The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-04-12
Fourteen Indictments Are Re-
turned Today.
Only One Land Fraud Case
Among Them.
FOR MINOR OFFENSES.
Two Soldiers Home Inmates
Are Included.
Bilby Case Commences by EN-
paneIling a Jury.

oout Of a batch of IA indictments re-
turned by the federal grand jury in its
partial report to Judge Pollock this
morning, but one was for land fraud,
and either its nature or the defendants,
were not given out.
The other 13 covered a host Of minor
off1enses ranging all the way from send
ing unmana5le letters to counterfeit
ing. The defendants in but six Of these
were made public by Harry Bone, Uni
ted States district attorney, caplases
not yet having been issued for the re-
naming seven. As soon as they give
bond, they viii be announced.
The defendants in the six indictments
made public are as follows:
c. A. LeMaster. Ottawa buying sto-
len postage stamps.
ValOis Newell, inmate of Soldiers
Home at LeavenWorth, passing counter
John Haynes. innate Soldiers home
a Leavenworths passing counterfeit
money
Joe Miller, LeavenwOrth, buying sol
der property
Patrick Burns, Leavenworth, buying
soldier property.
G. B. Hopton. Osborne. stealing check
from the mails.
1--WE cannot give out anything con-
cerning the remainder of the cases,
said Harry Bone, until the bonds are
given, which viii probably be in day
or two"
What about the land case. Does 1t
pertain to fraud?" was asked.
Yes. was the reply, but that is
all we can say about it,"
LeMaster lives at Ottawa. He IS
charged with having bought $1Se
worth of stolen postage stamps.
Valois Newell and John Haynes are
both old soldiers and have been in
mates for a number of years of the
1a fr1ar1r rr rtstr HIrsf1 q ~a
of having passed counterfeit silver dol
lars and half-d0llars.
Joe Miller and Patrick Burns are
Leavenworth saloon-keepers, and are
charged with having bought govern
ment property from the soldiers.
What for2' was asked Of Judge
West. Booze 2t.-
THAT is the point exactly" replied
the judge
6. B. HoDton is accused of having
taken aNcheck out of a letter in a rural
mail box near Osborne, kan. The sum
OF the check was small.
Two extremely bad letter cases are
I'm the batch, which were not made pub
lie.
The striking thing about the indict-
ments returned is the showing that the
jury did not commence consideration
of land fraud cases until today. A
great deal of minor stuff was up for
disposition and it was all loaded onto
this grand jury About so witnesses
-e--@.A
to land frauds which are said to have
been committed in southwestern kan
sas. 1t will be impossible to take all
of this testimony this afternoon AMI
the remaining two days of this week
and 1t means that the jury will be in
session part of next week. ''I don't
know about that" was Assistant
United States Attorney Vests com
ment on that point. II only hope we
viii finish this week"
So the heavy eannonading to ferret
out land frauds commenced this after
noon Some very important cases are
to be presented. according to gossip
about the court house. Colonel Green
has been hard at work all OF this week
getting things in readiness, but he still
is silent as a sphinx. ''I have nothing
to say in reply to Lambert's attack on
me In open court yesterday" he sail
smlhng 1t doesn't worry me. I'm
on trial and I know it,
II haven't a thing to say about the
manner In which our work is progress
ing before the jury with reference to
land frauds" said Mr.. Bone eco ask
Judge w est But the latter did moth
ing better than shake his head.
About II O'Clock this morning
United States Attorney Bone and L e
Lambert. who is defending many of
the persons accused of land fencing
and land frauds. began to enDa0e1 =
jury for the trial of the Bilby case
which will commence on Friday morn
ing.
At 1890 O'Clock the court ordered a
recess until 2 o'clock. and by that time
six witnesses had been examined. They
were G. S. Hunt, Alvin Brown. F. p
Paige, S. 3. Ledger, Furman Baker
and James Nichol. Hunt lives in
Nemaha county and says that he no
time read anything in any of the news
papers concerning the case and knows
nothing about it. Alvin Brown lives in
Ottawa county and is a merchant. He
too read nothing in the newspapers Of
the case, save noticing the matter in
the headlines. F. F. Paige is fr,1it
raiser in Doniphan county. He saws
ne saw something about it in the To-
peka State Journal when he came
mere, but before that knew NOTHING
about the case. S. B. Ledger of WaI2
lace county. farmer and ranchn1aT7
had read of the case. He is acouairtl
ed with the foreman of the Bilbv
ranch. Furman Baker is q Tonel~s
contractor He said that he had rea5
Of the case in the newspapers b1,+
knew nothing further about II. Jarnee
Nichol is from Osborne county vrhere
he owns a large stock ranch. but ont
side Of what he read in the newspsne~s
he declared he knows nothing of the
case.
Congressional Committee Named.