The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-15
WHAT A BoGUssER Is.
. New Feature in the Real Estate
Business

They have a new profession down in
southwest Georgia" said a well known
business man, who recently returned from
a trip through that section. ''Bogussers
they call them. It IS very common pro
fsssion in the turpentlne and lumber re-
eions of the state. and a very lucrative
one. TOO. apparently. / was looking for a
big lot Of fine turpentine land. about Co.
npl acres which a well known Savannah
firm wanted to sell me. / found the land.
but / didn't buy. It is a splendid. -four
ishing country, and the people are build
ing towns right out in the woods. The
only trouble is that there are too many
bogussers. What is a bogusser? Wen.
III tell you just how I found out. While
] was looking around for this land met
most Of the prominent people in that sec
ton. Among those / met We're number
of easy going, prosperous looking sort of
fellows, who didn't seem to have much
else TO do but talk about the advantages
Of the prospects Of the country They
didn't seem to be real estate agents, and
they were all colonies. After i had met
several, ] began to inquire about them.
What does Colonel So-and-So do?' I
said.
oh, he's a bogusser,' would be the
" What's a bogusser?' / INQUIRED.
Ihen found out A bogusscr, / was
informed, is man who makes a bust
ness Of laying claim to lands to which
he has no real claim, and compelling
the bona nde purchasers of the lands
% which he lays claim to buy him off
You go there and buy a lot Of land, for
instance, and settle down on il. You
haven't been there long before a bogusser
comes along and lays claim You pro-
duce your titles. Then the bogusser bro
duces MS titles to the land. Like as not
he viii have a long chain OF titles run-
ming away back to the old land lottery
The thing looks serious and he threatens
you with a lawsuit, if he dOesu'f try ia
bulldoze you and threaten voJ with a
shotgun. de goes away and after he
has given you time to think it over he
doesn't want the land himself, and to
save trouble he is willing to sell his
claim for 800 or $500. If YOU are a green
horn you take him up and the bogusse
IS that much richer. Land titles are so
badly mixed in South Georgia ANYWAY
that man never knows where he stands
Living is cheap in that country, and the
bogusser has enough to live on until an
other victim comes along. Half a dozen
men were pointed out to me who [ was
informed on good authority, have done
nothing else for the last few years. They
either forge their titles or buy I'D old
TUES winch nave been proved in
me courts to be worthless
grants the titles of Witch SSi have benz lai1
handed about from one purchaser to an
other. none of the purchasers ever seeing
the land, the same land in many instances
having been granted TO more than one
party disposed of under the old lottery
scheme and now held by squatter soVer-
eighty that the bogusser has all the loon
holes he needs to escape the law, and it is
very difficult to prove fraud on them L
did not buy the land I went to look at
because ! think the title of the Savannah
owners is worthless. there being other
parties claiming the land, who appear to
have a better title"
1t would seem that the first move that
should be made by those who are now en-
gagged in booming immigration should be
TO straighten out the South Georgia land
titles.