The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1876-03-15
FLORIDA FRAUDS.
BABcooEs RANANABoNANzA(
The Presidents Pet Dispensing
Sinecures to Southern
=, Carpet Baggers.
TROPICAL PLUMBER.

TROPICAL PLUMBER.
,nox.rn,s rr1LxsyuLE BUBBLE-How
1T WAS DEVELOPED UNDER SUNNY
OFFICIAL sMILEs-AN INVESTIGATION IN
Several days ago the Sentinel contained
.ne shadow, the ghost as 1t were, OF CERTAIN
crooked facts in the official career OF Bah
cock, the presidents pet. At that time il
was impossible to secure the desired
responsible name for the story, or
to give more than the vsguest ont
line of the charges. But tne good
work has gone on hour by hour.
The citadel has been besieged and has
finally surrendered 10 repeated attacks,
and now the panorsms with all las tropic
attraction of landscape and back ground
of corruption is at the service OF our read
ers. To begin with, then, the worst
animal the most ferocious and the hardest
to deal with, is The carpet-bsgger.
He infests the Southern helds rom
Texas to Florida, and always can be found
with the same villsinous propensitiss.
They mark him like so many Zebra stripes.
A rare specimen of this animal was John
Mcdonald. He was born in Canada,
graduated from the northern lumber
regions before the war, dt into the late
strife, and, shortly after the war, DRIFT I'd
to Florida, wher3 he at once began TO use
his claws on the down trodden people OF
the fiowery kingdom. He obt sined the
position OF agent OF the United States
timber Office, on the ground OF being
partial surveyor.
HE SURVEYED THE GROUND WELL.
The government, It must be known, has
long had a reservation in that region of
fine pine and live oak lands for the benefit
of the ship building interests of the navy,
and while the duties of Mcdonald were
ostensibly to watch that no one trespassed
on these fields, what ke really did, 1t sp-
pears, was to furnish poachers with dark
lantern, and then make them whsck up on
the spoils. For this unselfish work in
guarding the naval stores o. timber, and
for occasional odd Jobs in furnishing the
navy department with plats of the lands,
always forgetting to designate the acres
which had been rified,) he received
the snug income of 81, 2O0 per snnum,
which, in that land, is next thing to a
fortune. Soon his aspiring soul grew sick
OF all this, and he turned him about to
discover new methods of increasing his
revenue. 1t 50 happened that two men OF
st. Augustine had, in the year 1873, sur
veyed considerable lands on contract with
the state, and had taken their pay In
tract of ], 200 acres situated about six miles
from Mellenville along the banks
OF the fragrant and flower lined
wekivs. 1t was garden spot of most
beautiful glories, rich in timber of great
value and blessed with luxurisntly fertile
soil. The land rolled in most winsome
undulstions, from gently elevated bills of
pine to the river bank on one side and the
margin of fairy lakes on the other. Il
seemed, in short,
PARADISE OF POSSIBILITIES
In the eye of the gifted land glutton Nc
Donald, and he took measures to call it
his own. he began negotiations with the
two men of st. Augustine, and they con-
scented to sell and told him he might
send on the money offered at once
and then obtain a deed from the
state land department. Now it
had been providentiaIly arranged so that
the state lsndoffice and the national land
office were together in the basement OF the
same building, and the clerk Of one de-
partment had the faculty of knowing the
other fellows business and looking into
his hand. Accordingly Mcdonald made
out q check, dra Gn on tie bank of Jack
sonville, forwarded it to the land owners,
and then had the deed made over to him
In his wiie's name. This precaution was
taken to secure the property in the family,
when those st. August tine fellows should
of course took mea -ures at once to get their
rights, and filed papers in prosecution in
the Orange county courts, but at last re-
ports the suit had not come to trial. Once
In possession of his paradise, Mcdonald
began to devise means of resping his
100 ten acre lots. Then came the trouble
of getting up q pool to dispose OF
the lands Mcdonald roped In
about five men Of Tallahassee, who
sNUFFED SPECULATION IN THE BREEZE.
But without someHforeign influence from
the departments 1t would not be so easy
to place the new found stock where il
would do the most good, that is. in the
North. So q letter was addressed
to the private secretary. 1t smelt o
orange groves and banana fields, and wa
tinged with the golden hue of tropi'
speculation. The Southern ring mean
well, but was poor. Money was needed
and Influence much more. In December
1873, letter came rom o. L. Bsbcock 4
Mcdonald, containing assurance o
aid and comfort. The writer had NJ
money to invest in exactly that shape
but he had done the next best thing en-;
placed Mcdonald on the psy roll a
bureau at a salary of 81 900 year. All b.
had to do was to visit Washington ever,
quarter for the salary, and In the mean
time count Babcock in on the speculation
and keep him posted on affair
as they uniolded. The scheme was thu
practically fostered by a direct and eorrup
contract with the presidents private sec
retary. The paper on which Babcock'
letter was written bore the assuriHg sea
of the executive mansion, and unde
these sunny skies the plan went out
perfection.
M'DoNALD MADE OUT PLATs OF THE LAM
the beautiful Southern Eldorado, fun
nished with marginal notes in the poeti
language of the real estate market. d.
scribing that such and such dot
profusely scattered over the surface Of th
map, meant orange groves, and such an