Omaha daily bee., 1906-12-06
HOW APPLICATIONS ARE MADE
stenographer fays domstOok Dictated
apers to b Filed for Entries,
HUNTINGTON IS RIGHT HAND NAN
In once when chief Makes ont APP
plicatiOns and Takes Man
10 Land that H. to he
FILED on.

Il am a stenographer by profession. My
home is in Cherry county, but al present
/ am employed by the Omaha g. Council
Bluffs Railway company. 1 know Fred
Hoyt, Thomas NJ. Huntington and VIII @.
Comstock. on or about June n, 1904 1
was asked by Hoyt TO do some work for
him. He wanted me 70 go TO Valentine. L
did so. Mr.. Comstock and Mr.. Huntington
went with me to Valentine. They got an
office for my use near the Valentine land
Office. l was employed to AL out applica-
ton and homestead entry blanks. Mr..
Comstock dictated them to me. Hunting
ton was in the Office at the time. Mr..
Comstock furnished the descriptions Of the
land to be put in the papers. Mr.. Com
stock paid me for the work at the rate of
u day and expenses. worked five days
for them at this work"
This was the story told by Frank john
son in the federal court land trials wednes-
day morning There was no effort on the
part Of the defense to cross-examine the
witness.
Creates Much Interest.
The evidence OF johnson was received
with much interest by the jury His state
ment was brief and produced an impress
sion not alone on the Jury, but all Of
those in the court room, particularly in
view of the fact that the usual objections
were not iuterjected and no attempt was
made to disconcert the witness by the usual
rigid cross examination
The other witnesses Of the forenoon were
! William w. Millman. real estate ...Lu Oh.
Logan. Ia, and Joseph H. NJ. Edwards,
( nurseryman OF the same town. Both Of
these witnea1,5 were old soldiers who had
. been soldiers, and had been solicited TO
make filings by Irving d. Hull. The usual
! story Of the declaratory statements being
taken at their homes designating Hunting
ton as agent, the visit TO Gordon and
then to the lands the fling at Valentine,
: a second visit after six months, the eX-
ecution OF the lease at $50 per yeai for
grazing, payable In SIS semi-yearly in
z stallments, was gone over and the usual
admissions made Of no intent to go onto
. the land or making a home on II and the
/; proposed selling OF the land for $500 after
final proof were repeated.
! Edwards varied the monotonous story a
, little by saying. On
Han admonished me to induce my wife
Ito say she would not go on the land to
"a live. so that I could use her refusal as an
= excuse for not making my home on the
SlRnd when it came time to make final
n proof"
r. "UnIsnown Young Man"
In each instance the defense sought to
Introduce the afidavits procured from the
Witnesses by the unknown young man"
in August or September, 1896, to show the
Hnfont Of the entrymap in making the
, fling. But in. each instance these were
3 ruled out on the objections Of the attor~
I, news for the government. In one instance,
ness. NJ Imam, he sald
4 81 did not mean just what is said in
some parts of the affidavit"
Edwards said:
ION the second trip, six months after
+ Ming, l wcIa foutMrom Gordon 10 try to
find my land which was. said 20 he near
the Twin Wihdmiis, and went up to a
shanty and found LOT Of nanieG written
on the doors and windows by some OF the
boys claiming this as their ranch. When
! went back TO Gordon l talked with Tom
Huntington and said to him: This is a
queer way to homestead. / have been up
here twice to see my land and haven't
seen It vet Huntington said to me;
That's all right; the next time you come
zap l will show you the land. never Wis
tied the land again. l never intended to
make a home on It or live on it."
Only Asked for the Truth.
In his REORGANIZATION Edwards said:
IN the latter part Of 1905 an ofacer Of the
Treasury department named Grimes came
10 see me and said he was Investigating the
land matters in Nebraska and Il was in
tended to make the land grabbers
take down their fences. I was not told
by him that l would get into any trouble.
but that ne VA ted me to make state
ment, a true statement regarding my
knowledge OF the matter. What ne wanted
was the truth, and that is what l told him.