Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-07

and had been for years. and were ac-
| quainted with the operation of the public
land system in all its details. But under
the laws OF California and Oregon they
could not legally get control Of any great
quantity Of school lands. AS citizens OF
| California they could each purchase $40
acres from that state. but no more. They
| could not purchase from the state Of Ore
| gon at all. not being citizens Of that
state
But 1t will be shown in evidence that
| these defendants employed methods
whereby they did obtain from the said
| states in grossly illegal manner titles
| to large quantities of school lands with
| in forest reservations and caused the
titles SO acquired. though fraudulent and
| worthless, to be relinQuished to the
acre for acre. under the act of June 4.
| 1897. of public lands outside Of forest
reservations. paying $1.2o per acre for
| the school lands and selling the selected
| lands al from $3.O to s. or more per acre.
And it is this scheme that constitutes
| the chief elements OF the conspiracy COM
| planned of
Exchange of Lands.
| ut will be shown in evidence that
Hyde and Benson had offices in San Fran
| cisco within about block OF each other.
| These offices were connected by private
| telephone and the business transacted In
| them was that Of obtaining school lands
| in forest reservations and exchanging
! them for public lands Of the United
| States. A joint land and money account
| was kept showing the lands In which
| both were interested. the expenses attend
| ing the business and the division of the
profits.
1T will be shown that Hyde and Benson
| no OnpraftOnQ hV each
| securing persons to make applications to
/ purchase forest reserve school lands I'M
| der a. sort OF partnership arrangement
agreeing with the applicant in each case
| to act for him in filing the application
and completing the purchase. and to d.
vide the profits upon disposal and re-
| linqushment of the lands for selection
| purposes. But they soon tired OF the part
| nership business and adopted other meth
| DDS whereby they secured all the prohts
| for themselves instead of dividing them
| with others.
ut will be shown that they went out
| or sent out into the highways and byways
| and secured hundreds OF persons to sign
| applications to purchase school lands In
/ both California and Oregon merely by
| paying them small sums of money. gen
orally from one to five dollars each. and
by representing to them that they were
| merely disposing of their respective rights
| to purchase school lands.
Application TO SuTCuaSe.
| AT the same time the application to
purchase would be signed the applicant
would in most cases also sign an assign
ment of the certificate of purchase to be
| afterward issued by the state. or would
| sign a deed conveying. or agreeing to
convey, the land to Hyde or Benson or to
some one acting for them, or would sign
| powers of attorney to Hyde or Benson
| nfh acting them
| whereby they would be given absolute
| control of the lands.
1.-The applications to purchase were in
printed form and would always contain
the form of affidavit required under the
state law. Many of the persons thus Sc
| cured never went before any notary or
other officer to swear to the aff1davits. and
others who did go before notaries would
be taken through the form Of swearing
| to the affidavits without ever having read
| them or knowing what they contained.
| Many of such applications were signed
in blank and were kept on file in Hyde
office or in Benson's office. We expect to
| show that over 10000 acres of public
to be acquired by the defendants in the
fraudulent and unlawful manner which
| / have outlined.
Title to 10000 Acres.
| ut will be shown that the defendant
L
of Oregon in 1898. and there. within the
short period of about sixty days, secured
titles to over 10000 acres of school lands
within the Cascade range forest reserva-
| ton in that state-and that the defendants
| Hyde and Benson caused all of such
| fraudulently acquired titles to be relin-
quished to the United States. and used
| the same for selection purposes under the
act of 1897 Over 125 names were used
| hy Cnhn tn
| these Oregon lands and not one purchase
| of the 125 or more was legally made.
| Where the persons were real the small
| sum of from one to five dollars each was
paid for the use of their names: where the
names were fictitious of course nothing
| was paid
| Schneider was for many years in
| Hyde's employ and for time performed
| services in his Office in San Francisco in
| connection with his land business. About
| the year 1901 he left Hydes employ and
| removed from California to Tucson, Aris
| During the summer Of 1902 he caused let
| tiers to be written to the commissioner of
| the general land office expressing a desire
| to disclose to the government what he
| knew about the fraudulent transactions
of Hyde and Benson. He was subsequent
| ly called upon by an agent of the govern
ment by the name of Holsinger, to whom
| he made a partial confession and dis
| closure, and expressed a willingness upon
| certain conditions. to tell all he knew in
| the matter. Report was made by Hol-
| singer and that report caused the investi-
| cation which resulted in the present In
dictment. Before an opportunity was had
| to again see Schneider, however, his lips
| were closed for reasons which you will
| be able to determine from the evidence
| for yourselves.
Forest Lieu Selections.
| Now. all forest lieu selections were re-
| quired to be examined and passed upon in
the general land Office in Washington.
and there approved, before patents could
| issue for the selected lands. Soon after
| Hyde and Benson began their operations
| under the act of 1897 Benson came to
| Washington and effected an ARRANGEMENT
| with certain clerks in the particular divi-
| sion of the general land Office having
| charge of forest lieu selections, by paving
and agreeing to pay them sums OF money
for that purpose. whereby such clerks
were induced to furnish to Hyde and
| Benson Information concerning the status
| in the general land Office Of all matters
| pertaining to their fraudulent business
| and to expedite all forest lieu selections
| in which Hyde and Benson were inter-
| ested
Under this arrangement these clerks
| in the general land office were also to
| furnish Hyde and Benson with informa-
| tion concerning any discovery or investi-
CATION of their fraudulent practice which
might come to their knowledge, And 1t
will be shown in evidence that through
| this ARRANGEMENT HYDE and Renson uoro