The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-03-08
HFRNANN WAS IN
WITH MITCHELL
oath Men Were to Be "Taken
'' care Of" by the Oregon
Land Ring.
souE DIRECT TESTIMONY
..,,Ne MAN AS CHARACTER
WV WITNESS.

..,stou. March THAT Binger
We former commissioner Of the
he'iN' ,,.,a office, and the late Sena-
ssH' ,Ttehell of oregon. would have
TOT ~, - care Of out Of the profits
been Iard sueculations depending up
Of 'le oroation Of the Blue Mountain
o. - rsserve in eastern Oregon, was
i0'. ',,,od to today in the trial OF MI
is''-. George SoTenson, a lumber
HEINZ. EN- br,ker. of Portland, Oregon,
anu ~as recently convicted OF con-
VIM NJ in land frauds in that state
s ". tbe witness. He was produced by
q -,..-nr,ent and Attorney Worth
'he - succeeded in excluding a GER
ms ms ,o.,sr supporting to have been
'a'H ,1r Hermann to S. P. Mays, an
sem " Of Of Portland. After ruling out
attoih n,.or the court allowed the wit
thls - s1taIl a conversation he and
s ,isSs n mad concerning the TRANSACTION
Assigned Without Cost
,aoo was MI. Sorenson said, to
Ihe ~ re state school lands in east
pus o ~ and then have forest re-
gu u Seated which should include
So rrbese lands could then be ex-
u n..,,rod for lien land scrip. Each eitl-
- eaid was entitled to take up
s 81 ~ NJ these lands. Sorenson's
-. ~ the deal was to acquire the
a. - a citizen. Some of these rights,
tlsi nai "a we're assigned to him without
cost. ~ a.s;,nn,ents
,ou-sver he bought, paying all the way
4ror, glass of beer to 81 Tor each as
. H., which allowed him to ac-
s,s;ra 990 acres OF land. In this way
y obtained for himself about 12,OoO
n ~ of land. and for Mays, Jones and
sr,ith the other members OF the COM
bination. about $1,000 acres
Blue Printed Over.
AT this point the witness said that a
hlns nrint which came from Washing
Ton and which showed all the vacant
lands IN that section, was handed over
Nv MAYS TO State Forester Ormsby. The
witness said he protested against this
and told MAYS at the time that Ormsby
,vould "give the deal away" so that
persons would begin TO buy these lands.
MAYS insisted that II would look better
IN washington 70 have the blue print
show as Il did, that the state lands
we're vacant A petition. he said. was
signed BIZ the court officials in eastern
Oregan, by prominent citizens and by
about a thousand residents of that
section Of the state asking for the ere
alton Of this reserve.
Had to Give Up Half.
Tie witness said that it was only q
short time after the blue print had
been given to Ormsby that he learned
that 1900 acres of land had beer
bought BY Mckinley. Parpin and Hyde
Mckinley and Parpin were told by
Nays that unless they gave up at least
half Of their holdings their lands would
Be excluded from the proposed forest
reserve Nr. Mays told them that
there we're many expenses attached to
The preliminary work of getting the re-
ssTEe created and that there were sew
eral people in Washington who would
hsEe 10 be taken care OF. Mckinley
sss willing to give up half of his lands
sare time after this SOrenson said
Nays made the same demand on him
He demanded to know who it was in
Washington who would have to be ia
zen care Of Mays replied, Hermann
and Mitchell"
Witness said he expressed a willing
ness 10 give up some OF his lands &c
meet this expense account"
Part OF Letter Admitted.
The Hermann letter to Mays was H.
aaily admitted 70 the extent of allow
hg Sorens0n 10 state his recollection
o. rs contents. It contained. he said
statement Of the ranges. etc. which
nag been temporarily withdrawn fol
serve
so'enson said he employed the late
senator Mitchell as his attorney and
Promised him $500 if he would get a
ioTesi project through.
representative MOndell. of Wyoming
sno resigned as assistant commissions
u me general land office to become
member OF congress during Mr.. Her
sAns administration, said Mr.. Her
Aez. VI INC NoiS
an dissemination of Mr.. Mon
~ - unsamed the entire afternoon ses-
- and related particularly to his
80 ss-l4 g, OF copying personal and off.
-. eeers during his term as assist.
an commissioner.
Monday. W az - ~ ''eo "'' -