The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1909-04-21
Squatter Refuse To Give Up The
Lands
ON which they LIVE
Nine Tragedies Have Resulted From
a Den Which Began in Portland,
Me-, in 1888 and Forgotten Until
Lands Began to Be Of Much
T~oIy,o

Nine assassinations ere traceable
to the contention for undisputed pos
session Of 100000 acres of land in
the State of Georgia. The recent
killing of Pope S. Hill, leader Of the
Bar association in Macon, is but
another link in the chain of bloody
tragedies, which takes its beginning
from the organization of body of
capitalists in Portland, Me-, in 1888
to purchase lands in that State
The Norman Dodge Land Com
pany, composed Of New York men,
IS now seeking to oust squatters
from the territory and finds it Is up
against lot Of bogus and forged
deeds and titles. In some respects
the case resembles the Reelfoot
Lake fight, in Tennessee. There the
settlers had by right Of years come
to believe that they owned the lake.
Here the squatters on the lard
obtained by the Dodges' had remain
ed so long in peace and apparent
ownership that they have come to
believe the land Is theirs by right
of possession. Consequently they re-
sist every attempt to displace them
Bloody has been the history Of the
case.
Capitalists in Portland, Me-, sent
their agents into Georgia in 1888
and bought large tracts in what are
now Dodge, Telfair, Laurens and
Montgomery counties. A deed was
executed in the name of the Georgia
Lumber Company. Later the COM
pany became indebted and in 1877
the lands were offered for sale by
the Georgia legislature. George E.
Dodge, of New York, made the pur-
chase. In the meantime nothing had
been done with the land except to
pay the taxes.
In the course Of time the Macon /,
and Brunswick railroad was con-
structed and the land became valua-
Bile. Mr.. Dodge and his fellow own |
ers began to realize something on |
their property. Deeds were forged
and all sorts of schemes we're worked |
to get the land away from them |
piecemeal. Dodge finally filed suit |
for Injunction and prevented fur
ther steals. He also turned pos
session over to his brother, Norman
Dodge, resident Of Georgia.
At this juncture Luther Hall, a
lawyer. began to sell deeds In the
name of the former owners Of the
tract. He was convicted Of violating |
an injunction and sentenced to five
years in the penitentiary. Later he
ran for the legislature and in his |
campaign told the people in the dis
puted land to meet Mr.. Dodge's
agents with shotguns and leave thier
carcasses for the buzzards to pick
or cram them down gopher holes
This happened in 1890.
About the same time the murder
of Col. John Forsyth, the resident
Dodge agent, was murdered. No less
than six deaths, three or four OF
them by violence, have followed the
trial of the case. There have been
nine assassinations in Telfair coun-
ty within the last 25 years, and these
have been traceable, 1t IS said, dl-
rectly or Indirectly to the Dodge
land case, the end of which IS still
far from sight.
pope Hill and Nat Harris have
looked after many Of the cases, and
it was to look into some Of them that
Mr.. Hill left Macon so recently on
his fatal trip to McRae. Murder
will out, and I have no fear Hills
assassin will escape said Col. Nat
Harris, the partner Of the murder
ed man.