The Irish standard., 1904-10-22

ID STANDARD, SATURDAY, OC
Under this grant did the st. Paul &
Duluth company build 94.S miles of
railway and became entitled to COG, 72O
acres Of swamp land. Prior to 1897
the state had decided to the Duluth &
Iron Range POI, 1882 acres in part sat-
isfaction Of the grant. The company
had also selected some 10000 acres of
swamp land, which had not been deed
ed by the state. This selection by the
company included the $4,000 acres
which 1 have heretofore referred to
and which had been previously select
ed by the state for the state institu-
tons.
This was the condition Of affairs
when Mr.. Dunn started out to bust the
Duluth & Iron Range railroad grant.
In pursuance Of Mr.. Dunn's persist
ent agitation of this question in the
newspapers, the legislature appropriate
ed $4,000 to carry on the Investigation
and litigation in regard to the Duluth
& Iron Range grant. The legislature
also appropriated $4,000 to enable the
auditor to properly look after the state
institutions lands. All this money was
made payable on Mr.. Dunn's vouchers.
The attorney general had already given
| his adverse opinion and outside coun-
sci were employed. Several suits
| We're brought and consolidated in the
United States circuit court before
Judge Lochren. All the data for try
| ing these cases were furnished by Mr..
Dunn. The lists of land, both those
which had been decided to the company
and those which had been selected but
not decided, came from his Office. He
was one Of the principal witnesses in
the case. 1t was to all intents and
purposes his suit.
Through Mr.. Dunn's negligence,
however, the attention of the attorneys
OF of the court was not called to the
fact that the list of some 10000 acres
of land selected by the company (but
not decided by the state) contained
$4,000 acres Of land already selected
for the state institutions and held in
trust.
1t was my aim and effort to get the
Duluth & Iron Range land grant closed.
Finally, on the 25th day of December,
| 1900, almost my last official act,
prepared the form Of n deed, convey
! ing to the Duluth & Iron Range CON-
pany the balance of the acreage re-
quired to fill it's grant. The deed was
delivered to the railroad company, but,
us l afterwards learned, refused to ac-
cept it. The company wanted to keep
the matter open so that when new
lists of land came it would be in posi-
| ton to select such as were likely to
contain iron as it had done Heretofore.
About this time Mr.. Dunn's error in
permitting the $4,000 acres of state in
situations lands to be included in the
! judgment in favor of the railroad COM
pany was discovered. Those lands con-
tanned mineral of probably greater
value than stated by Mr.. Dunn.
Application was made by Mr.. Dunn
and by the attorney general to the
railroad company to release these
lands from Judge Lochren's decree. l
called OH Mr.. kellogg, counsel for the
railroad, long after 1 had retired from
office, and he indicated to me that on
account Of Mr.. Dunn's oversight, he
would be willing to recommend to the
company to release the lands. He
made the same statement to Judge
Douglas, then attorney general, and
presumably to Mr.. Dunn.
Subsequently Mr.. Dunn advertised
certain timber on some of these lands
claimed by the company for sale at
Duluth. The company had it's repre-,
sentative at the sale and objected This
angercd Mr.. Dunn, as am informed,
and he proceeded to pay his respects
to the officers and counsel of the rail
road before the assembled public at the
sale, in language more characteristic
than chaste.
The proposition to release the land
was promptly withdrawn by the Off
GERS of the company and their attor-
ncys. This compelled the, attorney
general to bring an action in the Unit
ed States circuit court before Judge
Lochren to have Mr.. Dunn's error recti-
fed.
The railroad company answered and
denied that there was any mistake and
stated
''That copy of said decree with the
list of lands annexed thereto was
served upon the counsel for the state
of Minnesota at least one month before
the entry Of the decree in such cause
This undoubtedly placed Mr.. Dunn
in a very embarrassing position. He
| NOW became more docile and applied tc
the railroad company for a compro
mise. This was finally agreed upon
and it's terms We're embraced in q
decree Of Judge Lochren. AS part
of this compromise, however, Mr.. Dunn
had to consent to an abject apology tt