The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1875-07-06
TUESDAY. JULY 6, 1875.
AcquiffRl OF Z. W. French,
afier n four days trial
How'll from the HoOdIuins and ring
e~onspirator- now In ordes.

trial lasted during the past four days
and the jury acquitted the defendant
OF the charge o. attempting to bride
S. II. Windsor and G. w. Corey,
Register ana Receiver Of the Land
office, in less than thirty minutes
after they retired to deliberate on
their verdict. The story runs thus:
In May 1874, a contest" was car
Tied on before the Register and Re
eeivcr Of the Land office in this city,
for the right to enter n forty acre
tract Of coal land near Evanston, and
the contestants were the Rocky
Mountain Coal Comany, the Wyo-
ming Coal Company, nominaIly, tbut
the Union Pacific Railroad Company
really,) and one VIM. Hinton, now
Sheriff of Uinta county. During The
taking Of the testimony in the )
aud towards the close, Hinton re-
linquisbed his claim and afterward
formally dropped out" The prin-
cipal witness for the Wyoming Coal
company vas Thomas WardalI, for
merly Treasurer and Superintendent
of the same; but he only gave his
testimony conditionally, that is to
say, before his testimony should be
signed and filled it was TO be submit
ted tfor certain reasons) to Hon. j.
NJ. WooIworth, of Omaha, who was
his legal adviser. The draft of his
Testimony WAS sen 10 Mr.. Wool
worth, but the same was never signed
and returned, and made part of the
testimony In the case. Before the
middle Of July the Land officers, as
Stunning the power TO decide the con-
troversy between the two coal COM
pauies, decided in favor of the Wyo-
ming coal company, virtually the
Union Pacific Railroad company, and
prepared a draft of their opinion
which was signed and sent TO Wash
ington to the Commissioner of the
General Land Office, about the 18th
day of August last. The Commits
sioner of the General Land Office
afterwards, ordered and instructed
the Register and Receiver to ALLOW
the Rocky Mountain coal company
to entcr the forty acre tract in dispute,
and treated the arrogant assumption
of Windsor and Corey in deciding tile
dispute, with silent contempt. This
decision was so manifestly just aud
correct, that the Union Pacific Rail-
road company did not even have the
check to appeal to the Secretary of
the Interior, and surely it was lot
owing to its modcsty that it failed to
do so.
At the time of this contest before
the Land officers here, the Rocky
Mountain coal company had improve
mentS upon this forty acre tract, To
the value of nearly one hundred
thousand dollars; and had been in
possession 10y ITSELF and its gruntOrs
since 1867.
Atone time French was n stock
holder and Treasurer of the company.
He sold his interests in that company
to its present owners; he knew
that the company was entitled 10 en-
ter this tract, and naturally enough
felt that they ought to do so, under
the law. The land officers had in
formed him of their determination to
award the Tract to the Wyoming coal
company, and French, Knowing that
the Rocky Mountain coal company
was-by law entitled to the tract. 81
informed the lard officers, and told
them that their decision was ilagrunt-
~ wrong; and lac urged upon them
to take the opinion of some good
lawyer upon the coal land law, before
forwarding their decision, AS it was,
on TO Washington /; and he offered, if
they would only do SO, send to
Washington, New York, Philadel-
phia, or anywhere else, and get the
opinion of some eminent lawyer upon
the right construction of the cCal land
law, that he would pay all the
expenses that might arise in so doing.
on the 18th of August last French
made the following proposition in
writing and handed the same to Mr..
Windsor openly, in the store of Pease
& Taylor, at about two o'clock in the
afternoon of hat day.
"To re-eXamine law on the point
and change to right construction, is
worth and / will give greenhacks
when done. for expenses, 81 $1,000"
No virtuous Indignation was man
ifested by either Register or Receeivr
at the offer, nor during any of the
previous conversations did they fly
up in his face. No indignant spurn-
ing proceeded from Samuel III. Win
sor or George w. Corey at any of
these approaches. But one bright
morning dawned unpropitiollsly for