Omaha daily bee., 1884-03-10
CITY WALKS AND TALKS.


ABOUT the claim clubs in the early days of
Omaha" said an old.timer in reply to an in
quiry made by tho BEES Man About Town.
IF l had the time to refresh my memory |
could give you enough material for whole
column, but / wouldn't have you give me
away, for there are a lot of men here yet who
were members of the claim club, and who
have become rich out of the lands which they
obtained through the assistance of the claim
club. The law of the claim club was superior
to all other laws-it was the law Of the land AZ
long as the Il im clubs existed. You could
hardly call the claim clubbers vigilantes, but
they might properly have been termed regula.
tors. The early settlers, in 1S5i.55, had no
valid title to their lands, as the lands had rot
been thrown upon the market by the govern
meut The only title the settlers had was
what they called tho claim or 'squatter' title,
which they conveyed to each other by omit
claim deeds. The claim club was necessarily
organized to establish a sort OF higher law, and
to give the first settlers an advantage over
those who came afterwards. Another object
WAS t. secure a greater am unit of land than
was allowed by government. The government
limit was 160 acres, and the claim club allowed
oSV WV ~ AlfS NchS vi lh"ol vi VIM
government of the claim club was adopted
All the land within ten miles of the city was
thus gobbled mp, and when new settlers began
to arrive this state of affairs gave rise to a
great deal of serious difficulty, and in some
cases Outrages were committed and bloodshed
resulted. The claim club was arbitrary and
oppressive in enforcing It's regulations. Ill
tel you about some of their victims. There
was George Smith, better kuown as Dec.
Smith, who has been county surveyor for sew
ersl years. In 1856 he was driven off his
claim, where he now resides in the north part
of the city, by an armed party of seventy-tive
men, under the direction Of tho Omaha claim
club, who tore down his half completed shanty
ami threatened him with death by drowning
in the river if he didn't make himself scarce.
He went over into Iowa, but returned in
1857, and the next year he began proceed
ings to recover his land and finally succeeded.
Jacob s. Shull was another victim of the
claim club. He was run off his land, which
he claimed under the presumption laws of tn:
United States. the land office having boon
opened at Omaha N few weeks before, and he
having regularly pre-emptad his claim. His
buildings were burned and all his property
destroyed, and he was obliged to keep in hid
ing for "A few days. His death, which oc.
Cured some months after these event., is said
to have been FASTENED by his troubles. BE
fore dying he told his children that some day
| tuSy Woulu TcCoNer Wis lanu. inc case was
carried to the courts, and the heirs finally sue.
ceeded in regainiug the property. 100 acres Of
land in the sOuthe at pant of the city near the
location of the government corral. This land
became very valuable and proved % fortune
to the heirs, A man named Callahan, who
refused to relinquish his claim was dumped into
tho Missouri river through q hole cut in the
Ice and held there until he yielded rather than
lose his life. Callahan died - few years after.
wards, and it is claimed that his death
was fastened by the ducking he received. A
fellow named Liegler was banished from the
territory. and sentenced to death if he returned.
he was escorted to the river by u committee,
who saw that he got out of the territsry. He
came back a few weeks afterwards, but did
not dare to set up any claim to the land from
which he had been elected. One Dan Murphy
was corralled in u lawyers Office by two men
who wanted to purchase his claim, but he re.
fused. These two mon were assisted by the
claim club, and they insisted that Murphy
must give up his certificate of entry. Murphy
attempted to escape by jumping through a
window, but he was caught and brought back,
after a fierce struggle in which his clothes wore
almost entirely torn off. one of his captore
pointed u revolver at his head, and anothe,
Hourished a bowie knife. His clothes were
searched for the certificate, but it could not be
found, as Murphy had rolled it into a small
ball and concealed 1t in his mouth. He was
finally forced to swear that the certificate was
lost or destroyed, and to sign o deed conveying
away his land for the consideration of 81, 90,
as expressed IL the instrument, but it is claim,
cd that Murphy only received 500. He was
then ordered to leave the country. In 1870
he made some attempt to recover his land, but
did not succeed. Another Irishman who had
taken out u government title to a piece of land
on which u claim clubber had previously 10.
Gated, was strung up to a cottonwood tree,
| aay.r,I tt,noo hnt hn ,J,StspntaIu ,nfraol .,
surrender his certificate. He was then locked
up and put under n guard, and was finally
starved into submission. He gave up his Gel
t~iticate of entry to the first occupant OF
the land, and also gave him a quit
claim deed. A crowd of Florence mon under
the leadership of Jim Mitchell. got after Mike
Zee, for pre-smptinp some land near Florence.
They drove him of the land and tore down his
shanty. They followed him down into Irish.
town, which was then between Thirteenth and
Ninth streets and Jackson street and the
creek. They wanted to capture hun and take
him back u Florence, but the Irishmen raj
lied, and obtaining guns they drove Mitchell
and party into tho Douglas house. Mike Con!
molly, who Is now driving an express wagon ia
Omaha, was driven off his claim and his sham
ty was torn down. He never recovered his
land. l could tell you o hundred other cases
In Omaha and vicinity, If / had time to think
about he matter. You see the trouble mostly
originated from the fact that the government
entries interfered with the claims Of the mem.
beers Of the claim clubs. Persons who made
government entries at once came In conflict
with the claim clubbers or squatters. The
government land office was opened in Omaha
early In February, 1857, and there was n great
rush t. m AXE government entries. OF course
the squatters entered their claims, but In many
c,ses they found that other persons had got in
ahead Il them. So you can see that the squat
ters no doubt In the majority Of cases had good
grounds for r~esorting to force to obtain their
rights. Of course In some instances gross out
RACES were perpetratei by unprincipled men
taking advantage Of the situation. Claim
clubs were q necessity so long M
squatter titles existed, but when
The opportunity was afforded of obtaining
government titles, the use for such organiza-
lions soon passed away. After adjusting their
difficulties, immediately following the opening
o. the land office, they gradually disbanded.
ne hrst public sale Of government lands To
the highest bidder was made ON tina 9th of
July, 1909. Up to this date no land had been
offered In the market except in the river
counties Col, A. II. Gilmore wal the first
receiver of the United States land office at
oinaha, and Col j. A. Parker was the first
register; The land covered by the sight of
" omana Was granted In two patents One to
,ohn Mccormick, dated May LIST, 1860, the
.ahu h"ing been bid off by hun at the public
sais VI July 9th, 1859. he acting az trustee
and the other TO Jesse l. ,we, mayor. dated
1857"
What do you think Of the new bridge
biiE Do You believe that another bridge will
Il INA hnlIl hA.AAH