The Chickasaw messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1880-1900, 1888-10-25
orR puBLlcLANns

ethVM lhhtii I'D Mhch thtf hclouHeu {
under a provision Of the constitution
Of the State, robbed Of an amount suf-
ficient 20 keep mp our public schools
without the 3 min tax. The scheme
Of the foreign land sharks, who char
tered trains aud carried car load after
car load OF negroes to jackson 10 make
application for 2lO acres Of land each,
which they never saw, and the MoDus
oPEKANDI whereby the noble British
ers secured patents TO hundred Of
thousands Of acres Of the States waltz
able domain has been heretofore fuly
explained in these columns. but a cor
respondent Of the Woodville Republic
can, whom we suspect we know well,
lets some further light upon the sub
jcct and furnishes lot Of testimony
which will prove mighty interesting
reading TO the taxpayers.
During the process Of patenting
these swamp Lands" the applications
Of purchasers had to be acted on by
the swamp Laud Commissioner, the
Auditor, the Treasurer, the Secretary
OF state, aud the Governor, therefore
they all knew, officially, that these
lands were being rapidly taken up;
but did they know that It was being
done in plain violation Of lawg
The investigations Of the Commit
Tee referred to IN my first article, aud
It's report 10 the Legislature, leave no
doubt ON this point. This report can
be found in the House Journal Of $50,
from page j53 to 575, and the testi-
inony Of all the witnesses was given
under oath and signed by them.
propose To- quote from this report
without giving names Of witnesses
who NAV not desire needless publicity
but they are an Of record IN the report
10 which reference will be made.
Ono Of the agents Of Phillips, Mar.
shall & Evers, in answer to the ques.
ton, do YOU know whether Or not n,
81 e 0G,ial through whom thes,
patents were obtained, knew Of n,
manner in which they were being ob.
tained,r said Il think the Swami
Land Commissioner knew all about
it, so also the Secretary Of State, aut
the Governor" In fact il was some.
what notorious and was mentioned
! in the papers" (page jj9.) Anothe.
witness testified, Il frequently talked
of the matter myself according to m,
recollection, with the then Secrelar,
of state, cx Governor Stone, and Gov
ernor Lowry, and perhaps with others
/ further reeellect that all agreed tina
n II was an invasion Of the spirit Of tn,
law while its letter had been compiled
WITH" (page 56D.
NJ. S. Baldwin, who has already
been mentioned as a member Of th,
Evers Syndicate, was asked this ques
tiou. "Did the State Officials know
that the parties who were ostensibl!
entering lands, were entering, not fo
their own benefit but for the benefi
of Phillips, Marshall 4 Coz" lie an
swered, "they did. talked to mos
of them myself. talked to Mr.. Gwin
Mr.. Hemingway Mr.. Myers, Nj
, Smylie, aud the Attorney General,
(page 1863 In another place (pag
b6l) he says that before making en-
: tries he consulted the Attorney Gen
eral (Catchings,) who advised bin
that the lands could be purchased de
spite the prohibitory Act Of 1877.
b Another witness, Appointment Attor
ney in Jackson, made this statement
'the process Of acquiring title bega
: under Governor Stone and was con
e tlmued with equal vigOF under Gov
0 ernor Lowry. Il was q matter gen
r eral notoriety among the officials an
e agents connected with the transfer
and II seems simply impossible ths
: the Governors signing the patent
4 should have been ignorant Of III
transaction Cpage 567)
e Another prominent lawyer, VIII
e was Attorney for the Syndicate, b
the way, stated before the Committe
n that he received 3 letter from Me-
: York advising him Of the peculis
d plan adopted for purchasing the lant
= and asking his opinion as to wheths
e Il Was lawful or not. He further say
; ''on the day after the receipt Of th
4 letter Mr n. S. Baldwin came into m
n once and stated substantially the san
z facts e. were contained in the lett,
n 81 our New York Correspondent an
p asked ne what I thought about IL
lreplied that the transaction was