Williams news., 1907-10-05
Dr. Perrin. Shell and I (who al

to it. The next day we returned to Benson's office and he had contract prepared for Dr. Perrin tc sign. One clause of this contract reither Mir. Perrin nor 1 under stood. and we asked Shell what i, meant. This clause was as follows: The party of the second part (Benson) agrees to file the arpli-
 cation of the nominees" of the party of the first part (Perrin) in
 the stat.a land office at Sacramento.
 etc The fact that called my
 attention to ile clause was that
 he whole of the sentence was in 8 printed form except after the word
 'applicaiion" there was placed in
 ink caret. and the words of the
 nominees" was written in ink i between the two lines of printed
 matter. 1 therefore concluded that
 this was out of the usual form of
 Bensnn's printed contracts, and
 asked Shell what it meant. Shell
 replied that it was all right. and
 
 certain people had proven to the
 state where certain 18th and 36th
 sections, (school lands) because of
 he mineral or swamp or overflow
 character of the lands. had beer
 lost to the state, that is no one would buy them. and that by
 raying to the state $125 per acre
 the United States gave to the ore who made this proof the right to } select other lands in lieu of that
 lest to the state: that this proof, or F right. was negotiable: that Benson had bought up lot of these proofs or rights. would turn them over to Perrin and that they would con- stitute Perrin's nominees" under r the contract. In other words: F Benson's scrip was in an incom
 plete state. just a some of Perrin's
 forest reserve scrip had been in an incomplete state because of certain l.. water rights, 1ax titles, etc, which r had been filed on the lands. and Q this step was necessary in order tc perfect it. Shells explanation
 seemed reasonable. and as he n represented himself as being an p experienced land lawyer and tim r her cruiser. Mir Perrin relied upon s his judgment and signed the con- '. tract A few days after this MT : Perrin. still entertaining no idea o1 : 'he illegalitv of his contract witi O Benson, returned to San Fra nciscc . similar contract 10 obtain twr thousand acres more of this land Recurring to Willia ms. Mr Per
 rim shortly thereafter went to New ' Yo,k. accompanying his brother q Mr Robert Perrin, who went ther, :, 10 have a serious surgical operation If perfnrmed at the Roosevelt hos pita F It was while in the east that ht
 submitted his contract with Benso, to Judge L k Payson. of Washing d ton. one of the most astute lawyer e, of the nations capitol. who saw n, to objections to 1t, and only criticiset [, it as to the length of time thereil :, given Benson to complete his fight '" in the Sacramento land office.
 '' It was not until along in Janu or ary, 1904 about two months afte It. the contract with Benson had beer is consummat+d. that doubt aros h. in Mir. Perrin's mind that all va
 not as it should be- It was af'e A certain converse tions he had wit U. Mir. Chester L. Hovey, lant r. operator of San Francisco. that h ts entertained any doubt whateve If but that his agreement with Ben son was perfectly legal one. Mi NN Hovev advised him 10 consul to Judge A. E Bolton, of San Fran r cisco, as to the legality of his con q. tract, and the latter pronounce' st the contract contrary to publi V policy. Mir. Perrin was loathe t " helieve there was anything wron ne with his contract. but was fnall
 convinced that probably Judg e Bolton was right. He then serve n notice on Benson that unless h ,r returned to him the scrip he ha - turned over tu him, he would hay Vt him Benson) arrested for obtain 'g ing money under false pretense ld and gave him until the afternoo nd of February 4th, 1904, to eithe if return the scrip. or to give hir is another and legal agreement. A he a short time before the time elapse to and before competent and reliabl Id witnesses. Benson appeared a 1 Judge Bolton's office and then an su there entered into another and of legal agreement with Dr. Perrin ir which agreement the court refuse ld to permit to be introduced i