The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1911-07-15
The Long Continued Injustice to
Settlers.

bentley, Id, July IL, lUll.
Editor Colfax Chronicle:
have waited to give some of those
fellows that are working so hard to
beat the poor people out of their
lands in the interest of the Railway
Company time to render some excuse
or try to explain their position. II
they have anything to say that will
look good in print We would be pleas
ed to hear from them. Silence will
be taken tn mean they admit we have
stated only the facts in defense of the
people'srights to their homes Now.
live nre not correct, and have made
any mlsstatements we are willing
that they cnll us To account for any
thing We have said.
Wemust relate a caseamOng.many
we know Of. An old lady, widow
contested the patent to the Railway
Company for her home in 1898. She
gained the case before the Land Com
missioner Her proof is u matter of
record. The Hallway Company APP
pealed to the Secretary of the Interi-
Or and the old lady gained the case
there. The Railway Company was
ordered To recoHvey the laud to the
government, but did not do SO. The |
United States District Attorney for
this district filed suit to force them
To reconyev the land This was in
1893, just Ii years ago, and that is !
the last thing that has been done to |
help The old lady get her land. But
there has been something done toll
dispossess the old lady. The Railway
Company has filed M injunction suit
against this old lady, and asked to
he reimbursed for some timber she
had sold FROM her lands. In u,ldi-i
ton to this they would not permit
the timber that had been cut to be
hauled from the land, aud il is-there
now, ruined. This poorold lady has
raised Il large family on the land.
some of them now 40 years old. and
she has nothing left except her tim
Der around the edges of the old fields.
the cleared land having been worn
out long ago. l.
Now comes this Railway Company,
through itsattorneys, men who have
been reared IN the country and know
well the facts in this case, and know 1
they have no chance To gain the land {
IN the courts, nevertheless they are
willing that this old Indy should sui
Ter and die without being able to use /.
her own lands for her own comfort
They do the Railway Co.'S. bidding. 9
hnd get out an Injunction, and try
to take away from the widow that !,
which they know belongs to her. or Il
Try to keep it in court until she dies, y
md possibly then the heirs may not
oilow up the case, and by this they :
VII he able to add few more dis :
lonest dollars to those the Govern .
nent has given the Railway Co. in lv
permitting thisland to be re granted | a
y the Act OF 1887, that was forfeit n
q by Noncompliance with the pro- q
,'s'ons OF the grant of 1871. This Y
ompr0mlse act, as it is called !,
bIanchard-Roberson agree =,
Gems to have been used in the in -
crest of the Railway Co. or the ri
Ioulds TO get "A part of the nublic r,
OMAN that should be subject To it
omestehd and held for the settlers IL
These attorneys take every case q
ut Of the State courts and hold il :,
'definiteIy in the Federal courts =.
here 1t Is possible for them to do SO. ~
nd they have been SO successful they b,
ave never had one of these fifty odd cf
'ses tried in the Federal court. al
Tough they have been on the dock In
twenty years. W
The writer heard one of the attor- 10
VS. Tor the Railway Co. say the ~ ~
her day that the letter OF BIanch- m
d in the Chronicle and the CON-