Arizona republican., 1905-11-02
U. 5. AFTER
 GRABBERS
More of Hyde and Ben.
 sons Operations
Suit Filed in the United States Court Yesterday Involving PjnaI County Land TranSa Ct.Oa.

The signature of Attorney General ! W. H. Moody, of the United States, is ] attached to a document which was hl- ed in the United States court yester- day. IL is an action by the United States against John $. Benson. F. A. ! Hyde. F. A. Hyde & Co., Thomas \. Wills. of Florence, and his wife, $. C. Wills. The object of the suit is to have declared null and void the title to a small tract of land in Pinal coun- ty. which Wills and wife hold from the other defendants.
 Benson and Hyde have figured eX- tensively in land frauds, and about four years ago they were sought for in the vicinity of Tucson, where they
 were then supposed to be operating, and where they had agents at work.
 Both of them were afterward ar
 rested
 The complaint states that their style of operation mas been DUZZling to the government, which does not yet fully understand all the ins and outs of 1t, but expects to understand it after q long and exhaustive investigation.
 The circumstances leading up to the present case are these: With the re- peal of the timber culture act, the . establishment of forest reserves with l in the government domain at his ] pleasure. The government owned i great deal of land in the various states and territories where il was desired ] to establish such reserves. Among ! these states were California and Ore ! gon, but in those states every 16th and : 36th section had been given to the 1 states. Some of these sections lay within the proposed reserves, and parts or them had passed into the | hands of settlers under the laws of ! those states.
 i It was arranged by the government i in cases of this kind that holders of 1 bona ffde but unprotected claims might ] if they desired. accept in lieu of their ! claims other government land of equal
 area outside the reservation; or, if l the claims were perfected and the ] owners had secured a patent, they ] might exchange them for patents on ! land in another part of the country. It was this arran ngement that gave such men as Benson and Hyde an op- ening. The complaint introduces a ! great many other people into the con ! spiracy. Among them is JoOst H. i Schneider, who was heard Of at Tue son, and wno is alleged to have af- forded Hyde and Benson material aid. l Henry Dimond, a San Francisco law yer, figured in the affair, and a large | coterie Of persons were employed by Hyde and Benson to make amdavits . as claimants on land within the state l sections.
 Though it does not appear material 1 to the case, but throws some light on the modus operandi it is stated that two members of the conspiracy were 1 William 2. Walk and Woodford D. liar ! Ian. employees of the general land of l flee. who worked on the inside They not only kept Hyde and Go. informed l of what was going on in the office, of 1 the progress of investigations, but also expedited such business as they had | before the office. The nerviest part
 of the conspiracy though, was the em- ployment of Benjamin T. Allen, a for est superintendent, and Grant Taggart, ! a forest supervisor. It was the duty 1 of these men to make investigations of regions proposed to be thrown into l forest reservations and make reports and recommendations to the depart | ment It is alleged that they first made their reports to Benson and ] Hyde, and that the latter made up the l reports to the department recommend ] ing what land should be included, and l Wlldl SIlOUlO De eACIuOtu 4IOlil LAlC S-
 serves. This gave them an immense i leverage on the situation.
 It is charged that affdavits of claims were made, not only by persons who were not acting in good faith when | they swOre that they wanted the state ! section lands for themselves, and that they had not contracted to dispose of 1 their claims to other persons, but that in many cases the names of fictitious 1 persons were signed to such afidavits. Coming down to the present case, it | is charged that in some way unknown l to the government, though that is all | legged not to be material, Hyde & Go. became possessed of a claim in the Pine Mountain and Zaca Lake forest reservation in California, and in lieu of it secured a patent to a tract of iand of equal area in Pinal county. This | land was sold to Wills and wife, who l are made parties to the suit, though it
 is not alleged that they were parties
 to the conspiracy.
 In conclusion, the complaint states | that the government is remediless by
 any construction of common law, so that it's rights will have to be deter
 mined in a court of equity. It is ask
 ed that the patent secured by Hyde & Co., to the Pinal county land, and the | subsequent deed to Wills a-1d wife, be declared null and void.
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