The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-01-04

TO carry into effect the twentieth Sec
ton of the Hepburn law 1 added:
| 1.-The provision about the employ
ment of the secret service men will
work very great damage to the gov
eminent in its endeayor to prevent
and punish crime. There is no more
/ foolish cutlery than this against
| spies; only criminals need fear our
detectives" Il inclose copy of the
whole letter, marked "Appendix CO
/ The postscript is blurred in my copy
book, and two or three of the words
| can not be deciphered.) These meth
| DDS proved unavailing to prevent the
| wrong. Messrs Tawney and Smith,
and their fellow members on the
appropriations committee paid no
heed to the protests; and as the
obnoxious provision was incorporated
| possible for me to consider or discuss
/ 1T on its merits. as I should have
| done had it been in a separate bill.
Therefore have now taken the only
| method available, that of discussing ii
| in my message to congress; and as all
| efforts to secure what I regard as
proper treatment of the subject with
out recourse to plain speaking had
rectly, and have set forth the facts in
| explicit terms.
Covered Wide Range.
| Since 1901 the Investigations covered
| by the secret service division-under
| the practice which had been for many
I
| mate, and which had received the sane
| ton Of the highest law officers of the
| government-have covered a wide
| range of offenses against the federal
| law. BY far the most important of
| these related to the public domain. as
| to which there was uncovered far
| reaching and widespread system of
| fraudulent transactions involving both
| the Illegal acquisition and the illegal
| fencing of government land; and. in
| connection with both these offenses, the
| crimes of perjury and subornation of
perjury. Some of the persons involved
| in these violations were of great wealth
and of wide political and social in
| f1uence. Both their corporate associa-
| tions and their political affiliations. and
| the laWlesS character OF some of their
| employees, made the Investigations not
| only difficult but dangerous. In Colo
| RADIO one of the secret service men was
| assassinated. In Nebraska it was
| necessary to remove United States
| attorney and a. United States marshal
| before satisfactory progress could be
made in the prosecution of the Of
| tenders.
| The evidence in all these cases was
/ chiefly secured by men trained In the
| secret service and detailed to the de-
partment of justice at the request OF
| that department and of the department
| of the interior. In the state of Ne
| braska alone sixty defendants were in
dicted; and Of the thirty-two cases thus
| far brought to trial twenty-eight have
/ resulted In cOnVlCIlOns Two OF the pTln-
| cipals, Messrs. Comstock and Richards,
| men of wealth and wide influence, be-
| ing sentenced to twelve months In jail
| and fined $1,000 each. The following
| the course of a pending case illustrates
| the ramifcations of interest with
which the government has to deal:
"Charles T. Stewart. of Council
| Bluffs was indicted at Omaha for
conspiracy to defraud the govern
ment to the title to public lands in
| Mcpherson county, Neb.; also in
dicted for maintaining an unlawful in
closure of the public lands. and also
Iunder indictment for perjury in con-
nection with final proof submitted by
| him on lands filed on by him as a
homestead. In his final proof he
swore that he and his family had re
| sided on the lands in Mcpherson
inclosure). when as a matter of fact
his family has at all times resided in
| Council Bluffs. Iowa. He is engaged
| in the wholesale grocery business, his
| wholesale district there. He is re-
| puted to be quite wealthy. Stewards
| attorneys are HarI & FINLEY, of COun-
| Gil Bluffs, Iowa, who are also the at
| torneys of that place for the Omaha
/ and Council Bluffs Street Railway
| company in which company Harl
| holds considerable stock, Stewart be-
| ing also stOckholder and possibly a
| director of the company. He is also
represented in Omaha by w. j. Con-
nell, one of the attorneys there for
| the same company. Stewart is also
| represented in his perjury case by
| tBilP Gurley, of Omaha. Neb., who at
| one time was quite closely connected
| in a political way with the U. p r.
4 r. company; Stewart is also closely
| associated with c. B. Hazleton, post
master at Council Bluffs. Harl &
| FINLEY and Hazleton are all members
| of the same lodge. Another close per-
| sonal friend of Stewards is Ed Hart,
| alias 'Waterworks' Hart, president of
the Council Bluffs Water company,
/ and interested in the street railway.
| Stewards father was interested in,
1 and practically owned and controlled.
! during his lifetime, large ranch
along the U. P. R. r. in Nebraska,
and did great deal of business with
| that road"
Concerning this case the United
States attorney at Omaha states:
Stewart, one for fencing, one con-
spiracy. one perjury, all good cases
| and chances of conviction good"
Much Land Recovered.
In connection with the Nebraska pros
| ecution the government has by decree
secured the return to the government of
over a million acres OF grazing land; in
Colorado of more than 1000 acres of
mineral land, and suits are now pending
| involving 10000 acres more
| All these investigations in the land
cases were undertaken in consequences
| of Mr.. Hitchcock, the then secretary of
the interior, becoming convinced that
there were extensive frauds committed
in his department; and the qualifications
| of the frauds were so far-reaching that
he was afraid to trust his own officials
| to deal in thoroughgoing fashion with
them. One of the secret service men &C
lcordingly resigned and was appointed
in the interior department to carry on
2 y 10 %
ed was that the special agents division
or corps of detectives of the land Office