Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-05-18
IRoNToN, MO, THURSDAY MAY 1s. 1882


5y --- -
Ed. Register-On behalf of the peo-
pie Of Southeast Missouri in particular, and
qf the State in general, / thank you for your
plain talking in reference to the "land
frauds" question. The whole thing is q
fraud on the authorities at Washington.
Certain interested United States officials have
put forth and published all over the land that
ir the southeastern portion of Missouri, at
the Jackson-Iront0n-U.S 8. Land Office, q
regular system of fraudulent entries and
patent forging had been carried on, covering
millions of acres of lands; and conveying and
endeavoring to impress on the public mind
that the United States Government had been
1efrauded out of millions of land and
money.
10 Now 1t is not our Office to defend any indi-
vfdual In this matter, but it Is our impera-
tive duty to present it to the public in its
true light, and disabuse any false impress
6iens which may be current as far as we can
keach; to raise our humble voices i'm defence
81 the prosperity and development Of our
Sste.
why should Missouri, and especially South
east Missouri, be laid under a ban?
E The graduation act of August 4, 1854, COW
cred all the unentered lands in the United
States, and graded the price according to the
length of time each class had been in market,
and all lands in the United States which had
been in market for thirty years on August 4,
1854, was graduated as "bit" lands.
1 Now, since this law applied all over the
whole country, why was it that frauds in
making entries occurred only in Southeast
Missouri?
This act was repealed In 1852. So any
frauds which were committed in making
entries must have been between August,
1854, and June, 1862, during which time R.
L. Lindsay was from IL to 20 years of age,
consequently the claim that he was engaged
in making fraudulent ep.ries is too absurd
for consideration.
Under that act there could be but one en-
try of 800 acres in the name of any one per-
son or assumed person. 1t is well known
fact, and was equally well il not better
known at that time, that one man or COM
pany made thousands of entries in mythical
or stra,c names, paying to the Government
the Jmli price of the land and receiving re-
ceipt in full, without any conditions; the en-
tries were certified to Washington to the
General Land Office, the same approved, and
lsp unconditional patent was issued and duly
rssaEssed, by which ministArial acts to Gov
ernment dirested Itself Of all title to this
land.
By acts Of Congress of March 8, 1857, and
February 13, 1873, all entries made under
the act of 1854, were confirmed and approved,
"except such as the Commissioner of the
General Land Office may hereafter ascertain
to hare been nfraudulently or evasiyely made"
Now, in order for the Government to annul
one of these entries, since the patents have
issued and recorded, must prove two things
to the satisfaction of q court of inquiry:
LIST, That there was q fraudulent intent on
the part Of the party making the entry ab
iritio; not that the law was not subsequently
complied with in the matter of settlement
and cultivation, but that when the applica-
ton was signed and filed in the local Land
Office the party intended then and there to
evade the letter Of the law, and not that
he afterwards failed to comply with the
law; and
I'd, That the lands have never been con-
veyed, but are still owned by the patcntee or
his heirs or legatees.
1t would be matter of impossibility at
this late day for the Government to estab-
lish the first proposition in single case;
and there is not one tract in every ten
thousand that Today Is in the name of the
patentee, but has passed to an innocent pur-
chaser.
of ffnr oil fhofr hr1o mi ry nd n
''and much ado about nothing," we chnl-
lenge them to establish the fact of single
fraudulent entry or of a single forged patent.
There is mol such thing, and it can't be shown.
Lindsay ct al. have not been prosecuted for
making a fraudulent entry or forging a
patent, although Bliss & Co. at first spread
it broadcast that both had been done to the
extent of millions of acres.
In this whole matter the Government has
not been wronged out of a single cent. Lind
say ct al. have not wronged the Government
out of dollar. Their offences consisted of
getting possession of the mythical or straw
entries and carrying out the design of those
who originally made them, to wit: making
deeds from these straw men. There has not
a single individual come forward and en-
tered complaint that they have been de-
frauded in this matter. But under @the
statute laws of the different States 1t is as
much q crime to sign or have signed ficti-
tious name as it is to forge the name of bona
fde person. Here is where the trouble comes
against those parties who are being prose-
cttted, and only here.
When Bliss served a notice on different
county officers in Southeast Missouri not to
assess for purposes of revenue all lands en-
tered under the graduation act of 1854, If he
had any sense at all he knew he was trans
cending his ministerial powers. Why does
he seek to keep the cloud over our fair por-
ton of the State by his continued threaten
ing to disturb the titles to four-fifths of the
land in Southeast Missouri? What does he
expect to gain? Does he not know that he
is doing an incalculable damage to its growth
and development! II he wanted to act in
good faith why did he not apply to the
United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Missouri for an injunction and
70 9isSivS cps1