Daily Arizona silver belt., 1907-10-15
NEW MEXICO LAND CASES

earthed by special land agents of the department of justice, suit has been filed in the second judicial district court of Albuquerque by the United States against the Pennsylvania Development company, the New Mexico Fuel & Iron company and w. s. Hopewell as terri torial agent of the corporations, to can eel the deeds to nearly 10000 acres of valuable timber land in Valencia coun- ty, secured by the defendants in l90l
 Ormsby McHarg and E. Peyton Cor don, special assistants to the attorney general of the United States, appear for the plaintiff.
 It is alleged by the government that the lands in question were secured by the defendants from the board of public lands of the territory by fraudulent means, and that the territorial officials and the defendants were both aware that the transaction was made in viola tion of the provisions of the act of congress granting public lands to the territory, and providing for the sale of such public lands for the benefit of ter i, rltoflal lnstitutlons.
 It is asked that the defendants be enjoined from further cutting timber off the lands, and that they be com , pelled to reimburse the territory for the value of timber already taken from the tracts.
 Judge Ira A. Abbott has issued an order directing the defendants to ap- } pear in court and show cause why an , injunction should not issue restraining them from longer laying claim to the premises or cutting timber off the land. It is alleged that w. S. Hopewel as agent of William H. Andrews, presi- dent of the Santa Fe Central Railway company, and the two companies, ne- gotiated the purchase of the lands for
 the defendants. Knowing that only a quarter section of the lands could be l sold to one person, the defendants en-
 tered into negotiations with the terri torial board of public lands for the pur- chase of 10000 acres of valuable timber lands in Valencia county. The public land board at that time consisted of
 Governor Otero, Solicitor General Bart
 lett and Commissioner of Public Lands
 Keen. Three dollars an acre was of fered for the lands.
 The application was made by William
 H. Andrews by his agent, W. s. Hope
 well. It is alleged that while this ap- plication purported to be for Andrews,
 it was made in the interest of the Penn sylvania Development company. A meet ing of the land board was held to con- slider the application, and the applicant
 was notified that the land could not be
 sold except in tracts of 160 acres. However, this did not deter the ap-
 plicants, for it is alleged that they then
 entered into a deliberate scheme to defraud and to evade the provisions of the law by going among the stockhold- CTS of the Pennsylvania Development company and the Santa Fe Central Railway company, and the friends, rela- tives and families of the officers of the company and persuaded forty-nine per sons to sign applications for 160 acres each, and that these applicants were then asked to deed over the land to the corporation, which they did It is al legged that the commissioner and the board had full knowledge when the ap- plications were made that the individ- ual applicants would turn over the land to the Pennsylvania Development com pany, and that the board was aware |. that the scheme was fraudulent and planned to avoid the provisions of the law.
 The government declares that money and promissory notes were paid over for the lands, not by the individual appli- cants, but by the Pennsylvania Devel opment company and W. s. Hopewell as manager.
 No contract in writing was executed and no record for sale of the lands to the defendants was ever made or the books of the land board.
 All payments, on the contrary, were } credited to the forty-nine applicants, none of whom paid any money. The defendants knew when they were pay ing $3 an acre for the land in ques tion that it was covered with valuable | Hidiultu DlHt lOltSts, NDiLH dH UuCH ds $100,000 and upwards
 The plaintiff asks that the deeds to the development company and also to the forty-nine applicants be cancelled; that the defendants be made to give an accounting of all timber cut, and be made to pay all the profits and benefits accruing from the lands.
 This suit is the second to be filed within a few weeks, the first being against the American Lumber company the Rio Grande Lumber company and Clark M. Carr, and involving 50,000 acres of valuable timber lands, alleged to have been acquired in like manner, and in which the government seeks to cancel the deeds on the grounds of fraud and conspiracy
 The filing of this second suit strengthens the belief that at the recent conferences had in Washington between the president, Attorney General Bona parte and E. Payton Gordon, assistant to the attorney general, that instruc- tions were given to continue with re- newed vigor the land frauds investiga tion, which was begun in New Mexico early in the spring.
 More sensational developments are expected soon, as it is rumored that complaints will be filed charging certain men of prominence with perjury in connection with the frauds alleged to have been committed. Agents are now collecting evidence with this end in l l. |. ...l :