The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-08-06
Thus ID. 4. MOunDay Wrote to
Senator CatrOn
About Water Rights on New
Mexico Land.
SENATOR CATRON'S TITLE Bad
Carl Peterson Says Quit Claim
Deed All He Held.
Two Judges Hear Application
for Receiyership.

Il have told you dozen times that
I don't care a continental whether 1
have a drop of water on the land or
not" Don A. MounDay wrote to United
States Senator Thomas B. Catron re-
garding the irrigation project in con-
nection with his New Mexican land
deal. and revealed today in the deposi-
ton of Carl ]. Peterson of the state
banking department Reading further
from Peterson's affidavit, Attorney
General Dawson showed to the Shaw
nee county district court that no mat
ter how honest might have been the
MounDay land project, that the lnno-
cent purchasers could not secure
clear title to the land and that the
best title ever owned by United States
Senator Catron was quit claim deeds
to the $4,000 acre tract which Noun
Day and his land and sugar companies
were selling in five acre tracts
Arguing the motion for the appoint
nent of a receiver for the sugar ana
land companies operated by Don A.
MounDay and l. D. w. MounDay ana
their associates, the state was today
confronted by another clever legal tan
gle regarding the courts jurisdiction
in the case. D. r. Hite, who last week
appeared in the supreme court onlS
for the individual defendants, today
walked into the district court as repre-
senting all of the defendants In So
far as he might present the jurisdlc-
tional question-and no further, he
told the court The question of juris-
diction opened up the contentious OF
the state regarding the alleged frauds
and deceptions perpetrated by Noun
Day and his associates in his effort 10
sell land in New Mexico in violation
of the Kansas blue sky law
Two Judges Hear Case.
For the second time in the history
of Shawnee county, the two district
judges are sitting jointly in the hear
ing of a case Once, two years ago,
the two judges sat jointly when an ap-
plication to remove the gas company
damage suits to the federal court was
presented Because of the Importance
of the controversy in the MounDay
case, Judge Dana today called to his
assistance Judge Whitcomb of the sec
ond division of the district court and
the two judges will pass on the juris- {
dictionaI questions and the application /
for receiver for the sugar companies
and MounDay and his wife, who opera |
ted the land department and were in /
charge of the sale of land in New
Mexico.
Evidence presented today was sim |
liar to that offered a week ago IN the /
supreme court. That tribunal held /
that it had authority to try the case, |
but denied a receiver and held in et-
feet a restraining order against the
defendants to permit the state to go |
into the district court and urge It's re-
ceivership case.
Question of Jurisdiction.
1t was contended by D. r. Hite for
the defense that the district court had !
no legal authority to appoint a re-
ceiver for either the American Sugar
of Oklahoma or the CON
solidated Sugar company of New
Mexico, for the reason that neither /
of the defendant companies are doing
business in Kansas. In support of his
contention, Hite presented legal au-
thoritieS and read the same affidavltS E
which were filed in the supreme
court and which tended to show that
MounDay and his wife were acting as
in the sale of land in New
Mexico and were in no manner rep
resenting either of the defendant cor
pOratiOns.
Attorney General Dawson argued to
the court that the actions of Noun
Day and his wife linked up all of the
in the alleged fraudulent
land deal. Reading from the affi-
davit of Rev. E. o. Heide, of Alta
Vista, in which the minister declared
that MounDay's representatives had
assured him that he was dealing d1-
rect with the big sugar trust itself.
Dawson declared:
The actions of these defendants
have covered so much territory and
tnelr statements nave O6eu 81 NeA leu
that the public has been led to be-
Iieve that they represented first one
and then the other of half dozen big
sugar companies"
Reads Peterson's Affidavit.
Dawson then called the courts at
tention to an affidavit made by Carl
]. Peterson of the state banking de
partment, following Peterson's visit
to the land which MounDay and his
wife have been selling
United States Senator Thomas B.
Catron of New Mexico pretended ID
own the land and had given MounDay
an option contract for the purchase
of this land at 81 an acre MounDay
is said to have sold the land for $50
and $40 an acre. Eighteen months
ago the contract for the purchase or
the land expired, but the sale OF con-
tracts continued Records which
Peterson found at Las Vegas, n M,
showed according to his affidavit, that
on one occasion MounDay wrote Sem
ator CatrOn about the water and irri-
cation rights, which had been adver-
Il have told you a dozen times the
letter recited, that I don't care con-
tinental whether 1 have a drop OF
water on the land or not"
According to further evidence which
Peterson secured, Senator Catron was
at no time able to give clear title
TO the land, even though the MounDay
contract had been fulfilled The only
record of conveyance to Catron, as
shown by the affidavit, was the re-
cording of certain quit claims deeds
Neither at this time nor at any pre-
vious time, Peterson alleges, has any
water or irrigation right or grant been
issued to either MounDay or any of
the companies which he assumed to
in the sale of the land
The entire day will probably be con-
sumed in the trial OF the case.