The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-05-02
AFTER GOVERNMENT LAND.
The Probable Victim of Land
Swindle Lost Sight OF.

N-NAf
The people of Effingham have been won
derlng what has become Of the man from
Michigan, who came down to Southeastern
Georgia a couple of months ago to look after
some lands TO which he laid claim in Effing
ham, Bryan, Bulloch and Tattnall counties
The stranger got off the Central railroad at
Eden, and announced his intention to cross
through the country to Springfield, the
county seat of Etfingham, to record his
deeds to certain land inthe territory named,
and to examine the records TO learn if the
original land grants had been duly re-
corded
From the time he got Off at the station he
has never been heard from. He did not
put in appearance at Springfield and an
air OF mystery seems to hover ABOUT him.
The visit of the land claimant recalls the
strenuous efforts made IN the year 1870 or
lS1l to nave certain deeds or la ID charters
from King George Ill to the North Amefi-
can Land Company recorded in Effingham
county. These cases bore eXtrinSic evidence
of having been written up in colonial
times, and being genuine land grants from
Nj g George to the North American Land
Company, and embraced several thousand
acres of land in Southeastern Georgia.
Hon. s. S. Pitman, who vas clerk of the
superior court OF bingham county in the
seventies, gives the following interesting
but brief details of the efforts made to get
him to record the papers. He saws that in
1870 or 1871 an Atlanta lawyer called ON him
at Springfield, as he was at the time clerk
of the superior court of Bingham, and
asked him to record a deed, or deeds, cover
ing about 800, 900 acres of land Ia Effngham
and adjacent counties, Offering him at the
same time 5000. Upon my refusal =" Mr..
Pitman says, accompanied by the declara-
ton that | would suffer my right
arm to wither before l would
record his deeds, he then proposed
giving me competency for life and l
might then retire from academic service,
as was then teaching in the Springfield
academy. NJ reply was as poor as | was,
and l claimed nothing but poverty, he,
with all his yankee gold was not rich enough
to buy me. He spent the entire day with
me and was very persistent in his efforts to
effect his purpose, so much SO that he was
truly annoying, and not until after had
rejected all his offers did he seem inclined
to leave me. The deeds wore lost after
that
Judge Pitman's narrative ends at the
most interesting point, for the loss of the
deeds is the most historic point about the
story. After Intellectually trying to get
the deeds recorded, the papers were left
that night for safe keeping i 4 Judge RAINS
office. 1t had leaked out among the land
owners in aud about Springfield what was
on foot, and that night a we'll organized
force made a descent upoa the ordinary'5
office, the deeds Of King George were a.
stracted, no other records being disturbed.
and the objectionable papers we're conveyed
TO a safe distance and burned.
AT intervals Of evory few years some
northern victim who has purchased some of
these alleged government lands comes down
TO inquire about the location of his lands,
has bug put in his ear and is off. As tho
MORNING NEWS has said heretofore, th ere
is no government land in Georgia subject
to entry or purchase