The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-04-16
COAL PURCHASES
ROUSE UNCLE SAM
Government Officials Investigate Re-
cent Filings In Salina Canyon.
CONFLICTING STORIES TOLD
NAME OF UTAH FUEL COMPANY
is BROUGHT IN.

Both the special agents of the =
4 interior department in Utah who
y have shown activity in ferreting
, out the coal land FRA udS I'm Utah =
have been called off by their su-
= periors.
, Colonel Percy Sewers has been =
laid of for six months Colonel
p Sewers was commander of Presi-
y dent McKinley's regiment in the
= civil war and was given his ap-
y Dointment by Mckinley. II II
p understood that not long ago he =
y filed with the interior department ?
y evidence AGAINST one of the men
y connected with the Utah Fuel com
y pany. He is known 70 have
y shown interest i'm the coal land
, frauds and TO have been securing
= II. X. Love. the other agent in y
y Utah who has been investigating
y the coal land entries i'm Carbon
= county and in Salina canyon, was
y yesterday ordered transferred TO
y Alaska
y only special agents who have
y shown a disposition to probe the ,
y coal land frauds
A++++%4+A+4+%+%++%%%%++~+
= EDERAL authorities are now in-
vestigating numerous filings made
on coal lands. especially in Sewer
county Utah, on the understanding
that although made by private iudivid-
uals they were in reality made in the
interest of the Utah Fuel company
Conditions in Utah. it is stated, are not
radically different from the malOdorouS
conditions in Oregon There Is great
uneasfness in this city among those who
have been making these dummy nj
ings. They dread especially the pub
lfcity threatened by the coming lnVes-
LEGATION.
Almost without exception the men
who have been making these filings in
sist that they acted Independently, IhdI
there was no collision between them
and the Utah Fuel company that they
fled on the land as a private enter
prise: that they paid for IL With their
own money, and that if they sold the
land at all they sold il because they
saw a nice profit III the tranSacJloli-
They resent with indignation any mint
that they have been acting as stool
pigeons for the corporation that has
been gObbIing up all the valuable coal
land in the state, and they assume an
air of injured innocence that is the eli
max of fine art
Strauee a., Il I.la seem most 81 -....s-
men who have gone into this industry
are unable TO give a description of the
, land upon which they have filed not
one Of them thus far found is i'm a pO-
SitiOn to furnish deed 10 the property
should il be purchased by any one out
side Of the Utah Fuel company, while
the legal transactions took place in the
office of Major w H Bird. attorney for
the company
Sudbury Throws Some Light.
The mode of operation i'm the COB
I bling I'D of these lands by the corpora
tion mentioned - explained by Samuel
/ c. sudbury, who was one Of q party
who went down TO Salina about the LIST
of March Mr.. Sudbury was reluctant
to talk. It was only after the most per
sistent urging that he finally consented
to tell some portions OF his story. he
said he had no direct knowledge that
/ he was acting for the Utah Fuel COM
pany but that he was satisfied in his
own mind that such was the case. He
said, in part
/ About March 1. 1905. friend came
! to me and asked me if / would like 10
make an entry on some coal land. He
said if I would make a filing that the
! Utah Fuel company would pay my eN-
I nenses. give me a $50 bonus and pay me
/ 50 day for the time spent in making
/ the filing
! some days later this friend came 10
me again and introduced me to a Mr..
{ Foster. Mr.. Foster gave me SIS to he
used i'm paying my expenses Out or
this I was told to purchase a. ticket 70
Salina and return and take a receipt
/ for the amount. This receipt I gave 70
/ Foster.
when 7 boarded the train for Salina
( I found four others going on the same
! GRAND as myself. These were Arthur
| Moore. George Moore, Howard O. Young
/ and Marcellus Snow. When we reached
/ SaIina we went up into the canyon In
\ a rig furnished, / believe. by George
/ Moore We camDed at night ten miles
| UP the canyon. The next day We went
! twenty miles further and remained
| there till the next day. From there Wa
! went to the divide where the coal lands
| are located. and looked at the coal
holes we were expected to file upon.
Moore Pays the Bills.
These holes were about eight feet
! high. five feet wide and from twelve 10
| twenty feet long. After inspecting the
I holes we returned to Salt Lake In
/ coming back from the canyon the party
/ stopped over night a hotel and
/ George Moore paid the bill He was
! looked upon as the paymaster for the
+, entire party.
! "A few days after our return TO salt
| Lake my friend met me again and told
me / was to go TO William n. Bird and
| make my coal entry I went with my
! friend to Major Birds Office He said:
| I understand. Mr.. Sudbury, that
( you wish to make a coal entry
90 Yes, sir. 1 do I said.
Major Bird then produced three doc
! umentS-an affidavit. quit-ciaim deed
and a mortgage. These he asked me TO
sign i signed the aliuaNlL OF entry DuL
| declined to sign the mortgage until I
/ was assured that I was not laying my
! self liable. Then I signed the mortgage
and agreed to sign the quit-claim deed
| at my home in Brighton the following
| day.
| When I visited Birds Office this first
| time these papers We're all drawn up
| without any direction from me. I gave
him no description Of the land, and no
instructions as TO how TO draw up the
| papers After I had signed the AFFIDAVIT
and mortgage Major Bird told me his
charges would be $50 1 gave him $50
and he gave me a receipt for the sum
This $50 had been handed me by my
| friend
The next day Mr.. Foster called al
| my house to secure my Wife's signature
| to the deed. I was not at home at the
| time. Two days later / met Foster az
Birds office and protested again against
| signing the mortgage unless a clause
were inserted protecting me against any
| deficiency judgment. Major Bird then
said he would cancel the mortgage. and
this ne did in my presence Then my
/ | friend placed 81 500 on Major Bird Is
desk, this being the amount OF the