Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-04-12

your son or anyone. Can't you immediate.
ly on receipt of this drop everything ana
come direct here? Bring with you In
know, all the company books, day logger.
all of them, also your bank book as am
extremely anxious to see for myself pre-
;eisely what the books show, besides 1t is
Fulton. who is to help to defend me, in
regard to the cases. l hope you can come;
II so, don't let soul know you are COM
ing. not even Harry. and If you conclude
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 5aTy Ytz Sincerely e yHqE friend
Don't show, Harry this letter nor tell
him anything in it, Don't let him see our
books. Tell him nothing.
Keep all 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 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, 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 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 $50, 900 acres Of school lands
in California and Oregon were fraudu-
lently obtained. These selections were
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
gon-generally in the mountainous
regions-large tracts Of undisposed
school lands, frequently of a 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 &C.
Quired school lands for which they paid
$1.25 an acre, and sold for SIS to 500 an
acre.
Government Employees Involved.
''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