Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-13
GIGANTIC STEAL
IS UNCOVERED
COAL CORPORATIONS BUSY IN
ALASKA
Fuel Bed of Two Hundred Thousand
Acres Will Be Protected-Govern-
ment to Bring Legal Pro-
ceedngs at Once
lRv Assnciated PressN

DENVER, Colo, Aug. 12.-Within a
month a hearing will begin in Seattle,
Wash. that government officials de-
clare will disclose proof of gigantic
frauds in connection with coal lands
in Alaska. This investigation will be
followed by similar hearings to be held
in a score of cities.
Coal engineers and lawyers of the
highest standing connected with the
general land office have been assigned
to duty in connection with the hear
ings and special agents who have been
working quietly for months securing
evidence will take the stand as wit
nesses.
The facts pertaining to the alleged
frauds are known to Secretary of the
Interior Ballinger and Fred bennett,
commissioner of the general land Of
flee, and they have given the word to
their subordinates to proceed against
persons responsible for the alleged
fraud. Commissioner bennett stopped
off in Denver several days ago on his
way to the coast and held a conference
with the chief of the field division of
the general land office with headquar-
ters here, when instructions were
given as to the method of procedure.
Dummy Entries Utilized
That more than 100000 acres of rich
coal lands in Alaska, some of them
having veins 65 feet in thickness, have
been filed upon by dummy entrymen,
procured through agents of six large
corporations, the land office has ample
evidence to prove, according to infor
nation made public tonight. Powerful
interests have sought to force the de-
partment of the interior, through finan-
cial, political and even social pressure,
to patent these lands, a great deal of
which was filed upon more than two
years ago.
This pressure was resisted, however
and when congress passed the law of
May, 1908, providing for associations of
four or more individuals to develop
Alaskan coal lands to the extent of
2560 acres for each combination, the
interests back of these dummy entry
men tried to get these lands through
10 patent under this law.
Commissioner Dennett's view of the
matter is that all entries found to be
to be at least rs per cent of the 100000
acres referred to, should be Cancelled at
once.
Fine Base of Supplies
The governments interest lies in the
wish to have the great Alaskan coal
fields opened to supply coal for the
ships of the navy stationed in the Pa
cific 1t is said that the opening of the
Alaskan deposits will give the United
States control of commerce of the Pa
cific ocean by reason of it's ability to
supply fuel from a field almost mex
haustible.
One of the coal companies involved in
the alleged fraud is located in Seattle,
another in New York and still others
in San Francisco, Omaha and Chicago.
The so-Called dummy entries were re-
cruited principally in the docks of Sc
attle, the mines of Butte and from the
laboring classes of Chicago.
In many instances, according to the
evidence in the hands of government
inspectors, these men never knew or
heard of each other, although they
were described in the filing papers as
members of a corporation organized
for developing sections of the Alaska
fields.
The evidence also shows in many in
stances that the name of the person
ostensibly filing upon the land was
fictitious, and in many cases the per
sons signing the papers were paid a
small sum for doing so, and knew moth
ing whatever of the import Of the doc
ument to which they were attaching
their signatures.
The government officials claim that
they have traced the authors of the
fraud in several cases directly to paid
representatives of corporations in
volved 1t is limited that further action
than cancellation of patents will be
taken in the shape of criminal prosecu-
tiODS