The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-10-03
DENIAL ENTERED
BY HITCHCOCK
Secretary of Interior Explains
Land Fraud Cases.
DEFENDANTS ARE WEALTHY
MANY OBSTACLES IN THE WAY
OF PROSECUTION.

AI ASHINGTON, Oct Secretary
w of the Interior Hitchcock to-
night gave out the follow
ing statement in answer TO Ger
tain charges regarding the method OF
conducting the investigation into land
frauds on the Pacific coast and regard
ing the steps taken by him TO bring the
guilty parties TO justice:
Charges are being made and freely
circulated by the opponents OF the sd-
ADMINISTRATION to the effect that the in
vestigatiOn of the land frauds by the
/ interior department is not being seri- 3
Ously conducted: that criminal pros
ecutions connected with the investiga-
ton are not being pressed with such
vigOr as TO manifest determination
10 bring the guilty parties 10 speedy
| justice, and that an air of secrecy per-
vades the department, making IL diff
| icult TO obtain information as TO the
progress and present status Of the
work
Pleads Not Guilty.
These charges are utterly without
/ foundation in fact. The investigation
/ has been in the hands of competent Of
/ ficers of the government from the be-
/ ginning and has been conducted, under
/ the direction Of the secretary Of the in
/ consistent with thOroughness. the pros
/ ecutions, where indictments have been
I found, have been and are being vigor-
4 Ously pressedS and at no time has there
/ been any attempt 10 deprive the public
OF the fullest information as 10 the
/ progress or status Of such prosecutions,
or as 70 any matter in connection
| Herewith.
The leading spirits in the fraudu-
I L.
! mostly men VINO have occupied posi- t
tons of influence and high station, both
/ socially and politically, and many Of
/ them are men OF large wealth. They
have thrown many obstacles in the way
which have required patience, deter
mination and courage on the part Of
( those having charge Of the investiga-
tion to overcome They have diligently
( sought. in season and out of season. to
/ thwart the purpose Of the investigation
| and to control its results favorable 10
! themselves.
Difficulties Overcome.
These difficulties have 5een success
/ fully met and overcome and the tao
tics resorted TO by the parties Grimm
4 ally involved, and their friends, have
! been circumvented and defeated at all
/ points. The determination Of the sec
| rotary of the interior has been from
| the beginning that the investigation
should be thorough and complete and
nothing has been left undOne 10 &C
complish such a result. The fraudulent
/ operations have been carried on chiefly
1 in the states of California and Oregon.
/ but have not been confined to shose
I states. In many instances the cOnspir-
/ atOrs have reached out into other
/ states. Their schemes were broadly
and deeply laid and the task of un-
| earthing them has been one Of great
| difficulty.
while only about eighteen months
! have elapsed since the investigation
was commenced. the practical results
thus far attained have been both graf
! flying and encouraging. Theg may be
| summed up as follows:
Hyde-Dimond Case.
"First.-The Indictment, in February,
1903. in the District Of Columbia. Of
Frederick a. Hyde, John A. Benson and
Henry P Dimond Of san Francisco.
and JOost H. Schneider Of Tucson,
Arizona, under section $40 Of the re-
( vised statutes, for conspiracy to de-
fraud the United States OF large guam
titles of its public lands, and the in
dictment in December, 1901, in the Dis
] trict Of Columbia of John A. Benson
for bribery of public officials in con-
nection with such conspiracy. The
leading spirits in this conspiracy are
Hyde and Benson and their scheme to
defraud the government was of gigan-
tic proportions. 1t involved an attempt
TO secure titles TO hundreds OF thob
sands of acres of the public lands Of
the United States in The various public
land states and territories OF Arizona.
and New Mexico under she provisions
of the act. Of congress GP-sOoed June I,
1897, in exchange for state school lands
lying within the limits OF The United
States forest reserves established in
the states of California and Oregon.
The titles of these school lands were
acquired by and on behalf Of Benson
and Hyde in violation Of the laws OF
said states relating To the disposal or
school lands and in a grossly Illegal
and fraudulent manner, by means Of
false and forged applications, affids-
Wits and other documents required by
the laws of those states to be executed
and filed in connection with the pur-
chase Of school lands, thereby render
ing such titles false, fraudulent and
worthless, and by making and securing
to be made false and forged relinquish-
ments TO the United States of such
false. fraudulent and worthless titles
and by selecting other lands belonging
10 the United states outside Of foresL
reserves in exchange for the titles thus
fraudulentiy obtained and relinquished
to the United States.
Object Of Conspiracy.
THE act referred to provided among
other things, that the owner OF the
lands within a forest reserve may re-
linquish the same to the United States
and select other lands in lieu thereof
outside Of forest reserves Briefly
stated. the object of the conspiracy
was TO obtain good titles from the
United States for its public lands ont
side OF forest reserves, in exchange for
false and worthless titles to school
lands secured by the cOnspirators from
said states within forest reserves.
while hundreds of thousands Of
acres of public lands were involved in
the scheme, only small portion there
of-less than 10000 acres-had been
patented at the time of the discovery
Of the fraud by the secretary Of tn 2
interior. BY the secretary's direction
the further issuing Of patents upon the
, selections and entries involved was inn
mediately stopped and all such selec-
tions and entries were suspended, which
suspension still remains in force The
government is, therefore in no danger
lof further loss of its public lands
Through the said scheme. The fraudu-
lent business Of the c0nspiratOrs has
been completely broken up, and their
nefarious practices are now at an end.