The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1876-04-15

lhis iAernias, WIN A,iedaCe the sRaansn hil
, t1zihaiteW u, ~ iAHAths,
~ o WASHINGTON, April 10, isTar
that lis railroad companies haze no cisin 90
Usage tsnds Field, hWalg AMI huong disseRt,
Ny vayice, which set this hall ~ moi,un, IL yia=
aiea'ed' frsise. Tod irem waen VI BLESSINGS
WASHINGTON, April 10, isid,
Opinion by nayis, Miller affirmed Lawrence
s'lsfalnc't Shannon honpiei. l'euk siurIheu,
Justice yindicaIed, Truth triumphant SETTLERS
protected, The Lard God omnlpoIent Ieigne'h
j, s. BLAph.
by the above jubilant dispatches it
will DO seen that the greatest case in
the point of magnitude OF interests in
vOlved, ever submitted to human tri-
bunal, has just been decided by the Su-
preme Court of the United States. The
title to $50, 900 acres of lands, on which
were situated the homes of 10000 people
were in the judicial balance, and the
highest court Of this free land has, by its
judgment, made the leagued, potent aud
neyer-tiring mOnOpolies in the other
scale to kick the beam. Let US, there
fore, rejoice and be glad.
1t is too joyful time to re-discuss the
dry legal details of this great suit, or to
re-examine the contending claims of the
settlers and the railroad companies. The
facts have again and again been submit
ted to the people of the State with
warmth and eloquence on one side, and
ingenious and beguiling sophistry on the
other, by the respective partisans of the
settlers and the railroad companies, be-
fore their cold and orderly presentation
to the Supreme Court of the country for
final arbitrament. Law and justice
which may be fairly depended upon to
keep harmonious, when intelligently adj
ministered, have not, at this supreme
juncture, fallen out, and the 10000 set
tiers who have built and garnished their
little homes under the incitement of an
earnest invitation and solemn promise
from the government, have now been
decreed to own and forever peacefully
possess and enjoy the fruits of their
Iabors. No court of justice in the history
of trials at law ever had the supreme
pleasure of pronouncing judgment
which could make so many people ex-
travagant!y happy; and no cause was
ever brought to issue which directly |
involved so many dollars and cents
worth As this. So much for the law suit. |
1t is appropriate at this time however
to speak in fitting terms of praise of those
who, on the part of the settlers, have had |
this great matter i'll charge and have
carried it on to SO gloriously success
full an issue. Praise, in the first instance
is due to the settlers themselves, who
have all along been amenable to wise
counsel, and who though il imminent
danger of being turned out of their
homes, as the alternative of not acceding
to the demands of the railroad companies
which in most instances would have been
equally ruinous, if complied with, have
carried themselves with moderation and
retrained from any overt injuries to the
persons or property of their opponents.
Praise, and great praise, is also due to
Lieutenant Governor H. j. Salter, who
as president for four years past of the
council of settlers on these Usage ceded
lands, has in and out of seasGp advised
pacific methodist asserting and attaining
the rights of these people; who has
them in dark hours by
success; has in moments of
excitement stimulated their confidence
in the justice of the courts, and the pur-
ity and sovereignty of the law; and who
has, when all else seemed to fail, by tears
and prayers and exhortation. strength !
ened their faith in that over ruling
Providence who docth all things WELL
This is the bright consummate hour of
Governor Salter's life, who, though
needing no vindication with the settlers,
may now sit down in the midst of his
people for the rest of his life, a prophet
not without honor in his own country.
The first public suggestion of the legal
of the settlers in maintaining I
the right to their homes was made by
Governor Osborn in letter addressed
to the President of the United States by
the pointed terms of which letter the
demand of the settlers became the de-
mand of the State-Or, in other words,
the state became unalterably committed
to their cause. Shortly after he appointed {
Judge Robert CrOzier United States SEN ,
ator for the six weeks term intervening I
between the resignation of Caldwell and
the election OF his successor, with the
that Judge Crozier should
employ his brief lease OF powerin securing
the necessary legislation to bring the
question fairly before the courts in the
shape il afterwards took. for settlement. 9
Judge Crozier's fitness for such duty was t
indicated by his previous successful pros a
scution of similar suit against the cor Z
patentees of the Delaware di-
reserved lands. 1t is nothing O
IN derogation of Governor Osborn's prac-
ical, timely and persistent service ON n
behalf of the settlers, that it was after =
wards found that an order from the
department. of justice was all that was
necessary to the institution of the suits. I
From this time, however until the case v
vas argued in the United States circuit e
,ourt by Capt. George r. Peck, U. S. t.
district Attorney, Gov. Wilson Shannon
md McComas & McKeighan, then of RI
It. Scott, (now of St. Louis), on the part S
# the settlers, and Judge Scion o. $,
Thacher and T. c. Sears, Oh the part of $
he NJ. X. & T. and l.. l.. & g. railroad
ompanies, and was decided i'm a mastery
nd exhaustive opinion by Judge Sam'l . |,
J. Miller, in favor of the settlers, the \
)sage coded land question was the shut 1 1
lecock OF politicians, as Ii has been in >
less degree before. Now was
he air filed with pestiferous scandal n
nd every one who was officially related C,
o the suit walked with his head in a
loud of poisonous flies. ir
Captain Peck who had just been ap-
ointed United States District Attorney :.
efore he was fairly indicted into the y
flee, found himself under the imputa. "a "a
ion of being subservient to one of the Il
abroad companies, defendant in the III
nit, owing TO his brother being an officer
{ that company. Nothing daunted, he Ii