The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-07-12
Lyon County Representative Re-
turns From Oklahoma.
People Undergoing TOrtures to
Win a Home.
STAKE A JUG ALONG. .
Almost Impossible to Get Any
Water.
The Uns0phisticated Are FIeeced
Right and Left.

'sTake a jug along" This is the adj
vice Of Representative Charles Harris
10 those who are going down to Okla
homa TO register for a chance at the
new government lands. Take garri-
son tent and camping outfit, too, if you
want ID get a wink of sleep under
shelter. / walked the streets for two
nights. There is no room for the PEG
pie"
Harris is one Of the first to get back
from the registration. People who want
TO win a home are undergoing fortunes
from the weather and Inconvenience
that they have to put up with, he says.
The water question is an immense
thing It is almost impossible to get
any liquid to drink The railroads can
not keep any on the trains. 1t is licked
dry to a drop as fast as put in. The
only way is to carry your own water
bottle. A fellow gave me a jug, and L
was mighty glad to get it. could get
il filled every little while. but It did
not last long. The sufferers would
come and beg for a drink, and no one
but a brute would not share to the last
drop
There are 10000 people in FL Reno.
They are getting away as fast as reg
1stered but the drOveS coming IN are
larger than those going out. Fully two
thousand people were left at the sta
Eion when our train pulled Out-juSt
simply could not carry them out. and
did not attempt to. There were fifteen
or twenty coaches filled, damned, and
standing up. Besides that they
coupled up half a dozen ordinary gon-
dola coal cars. People scrambled into
these. They were packed in standing
like tOOthDickS. Not only men, but
women, well dressed and refined. were
glad to have d standing-up ticket in
the sun-beaten, dirty coal cars.
'Sharpers are plentiful, and the I'M
sophisticated are being fieeced right
a L
all kinds Of triclery- They charge ex-
Orbitant prices for looking over papers
rs cents for the seal and so cents for
squirting at the writing, is the min
1mum. The worst of it is that the
lawyers do this when they are not
really notaries, and have no right to
do So They charge all kinds of fees.
One poor old lady saw who had paid
IS to a lawyer to look through her
papers He did not even have a seal.
They are all right he assured the
woman. That's all she gets for her
eight dollars.
''The bogus notaries and snide law
yerS are the biggest frauds there, but
there are numerous other receptions
going on to get money out of the I'M
Suspectlng- When the boys found out
about the Jackleg getting IS from that
Door old woman there was crowd
made a still hunt for him. organized
for an Old-time neclxtie party. The fell
low had struck out for the tall grass,
however, ant was lucky enough not to
be round
ITS a good natured crowd, though,
for all its bigness- That's why it gets
buncoed- Every shack has notarial
signs out and the people get the idea
that they must have their blanks at
tested. They do it and go to a useless
expense The supposition was in the
first place that the officials take your
oath that you have not taken home
stead lands before, etc. But with all
those signs staring one in the face and
the waiting, waiting, waiting, they
think they can facilitate matters. The
officers stand in with the rogues so far
that they do not correct the impress
Eions- 1t Is the same way with the
companies that organize for registra-
4Iqn- This is another scheme that the
officers wink at They have always got
just one place left in it that they have
been keeping for you for a couple of
dollars. Your name goes down on the
}lst and the captain registers for the
whole company II is a system grossly
unfair to the Straightforward people
who take their places in line and wait
in the heat and sultriness. The officers
must certainly stand in with the cap
1ers for do not believe that they have
Hlny right to register a bunch of a hum
dred or two for the captain OF a com
pany.'