Arizona republican., 1909-06-04
Seventy Three Applicants Fi|-
 edOn About 25,OOO Acres A SCRIP CONTROVERSY
It Arose Through a Ruling Made by the Register and Receiver to Cover the Con- ditions Obtaining Yester- day.

Seventy-thres filings on a total of approximately 25,ooo acres of the | Agua Fria lands, about a quarter of the acreage available, was the re- suit of yesterdays rush at the land office.
 Phoenix most notable land office rush, covering a strenuous two days, passed without particularly sensa- tional incident, though for a time | yesterday morning there was fear in | certain quarters that trouble might be precipitated. It was known that w. F. Taliaferro, chief clerk in the office of the land department of the Santa ! Fe railroad at Topeka, was in the line and near the head of it. It was ! known that his purpose was to file on a large acreage with railroad lieu land scrip. Mir. Taliaferro is under stood to have been representing w. H. Beardsley of the Agua Fria dam site. Numerous of the applicants further down the line whose plans at this time are to make actual settle ment on the land, jumped to the con- clusion that there twas a concerted movement to grab all the milk in the
 
 husk of it and of course the men un- der suspicion were making no eXpla nation, nor would their explanations have been accepted had they made them.
 It was therefore a somewhat belli gerent line of over seventy applicants that faced Register Frank H. Parker and Receiver Charles E. Arnold when they appeared at their offices aDout 8 o'clock yesterday morning and got in touch with the situation. They se- cured counsel as quickly as possible and decided to promulgate a set of rules on their own authority to meet the situation and to be abided by strictly during the rush of the fil- ing. They believe their rulings will be sustained by the general land of flee and believe that there is ample precedent for their action in arbitrary rules made by registers and receivers elsewhere to meet similar conditions and to prevent possible violence. Whether the animosity of the appli cants as a body, against the repre- sentatives of the corporations was we'll founded made no difference. That they were displeased and some of them quite threatening, they be- lieved to be sufficient warrant for acting, and they did so by posting the following notice in the corridor of the building.
 AGUA FRIA OPENING REGULA- TONS.
 On account of the yelled threats of confusion and possible bloodshed in cident to the opening of certain lands in this territory, June 3, 1909, the register and receiver of the United States land office at Phoenix have adopted the following regulations for the orderly conduct of business:
 Just prior to the opening of the office at o'clock am, numbers will be given to those in line in accord ance with the recognized lineup, and the holders thereof will be entitled to present their application in ac- cordance with such numbers.
 only two applicants, with their vis- nesses, will be allowed to enter at one time.
 No person will be permitted to file more than two applications, nor will such applications be considered for purpose of allowance or rejection if presented for an amount, the aggre- gate of which is in excess of 320 acres, without returning to the rear of the line and again advancing in regular order.
 These regulations are formulated by the register and receiver for the orderly conduct of business on this day and to avoid serious complica- tions which we have reason to be- lieve would result from any other procedure.
 F. H. PARKER,
 Register
 c. F. ARNOLD, Receiver
 It transpired that the line of ap- plicants was overwrought in it's fears, MT. Taliaferro being the only man affected by the notice. He had two projects, on one of which the filings were accepted later in the day. The other was the proposed placing of scrip on a large body of land west of the meridian line and west of the river. It was reported that this fil- ing was to cover about 63,000 acres of land. It was stated last evening by one who is supposed to have a very good idea of the situation, that the acreage proposed was only 49,00O. But in either event the result would have been the same under the rules, ~.4I