The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-04
LAND SHARKS PLAY
 H|GH-HANDED GAME Homesteader Is Thrown Into
 an Insane Asylum LETTER REACHES TAFT Conspiracy Is Formed to Deprive Right- ful Owners of Their Land and It Succeeded in a Very Decid-
 ed Manner
LETTER REACHES TAFT

| Omaha, Neb., November Establishments returned by the federal grand jury | Wednesday against nine ranchmen of western Nebraska were made public to- day. The indictments charge conspiracy | to drive from their claims at the point of | guns homsteaders who took I'D sections | of semi-arid land under the Kinkaid homestead law. Those indicted are Perry S. Yeast of Hyannis. Neb: his son, Frank | W. Yeast, TRslie E. Balinger. M C. Hub- l bel, Emil Anderson, Willmot z. Elmer son, Harry Sutton, Boone B. Hawthorne and Dr. Harry H. Huff
 | pr. Huff, a prominent physician, and | Sutton, county attorney of Garden coun- ty, are members of the insanity board.
 Yeast, one of the largest ranchers in the
 state, was convicted two years ago of l fraudulently secured title to homestead
 land and paid fine and served a jail sen tence.
 l There are four counts in the indict-
 ments. and the specific overt acts men
 toned indicate an unusual frontier con
 dition.
 | According to the charges made in the
 indictment Yeast and his associates car
 ried their efforts so far as to secure the
 incarceration in the insane asylum at
 Hastings, Neb., one of their alleged vic-
 tims. | When the Kinkaid homestead law was
 passed many persons went to Grant Ban
 ner, Garden. Cherry and other western
 Nebraska counties and looked up quarter | sections. The land is in the Sand Hills country, but contains many fertile val | leys. Several big ranchers, among them | Yeast and his associates. have heretofore depended on this valley land for their hay
 for winter feeding and the settling of 1 homesteaders was resented.
 l The indictment charges that a band of about 30 persons, headed by Yeast, went | to the homes of many of these home | steaders, among them Cashier J. Devash- CT, George Carpenters. Golba D. Graves, George Babcock Henry S. Coulson and
 others, and by intimidation and threats of | taking their lives and those of their fam
 ilies forced them to leave their claims. l The specific case of Devasher is men | toned in detail. It Is charged that Yeast 1 and the other defendants, accompanied by l a band of cowboys, visited Devasher's 1 home and after threatening himself and | family with death If they did not leave the country, destroyed his home. broke up his machinery cut his harness to pieces and in other ways mistreated him. I Later, according to the indictment, Yeast conspired with members of the county insanity board and secured Devasher's in carceration in the asylum.
 This latter act, according to the indict- ment, was committed in a high-handed manner The insanity commissioners, 1t | is alleged went through mock exani- nation, declared Devasher insane and is- | sued a warrant for his arrest. This was
 served on the spot and within an hour he was rushed off to the asylum without
 being permitted to have the advice of counsel.
 Devasher's case was brought to the at tention of the superintendent of the in stitution, who conducted an examination into the case He decided that Devasher was not insane and the latter was re- leased by habeas corpus proceedings
 According to an official of the interior department, the present indictment covers one of the most remarkable attempts at land grabbing which has recently been brought to the attention of the depart ment. A letter written by one of the vic- l tims to President Taft is said to have caused the investigation which resulted in the indictments being returned. special grand jury was summoned to con slider the evidence.
 Many thousand acres of grazing land Is contained in the tracts in question.