The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1877-04-27
A SPECIMEN RADICAL TRICK.

A SPECIMEN RADICAL TRICK.
A law of March II, 1859, first permit
ted land subject to tidal overflow and
Tslisted'' to the State of Louisiana by
the general government, to be sold at
twenty-five cents per acre. This law
was reproduced in the Revised Statutes
of 1870, compiled by John Ray, as Sec
ton 2793 1t was re-enacted, with Sig
nincant notifications, by tho third Sec
tion of an act of the Legislature Of May
81, 1871, the thirteenth section of which
repeals all laws inconsistent with it.
The first two laws relative to such lands,
passed in 1859 aud 1870, required that
lands intended to be sold as lands SUBJ
ject to tidal overflow should first he pa
tented to the State and that the sales
should be made by the Register and
Treasurer, who was er 06fcio Treasurer
of the Land Office. The amended act
of May 81, 1871, designedly and for a
reason which will presently appear,
ICES the Register alone to sell. Now,
let US see what use was made OF these
statutory, provisions.
TheEe is large body of land within
the limits OF this city held by the Canal
Bank and its numerous assigns
under a complete French grant of Octo-
ber s, 1857, but the title to which has
always been represented OH official
plats OF surveys as unconfirn1ed by the
United States. The tract embraces the
shell-road along the canal, the hotel
aud pleasure grounds at the end Of the
canal on the lakeshore, the Halfway
House, the Nfetairie Ridge Cemetery
in short, lands on which several hum
dred people permanently reside, and
part Of which is the highest land in
the vicinity Of New Orians, and never
was overflowed by breaks or crevasses
of the levees or by breakwater from the
lakes, and not even during the terrific
hurricanes Of 1912 and 1881.
Wen, the Hon. John Ray, with spec
ulation in his eyes, noticing that this
land was represented on the last OFF,
cial plat of survey as ttuncOntirmed,"
and being aware that the region cover
ed by it was not entirely free from
water, conceived the bold project of
making 4 claim on behalf of the State
for two or three thousand acres of this
land under what is known as the
Swamp Land act, by which the Gene
raj Government granted to the State
all the public lands within its limits
which were subject to tidal overflow.
Nothing daunted by the fact that this
land was private property, protected
by title superior to any which the
United States could grant, namely, a
this enterprising speculator procured
the testimony of convenient witnesses
to show that the tract in question con-
sisted of swamp aud overfiowed lands,
and oD.ained also from the Surveyor
General a declaration to that effect.
The claim of the State was forwarded
to Washington and strenuous efforts
were made to induce the General Land
Office to simply sslist'' them to the
State under the Swamp land act, the
process of patenting being too slow and
providing too many chances for a slip
'twixt the cup and the lip. In the
meantime, the Hon. John Ray, after
his brief and inglorious career as a
claimant of seat in the U. S. Senate,
had managed to get himself appointed
Register of the State Land Office, and
shortly afterwards, under the provis-
ions of the act of May 81, 1871, which
vested in the Register alone complete
power over the disposal of such lands,
aud which he had no doubt engineered
through the Legislature, sold the great
er part of this tract to certain confede-
rates of his at the rate Of k'ce,aty:tire
cents per acre.
Here was u brilliant coup. Property
worth hundreds Of thousands of dollars
was to be quietly and secretly transfer
red from the possession Of Il lot of un-
regenerate rebels to that Of patriots like
the Hon. Johu aud his confederates,
through the instrumentality of that
official scoundrel, Willis Drummond,
late Commissioner of the General Land
Office at Washington. But "thc best
laid schemes of men and mice gang aft
aglee," and fortunately the owners OF
the property were enabled to confront
this fraudulent claim, made nolninally v
in behalf Of the State of Louisiana,
with the original record of tho French
concession of 1857, above referred to,
and thus Johns brilliant enterprise was
nipped in the btid.-N. O. De7nOcirtt.
fsNISS LOUISIANA GORDON