The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-28
BIG LAND FRAUDS REVEALED.
10000 ALLEGED ACRES THAT New
FIR HAD EXISTED.


And Yet Have Been Sold n Dozen
Times in the Last Half Century.
The Tract as Described an ImpOs-
sibIe Creation, But the InnOcents
in the North Never Knew It-They
Would buy. Find They Had Been
Mr.. Frank 4. Umsted. of ChieaEO,
Had His Grantor Arrested for
Cheating and swindIing.
A land swindle, involving over 1900
acres of land alleged 10 exist In Laurens
county, Georgia. which has been in good
running order for As years and of which
many persons have been first the victims
and then the active operators, was
brought to an end in Chicago this week
by the arrest OF Aurelius c. Turpin, on
charge of cheating and swindlng.
The story of the alleged swindle runs
back into the early sos. when the de-
scription of the land originated in the
fertile brain of some shrewd schemer and
what purported to be q grant from the
state with other and additional NUM-
ments OF title, was placed upon record in
the Office OF the clerk of the Superior
Court of Laurence county. The grant
from the state was dated 1895, was exc
cuted by Gov Matthews and conveyed 49,
900 acres of land in that county to James
Shorter. This grant was placed upon rec
ord at the same time with deeds from
Shorter TO an imaginary grantee and from
the original grantee to another, so that
the title was brought down on paper to
June 10, 1854 when the papers were ad-
mitted TO record,
Between 1854 and 1898 the property OF
what was thought 20 be property, passed
through the hands of various parties all
of whom apparently bought it and some
of whom sold it in good faith. In 1898 1t
was sold by Martin Harrison to Maud
Locklin, of Detroit who in turn sold It
to Aurelius c. Turpin a real estate oper-
ator of Chicago. On June 1, Turpin con-
veyed 1880 acres of the land to Frank
umsted of Chicago, for a consideration
said TO be in the neighborhood of $25 900.
On paper the title appeared to be per-
fectly good and Umsted was not sus-
ptcious that anything was wrong The
chain of lite was perfect and visions of
an immense game preserve, where he
could spend his winters and entertain his
friends, rose before his mind s eve He
thought, too that he was getting the pro-
perty remarkably cheap and that a pro-
htable return upon the investment might
be reasonably expected. He found out
afterwards that he was wrong.
rev days ago Mr.. Umsted came TO
Savannah and went from here to Ian
fehs county to survey his estate. The
records of the county showed that he was
the owner of very large trace of land,
but II could not be found. No such tract
had ever existed, so far as he could learn
The metes and bounds by which il was de-
scrlped IN the grant from the state and in
Ie1n fNqf .1E. 1s.
other were impossible Creations and would
not have bounded anything in the heavens
ABOVE or the earth beneath. Where the
alleged boundaries were said to come TO-
sether they, in fact, diverged,
ana would not have been re-
united in this world or the next:
they formed sort of parabola whose arms
reached out into the misty distance, en-
hraced everything, but actually included
nothing.
The clerk of the court told Mr.. UNI
sted that the land described in the deed
had never been known even to the Oldest
inhabitant. Capt. Hardy Smith, who was
clerk of the court from 1884 to 1893 in
formed the owner of the title that during
his entire tenure of Office ne had been an
noyed by inquiries about the land, COM
ing from persons all over the country The
present clerk, Mr.. w. j. Hightower, told
Mr. Umsted that he had printed circular
letters, which he mailed 10 correspondents
who wanted to know the condition of the
property and its ownership
IL IS strange fact In connection with
the imaginary tract that no one living
In Georgia has ever owned 1t, but il has
been transferred to parties in several
of the Northern and Western states. 1t
would seem that the parties who had
bought the title would become convinced
that 1t had no real existence and that
they would then transfer IL to some one
else. Seeing that they could have no
recourse against the seller they would
make successful effort to get rid of the
gold brick they had purchased and the
buyer would find that he had been bun
coed, go through the same experience
and adopt the same remedy for getting
himself out of the trouble. Il is possible
that some of these people never knew
that they had nothing to show for the
money they had spent or TO give for that
they obtained from him to whom they
sold It, but 1t is not likely that in many
instances this was the case.
Mr. Umsted returned TO Chicago furious
ly angry with Turpin, and determined 10
call him to account for the brick that
he had played A telegram TO Mr.. j. S.
Harrison, Mr.. Umsteds attorney In Sa-
Vannah, announced that Turpn had been
arrested on Monday and that he was then
confined in Cook county Jail. 1t was not
stated what explanation Turpin had to
make, nor what excuse he gave for his
action in selling an imaginary tract of
land. 1t is possible, OF course, that he
was innocent in the matter and that he
sold the tract in good faith and with the
impression that 1t actually existed in I4au-
rens county.
1t seems a remarkable thing that this
fraud or mistake could have continued
for SO long without being stopped effect
ualy and for ever, but ii is the registry
laws of the state that make such a state
OF affairs possible When a deed is sent
10 a clerk he does not stop to examine
It's authenticity, but If it purports to be
executed in the presence of two wit
nesses, one of whom is notary, il is
quite sufficient for him and the deed goes
on The record. 1t might convey half of
a county and not attract particular at
tention. Ii certainly would not be OBJ
iected to and if sent by a responsible per-
son or accompanied by the fee for rec
ordation would be entered on the books.
out in Chicago they have a different
system and an abstract of title certified
by the clerk as correct operates as a war
rauty from the county and when Turpin