The Dickinson press., 1913-08-02
Loses Land 4
In Bad Deal
nettinger Man Fell Into Hands Of
swind|ers, Who Took His
Properly Giving No
Value Therefor.

Value therefor.
The Adams County Record published
at flettinger, has the following to say of
swindle which caused H. B. Halverson
to lose, his farm:
To absolutely lose a section of land
valued al several thousand dollars as
result of trade with parties who are,
to say the least, clever dealers, was the
experience of fl. B. Halverson of this
city. In return for his land he was
given bill of sale for 200 horses which
he was to gather on the range in
Coconino county, Arizona, but which
he has not and cannot gather, it being
an utter impossibility for him to do
so. Consequently he has lost his Sec
tion of land.
The Record has urged MIR. Halverson
to make the story public in order that
it may be warning to others to keep
clear of deals of his kind, and at our
urgent solicitation he has given us the
essentials of the deal which are as
told in the following paragraphs:
Mr.. Halverson went to Minneapolis
several weeks ago and wishing to con-
vert some of his land into cash he
called on man who advertised horses
to trade for land. Believing that he
could dispose of the horses at the Miles
City horse sales, Mr.. Halverson made
a deal and executed deed TO half
section of land. receiving in return a
bill of sale for 100 head of the Arizona
horses, together with what purported to
be guarantee from financially re-
sponsible land company or some one,
thought to be connected with it, guar
anteeing Halverson the right to make a
selection of 100 head from the Arizona
herd of 1900. Mr.. HaIverson, thinking
!. he shad aeaoa deal then aiept ;toE Das
Moines where be met another man and
traded another half section for another
100 head of horses, executing deed to
his half section and receiving bill of
sale to the horses.
Halverson then left for Flagstaff,
Arizona, ::where he expected to select his
horses preparatory to shipment to Miles
City but on arriving at Flagstaff he
went to the court house to have his
bill of sale recorded and was informed
that many such bills of sale had been
and were being offered for record and
that they were worthless, as each bill
of sale contained the provision that the
party getting the horses. must gather
them himself. Halverson also learned
that while the people he was dealing
with had bought bunch of horses there
some time ago, there was doubt as to
whether there were still any Of them
there. And even if there were horses
there they could not be rounded up or
at least not without more expense than
they would be worth. The country is
mountainous and practically inacces-
sible. On talking with the business
men of Flagstaff he learned that dozens
of people had made similar deals and
had come there to round up the horses
supposed to be conveyed in the bills Of
sale but that all met with disappoint-
ment. In fact Flagstaff people claimed
that there were no such horses in
Coconino county.
Halverson. while he was at Flagstaff, !,
met one man who spent several weeks
time and considerable money endeavor-
ing to gather together a bunch of
these horses and had to give up without
accomplishing anythine During his
!! stay at Flagstaff Halverson learned Of
six other men who were either then on
the ground endeavorine to get horses
out Of the same bunch or who were ad-
vertising and offering rewards to
parties who would undertake to round
up any such horses as the bills of sale
called for. asI
It seems that Flagstaff has become a
veritable mecca for horse hunters as q
result Of the Wholesale deals that are
being made throughout nearly every
section Of the United States. In ad-
dition to the bunch that originally set
the thing going and who still are doing
\ big business. the men they deal these
q horses to (when they find that there
are no horses in sighD usually just keep
q Quiet and they in turn peddle them "a
some one else. An abstract Of the
1 records at Flagstaff shows this to be
IN 4 . ~. s4oluoroon thinke ha s1ea1i