Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1885-08-01

@&<H3AAAND~ NINTH NATl
with their wishes; and it mattered lit
tie to that gang of defamers what or
whether any CRIME or misdemeanor was
charged. The court very properly de-
r ed this application, saying the diff
Guilty was not one of lawyers but of law.
Not having found that any offense
had been committed, and foiled in this
attempt to make use of the power of the
law to accomplish their ne~farious pur-
pose, they next resolved themselves in
to a kind of town meeting and request
ed the court to forward their address to
the secretary of the interior.
AS to the accusation made of discrim-
ination in assigning notices of publica.
ton OF final proofs. we have to say that
Wien this Office was open for business
there were in existence here two news
papers TO which notices were given, In
a short time one of these ewspapers
became embarrassed and was about to
suspend publication, and did Temporal.
lily suspend, when q man by the name
of Creel came 70 its rescue and continu-
ed its publication for a time. Some
notices were given the paper under his
administration. Not being satisfied as
to the number assigned his paper, he, at
once raised a howl of fraud, and claim
ca in his paper that there was a corrupt
bargain between the land officers and
the publisher of the rival paper to divide
the proceeds Of the publications so as.
signed.
Not content with this course, in which
he INDUCED in the most outrageous per-
sonal abuse of every n connected with
the office, he undertook to designate the
paper to be employed, erasing from
some notices, of which he became poss-
essed, the order of the register and sub
%stitutlng his own paper in the place of
the one designated. Failing in his at
tempt to run the Office to this extent he
carried his cause to the interior depart
ment 1.-THE Fargo grand jury was not
thought of at that time), and as result
OF his appeal to that quarter we received
instructions from the commissioner and
department of the interior emphasizing
the law that the register shall, in his dis
erection, designate the newspaper to be
employed, provided the n so employ
ed is nearest the land advertised; and
from the concluding paragraph of these
instructions SO received we quote:
"When there are one or more papers,
which are newspapers, within the. mean
ing of the law, and any one of which
might be designated under these instruc-
lions, you will use your discretion in
making the selection, and in the reason
able and honest exercise of that discre.
ton you will not be interfered with bv
this Office"
The further qualification of respecta-
bility insisted upon by the department
could hardly be urged in favor of any
paper conducted by Ii. NJ. Creel. This
man's paper afterwards went out of ex-
lstence, a year or more ago, and we
should have heard no more of these &C.
casations were it not supposed by these
conspirators that in the change of ad-
ministration almost any charge trump
ed up and insisted on would result in
suspension and removal from office.
OF the gentlemen summoned as wit
nesses before this grand jury (grand only
by the conspicuous absence of honor
and deccncy on the part of some of lis
members) only three deserve our espec-
ial mention. The principal one, who
was for a time proprietor of the COM
planning paper, is under several indict-
ments found against him at Grand Forks
for ot1enses as to which this community
is we'll informed: aud he it was who, after
giving his testimony, took a majority OF
said jury in a body to the "White Ele.
phaut" saloon and treated them.
The standing of another is shown from
the fact that we received an order from
the department requiring us to report
him if he attempted to practice before
the land office.
They know little or nothing about the
conduct of this office, but their suppose
tons and differences seemed highly sat.
lsfactory to this grand jury as constituted
The third is an attorney, who, in a
case before this office and in which he
was his own client, has a grievance
against us on account of an adverse de-
cision and has since pursued us with
malignant hostility. He is supposed to
be the "citlzen" from whom Judge Nc.
Conaell received his information "on
the cars"
With reference to the extortiouate
rates for advertising, the invariable price
throughout the district of all >newspa.
pers is and has been IS for six insertions,
and is far within the limit Del nitted by
law.
AS to other charges, we embrace. this
opportunity of stating that no contract
or arrangement was eve made between
the officers of this office and the proprie.
tor of the INTER-OcEAN, II. G. Hans.
brough, OF any one connected with his
newspaper establishment by which we
were to receive or did receive any per-
centage Of the money paid him for the
publication of final preof notices; tina,
we are not and never have been inter
ested p%ecuniarly or otherwise in his
newspaper establishment; that our bust
ness transactions have been the same as
with any other citizen doing business
here and not other wise.
HENRY w. LORD, Register.
A. o. WH1PPLE, Receiver.
DEVILS LAKE, D. T., July 25, 1885.
Inn R~r