The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1910-10-15
Department Of the Interior
Secure Indictments Against
Fraudulent Entrymen
CLAIMS INVOLVED RIVAL
THOSE N CUNNINGHAM GROUP
Entries Were Made With the Under.
standing That When Title Thereto
Was Perfected They Were to Be
Transferred to Third Parties.

OF secret effort and patient waiting,
the officials of the general land office
were able to announce last night the
indictment of number of claimants
to valuable coal lands in Alaska. The
entries involved number 154 and cover
almost $4,000 acres Of land, all of
which lies In the Bering Strait dis
trict in which the Cunningham claims
are located.
They are what are known as the
English or Stracey and the Christie
pher-Sfmmonds group, the former
containing eighty and the latter seven
ty-four claims Of 100 acres each. The
coal deposits covered by these claims
are believed to be as rich as those of
the Cunningham mines, which cut a
conspicuous figure in the Ballenger-
Pinchot controversy.
TIE indictments were manded down
IN the United States district court
sitting at Tacoma, WASH, and the in
formation that they had been returned
was conveyed in two kilograms re-
ceived by Commissioner Dennet from
Special Agent Christensen, in charge
OF Alaskan matters, to whose efforts
the findings are especially due.
The first message contained the an
nouncement of the action against the
English group and stated that indict-
ments had been returned against C. f..
Munday. A. H. Stracey, Archie w.
Shields and E. E. Siegley. A few
minutes later came the second tele-
gram telling Of the indictments of
Cornelius Christopher, George Sim
monds and Mortimer G. Sweeney of
the second group. He added that war
rants would be issued as soon as the
indicted men could be apprehended.
The first group Of defendants take
fts name from the fact that number
OF persons in western Canada are sup
posed to be interested in the claims
taken by this party. Stracey, one of
the men indicted, is a resident of Van
couver and is charged with being in
strumental in making some of the To-
cations. Munday is an attorney in
Seattle. =
The charge against the indicted men
is that the entries were made in the
names Of dummies" Most of the
entrymen were residents of Washing
ton and their claims are said to have
been located with the agreement that
they should be decided to- third parties
so soon as the parties willing to be-
come interested could be found by the
locator. There is said to have been
a further understanding that the To-
Gator should receive large percent
age Of the sale price.
The charge differs from the charge
made in the Cunningham claims, in
which there was no allegation that the
entrymen took the claims for persons
other than themselves, but rather that
they had previous agreement to
work or dispose of their claims as
unit. 1t is said that few of the claim
ants in the new cases ever saw the
land on which their names were used
for locations.
Both groups Of claims figured to a
considerable extent in connection with
the Ballinger-Pinchot inquiry. Charges
Of fraud in connection with the en-
tries were made two years ago, and
It was asserted that Investigation had
been stayed by the land office, sup
posedly for some sinister purposes.
Meeting this allegation with the
statement that the services of the land
Office force were imperatively required
elsewhere, and that there was no
statute of limitations to run against
these cases, it was conceded that they
were not pressed for period. Since
last May, however, Mr.. Christensen
has been giving the major portion of
his time to them: with result over
which the land Office and the interior
department confesses itself much
gratified.
1t also is known that another feder-
al grand jury. sitting at Spokane in
connection with the district court of
the Eastern district of Washington,
is considering still other charges of
fraudulent coal entries in Alaska, and
that results are expected from these
investigations similar to those OBJ
fainad af Tacnma