The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1895-05-23

ingly detected and worried, and quite
evidently feels That if he has to go to
i Chicago he will#arely have to go far
slther before theSlaw viii have, done
with him. sfIe does NIT seem inclined
Dts Look this matter SO llarels in the face,
Ebut seems to Bhink entheigfof mekhods
Iof evasion. s
III Extent of Cowell's Deals
r Here in Kenosha we had only a
fsmall idea of the extent of tie opera
-ttions of W. NJ. Cowell. The big frauds
now laid bare show Ct0#ellF, peFations
to have been very extensive. RI He Now
stands charged with having obtained
something like $4,000 or $4,000 in
textensive land swindles which are now
i uneartheds by. his arrest. There are a
/ number of Chicago parties interested
in this big scheme who have been
sWindled, out of their thousands of dol
lars in fraudulent5deals in Texas lands
Among the Chicagoans to suffer, are
named COLL. Slough. who smade the
complaint here, for about $1,000; Will
liam Briggs is said to,haye. lost. $15, 900.
1t is asserted that. other cities and
Estates have suffered, and it is believed
that fortunes have been invested in
property for which CoWell said. he was.
the agent. AS far as, developments
have gone it appears that CoWell has.
laid heavy hands on residents. of Hi
ncis, Missouri, especially in Chicago
and Kansas City. At least the great.
est number Of Inquiries have been re-,
ceived from these two cities regarding
his transactions. There are two other
counties beside Preside in Texas that
| CoWell has been selling off. Some Of
the lands are located in Tom Green
and Pecos counties. F.a IN 80
The Official Letters in the Matter.
| AS the NEWS stated Wednesday the
governor. and land commissioner of
! Texas wrote Gov. Altgeld charging
that conspiracies existed to issue fraud
ulent titles to-. tracts of Texas land;
Gov. Cu berson, of Texas, wrote Govs
Altgeld as follows: aa ae ..1:'f
/ 81 beg herewith to. hand vou1copy of
letter recently received from the Com
missioner of the General Land Office of
this State from, which you will see that
there is a we'll organized gang of land
sharks located in Chicago who pretend
to deal in Texas. lands. You will
readily observe. the injury done to this;
State, and to the people of Illinois,
Who are imposed upon by these sWind-
j lers, and this letter is sent for your in.
formation and such action on your part
as may be deemed necessary to protect
the people Of your State against the
Imposition 4s2s5. aH 5al 60
] r. The communication. from the Texas
Land Commissioner. was written Ito
Gov Culberson and said; 70 l3 1aIs3
!" deem it, my duty toeall your att
i tention to what | conceive to bea most
outrageous swindlet that is now being
carried on and perpetratedi in other
states by. what seems to be a well Or
ganized gang of. swindlers whose head
Quarters I am inclined to believe issl04
Gated at Chicago Inquiries have Been
i received at this office since,I took
charge from persons residing in other
4 states, prime ipally in Illinois iandlaMis-:
Souri,, the letters coming from Chicago
/ and Kansas City, in. regard to lands
claimed to be, situated in Tom Green's
I PecQs, and Preside counties, .and!} sur-.
| veEed, by virtue of certificates issued to
the Gulf Colorado and. SANTA Fee irail7i
4Iway Company, when ,in. fact ne such lo-
locations exist, the whole being a my al T
bl2 ~. ain Informed thai during. the last.
Ften years any, number OF; similar ,ll24
4qhilies have been. made at this office in
preference to this same CHARACTER. OF eer7.
j tifcate by namecand number, also the
locality, Of, the section :puEp9rted to abe;
Floeated by Virtue Of said certifiGate,l
Dclainling it, to. be, located so many miles
land degrees from a station 8 DuntQn. =
patented to :, flames Slater as as
1ssignee, giving the date as.Wellzas the.
Fnumber. and volume of~Fpatent. Itiis
found that ingeVery instance upon eX-1
7amination. of the records Of this office.
the certificate referred to is located in
tsome other county and having been
Regularly conveyed by the. president Of
the above, railway company is legally
patented to the assignee under the
transfer from the company. -. -
Fictitious Notary,s Name Used.
''From a copy Of an abstract sub
! mitted to this office some time ago
am informed that some Of the consider.
.ations mentioned call for $4,000. The
abstract used by these SWlndlers pur7
I ports to have been made by one James
-Rayner, a .notary public and convey
1 aneer i'll Austin, Tex. | learn from
some of the old citizens of Austin that
nosman by that name was ever q no.
j tary and cOnveyaneef here and. never
resided here as far as they know.
. am informed that L. NJ. Hall,
! formerly commissioner of this office,
called the attention OF Gov Ross to this
matter and turned over to him some OF
the letters received making inquiries
about these bogus locations, and it is
possible the correspondence is still in
Eyour office. | believe nothing was
Il done at that time to apprehend and if
I possible to put a stop to this business,
which in my opinion is injurious to
4 Texas, causing, as it naturally should,
, a lack of confidence in land titles.
m