River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1905-04-13

Burns DeIOro the grand jury. 1t was
believed that he was carrying an i'm
portant letter from Mitchell to Tanner,
and this letter was demanded by the
jury, and reluctantly surrendered.
Here was the most sensational bit of
evidence yet produced. The letter was
widely published at the time of it's dis
covery, but this article would not be
complete without quoting a portion of
the document to which Senator Mitchell
had appended the solemn admonition:
Burn this without fail:
s'You must not get ratified or alarmed
Senator Mitchell wrote. Harry will
doubtless identify the copartnership arti-
cles of 1901 as having been prepared by
him. See him at once on his arrival. Don't
be interviewed until / see you. And this
is strictly confidential-don't tell Harry,
ly on receipt of this drop everything and
come direct here? Bring with you in
know, all the company's books, day ledger,
all of them, also your bank book, as am
extremely anxious to see for myself pre-
cisely what the books show, besides it is
important that we should talk over with
Fulton, who is to help to defend me- in
regard to the cases. l hope you can come;
if So don't let soul know. you are com
ing, not even Harry, and if you conclude
to come Wire me as follows: johnson
leaves direct for Washington this even
ing-Tanner.' l do hope you can come and
Immediately. before you are called upon be-
fore the grand jury. Sincerely your friend,
JOHN H MITCHELL"
Don't show Harry this letter nor tell
him anything in it. Don't let him see our
books Tell him nothing.
Keep Ia all Linn important letters in safe and
scoundrels will get in if possible
Burn this. without fall
The dramatic scene in the senate
chamber at Washington where, before
his colleagues, Senator Mitchell solemn
ly, and tearfully, and vehemently, de-
clared 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 a word about the system"
by which it 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 80 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, 1891 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 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 them, the assignments always being
made out to the firm that instigated the
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 100000 acres Of school lands
in California and Oregon were fraudu-
Iently obtained. These selections were
of the very best public lands. including
large tracts of the finest timber lands