Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-01
RUSH FOR LAND
ON; SCORES IN
LINE ALL NIGHT
Yuma HomeseekerS Camp
Outside Doors of
Auditorium
READY FOR DRAWING
Thousands Expected in
Rush for Tract Opened
by Government

VI UNA land seekers began to form
a line in front of the Shrine
n auditorium at o'clock last even
ing, and from that hour on nearly
every car carried applicants to the
auditorium who did not want to take
any chances of being unable to get into
the building when it is thrown open at
8 o'clock this morning.
: The would-be homesteadsrs did not
hope to gain any advantage over 9TH
ers who waited until morning, other
than to be sure of getting in the build
ing. They did not expect that their
tll-night wait would make them any
more certain of drawing a farm at
yuma; they simply wanted to be sure
tley could get into the auditorium.
kigSome of the landseekers took food
ash them and some took pillows and
slnkets. Others, less thoughtful, did
[.ok Arovide themselves with these COM
Norss. much to their sorrow after they
= "a sat on the hard, cold cement steps
the auditorium for a few hours. :
How to parcel 173 forty-acre ranches
in the Yuma land allotment between
200 or possibly 1000 men and women
who are here from almost every state
In the country began yesterday to be
a serious problem to Register FRANK
Buren, and Receiver .. K. W. ROBIN
son, Los Angeles representatives of the
united States land department. At s
fo'clock this morning Los Angeles VIII
experience it's first land rush. How
many of the hundreds of men and
women who called yesterday at the
land office in the Chamber of Com
merce building will possess the cour-
age and lighting qualities to attempt
the rush to register at the Shrine au-
ditorium this morning Buren, and Rob
inson declined to conjecture. They
have had printed 10000 blank name
cards and armed with these and sup
ported by squads of police in COM
mand of Captain A. j. Bradish they
will seek to take the name, address
and identification marks of every per-
son crowding into the auditorium.
Many seekers after a forty-acre
ranch Travelled over the car lines to
the auditorium yesterday. Others re-
NAMED in the vicinity of the building,
expecting to remain there overnight
and be the first at the doors this
morning Just why they did this and
what gain or advantage they expected
could not be explained. I'VE just like
to be 'sooners'; that's ALL" was the
explanation of one lanlk. tired looking
man, who said he had passed through
other land rushes and had failed to
obtain the home and peace he antici-
pated. Those who came prepared to
remain at or near the doors of the
apditorium carried blankets and food.
&Yhe majority of them viewed the all
light wait as a frolic. To others 1t
Was "win or die" in the quest of a
&home. These had sacrificed homes
4 and business and they did not feel
tthey could afford to he among TIE late
4comers.
Rush Auditorium Keeper
Police Captain Bradish had no orders
to prevent the land-seekers from re-
naming at the curb over night. All
he and his policemen sought was to
keep order. Earlier in the day the
custodian of the auditorium was
crushed" by the newer arrivals among
the honeseekers. He sought advice
and federal help, and was informed
that those who refused to keep off
the auditorium prenG5es could be ar
rested for trespass. He disseminated
this information, and it had the effect
Last night it was different, and no
attempt was made TO molest or dis
turb those who braved the night air.
''rhere is no good reason for any per-
son trying to be first inside the doors
of the auditorium tomorrow" said
Register Buren,. Il am sure that every
person who desires to file his or her
name, which registration will be all we
will take at the building, will have that
opportunity. The doors will be open
from until o'clock in the morning.
All who desire to register surely will be
there at that time. The doors will be
closed at o'clock sharp, and then I,
three special agents and a staff of four
or five clerks will distribute the cards.
It might be well for the homeseekers
to supply themselves with pencils and
fountain pens, for our supply is linn
tied"
Receiver Robinson and the women
clerks in the Los Angeles office will
remain at the Chamber of Commerce
building to attend to the regular bust
ness of the department and to receive
the applications of those who have
registered at the Shrine auditorium
Applicants for the Yuma land will have
until the night of March 19 to file. 1t
will be urged upon the applicants when
they register that there is no need to
hasten Immediately to the land office,
as the application of everyone will be
received between now and the closing
hour March 19.
The first comers" who formed a line
February II in front of the Chamber
of Commerce building and later rented
a temporary home at 31S West Second
street, where they maintained a line
and clung to their police numbers
despite the ruling that neither line nor
number would be recognized, surren-
dered last evening their possession of
of the room. The liners" number
dwindled greatly yesterday morning,
the speculators disappearing as if by
magic. The seventy-three men and
women remaining, all supplied with
$1,000 or more capital, held a meeting
afterward and through the medium of
a straw vote each selected the particu-
lar forty he or she desired to file
on. OF course they do not know
whether any of them will be numbered
among the successful applicants, but
they experienced the satisfaction of
knowing that their chances were as
good as the "other fellows"
These seventy-three persons have not
test the applications of others who
abandoned their tentative plan to con-
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