The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-19
NEW SERIES
 OF SCANDALS Interior Department Purl-
 lying ItSclf.
 ----s-. ARRHsT0F JOHN A. BENSON Wealthy Real Estate Man Ac- cused of Bribery. He is Alleged to Have rsaudulsntly Secured Public Lands and Ai.0 to Have raid Money to
 omcials.
ARREST OF JOHN A. BENSON

Washington. Dec 1s--John 4. Beuson. wealthy San Francisco real estate ouer- ator. charged by the Interior Department with being the head of alleged laad frauds extending over a doeen western States and territories. to which secre- tary Hitchcock referred at length in his annual report, was arrested to-day on M charge of bribery at the winfisid Hotel by Secret Service Officer John A. HuxnB
 1t Is alleged ih the warrant that Een- son paid $500 to Woodford T. Harlan, ros- mer chief of the special servico div1sion of the agricultural office. March 1E. 19a3 to extract information regarding an if- vestigation of his operations by tho land office.
 Hearing December 90.
 As soon as Benson was apprehen&xA he was taken before Commissionsr Tay- Tor who Issued the warrant. He wished to have preliminary hearing of hia caas postponed and the date for such hearing was fixed at December O. He gave hafl for his appearance.
 An oficer of the government to-nixhs said that the information obtained re~s garding the alleged conspiracy impiicataa a number of persons at present employed in the Interior Department at Washing ton and elsewhere.
 Arthur B. Hughes. who has been the special attorney for the Interior Depart ment on the land charges. and Oliver Ha~' sin, assistant attorney of the Department of Justice. in asking for a large ball for Benson. said that Benson had been guilty Of bribery during his visit 70 WaaainKs ton. and the Interior Department itea,k although hes was fully aware that his connection with the alleged frauds WAn fully known by the department. The skake- mert was ma'se later that Gscretavw Hitchcock was so incensed at the Na8rsff~ cy oe this alleged clEanse that he kcl& the oszicers to have Benson aryekted AS unce although it had not been SillEikne1 fn apprebend him at present UenawaA Ny Netkasn. Governmnns officers say that EFnNoR aA1ne 4o washlnsfBn in ansTer to Aeepg letters and with tie Intention of bribins 0nice, but who were in reality secret ser- vice officers.
 The information on which the warrant was Issued sad in brief that Mfr. Harlan fin his capacity as chief of the specsn1 service division of the General Land Or flee. had charge of the investigation oe the land frauds. sending out special agents in any suspected cases Of frauds and receiving the reports of such agents on the cases, and that Benson had paid to him the sum of $500 in return for bo. ing allowed to examine the reports of ths special agents in his own case.
 Benson is Silent.
 Benson declined to make any staesment further than to say he would appear when wanted Benson is the senior member Of the real estate firm of Benson and Hids of San Francisco and it is asserted he defrauded the Government out of at least 100000 acres os land by various schemes since the possags of the forest reserve act in iss7 That act provides that eha owner of land which is wanted by the Government for a forest reserve shall ba allowed to select in place of 1t cgher pub~ lie land.
 It is alleged that Benson obtained ad- vance information as to the land that would be wanted by the Government for forest reserves and that by means of fraudulent entries or by purchase, am- mense tracts of such lands were obtained and afterwards exchanged for valuable public lands. The information allegea tha. frauds were perpetrated as to lands in almost all of the western and north western States
 Commissioner Richards of the General Land office tonight said that on assuming office he reduced Woodford Harlan from chief of ehe special service division ce the General Land otIice to a clerikshEp because he was dissatisfied with his work and misconducting his office.