Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1905-10-21

and three a. m. time during which
the building and The grounds around f.
were deserted The origin of the fire
I'm each case wcs rlvs, erious. and no
one ever wos nunirhed. owing to the
great influence 81 me Ieaguers in pre-
ing an Investigation.
In each 90 The othe- counties In
which the rims hla operated the court
houses had been DESTROYED IN tn
same manner and az the same hour
OF the night Cs Che Shannon county
building. In some cases they had
been burned twice. Courthouse burn
inc came % be such a common occur
renee it excited little comment. but
throughout the section there was a
very distinct but well suppressed no
ton that the fires were of incendiary.
origin, and that the nre-bugs were
working In the interests OF the land
league. When the government in
vestigation started these crimes were
too old 20 be available in Furnishing
the criminals. even had il been nos
sible TO establish their identity but
they served 10 show the lenrth 70
which the land lesguers would 20
This Wholesale destruction OF regards
rendered IL practically impossible to
trace titles accurately in these coun-
ties
About this time I learned OF a
scheme, fathered by Robert Lindsay
60 build q narrow-gauge railroad from
Salem. Dent county through shannon.
Carter and Ripley counties. to inter
sect the Iron Mountain road az the
Arkansas line deliberately engraved
stock certificates were Issued. and
some of them sold The road. as
projected on paper. was TO traverse a
section in which The land was pracu-
cally all controlled by the Lindsay
ring. In connecting this railroad pro-
motion plan with the land thefts
reasoned two ways; First. With SO much
OF the land alone the line % sur
vey in his control and available
through crooked methods. Lindsay call
culated on developing the district by
building the railroad. and. second. 20
advertise the construction OF the road
IN the near future would greatly en-
nance the market price OK the lands
he was unloading on The suckers"
This price had ranged from so cents
20 five dollars an acre. IL was clear
that the lands along the proposed road
would Immediately jump 90 much
higher figure n tAe cullible public
could be convinced such a road was
70 be built and formed the opinion
that the Missouri & Arkansas railroad
would never go beyond the paper
stage OF construction. To the stock
certificates OF the company however.
were signed two names. those OF Rob
ert L. Lindsay. president, and Orlando
Van Hise. secretary.
While there remained much detail
work 90 Doe done Z believed we had a
pretty good lire en- the activities OF
Lindsay. In addition 20 the points
have mentioned. 1 had learned from a
Col Grayson, = banker that James
Lindsay had a la-ge number OF old
land patents concealed in the safe OF
an Ironton lawyer There was no
doubt OF the elder Lindsay's having
connived SO the removal from the land
ONCE OF thousands OF patents by his
son while Lindsay. Sr.. was registrar
and II is stil a question ia my mind
whether the father had not been tho
actual originator OF the steal and
turned the execution OF 70 over TO his
son. But even had this been true.
the statute q limitations had run
against his oncnse and there was no
use ia wasting time securing evil
dence against the father. except such
as might be OF benefit Ga convicting the
son.
But. clear as these conditions were.
there remained two important facts
confronting MS. One OF these was
that While Robert Lindsay was the
head and front Of the great conspiracy.
there were consnirators almost as
important The othc- was that sound
legal cases against an OF them were
yet 10 be made. I had abstracts OF
title made 20 - parcels Of land. and
by following these and others through
the records Of the Washington land
ONCE had clearly established the forg-
cries OF Signatures 20 applications and
deeds. This record searching was te-
dious and surrounded with many tech
nicalities-so man IN fact that AZ one
stage or tho investication I suggested
that another man more familiar with
AH'AA Dt h0aiEoel 70 me WORK. but Sec
rotary Schurz declined 10 relieve me
From the appearance OF the name
OF Orlando Van Hise as secretary O.,
the Missouri & Arkansas" railroad II
was naturally to be inferred that this
person either stood nigh in the CONF
dence and operations or Lindsay. or
was dummy who was allowing him
self 10 be used The former was
found TO be the correct theory and
here I wish 10 introduce Ia his real
identity the visitor who had gone over
Lindsay's scheme with him In the 81
Louis Office in 1872. Orlando Van
Hise, Cleveland real estate dealer
or good standing After having had
the beauties OF the plot e=pounded 10
him by Lindsay, Van Hise had become
one OF the chief eastern agents for
the Lindsay syndicate, and the mem
Der OF the ring second in Importance
only to the NissOurian. / foand Van
Hise had made frequent trips TO south
western Missouri and thoroughly IA
miliaTiZed himself with the lay 81 m.