Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-05-03


seanently the commissioner said ~
Thought ho had the right 70 sell any lands
In counties organized prior N lhlo' inc
land commissioner had nude tho imrres.
don on bis fwitncss1m ind that ne had
brrn imposed upon. He Uhe commits
donerl would authorize an isolated Sec
tion to be put on the market and some
man would 10 down stairs and put the
whole county on the market
Cr0ss-examination- land commits
.oncr said he conrtcd an Investigation.
Witness thought the commissioner had
made 4 mistake but did not think he had
Intentionally done wrong. The lana
commissioner told witness and Baylor
that be would cancel the sales In LIB.
eriy county. The land commissioner sail
| he didn't propose to he criticised aud
would FIRE any clerk that did II. The
| liberty county lands which were sold
| three weeks before the commissioner
l5iew Of II be said he would cancel.
but tho Harris county mlcs he would
| stand by Witness thought the com
missioner had been imposed on by clerks
IN the department In conjunction with
land speculators
l.. s. ROSS, JR,
was put on the stand by the state. Wit
ness testified that he Il sale. CLERK IN
the school land department. Boaz pre-
scented two applications for school lands
!
Boaz that these sections were not de
inohed and werr not on the market
rs such, hut he would consult tn com
missioner about H. Whness had con.
yersatlDn with the commissioner ana
his sOu, John, aud thc commissioner
thought that n they lid not adi0in any
nnapprupriated public lands they could
be- sold as detached sections provided
they were IN counties organized prior
10 1875. JOhu McGhughey took con-
trHry view. but the commissioner in-
sructcd that all lands ~ lurri. county
be- put on sale None 0i these lands 10
this block had been on sale 10 others
than actual settlers before this time
aud they were sold in few DAYS,
Boaz mud i'ricdenhaus put In nppli'
cations for lands IN Liberty county.
Bonz nude statement about III"
lnnd that II WIS low aud not ~ Tor set
tlemoni The cnmmissioncr said ihni "
the land were not fl for settlement he
thought he could put u On tile marke'
and The lands in Liberty county were
then put IN the market 40 detached
lands. The most Of thrse lands were sold
witluu four or five days, The county
clerks were notified that the lands nhd
hcrn changed. These lands had formerly
been un sale only 10 actual settlers. Tho
commissioner asked Bop2 II hH wanted
Ca luy some of the llud ana Bniz said
lic did. The commissioner said hr thought
1t was guDd public policy Ia put ~"
lands nn Olr market Hnd would do y
right away Applications had been filed
Ton some nj these lands IN January and
had been rejected because they wcro III
sale only 10 actual settlers. The frat
party who made application Tor land IN
Liberty county, under the now ruling
was u. y. llnldcmnn. and tho first for
the Harris county lands WIS u. BoII.
Some letters from Hurts cOuuty had
been received, making Inquiries about
these lands, and these letters ar" on iilc
Witness told the commissioner that par
ties in Harris county were waiting Ia
buy tlcsc lands aud II they worr sold
to li0nz there would he u kirk, Witness
told Boaz the same thing. These lands
Ia Harris aud Liberty had only hccn On
sale to actual settlers.
tr0sg-cIunnation- The land commits
,ioncr had never before been called upon
10 make q ruling upOn these lnnds. 1Me
lands were not placed On the market
before word had been received from the
county clerks that they had received
notification Of the change Of ruling
These lands had been on the market
since 1855 mud very few applications
had ever been made for them prior to
that time. These lands had been on
sale 10 actual settlers at 81 prr acre,
very few Of them had ever been sold.
/ There was no secrecy about the CONVEX
sHtiuu with Boaz andothcrs about the
lands In Harris county The natter
was discussed about ten minutes. II
was no secret WHOM these lands were
put un the market and nobody Ind
enioincd secrecy llallrman's apple
cation had boon put Ia prior to the
time that Bolz aud Frcdenhaus applied.
Witness was in the land otlre under
u VI Hail, Land commissioner Hall
had pnt on sale lands similarly situated
to these In fifty or sixty counties In
MrsAI milan tho utsltnnl 1uNla
thus put an the murkct 10y Land Com
missioner Hall MS well us those In Me
dim county.
Redirect eNaminaion-ln some counties
thvsr lands put on the market 10y Hall
were detached and In some they were
not In Medina county the witness did
not know whether the lanls thus put ou
the market were all detached or not, but
only u small portion Were sold to others
than actual settlers, Witness rcmcm-
her,d that Friodcnhpus renewed his ap-
plicptions after the change of ruling,
hut did not rcmcmher about DE Corodu-
vas application, On the day that the
LIBERTY county lands were put on sale
| the change VI ruling was noted on the
book containing the classification, Fried.
cnhnus and Boa1 found It out from the
| commissioner us soon a. he made the
change OF ruling As Tar M tho witness
| was concerned, everybody was treated
alike aud he managed these sales
Answers to questions by the courts
All applications were passed upon by
| witness, unless instructed differently hy
the commissioners Boax first asked thar
the Harris county lands loo put on the
market Witness said that Ruas had
given him a silk hat. Stated az The time
that he gave the hat rs an appreciation
of the fact that his father. while Cover
nor had given him UinuS) u letter Of rec
oWmcndauon, which letter he showed the