The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-04-02

written by him in furtherance of the
alleged conspiracy.
McEnerney then began a long and
persistent effort to get in evidence the
abstracts of title on file in the General
Land Office for the hundreds of small
parcels OF. land included in the tracts
covered by the thirty-four counts of
the indictment. These, il admitted
without protest. would tend to show
that the titles offered the Government
were regular instead of fraudulent, as
the Government claims. Fimple would
be asked to identify an abstract cover
ing one small section of a vast tract
, and when he had done so the attor-
ney would present ii as a fractional
proof that his client. Hyde. was gross
~ maligned by Uncle Sam. Quick as
shot would come the objection from
Government Counsel Heney that an
abstract was no proof of title.
We have no objection" said Heney,
to your offering the abstract to show
the Representations made by Hyde in
order TO obtain the selection, but not
as proof that the State OF Oregon con-
veyed the land to A s. Baldwin
we offer it," McEnerney retorted,
"as the best possible proof that Ore
gon conveyed to Baldwin. Baldwin to
Hyde and Hyde to the United States :"
McENERNEY WON'T TELL.
1T is not the best evidence" Heney
argued. The deeds are what you
want. An abstract is only presump-
tive evidence of the facts recited and
the deed may contain many stipula-
tons that were binding on Baldwin.
but do not appear in the abstract.
Where are the deeds?"
we won't tell you" McEnerney an
swered coolly.
Finally the Commissioner got a
chance to rule. An abstract of title
is wholly insufficient to prove the con-
tents of a conveyance" he said. Your
abstracts may be admitted as proof OF
their own contents, but no more. The
Governments objection is sustained"
Blocked on this line of attack, Nc
Enerney next took in hand Marvin NJ.
Mclean. a clerk from the land office.
who has been deputized by the Land
Commissioner as custodian of the
voluminous records sent out here for
the examination. All that Mclean
yielded was the information that his
papers did not contain the deeds cover
ing any of the ACCOMPLISHMENTS by
Hyde for his lieu selections. and that
many Of the abstracts were also miss
ing. having been filed in other selec-
tons by the same defendant-selec-
tons that are not included in the in
dictment but are covered by the same
abstracts. These documents were still
at Washington filed away with the
papers relating to the other cases. Nc
Lean was excused.
call J. Knox Corbett," said McEner-
ney. but the Tucson Postmaster not
being at hand Grant /. Taggart was
sworn. Taggart. who is "A years old
and who used to be a well-to-do citizen
Of Oakland. has for several years been
employed by the Government as a SUI
pervisor Of forest reserves. In this ca
pacity the indictment says he fell a
victim to the cash of the alleged land
grabbers, to whom he furnished ad-
vance information of the lands selected
for withdrawal for the purpose of Gre
ating reservations and at whose in
stance he recommended the inclusion in
such reserves of lands in which they
were interested. But it was on none
of these topics that McEnerney ques-
toned him. All his dealings are said