Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-09-05

ueVes III justice and also thinks kindly OF
the poor, hard working men of Texas
and believes in equal rights to all the
poor and the rich, and also paper which
believes in all men having equal rights to
the settlement of our frontier or the
! western part of the great state of Texas,
! we would like to make some inquiries
! and ask some questions as regards our
/ state laws and the state officials who are
! clothed with the power to execute theplss
l. Did the supreme court in its seVeSa1
| decisions made by it in regard to the5de-
| funct land board make any SPECIAL
cases, or in other words diass it
make pie of one and crust of anatfieis
and did the court say that only thfs case
was illegal and this case was notyor did
it say the entire acts of 1883 audsSale of
all school lands hereunder was YBf3Ss We
take the position it did, and thaE the efi@'
tire sale made under what is termed the
seyen-section act was illegal, and the
sale a nullity, and that the legislature
had no power to pass what is harped on
as the healing act of 1899, under our
present constitution, which has never
been altered or amended by the people,
and it speaks it out in plain English that
the legislature shall have no power to
grant relief to purchasers who purchased
under an illegal act or made illegal pur-
chases. Is that plain or does it need.
some law student OF worm of ChittJr0r
Blackstone to explain more intelHgentIy?
We think it does not, but is plain enough
for all and should be understood by az
wayfaring man, though a FOOT -AsF,
another question, does this heating act
Of the T wenty- first legislature, on f3fgeS
LOG, heal all the sales made under thas
acts of 1883 or is their a proviso inst
and does that prOvlsO mean what it says
when it says in plain English, ''validates
only the sale of school lands where par
ties have made actual settlement only on
one section and then allows the purchaser
only to take up three dozen sections
when that sale allowed them seven Sec
tiOns?' Our great modern Lycurgus and
liege lord, Col. r NJ. Hall, has in his
stock Of supreme land law wisdom seen
fit TO place the construction on this heal
ing act that L. B. Harris, E. Cart
ledge, and probably one or two others,
sons-in-law OF L. B. Harris, together
with a bakers dozen of sons
in their great love for the West and the
people of Texas, hustled out here after
the coast was perfectly clear of the red
man and took up all the most desirable
land in what is now Coke county that
was called school land, and by their
great honesty of purpose as well as
actions, got the land classified as dry
grazing land and the price fixed upon it
at 81 per acre, when it really is agricul-
tural land and that of the finest quality,
and has been so proved up by the verdict
of the best citizens of Coke county. Now
this baron ct al. still claims all these
lands, and in the language of the giant
of old cries, keep off of my ground -
and with the assistance of this brother
of little George Washington OF cousin
of Saint Peter, Paul or John is trying to
hold this territory for this great man and
his legion of satellites, by saying that he
was not required to settle upon it or i'm
prove it in his purchase, and that William
Harris has a good title to this, and the
land office so CONSTITUTES the law Now
the facts in this purchase are simply this,
L. 3. Harris and his increase purchased
this land under the acts of 1888 When
1t was required to make a title good the
land had to be sold 1T public cutlery, to
the highest bidder, before the courthouse
door where the land was situated, and
Mr.. Tarver, the county surveyor of Tom
Green county says that l.. 3 Harris pur-
chases were never sold 10 the highest |
bidder. They never were put ND |
at public cutlery. Now how is Mr.. Halls |
letter going to be consistent that he !
writes to the county clerk of Wheeler |
county, IN which he says if the land was !
not properly sold as required that parties |
viii have to make-proof of settlement or
make new files on their lands? How is it |
that all the poor men in Coke county who |
were so unfortunate as TO purchase land |
no Of
IN this list required to furnish proof, and |
that L. B. Harris and his outfit and one !
other man who lives at his ease in splen-
dor in the metropolis of San Angelo DO |
not find their names in said list? What |
is the sensible reason for it? Is there a
bug under the chip, and will Mr..
Hall be kind enough to show
it up and let the people see
him or viii the people have to sit down
on the bug at the state convention and
mash it so fiat that all signs OF its
antecedentS will be forever estopped? If
Mr.. Hall IS so friendly to the poor man
why is it that all the laws will admit of
so much twisting and turning in order to
keep these big pasture men in power, but
viii not admit of twist when the poor
man calls?
Another thing and I am done: What
Is the general for! Our county
officials addressed him in regard to this
land fraud and swindle going on out here
and he referred the matter to headquar-
tiers, the land office, and wrote the Of
fcers word that all information III regard
to land laws should be ad-
dressed to the land office,
who would answer the same.
Again they wrote him as regards the con-
TO be placed upon some constI-
tutiOnal points and some late acts and he
refused to answer. Is he not an officer
of the people, and is it not his duty to
answer every citizen of this state in re-
gard to the various laws, and more es-
peciallY the county officials?
Now, in CONCLUSION, we will say that
the fraud and chicanery practiced here
would put to shame a Howe or Tullis.
To think of the audacity of it, and from
a arefgEsekservation of it, all must say
that the gerHtsgoes to the land offfoaAnd
-her9 branchas9ff Hoping to see Mr..
Han 'seapsS esEsSB are respectfully,
I'm my AERIAL SETRIERs.
sssss zz.s; - x
assc hslas PRS aoeSfEe NARA on aksasom