The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1905-04-08

3 Al.lll'a NNt1 49,
your son or anyone. Can't you imme diate-
ly on receipt OF this drop every thing and
tfuSa. but dontiet your family sn or y snyon M
know, all the company's books. day logger,
all Of them. also your bank book. as am
cssy What the BOOKS Sow rSr b %sss Pre-
important that we should talk over with
l ruison. who Y 70 help to defend we. in
e SO. don't let a soul know you are com.
Ing, not even Harry. and II you conclude
20 come wire me as Follows: johnson
ing-Tanner do hope you can ic come ev aad
| Immediately. before you are called upon be-
fore the grand Jury rg,, sSi1sersly your friend.
| Don't show Harry this letter nor tell
books. Tell him nothing.
safe and Office carefully locked. as hose
sco9ndrels VIII get In II possible.
Burn this without fail"
Inc dramatic scene in the senate
chamber at Washington where, before
his colleagues, Senator Mitchell solemn-
~, and tearfully, and vehemently. de-
ciared his innocence of the charges
brought against him, is still fresh In the
public mind, but the courts at Portland
Will have to decide that point.
How the System" Worked.
And now word about "the system"
by which 1t was possible to perpetrate
such gigantic frauds against the govern
ment and steal whole townships of val
liable timber land, much of which was
made up of giant trees ranging in size
from 30 to over SO feet in diameter. and
from 200 to nearly 500 feet in height.
1t must be admitted at the start that
the laws of the United States made easy
the system and invited the INSCRIPTIONS
to defraud the government. The act
OF June 4, 1897, allows the exchange OF
lands within the limits Of United States
forest reserves, by the owner thereof,
for other public lands outside of the re-
serves Under the pretense of acquiring
school lands as settlers innumerable
sections would be taken up by organ
lied raiders under applications signed
with fictitious and forged names. At
first five, and ten dollars apiece were
paid for these signatures, which were
obtained from all classes of people. But
after awhile this was considered a USE
less waste of money, and the conspira-
tors boldly forged the names as neces-
sity demanded. These applications for
land with the forged names signed to
them would be sent to notaries public
and Endorsed as though the persons
whose names were attached to the pa
pers had made the applications. At the
same time deeds would be sworn to or
assignments made out and names forged
to theQ. the assignments always being
proceedings, or to some one who would
accept the titles in their behalf, the
state law providing that after an appli-
cation for purchase had been legally
filed the applicant might assign the
land. In this manner patents to some
thing like 10000 acres of school lands
in California and Oregon were fraudu-
lently obtained. These selections were
of the very best public lands, including
large tracts of the finest timber lands
that can be found in the public domain.
BY the creation of forest reserves
within the states of California and Ore
gonvgenerally in the mountainous
regions-large tracts of undisposed
school lands, frequently of worthless
character, were included in such re-
serves. Under the act of June 4, 1897,
referred to above, these states could re-
linquish the school lands to the United
States and select other lands outside of
the forest reserves in lieu of them, sell
ing these lands thus selected at prices
from five to 20 times as much as the
prices that could be obtained for school
land inside the forest reserves before
the government withdrew them. In
this way the land grabbers have ac-
quired school lands for which they paid
$1-25 an acre, and sold for IS to 500 an
acre.
Government Employees Involved.
1.-THE system" extended to Washing
ton, for to further their schemes. en-
ployes in the general land Office there,
who had been drawn into the conspiracy
by liberal brides, kept certain men in
formed regarding the exact date when
the Withdrawals of land would be made
for the purpose of creating new forest
reserves. The advance Information
thus obtained would enable them to file
in the state land Office their fictitious ap-
plications to purchase school lands
within such forest reserves ahead of
anyone not in the combination. Arthur
B. Pugh, in his report to the secretary
Of the interior, stated that one firm had
secured in this way the filing of appli-
cations to purchase about 100000 acres
of school lands within proposed forest
reserves, the Withdrawals for which
were made only few months previous
to the beginning of the investigation.
And now as to the railroads. Under
provision iniccy were able to ac-
quire thousands Of acres OF valuable
land. The Northern Pacific obtained
400, 900 acres of Oregon timber land by
relinquishing desert land and locating
script received for 1t. Although the
road has but 40 miles of track in Oregon,
1t obtained large tracts of valuable tim
Der lands, and the exchange of this
400 ,000-acre grant for timber lands in
Oregon is at present the subject of in
vestigation by the legislature Of Ore
gon.
nm.