The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-01-13

uioa'eu' without authority, because
mad not paid any fees to him ov WRIT
Ten 10 him or filed any applications.
therefore felt it incumbent on me to
expose the swindle in the senate
which 1 did on the 18th or Febrnarv
and asked the post Office authorities
to issue a fraud order.
pressed the passage of the Joint
resolution in the senate. and nm Anr,,
81 1t became law. March Is was
taken Ill, and on May 16, after a mar
tiai recuperation, sailed for Eurone
returning October 81.
The presidents sleuths. set TO do
the dirty work of spying on a senator
when that senator had exposed a
fraud which was being perpetrated O,
the public, reported to him on JSfv
~. L had nothing whatever to do with
the change in the law OF which the
president complains in regard 10 tbs.
secret service.
e PieSiuehts anlmuS is not
against me on the same ground for
which he has attacked Messrs. Taw-
ney, Smith and others in the house
but one Of personal malice engender-
ed by hatred because of my course In
the senate during the last seven years.
I have not attempted to decxfvs>
anybody; have not told any false
hoods; / have not broken any law:
have not been guilty Of any inn
moral conduct. 1 had the right to
purchase the land if I could, but my
judgment told me 1t was unsafe as an
investment. I would like to get some
Of it yet, and If the attorney-generab
and his successors shall not die of OLD
age before anything is done II nay
be possible that I will have the op-
portunity to purchase some OF those
timber lands Of which he made men,
ton in his report. (S. Doc. No. 279,
6oth Cong, 1st sess.) Through my
action attention has been directed in
a compelling way to the need OF
prompt action by the department of
justice. Whether ever get any OF
the land or not does not matter il
Hartman and others of that lie are
made to disgorge the large holdings
which they have stolen and are at
tempting to hold
The president says:
On October 20. 1907. Senator Till
man wrote letter to Messrs. Reed
er & Watkins, Of MarshfeId, Greg.
who were attorneys representing peo-
pie who were applicants for the pur-
chase of certain landgrant land. Dorr
was land agent making his filings
through Reeder & Watkins
This statement is misleading and
calculated to deceive. The report OF
the post Office inspectors gives the ac-
tual truth. 1t says:
Among the most active agents In
this matter is the firm Of Reeder az
Watkins, of Marshfeld, Greg. Mr.
Reeder is a real-estate agent and Mr..
Watkins an attorney They have as
sociated themselves together in To-
eating applicants on these lands.
Further, Reeder & Watkins, by cir
culating a shrewdly worded circular
long before Dorr appeared on the.
scene, sought to make money by hav-
ing persons pay them s21 in cash for
filing an application with the clerk
of the court and rendering to the COM.
pany s400 per quarter section, whichs
the law originally contemplated as,
the price of the land. They were to-
receive 500 additional whenever the
Southern Oregon Company should
convey the title, and they knew that
no one could compel this conveyance
except the United States government.
because a similar case had been de-
cided in the United States court so
declaring. (See Nichols VS.. Southern
Oregon Co., Federal Reporter, vol
1876. p. 234.)
1 commenced to investigate on the
5th of October, and I made direct
application to Reeder & Watkins, by
telegram and by letter. on the Goth
of October. Dorr did not appear until
early in 1908, as shown by the report
of the post office inspectors, and his,
career as a swindler was brief, as L
exposed the whole thing in the SET
ate on February 1s. The president
had the papers and knew all tIris-.
Reeder & Watkins were receiving s2f
for the insignificant work of making
tender to the holding company ant7