The daily morning Alaskan., 1901-02-16
ONLY RECOURSE IN COURTS.
Secretary Hitchcock's Ruling on Cap tain Moore's Skagway Land
 Patent Case

Patent Case.
 Washington, Feb. 7.-Many protest have been received from citizens oi SLagway against the decision of ;E, Secretary oi the Interior, recently rcn dered. granting right to Captain Der nard Moore to patent to 50 acres ot land u the heart oi that city.
 The question is an old one, dating back to the time when Captain Moore made an application to purchase l6c acres now the townsite of Skagway for the purpose oi trade and manufac turc Patents had not been grantc5 Captain Moore when the great inHuN to Alaska began on account of the gol[ discovery. and the town became settlcf upon the land that Captain Moore had applied for
 The case came from the local land office in hlasta to the land comms. soncr in WashinGton, who decided against Captain Moore. He appealed to the Secretary of the Interior. who rendered decision January /. Capta'n Moore has a right in patent to about 90 acres located in the center of the town
 The case has been contested by one of the residents of the town named Price. and others who had located on CaDtain Moore's claim.
 Secretary Hitchcock says that Price ct al can do nothing under the law cx- cent bring suit in the federal courts after Captain Moore has been granted q patent. This is the only way the cas-" can be rcooened and reviewed, accord inc to the investigations of members Of the Washington state delegation. who have been asked to look into the mat ter.
 The correeDondent, however, has evi- dcntly no familiar knowledge of the de tails oi the case. or he would know that Captain" Moore is not the claim ant. and he would also know the name of Attorney Price. who was in Wash ngton at the last Congress as the dele gate from the territorial convention held at Juneau Furthermore, a dis patch from Mir Price to the anxious people oi SkaPway would have reached here as soon. probably a day sooner I IL seems certain that Mir Price would have informed the people of Skagway of this adverse ruling of the secretary against a reopening of the case before him had the secretary made any such statement. But nothing has been heard from Mir. Price, and it is premature to pull long face over the matter until we do. The correspondent may have been in error. Newspaper correspond ents are occasionally.
 Should it be true however-and it is just as well to consider that contin- gency now-what is the recourse to the courts referred to? Tn the first place. we have to wait until a patent is issued. which may be a few days a | few weeks or d few months. When | this is received the Moore interest will probably serve pro forma writs of cjectment upon all the property holders in the tract given to it by this patent The case can then be taken before Ju1gc Brown on these three separate pleadings or on all of them:
 I. That the patent was obtained by fraud
 ?. That the patent was granted upon mistaken view of the facts.
 3. That the patent was granted up on wrong legal conclusions.
 Judge Browns ruling on any such case would be appealed to the Circuit Court, and from there to the Supreme Court of the United States, which lat ter. it should be remembered rules only upon points of law.
 This is the situation that now con fronts the citizens of Skagway who de sire to defend their homes IF the Washington special correspondent of the PostIntelligencer is correct in the statement given above.