Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-06
ACRES UPON ACRES
OF PUBLIC DOMAIN
GRABBED BY FRAUD
Astonishing Revelations OF
False Land Entries Revealed
to Interstate Commission.
TWO SENATORS IN QUESTION
General Land Office Alleged to Be
Largely Responsible for the
Stupendous Jobbery.
WHY LANDS WERE WITHDRAWN
President Roosevelt Forced to Take
Summary Action in the Premises
Union Pacific and Rio
Grande Roads Alleged
to Have Profted.
WHY LANDS WERE WITHDRAWN

Revelations of a character start
ling in the extreme are today made
public in regard to the Wyoming
land frauds The general land Of
fee, at least two United States sem
ators and other prominent men are
involved in the charges of colossal
jobbery in the government lands in
Wyoming. Millions upon millions
are at stake, and innumerable suits
and criminal prosecutions will result
from the testimony which has been
adduced at the hearings before the
interstate commerce commission,
suppressed up to the present mo-
ment. SO grave was the situation
that President Roosevelt was forced
to recommend that the government
coal lands be permanently with
drawn from settlement.
Copyright 1900, by New York Evening Telegram.)
Special Dispatch to The Star
NEW YORK, December 6.-Scandals in
high places. criminal prosecutions and suits
by the United States government to recover
lands worth hundreds of MILLIONS of dollars
are now certain to result from investiga-
tons concerning the relations of the Harri-
man and Gould railroads to the coal in
dustry of the west.
Today is published for the first time testi-
mony of startling nature taken before the
Interstate commerce commission at Omaha,
Denver and Salt Lake, before the present
hearing at Salt Lake began. and which has
since been suppressed by order of the COM
mission.
1t was the purpose of this testimony to
show that the Union Pacific railroad and
the Rio Grande Western acquired thou
sands of acres of valuable coal lands from
the government by fraudulent means. AL
ready the government has sued to recover
part of this land and still other and more
important proceedings to come, which,
It is believed will lead to one of the great
est legal battles in which THE government
has ever engaged
In addition. the revelations already have
led to the finding of several indictments by
a grand jury at Salt Lake They include
charges against the general land office and
two United States senators. and influenced
President Roosevelt to recommend that the
government coal lands be permanently with
5rou., froro
Land Office Involved.
Witnesses have charged the general land
Office and Senators Warren and Clark Of
Wyoming with completely in Wyoming land
frauds. and much of the most important
testimony regarding the Illegal acquisition
OF land by the Hartman interests was
wrung by the commissions lawyers from
d. o. Clark superintendent of the Union
Pacific's main subsidiary coal company and
a brother of Senator Clark.
Among the witnesses was Special Agent
Meyendorff. who was engaged in an in
vestigation under Secretary Hitchcock.
He declared that after he had unearthed
the land frauds Senator Warren had
warned MIN tidt he tne ell
nifty of the Union Pacific and tried to in
duce him to stop the investigation and
leave :he state. as his inquiries might
bring about the defeat of Senator Clark.
Refusing TO yield. he was suspended and
afterward transferred to Los Angeles.
Meyendorff made oath that he was In
structed to destroy afiidavits against the
Union Pacific. and that evidence was sup
pressed in the land Office under Commits
sioneE W. A. Richardson of Wyoming.
Other special agents gave similar testi-
mony. Blnger Hermann, formerly com
missioner who has been indicted, is also
affected by the charges.
High-Handed Methods
In addition to acquiring the coal lanus
fraudulently and in pursuance of a plan
10 gain an absolute monopoly of the coal
trade west of the Mississippi the railroads
according to the evidence produced, adopt
ed various high-handed methods to main
tain that monopoly. 1t has been shown
that freight rates were manipulated to
force independent mine owners to sell their
properties TO hirelings of the roads and to
prevent other operators from opening coal