Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1906-03-01
By CAPTAIN PATRICK D. TYRRELL

GCopyriGht. 1906 by Marion G. Scheitin.l
Tracing the careers of these men, |
found that in 1877 President Grant not
only made his friend James Lindsay
registrar of the IrOnton land Office, but
made Carroll r. Peck receiver at the
same office. This arrangement lasted
two years.
At the time l went to Ironton l
found Carroll r. Peck installed as
postmaster and his brother-in-law, an
other son of James Lindsay, mail
clerk on the Iron Mountain railroad.
This was combination, | feared, that
would render it impossible for me to
send reports out of Ironton in the
usual way, and | Immediately arranged
10 forward reports from another point.
subsequently it developed that Iron
ten letters were frequently tampered
with and lost.
Robert l.. Lindsay maintained three
oftices-One in Olive street, st. Louis,
another in Market street, in the same
city, and one at Ironton At the lat
ter office he had IN his employ seven
or eight persons most of whom, |
learned from cautious inquiry, were
employed steadily III making out deeds
20 lands in the district | could find
no evidence to show that these en-
pioyes had anything like a complete
conception of the character of the
work in which they were engaged. The
tour that did most If this work were
| IA
vey Miller and Mrs Salisbury. The
latter was a widow. and had evidently
CLEANED enough to convince her that
all was not right, although she did
not know just what the wrong consist
cd in nor the extent of the fraud to
which she had been an innocent party.
'Casteel and Miller were afterward of
considerable service to the govern
ment.
1t will be recalled that the grist of
deeds being ground cut at the Lindsay
mill in Ironton were based on patents
issued by the government many years
before, and never claimed. | could
not understand, therefore, how such
a game could successfully be played
with deeds tnat showed their recent
manufacture on their face. A casua!
examination of instruments obtained
10y me showed them to bear the an
pearance of proper age. More careful
examination, however, showed them to
lack some of the unmiStakable charac-
teristics impressed on such papers by
age
II became apparent, both from exam
H,t
Lindsay deeds had been treated with
coffee. This treatment, many years
ago, was one of the improved methods
.used by cOunterfeIters and forgers
when they wished to impart to spu-
Tious documents the yeIlowness and
other indications OF age 1t consist
cd merely in subiecting the paper to
DE aged to a bath in coffee water of
Che proper strength. In the hands of
an experienced person the effect de-
sired could be- obtained so accurately
chat more than a superficial examina-
Sion was required % reveal the fraud
These deeds came to be generally
known as smoked" deeds.
As | have said. land stealing from
the government is a composite crime
The thieves, | found, had left no
means neglected, not only to confuse
Tho records, but to destroy those
Through which their crimes might be
traced. In this method they had
adopted wholesale methods-the burn
ing Of county couIthouses i'm which
Che records were fept Lindsay had
preserved abstracts of title To- such
lands as he was dealing in II was
Go his interest 10 have the official rec
ords destroyed. This became true and
lindsay having brought the majority
of the county officials under his cor
rupt influence the "orls of destruction
was accomplished
81 Em.noucr. the capital Of shannon
county. the courthouse had been
brruoI hrce times. The lcacucrs had
stolen practically ad OF shannon caua-
fE The destruction OF the court
HauHa occurred each time under eE-
tefly similar circumstance tho fires
starting -. nIehf between m D. m
sa4 thr.e @. m., time during which