The Socorro chieftain. [volume] (Socorro, N.M.) 1902-1959, 1907-06-01
PRESIDENTS LETTER
To Herbert J. Hagerman, Stating Fully and Point
edly His Reasons for His Summary Removal Of
the Latter from the Office of Governor of New
Mexico.

standard of official conduct
This report from the department
of justice related to your de-
livery of certain deeds to the
Pennsylvania Development com
pany. 1t appears that the grant
of land, which was agreed to be-
fore you became governor, was
on its face grossly fraudulent,
and that the transaction could
not be completed save by your
action, made with full knowledge
of its fraudulent character. An
investigation into the matter of
these New Mexican land grants
had been made by the secretary
of the interior and submitted to
congress. The chairman of the
committee on public lands of the
house, Hon. John +. Lacey, on
May IL, 1906, wrote to the
secretary of the interior that the
proposed grant would BE- a
violation of law; the particular
grant referred to being, as the
secretary of the interior officially
stated, in all essential respects
the same as the grant YOU con-
Summated.
POOR PLEA.
You state that this document
was never officially called to
your attention, but it appears
that you certainly had knowledge
of it when you acted; and it
further appears that the COM
missioner of public lands, in view
of the report, expressed his un-
willingness to deliver the deeds
to the representative of the
Pennsylvania Development COM
pany, Mr.. Hopewell. 1t was his
business, and not yours, and you
could only act in his absence;
though of course you could have
removed him, ii YOU had been
willing to remove him, for re-
fusing to take the improper and
fraudulent action which in his
absence you took on his behalf.
You. however, obtained an
opinion from the attorney gem
eral (the same gentleman whom
the newspapers report as now
organizing meetings to ask for
your retention in Office which
opinion Mr.. Cooley rightly Stig-
matizes as IAN abSurdity,"
for as Mr.. Cooley says, it is
only explicable on the ground,
either that the attorney general
thought that there was no abb
solute evidence of a violation of
the law "a conclusion which it
was inconceivable he could have
reached or that you could have
reached), or else that as there
were difficulties attendant upon
the enforcement of the law YOU
should go out of your way TO do
it. You took advantage of the
absence OF the commissioner of
public lands on official business
to go Yourself with the attorney
general, Mr.. Reid, to his Office
and yourself complete the trans
action.
WOULD NOT WAIT.
1t was there suggested to you
by a clerk in the land Office that
the matter should be delayed un-
til the commissioner could be
communicated with. as it you
wired him it would be possible
to get him back in Santa Fe in
side of two dayS. You refused
to permit this delay; although
there was absolutely no reason
whatever for such refusal or
your part. You directed the
clerk to compute the amount due
as payment of the principal anC
interest, and then asked him Il
deliver the deeds, to which h'
replied that he had no power e
do o and that the seal had no.
| OCCH dmANN W tWCHNJ -AHANC "
; them. You then directed him t
bring all the papers to you
Office, together with the seal o
the board of public lands, and il
I the presence of the clerk and o
J Mr.. Hopewell, the beneficiary o
: your grossly improper. and prob
e ably unlawful conduct, you al
r fixed the seals to the twenty
three deeds, and handing then
A to Hopewell, asked il he consid
! cred that a delivery. Hopewel
4 replied that he did. and handle,
o them back to you with the re
2 quest that they be recorded o
r the deed records of the commits
r Continued 10 page 4.