The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-08-20


was generally known as the ''gradua-
/ ton act" In Missouri il came 10 be
known as the "bit acre act this title
Springing from the fact that the price
TO be paid per acre under the act was
j IL cents. or bit in Missouri par
lance. The act provided that any cfti-
zen of the United States over 81 could
make application for 320 acres of land
in the prescribed district and must ac-
tually settle on the land applied for
within six months of application. IN
one year from the end of this six
months period the settler was required
TO appear at the land office of the dis
trict and make affidavit that he had
settled on the land and had improved
and cultivated il according to descriD-
ton filed with the registrar at the
same time. To the fact of settlement
and Improvement there had to be two
witnesses, neighbOTs, who were re-
CURED TO sWeaH to the facts as set
forth by the applicant
When the original application was
made 1t was customary to forward it
TO Washington, where a patent was
made out and sent back to the land
office of the district, where it was held
until the applicant appeared with
proofs OF settlement and Improvement.
me graduation act was the out
growth of a peculiar physical condi-
ton All early settlements of new
territory are made along it's principal
waterways In Missouri the first set
Elements were made along The Mis-
sissippi river in Cape Girardeau. New
Madrid and Ste. Genevieve counties.
the land titles in this district going
back 10 the original Spanish grants
The United States surveys of the ter
rILofy- lying west of this were made in
lS2o-2l, but the lands back from the
river had not proved tempting to the
pioneers For quarter of g century
they lay in their virgin condition.
Congress at that time reflected the
general desire for rapid settlement, and
as an inducement the bit acre act
was passed. As far back as the
passage of this act there were men who
saw the possibilities for land grating
uhder,iI- Greer w. Davis, prominent
resident of Missouri, signed thousands
or applications contrary TO law hefo-a
the war, and his operations. with those
or many others, covered vast areas
50 vast. IN fact, that large part of
several counties was covered. The
patents corresponding to these applica-
lions We're sent on from Washington
10 the land Office then located at
jackson. In 1861 the land office was
moved 70 IrontOn. and with it thou
sands OF patents issued on fraudulent
applications.
Then came the civil war. In addition
TO the fraudulent applications thous-
ands of others had been made by bona
noe settlers Large numbers of these
applicants went to the war and either
were killed or settled elsewhere when
peace was declared. Their patents were
sun plgeonholed in the Ironton land
Office IL is undoubtedly true that some
OF these patents had been stolen bv
General Prices raiders about the time
OF the battle of Pilot Knob. but thou
sands OF them remained unclaimed in
the Office Such We're the physical and
regal conditions in which the greatest
conspiracy of the generation had its
roots.
In the early part of 1880 registered
at the primitive tavern at Ironton as
James Hall of Chicago. Inquiry before
my arrival had convinced me that there
was one man in the district whom 1
could trust implicitly, and he was Ber-
nard Zwart. United States commits
sioner for the district and as Square
toed'' a government official as il has
ever been my good fortune to meet. To
him l revealed my true identity; to
others 1 was the representative OF a
Chicago. land syndicate.
You have a prodigious task before
you" was Zwart's Introductory re-
mark Not only that, but you are
dealing with acliaue of men VINO are
deep IN the mire OF fraud and who will
not submit tamely to being hauled in
70 the daylight by the government