The Springfield herald., 1906-12-14
BIC LAND FRAUDS
RAILROADS IN UTAH EMPLOYED
DUMMY LOCAToRs.
TO GoBBLE UP COAL LANDS
Partial Report Of Federal Grand Jury
Leads to Indictment Of Railroad
and Fuel Companies and Their Of

Leads to Indictment OF Railroad
and Fuel Companies and Their Of
ficiaIs.
Salt Lake.-The federal grand jury
which has been Investigating coll lanl
frauds in Utah and charges thai rail
road corporations have Disseminated
against certain shippers, made a par
tial report Friday, in the United States
District Court, to Judge John A. Mar
shall.
Indictments were returned against
the Union Pacific Railroad Company,
the Oregon Short Line Railroad Com
pany, the Union Pacific Coal Com
pany, the Utah Fuel Company, and
several of the highest officials repre-
senting the Hartman and Gould COM
porations of Utah.
The indictment against the repro
sentatives of the Gould Interests en-
braces the Utah Fuel Company, II. G.
Williams, general manager of this
company; Robert Forester, the conf
pany's geologist; w. r. Foster. sec
retary to Robert Forester; Alex. NJ
Cowie, gener raj manager of the COM
pany's Wasatch store at Sunnyside,
Utah.
Also Elroy N. Clark, the Utah Fuel
Company's attorney at Denver. and
George A. Moore, the company's agent
at Denver. They are charged with
defrauding and attempting to Gefraud
the United States government, the
charges being based on the methods
pursued in acquiring title to coal land
In Utah.
Bench warrants for the arrest of the
persons accused in the two indict
ments were issued. Bonds In the case
of each individual accused were fixed
at $4,000.
Fred r. Maynard of Washington, as
sistant attorney general, who has been
conducting the investigation before the
grand jury is authority for the state
ment that two other indictments
charging perjury before the grand
jury have been returned.
After the indictments had been re.
turned, bench warrants had been Is
sued and the grand jury had adjourned
until the first Monday in January, As
sistant Attorney General Maynard
stated that when the grand jury re-
convenes after the holidays the inqui
sition will be resumed.
The indictments returned Friday, he
said, mark only the beginning OF the
governments probing operations In
Utah, and Wyoming, and the violations
of laws alleged in these indictments
are only incidents of gigantic system
of fraud that has been in operation u
the West for many years.
The Indictment against the Utah
Fuel Company and the six agents OF
that company is based on the methods
used in acquiring about 1,400 acres Of
coal lands in Sewer county, Utah. The
lands were filed on in March, 1905. -
In statement made Friday, Attor-
ney MAYNARD outlined the methods al
legged to have been pursued, as stated
by witnesses called before the grand
jury.
Robert Forester. geologist and
expert of the Utah Fuel Com
pany, Is alleged to have been charged
with the actual direction of the men
who fled on the lands. After Forres-
ter had prospected the ground George
A. Moore, the Utah Fuel Company's
agent in Denver, went over the numer-
ous claims and on each one caused to
be dug an excavation exposing the
coal deposits. Dummy" locaters were
then secured to make filings on the
claims.
These were mostly young men, who
were each paid $50, their expenses to
and from the lands and So pei diem
while they were employed in entering
he claims. There was an explicit un-
in advance that the
claims were to be conveyed to the
Utan Fuel Company or its agents.
These dummies" were taken upon
the lands, the uncovered coal deposits
were shown to them, and Immediately
they filed on the lands. with applica-
ton papers made out by the conipany's
attorney Major William II. Bird. Major
Bird has since died. All the entries
to the 1,40O acres involved were made
on the same date, March "a, 1905.
For each of the claims thus secured
it was necessary that payment OF
81 500 should be made to the govern
ment. Loans for this amount were
made by various persons. The gov
ernment prosecutors charge that the
persons from whom the loans were
secured were mere agents OF the coal
company.