against
uch attempts.
1t appears from the Press and Tribune. which
Gems to De in the confidence of this gang of
pecu'Ators' that they are trying to take shelter
lnder some loose expressions IN the opinion of
Judge Mclean, in the Rock Island bridge case
a which he declared that the military reserya,
ION, having been abandoned in IS4s, became: a
art OF the public lands, and subject to che gen.
RAJ iana laws. Now, if Mr.. Fitch, the United
1ates District Attorney, understood his duties
mo- oesired to execute them, and not to aid
lese swindlers, he would know that the Su.
RENE Court Of the United States, in a very i'm.
ortant and noted case, decided directly the re.
ersc OF this when General Beanbien, of Chicago.
foved presumption right to the Fort Dear
orn reservation in that city. In that case
General Beaubien had resided ,
Il thirty or forty years upon the reservation.
'twithstanding the proclamation of Gen. Jack.
"a declaring the reservation subject to private ,
''ry or presumption, the court decided that l..
wing once been a military reservation, it
uio never become subject to private entry or
e-emption, and could only be disposed :,
IN such manner as Congress should pre- !
roe !or the sale OF military reservations. u
'cord'ng TO that decision, these would be pre- a
options can have no. claim whatever to pre-
option on Rock Island. f
The Commissioner of the General Land Office. d
earn, has decided, or is about to decide in Il
DOT OF these pre-emptors aud also UNDER Ii
Ihd that the Secretary of the Interior is on
sed to it, and will override such decision if r,
zoe. Anticipating this last result, the con- .
rators are trying to procure an act Of Con-
sss cohnrming their pretended pre- emptions, .,
It Is said that on application of Senator
mes and others OF his associates, the Commit
on Public Lands OF the House OF Represen- OF
ives have already agreed to report in favor of
ing Rock Island, scorth no,o couple of mil. 10
ms Of dollars, and daily Increasing in raiue. In
q gang Of plunderers for one dollar and t,cen. in
nee cents an acre, or a little over eieuen hun ia
d dollars! These are the facts of this as n,
hiding case, but hope that the timely ex-
sure OF this scheme will prevent its consum- III
ton. =.