The Saint Paul globe., 1904-10-30
KING SVEARS THAT
FIGURES CHANGED
Says County AUDITORS Record
Shows Dunn Sod Land to
Lowest Bidder

R. GaDunn's record as state auditor
is again attacked. He is again charg-
ed in an affidavit with having sold
statesseheol land at fancy figure,
while the records of the county au-
ditor's Office where the land was sold
Disclose according to the affidavit, the
sale of the land to the lowest bidder.
J. NJ King, reputable citizen of
Frazee, Becker county, makes affidavit
that at the sale of state school land
at Fergus Falls, Otter Tail county, in
the fall of 1901, R. c. Dunn, the state
auditor sold, in defiance of the law, an
entire section of state. school land in
one body, and that he and other farm
ers owning adjoining farms were bar
red from participating in the sale by
the auditors arbitrary action.
But more serious than this charge
is the charge contained in Mr.. Kings
affidavit that while the price of the
tract. of 52275 acres was run up to
$3.50 per acre, the records of the coun-
tyzauditor's Office at Fergus Falls show
that the tract was sold to the man who
made the first bid on the tract, and
that this bid was only $3.50, whereas
Kings bid was $1,000 per acre. King
figures the loss to the state by the &C
ceptance of the lowest bid at So per
acre, or a total Of $2,613.75.
King an Actual Settler
Mr.. Dunn has issued a circular in
which he claims to, have always IA
vored the. actual settlers as. against
non-fesidents and bankers in the: sale
of state school lands. In a letter to
T he Gle be the F'razee man cites his
own case as one of the most fagrant
on the part of the state auditor in dis
posing of school lands to outsiders.
He says that he and his neighbors
went to the sale, involving journey
of some ninety miles, prepared to bid
on forty acre tracts in the section cit
ed, but that the state auditor reserved
the section until late in the day and
then announced that it would not be
sold by fortieS or quarter sections, but
that the entire section would be sold
in one tract. He says his neighbors
ran the price of the section to 5000
per acre, but a banker of Fergus Falls
outbid them and the section was final
ly announced sold to the banker at
$13.50 per acre. He confesses his sur
prise when he later learned that the
land had been sold to the original bid
der at $3.50 per acre.
Mr.. King also raises the point that
the section, the sale of which he COM
of oak timber, that it is now held by
It's owners at $40 per acre, and that the
provision of the law requiring the sale
of the timber separately was also vfo-
lated by the state auditor.
Following is the affidavit of j. M.
King, subscribed and sworn to before
E. f. Gunner, notary public OF
Becker county:
The AFFIDAVIT
State of Minnesota. County of Beeker--ss.
On this 2Sth day Of October, 1904, be-
fore me, a notary public in and for said
county, personally appeared James M
King, of the village of Frazee, Mimi,
citizen who has resided here eighteen
years, well known to me to be a person
of high character and integrity and above
suspicion as to truth and veraclty, who
being sworn, says that he attended the
school land sale at Fergus Falls in Otter
Tail county in the fall of 1901, fer the
purpose of buying some of the foftieS
and lots in section Sc, town 1S7. range Al
MINI. }. That the sale was conducted by
r. c. Dunn in person as state auditor.
That said affiant made the trip to the
sale some ninety miles by railway at
considerable expense and loss of time for
the purpose of securing some of the land;
that he watched the sale patiently all
day until near night before the section
was offered for sale by the state auditor,
who then announced that the section
would be sold in a body as one tract: that
he ana TWO OI0ef settlers VINO owned Small
farms adjoining this section Immediately
objected and protested that it should be
sold in fortfes and lots as required by
the statutes. Mr.. Dunn answered that it
was too late in the day to sell it in small
tracts and called for bids on the section
as whole. That the first bid on said
land was made at So. so per acre by
Michael Eichmiller, as that was the ap
praised value of the section and he made
no other bid on the section. That said
affiant and others bid up to SO. so per
acre, when he found that his competitors
were banker living in the city of Fer
gus Falls. Mimi. and a merchant of
Luce, Mimi, and that he was not able
and prepared to bid more against them
and was therefore compelled to quit. That
the banker and merchant bid up to S13. so
per acre and the same being sold to said
banker at that price per acre. That the
records of the county auditor now show
that the section was sold and settled for
at IS. 30 per acre to Michael Eichmiller
by Mr.. R. c.. Dunn.
That the section contains 522.75 acres,
divided into nine lots and four forties.
That Mr.. Dunn disregarded and violated
the statutes. Section 1888 says: State
lands should not be sold in larger tracts
than one-Quarter sections. That the sale
of these lands was against the interest
of the adjoining settlers and in favor of
bankers and merchants.
j. NJ King
Subscribed and sworn to before me this
2Sth day of October, 1904.
(Notarial SeaL) E F. GUNNER
Notary Public, Becker County, Minnesota.
PUcu EnP CTTI7GMCuID