Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1893-10-19
PINE LAND FRAUDS.
ThesC Commit tee Makes Public Some
Of the Testimony.
The Names of the Witnesses Are With,
held, but they Seem to Throw Com
siderable Light on the
Subject.

Subject.
The committee appointed by the last
legislature to investigate pine land
sales have completed their labors and
report. The testimony is in several
cases quite drastic, as the following ex-
cerpts will show.
A witness who has been in the bust
ness Of surveying and estimating pine
lands for IS years, stated that he was
familiar with section SO, township 40
and range ~. He had run lines through
two sides of it, although he had not
sold to William Sauntry for So per 1000
feet at a private sale. There is no rec
ord in the surveyor generals Office that
it was put up for sale at auction. The
record shows that there were 1891 logs
cut, scaling 7l9,43O feet. Mr. Sauntry
sold these logs to Henry Webster for 81
per 1000. The witness believed that
the logs should have been sold for SIS,
as there was little or no expense at
tached to hauling In the fall of 1883,
timber in this district sold for IS per
1000, and very little sold below 81
The witness then stated that purchase
OF pine was made by Donahue Bros.
and there was no record of it in the Of
f1ce of the surveyor general The wit
ness had never known pine Of so good
a quality and SO we'll located to sell for
such a small figure. He believed it to
be the custom at public sales to bid
high with the intention of making up
the difference in fraudulent returns.
and he cited an instance. A certain
section IL had been partially burned,
and permit was secured from Capt.
Braden, then state auditor, to cnt it.
The witness was selected to scale the
timber and he ran lines on two sides of
the section, Witness was told that the
logs were partly from the school sec
ton Ql6) adjacent and partly from
somewhere else. He was skeptical. but
scaled the logs and found that less than
one-fourth bore evidence of having been
burned. lie returned his bill to Capt
Braden and the bill was for over three
times the number of logs on the bank.
He also testified that several similar
cases had come under his observation.
where purchasers of timber from state
school lands had purchased small acre
ages adjoining and when the logs We're
cut claimed that portions were cut on
their own land.
The attention of the witness was
called to sections 16, IA and 81, and he
swore that he was familiar with them.
They contained, to the best of his
knowledge, about 100000 feet of
white pine. He had been informed
that Smith & Co. had purchased the
land. He told the committee that the
pine should go for $3.50, or that he
knew OF one man who would pay S. for
it. He testified that D. II. Robbins had
informed him that certain parties in
tended to buy sections 90 and rs as
state school lands. They did this and
cut anywhere on government land. The
witness stated that Mr.. Mulvey bought
land at so per acre, but he lad not
consulted the records. He, thought
that several others had bought school
lands for a very low figure, and if the
accounts were balanced the school fund
would have several million dollars to
its credit that it does not now have. He
advised the committee to investigate
the sale of all school lands cut within
the last five years and he did not be-
lieve that one honest transaction could
be found, with the exception of the
purchase of Mulvey & Co. on section 10.
When school lands had been put up forI
auction, except in the Second district,
the buyers would not bid against each
other. They got together and appor-
toned the lands and fixed the price.
The next witness stated that he had
been engaged in exploring since go.
The reports submitted by him showed
that everything that was merchantable
had been sold and that tim Der had been
cut on other sections because the quar-
ter post could not be found. In the
first instance cited by him, ash and
other hard woods worth S3.5O per thou
sand had been sold for 80 cents.
Another witness, with an experience
of 20 years as an explorer, stated that
on section SO, town Sc, range 26, there
was reported to have been cut last win
ter sSs,3s0 feet in saw log tim Der. He
went there in September of this year
and after running the lines carefully,
he found that 1850 trees, scaling 1885,
040 feet, had been cut, and he believed
that nearly 100000 feet had been cut
besides 2,452 ties never reported The
value of these ties, as fixed by statute,
was cents apiece and the lumber 50
per thousand. It was sold to the II. C.
Akeley company and the stumpage rec
ord in this particular section showed no
cutting done. All the record against
the section is 100000 feet sold to the
Akeley company for So per thousand
and the balance of the record was
....leased for minerals. y The permit ex-
tended to "a, when all of the lumber
will be cut.
State News In Brief.
The Catholic church at Moorhead
was dedicated with appropriate cere-
-mony. Bishop McGolrick, of this
state, and Bishop Shanly, of North Da-
j kota. were present
Charles Lacy, who was charged with
robbing n. w. Edyvan of $50 at Wi
hoiia last April, has been acquitted. ".
h. a suicide occurred at. the hospital in
st. Peter. Isaac johnson, who was
sent to the hospital from Kandiyohi
conntv about the lSt Of Sentem her