The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-26
GOVERNMENT
 CLAIMS LAND
HOMESTEAD ENTRIES IN NE
 BRAsKA WILL BE CANCELLED.
Tracts Obtained by Cattle Barons from Soldiers Widows Involved. Millions of Acres of Finest
 Gazing Country in Doubt.

A decision just handed d0Wn Dy the gen. eral land office denying the right of a soldiers widow to file upon homestead under an agreement to turn the land over to a cattle company and holding that in order to obtain title to her claim she must in good faith establish and maintain actual residence thereon has created con- sternation among the cattle barons of Me- braska and other Western States, for 1t is interpreted by them to mean that all of the thousands of homestead entries made by soldiers widows at the expense and in the Interest of cattle companies will be cancelled by the government, and that in consequence the millions of acres of rich and valuable grazing lands involved therein will pass out of the control of the cattle companies and revert to the government
 It is regarded as significant that this important decision should have been handed down almost immediately after Commissioner Richards of the general land office had returned east from Wyoming and Nebraska. MT. Richards was at his ranch at Red Bank, Wyo.. and at Cheyenne and in Omaha for several weeks in June and July, and 1t Is knowp that while he was in the west he gathered considerable information touch ing the soldiers widows homestead
 
 Widows Are Co., -ed.
 For seevral years the big cattle com panies of the West have had paid agents at work throughout Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and other States in the middle west drum ming up soldiers widows and shipping them by the car load out to the govern ment lands. Thousands of widows have consented to make these filings in con- sideration of small sums of money, their railroad fares, their hotel bills and other expenses, including the land office fees Cautiously enough in most cases the widows, willingly or unwittingly, have perjured themselves in making these fll- ings. Every one of them when taken to the land office made an affidavit that she was making the location for her own use and benefit and for the purpose of her own actual settlement and cultivation and not, either directly or indirectly, for the use or benefit of a.iy other person or persons whosoever, when. as a matter of fact, in almost every instance some cattle company had paid her railroad fare from her home to the land office, had paid all the expenses involved in making the fling and had obtained from her a i've year lease of the land with power of attorney to sell it on final proof being made. There is little doubt that some of the widows did not know the nature of the papers the agents of the cattle companies required them to sign, but the fact remains that they were assisting to perpetrate a fraud upon the government and laying themselves liable to punish ment
 State is Surprised.
 It will be recalled by newspaper readers that the federal grand jury sitting in this ftxY Ct zyfn otNH a1 lx,.n and took a great deal of testimony touch- ing these alleged fraudulent land entries by soldiers widows. It was generally expected that a large number of indict- ments would be returned by the jury, but after being in session for several weeks 1t adjourned without bringing in a single indictment. Surprise at its failure to re- turn any indictments was the greater from the fact that Colonel John s. Mosby, special agent of the general land office, who had been sent out west to gather evidence for the government, had given a numbr of breezy and sensational inter- views, in which he had announced that he had unearthed a scandalous condition of affairs in Nebraska and made charges against the integrity of certain we'll known officials of the land department Colonel Mosby was before the grand fury and testified himself, but immediately after the jury adjourned he was sent away from Nebraska and assigned to duty elsewhere. Since the grand jury investigation of last winter the govern ment has made a further investigation of the entries, and, while 1t Is regarded as unlikely that the Department of Justice will be asked to take any further action in the premises, 1t is practically certain that the department of the in- terior will cancel all of the thousands of entries made by soldiers widows at the expense and in the interest of the cattle companies. Of course the cattle barons will make a desperate effort to prevent such action, but 1t is perfectly clear that they secured control of the lands through fraudulent means, and even they are now sensible that the chances are all against their being able to retain them.
 Timber Claims Investigated.
 While the government has been looking into the homestead entries made in the rich grazing region of the middle west 1t has been making a searching investiga- tion of certain timber claims taken up out in Washington, Oregon and California. While there is no question that many of these timber claims were taken up In good faith, there Is 8 strong suspicion that not a few of the entries were made at the expense and in the interest of big lumber companies doing business on the coast. About year ago a party of forty or fifty well-known Omaha men went out to Oregon and filed upon some of this timber land, but the government has not yet given them title to the land and it will refuse to do so until 1t Is satified through the investigation it is now mak- ing that the entries were made in good faith. In the case of the Omaha men there can be no question that the entries were made in good faith, but this cannot be said of some other entries that have been made in Oregon and Washington It is regarded as very likely that a great many of the timber entries will be found to be fraudulent and will be cancelled by the government. The timber land filed upon is of great value and is in active demand by the big lumber companies hay ing mills in the west.
 It is estimated that if all the entries that have been made at the expense and in the interest of the cattle barons and the lumber companies are cancelled mill lions of acres of the richest and most valuable grazing and timber lands in the west will revert to the government and again be thrown open to entry. And that every fraudulent entry will be cancelled Is firmly believed by those who know how Secretary Hitchcock and Commls- sioner Richards feel about the matter. The general land office already has gone far enough with It's investigation to show conclusively that great numbers of the entries have been made in bad faith and 1t will go on probing until 1t gets to the bottom of the whole rotten business.
 Minstrels tonight. Casino Theatre.