Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-01-02
FEDERAL GRAND JURY At PORT.
LAND REPORTS.
Among Those indicted Are Mayor
Davis, Of Albany, and Former
Special Agents loOmiS and
OrmSbV-NameS Of Two Per.
sons Are Not Known.

"John Doe" indictments, make the
day the most sensational since the jury
reconvened in it's present sessions.
The most important is an indictment
against DR.. william II. Davis, mayo,
Of Albany, Or. Second to this and of
hardly less Importance, are those Of
Salmon B. Ormsby, formerly a govern.
ment agent, and Clark r. Loomis, at
one time forest superintendent. Henry
A. Young and George Sorenson are not
30 we'll known. The indictment states
that there are two others, John Dee
and Richard Roe. Implicated, whose
true names the jury does not know. 1t
will be recalled that two mysterious
personages figured prominently in the
indictment returned against State Sen.
ator Franklin P. Mays last week.
The charge in the indictment re-.
turned yesterday is that the indicted
men entered into conspiracy on lie.
cember 80, 1901, having as their Oh.
ject the defrauding Of the government
Of the United States out of portion of
its public lands in township II south,
range east. and that by means Of
false and forged applications, false and
forged afiidavits and proofs of home
stead entry and settlement, some in the
names of fictitious persons, the govern.
ment was induced to issue patent for
the lands.
Davis Central Figure.
1t is charged that in furtherance of
the conspiracy William II. Davis swore
to an affidavit before s. B. Ormsby, in
which he said he had resided upon
the claim taken by him as the law re.
qquired, and that the conspiracy was
part Of the one entered upon by s..
A. D. Puter, Horace G. Mckinney, D.
w. Tarpley and Emma L. Watson.
In the indictment just returned Will.
liam H. Davis, mayor of Albany and
chairman of the Republican county
central committee of Linn county, is
the central figure. Ormsby and Loomis
have been before the public from the
opening of the land fraud trials, sever
al weeks ago, but DR.. Davis has not
been connected with the cases until the
latter part of the week just passed.
The government will attempt to
prove by the evidence against the AL
bany man that he went into the alleg.
ed conspiracy to defraud the govern
ment knowingly, and year afterward
he had abandoned his claim as the re-
suit Of an alleged correspondence with
the land Office at Washington. The
government asserts that Davis wen,
into the forest in company with Will.
liam Horn, timber locator of AL.
bany, in 1892. Horn located ON his
claim and built a cabin in the same
year. The cabin was afterward de
stroyed by tree falling upon it, and
the next year Horn built another. In
1893, the government says that DR..
Davis went to his claim for a day or
so, and that again in 1893 he spent a
short time there while on fishing trip.
Also they maintain he went fishing in
that vicinity in 1895.
DR.. Davis made his final proof be-
fore R. W. Montague. of Albany, in
1900, and swore that he had cultivated
five acres of ground each year since
residing on the land; that he had rails.
ed crops, and had made the place his
residence except for short periods in
the winter, when he was compelled to
leave to make living for himself and
family.
In 1901 G. E. LOOMS came to AL
bany to make report on the claim of
DR.. Davis, together with about forty
five other claims held up by the de-.
partment. The government asserts
that Davis became uneasy about this
time and wrote to Binger Hermann,
then commissioner of the land office.
asking advice in regard to the filing,
He also asked Mr.. Loomis to write to
the department in regard to his claim
Letters to Hermann.
Under date of March II, 1901, it is
alleged, LOOMS wrote personal lei.
ter to Hermann, asking his advice in
relation to the claim. He stated, the
government says. that DR.. Davis was
in trouble over his claim; that he had
dropped the land upon it's being put
into the Cascade forest reserve, but
that he had later, upon the advice of
Col. Miller, then receiver Of the land
Office at Oregon City, made his final
proof.
LOOMS letter was given, the gov.
eminent claims, to George r. Ogden
by Mr.. Hermann and the clerk replied
March 20, 1901. He called attention
to the fact that the doctor had sworn
to his cultivation and residence in his
affidavit, and said that if it appeared
from the facts that the claim had been
abandoned such affidavits would make
DR.. Davis, or any other persons, liable
to prosecution for perjury.
Seattle Building Permits.
Saaftla Dan % -Dnriux lQQ1 70