Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-03-13

performed. SiGnatureI."
This receipt seems to have beel
used by Misner as voucher to set
tie VIII: his employers. There mus
have been some extra CELEBRITY intiu
encing the land office, Is in shor
time Misner called upon his Grove
to sign bank deeds which were after
wards filled to sui. either side of The
river as grantOr To any grantee thai
Mlsner was employed to insert, tn,
notarial veliticali0n on the Wash.
ington side being simulated in many
Instances before an eX county Judge
of enc of the counties named.
WE ARE INFORMED.
That it seemed to be an understood
.tfair at Vancouver, as the sudden
avalanche OF fees made the land
office officials specially ob'use; for
they seemed to follow St. Paui's all
vice to some Of his converts, as tn g
good book mentions, who making
inquiries as TO the propriety of eat
iuS HlCdt OHcitu " ilOiS, HiSiSTu
them to "pariake thereof i'll thank
fulness, asking no questions. Of
those we are particularly informed
of, they were taken ov'r from day
to day to Vancouver in Squalls by
Msner; our informant being of the
tiist, accompanied by the notorious
Zed Wilson, who was active in the
recruiting service. Misner, as pre-
viously stated, dealt very irregular
with his gangs, paying them all
prices, and to some nothing at all !,
on the plea that their entry was
valueless as timber claim, which
they say was no excuse, as each was
furnished slip of paper which con-
tanned the description of the quar-
ter section he was to 6le upon, and
when he presented it and took the
required oath, etc, the money was
earned. Some of them are yet un-
der the impression that Misner
" knocked down" on them, or that
Montgomery failed to put up toward
the last. The notice of these tim
Der land applications all had to be
published by law in some newspa-
per nearest the land applied for, and
the two journals of St. Helens had
the cream of these publications both
from the Vancouver and Oregon City
offices, though the Vancouver and AS
torn papers got tasto also of this
patronage. The whole details of
this land stealing were sent from
this city to the U. S. Commissioner
of tho General Land Office of Wash
ington last year, but Montgomery's
frequent trips to the seat of govern
ment seem to haye had sufficient in
tiuence to " cover multitude of
SINS" if Misner told the truth, for
the Department of the Interior APP
pears oblivious of any such wrongs
i'll this direction. All of these tim
Der land buyers under Misner's
auspices, who engaged them osiensi-
bly, for Montgomery and his partner,
hail from Multnomah county in the
published notices; and the list of
majority of their names could be
quite as perfectly taken from the
criminal records OF the city au1
as from the
THE LAND BOOKS.
This practice of land stealing by use
of the vicious class, who have no
scrupIes about perjuring themselves
for Il few dollars, has become an
epidemic on this coast, equally as
viralent on Puget Sound as the
Columbia, were the mammoth mill
companies and timber-land grab
bers within a short time have char
tered steamboat loads of land takers
FROM the pur!ieus of Seattle and
other places between Cape Flattery
and head of the Sound, taking them
to Olympia with abundant d" refresh
ments" on board, where for few
dollars they initiated what we nave
here noted happening between Port
Portland and Vancouver for like pur-
poses. The act of Congress for the
sale of timber land in Oregon and
Washington seems to have been
specially prepared with q view to
fraud in the direct interest of land
monopolists, for as interpreted in
the Interior Department, being the
only class of land transfer under the
statue that can be verified before Il
notary for uso in the land office. |
Homestead, presumption, timber
culture, and other proofs taken be-
fore u notary, are not good. This
extraordinary exception of Oregon
and Washington timber lands to be
exceptionally valid before notary
Tor affidavit and proof is suspicious
Of itself, considering the facility
with which notaries of any character
IAN be commissioned for the occas-
on. If the Secretary of the Inter
or of the incoming Administration,
md the coming new Prosecuting
Attorney for Oregon and Washington
will notice these gigantic land frauds
If the Pacific Northwest, and win.
licate justice on behalf of the Gov
'rnment and people, they will find
IN Ausean stable quite as filthy as
hat which the mythical labor of