The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1883-02-22


Two YEARS AGO the claim of Texas
to Greer county was considered of
most doubtful validity. At that
time Senator Maxey thought the
prosecution of the. states claim was
useless, and he and other prominent
Texans threw cold water upon the
attempts then being instituted to give
life TO the claim. To-day. however, all
these men are convinced as to the
justice of the states claim, and
Senator MaXey and the rest are now
earnestly in favor of pushing the
rightful claim of Texas. The only
claim of the United States to Greer
county is set forth in the report of the
secretary of the interior for 1877, in 4
letter from the commissioner of the
general land Office, dated May 10, 1877.
This letter contains several items,
claiming the territory to belong to
the United States on the ground that
MeliSh'S map shows the Prairie Dog
town river to be the boundary, which
is easily disprOved by the map itself.
In this report he claimed that the
boundary commission between the
United States and Texas settled the
question. He says:
Accordingly. joint commissioners
on the part of the United States and
the state of Texas, proceeded to the
field in May and June, 1860, and COM
menced work from the point where
the Tooth meridian crossed the Cana
dian river; they retraced the merid-
ian line established by Messrs. Brown
and Jones in 1859, as aforesaid, and
prolonged it farther north to the in
tersection of the $3.50 e north lati-
tude, or the northeasi corner of the
state of Texas, thereby determining
west of the north fork of Red river, to
be within the United States"
If the joint commissioners
had really performed the act
it would have forever estopped
the state of Texas from any claim to
the disputed territory. This letter,
though published In 1877, remained
uncontradicted until Col. Swisher be-
gan his Investigations. Being I'M
able to find the report of the Texas
commissioner, he wrote to Judge VIM.
III. Russell, then alive, who placed
him in possession of many unknown
facts, which were embodied in the mem-
orial presented to congress in behalf
of Texas, on his own account, by Col.
Swisher. Previous to this, permission
for persons to Craze stock in Greer
county was refused by the federal
authorities, but since the publication
and presentation of the memorial the
federal authorities have raised no OBJ
lection to such grazing. Judge Rus
sell is dead, but his testimony as
the Texas commissioner is thus pre-
served, and it is seen that it has had
some effect in quoting title. The
STATESMAN gave the public all the
evidence in full as soon as it was COM
piled. two years ago, by Col. Swisher,
and at once sentiment began to
change, and the universal verdict has
been that Greer county rightfully
belongs to Texas. LII the veteran
certificates be located in Greer
county. under authority of state
law, another step will be taken
in the direction of having this dispute
settled. These few veterans propose
to risk their locations on this terri
tory, and if they do not succeed in Sc
curing jurisdiction for ~fexas, then
they viii have lost their claim. upon
any lands. But it is believed the pros
ecution of the claim, so successfully
begun, may be continued by these