The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1883-03-15
Continued From First Page. ]

Or the purchaser IN making the
pplieation to purchase, or in which
ny one person has acquired or
tempted to acquire more than
he limited amount of land by |
sing the names of minors /
nd married women or other per-
ons not legally capable of contract
ng, or by using fictitious, borrowed |
n accommodation names, or where |
INV person has made an application
n file without intending, in good
aith, to take the usual steps required
~ law to perfect his title; and in all
,aseS where the purchase of said
ands was not made in the real name
If the person intending to be the
actual purchaser" the title claim to
any and all of said lands shall be, and
are hereby, declared void, and the
same shall be subject to appropriation
in like manner as other lands belong
ing to said fund, the pretended claim
or title to the contrary notwithstand-
ing.
Sec. 2. No department nor officer OF
the government, state, county or DIS
trict, shall respect or recognize the
claim or title, or pretended claim or
title, set up or acquired in the manner
mentioned in the first section of this
act, or in violation of the provisions
of the laws as contained in the acts
referred to in the title of this act,
where by the records or other satltac-
tory evidence it is made known to
him that the title or claim has been
so acquired.
Sec. 8. Should any person who has
violated any of the provisions OF the
law designating the manner and limit
ing the amount of land any one person
could legally acquire, file in the gen.
eral land office, before the institution
of legal proceedings, either by the
state or any Individual, to cancel, set
aside or forfeit his pretended title, a
written REIMBURSEMENT, legally exc
cuted, of all title or claim to said land,
and furnish to the commissioner salts
factory evidence that he has not sold
or in anywise encountered the title
thereto. it shall be the duty of the
state treasurer, on being notified by
the certificate of the commissioner OF
the general land office, to refund To
such person all money he may have
paid to the state for the same.
Sec. 4. 1t shall be the duty of the
district or county attorney, where any
of the said lands are situated, when
he has good reason to believe that
land has been illegally and fraudu'
lently acquired in the manner herein
before set forth, and in violation Of
the provisions of the acts referred tC
in the title of this act, to institute
suit in some court of competent juris
diction in the county in which thu
same is situated, or to which thu
county IN which it is situated is at
tached for judicial purposes, to annu
and set aside such illegal and fraudu
lent title. On filing such suit h
shall Immediately notify the
commissioner of the general lanC
office and the state treasurer
and after the receipt of such notifica
ton, no act shall be done by either Of
them recognizing the validity of sucf
title until notified of the result of Sucl
suit. Nothing in this act contained
shall be construed so as to proven
other persons from appropriating saiC
lands in any manner provided by Law
for the sale of such lands, and wheI
such has been done, no suit shall b,
brought by the county or distric
attorney.
Sec. >. For such service as designat
ed in preceding section, said officer
shall be paid the sum of twenty-five
dollars, to be taxed in the bill of cost
against the party cast in the suit, pro
vided, in no event shall the state b,
liable for any costs.
Sec. 6. BY the word person." a
used herein, any natural person, cor
poration, firm or partnership is meant
Sec. Z. Whereas, large amounts o.
| the public free school lands have beer
fraudulently and illegally filed on ant
| purchased; and whereas, many o
said illegal files and purchases ar,
being perfected; therefore, an emer
gency exists, and imperative publ,
necessity demands that the constitu
tional rule requiring bills to be reaC
on three several days be suspended
and that this act take effect and be il
force from and after its passage; anC
it is so enacted.
floor us chairman of the committee
yielded to Mr.. Patton, one of tn,
members of the committe, which i:
composed of Messrs. Kendall, Patton
Nash, Cramer and Phelps.
Mr.. Patton, of johnson, said: L
will'be remembered, perhaps, that a
the time the committee appointed t.
investigate whether fraud had no
been perpetrated in the disposition o
the school lands, that it was theI
urged that the investigation woulC
do no harm if it did no good-that i
the committee could not recover tn
stolen lands they would at least b
able to tell where many of them cOult
be found. The committee has re
tured and in their report submitte,
to this house disclose facts of a start
ling character that will lead to tn
discovery of one of the most giganti
frauds ever perpetrated upon thi
state-a fraud that has been partici
pated in by hundreds of minors, mar
ried women and persons incapable o
making contracts.
When l assert that there is not
clause in section Of this bill whicl
is but an embodiment of the acts o
1879 and 1881, that has not only bee
evaded, but grossly, palpably an,
fraudulently violated, but assert
truth that has been forcibly and in
controvertibly proven in the evidenc
adduced before the investigating CON
mittee.
l. The school lands are not on tn
market until the county or distric
surveyor receives notice from the CON
missioner of the general land offic
that the triplicate reports required t
be made are in conformity with tn
law.
This provision. of the law has bee
violated openly and flagrantly. l.
one county where the school land
have never been appraised, reorgan
lied and approved siXty-three SCI
tions have been filed on and i
some instances transfers made bt
fore it was possible to receive any II
cognition or approval at the Ian,
Office.
2. No person can buy less than l6
acres, except fractions-nOr more tina
three sections of arrable land suitabl
for farming purpoSes-nor more tina
three sections if situated in five mile
of the geographical centre of an
county-nor more than seven section
at any other place.
These provisions of the law | wi
not say have been totally disregardet
but do say, that in our limited in
vestigation we have not found a sin
gle instance or a single county wher
the classification and valuation o
said lands have had any influenC
whatever in controlling the surveyor
in making appraisements. In almos
L believe in every instance, ths
we have examined int,
the lands have all bee
appraised at sl.OO per acre. Commi'