Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-25
LAND OFFICIALS IN OMAHA
Register at Broken Bow aud Receiver at
Alliance Before Grand Jury.
fAlK OF CLAIMS OF SOLDIERS WIDOWS
Special Agent Lesser Insists that He
Made Proper Reports on Illegal
Fencing to the Government
at Washington.

James whitehead, register Of the land
Sf1ce at Broken Bow, and w. r. Akers.
receiver Of the land office at Alliance, are
In the city, having been summoned to APP
pear before the federal grand jury In
connection with the charges filed against
certain persons accused of fencing govern
ment land and OF being connected with
fraudulent entries. Mr.. whitehead said
tina at the Broken Bow office there had
been comparatively few entries which are
In any way questionable and that he could
throw little light upon the subject under
investigation. Mr.. Akers said that att the
Alliance land office there had been 209 en-
dries made by widows Of soldiers.
MANY Of these widows he said. come
TO the office and make afldavit without
having in their possession anything TO
show that they are widows OF soldiers. In
these cases we write to Washington for
a record o. the soldiers whose widows they
claim to be and out of all the letters
written we have found but one case where
the records did not bear out the state-
ment Of the women. In that case the name
of the alleged soldier did not appear upon
the record.
"It was at the Alliance land office that
q number of entries by negroes were made.
The greater number Of these negroes are
In the county and on the day Of the last
election went out to the precincts in which
their claims are located to vote. A few
Of the men we're not in the county at the
time, but so far as they are concerned we
have no reason to believe that the entries
are not in good faith"
Says Mosby f. Mistaken.
W. r.. Lesser, the suspended special
agent, is still in the city, and speaking Of
the matter of fences and illegal entries
said: Colonel Mosby is certainly mistaken
when he says that / made no report on the
illegal fencing. l did not make many nor
fxtended reports, as l was too busy with
other matters, but l did say in an early re-
port that there was practically not one acre
of government land in the state unfenced.
According to the regulations now In force
it Is doubtful IL one legal notice has ever
been served upon a person requiring him to
remove the illegal distractions. Under the
rules the notice must not only describe the
Fence, but 1t must specify the exact descrip-
tion Of the land which Is fenced. This re-
Quires a searching into the records which
cannot be made by an agent who is sup
posed to be on the road and l recommended
to the department a change in the laws
which would permit a brief notice, as /
believe that a description of the land fenced
is unnecessary. The rule has not been
changed and it would require half a dozen
special agents in each Of the western dis
tricts to serve legal notices in all cases in
six months"
Talks of Widows and Orphans.
One OF the persons who has been charged
with operating a part of a bureau" for
securing the filing of claims By soldiers
widows said: II became interested in the
matter Shrough a %neighbor. She had a
minor son, the son of a soldier, and l told
Ter that he was entitled TO take up a claim.
: interested myself with another gentleman
IN the matter and we located a claim for
dim In Frontier county. l afterward leased
che land from him, but that had nothing to
do with the entry. A little while after that
another neighbor came to me and told me
hat she had a minor child Of a deceased
soldier and / located him Upon a piece of
land. The women meet in the Women's Re-
lief corps, and 1t was not long before they
had told Of my action, and several came to
me to assist them In locating claims, either
for themselves or for their children. l did
the best } could for them, and while I have
not. solicited the business have made the
best terms for the widows and the children
that I could. ! have nothing to conceal in
the matter, and l NOW of none OF my
friends who have"