Williams news. [microfilm reel] (Williams, Ariz.) 1891-19??, 1903-11-14
HITCHCOCK TELLS
OF LAND FRAUDS
Department Gratified With Way
Big Steal Up in Oreson
Has Been Sifted

A Washington dispatch says:
The secretary of the interior has at
last authorized an official state
ment of the facts concerning the
public land frauds on the Pacific
coast. The secretary has refrained
from making any statements dur
ing the time that has elapsed since
the frauds were discovered, al
though, from time to time, he has
given information relative to the
progress of the work of placing evil
dence against the law breakers in
the hands of the grand juries who
are at work investigating the cases.
The secretary will not make fur
ther statement of the case, he says,
until the investigation is concluded,
unless something comes up which
would seem to require such action
on his part. The statement fol-
lows:
Nearly year ago information
reached the secretary of the inte-
rior which strongly indicated that
frauds of serious nature had been
and were being perpetrated against
= the government under what is
known as the forest reserve lieu land
act of June 4, 1897, by a combina-
ton of land spectators on the Pa
cific coast. The information indi-
Gated frauds were of so grave a char
acter that the secretary at once di-
rected thorough investigation to
be made. This investigation was
conducted by those having charge
of the actual work with great care
and with all possible expedition,
consistent with thoroughness. The
investigation has proceeded step by
step, without intermission, under
the secretary's personal direction,
and every clew to wrong-doing has
been quietly followed to it's source
with the result that it is confident
belief of those in charge of the in
quiry that the guilty parties will be
apprehended and speedily brought
to justice.
''It has been the determination
of the secretary from the beginning
that the matter should be probed
to the bottom, regardless of the ap-
parent influential character of some
of the men involved, and the inqui-
ry has been conducted throughout
along these lines. The work is now
nearing completion, and the whole
matter at an early date will be in
shape for definite and appropriate
action against the offenders.
"While several hundred thous-
and acres of public lands are in
volved in the illegal transactions
brought to light, the number of
acres to which patents have been
obtained by the perpetrators of
the frauds is comparatively small.
It is proper to say, also, that some
of the statements in regard to the
matter which have appeared in the
newspapers recently, both in the
east and in the west, are more or
less exaggerated, and others are
mere surmises. The statements
widely circulated to the effect that
five United States senators and a
large number of representatives
were implicated, and that the lands
involved would reach in value $15,-
100000 or $2O,OOO,OOO, are without
foundation in fact. 1t can be posi-
lively stated that they did not orig
mate in the interior department.
The details and results of the in
vestigation are known only to a
few, and sensational stories based
upon statements which have here
tofore appeared in the press must
be received with due allowance.
''At the proper time full state
ment will be made covering the re-
suits of the investigation, and the
whole matter will be given to the
public; but for obvious reasons it