The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1922-06-22
WARDENS ACCUSED
OF CONSPIRACY
Allege John H. Bloom, Geo. Nj. Hogue
and Lee c. Pettibone Paid $500
Per Acre For Alkali Land And
Charged State $1,000.

Charged State $1,000.
The following article was taken
from the Fargo Forum Of yesterday
and details the information contained
in a complaint against Bloom, Hogue
and Pettibone, formerly of the state
game and fish commission.
Charges that John H. Bloom and
Geo. NJ. Hogue, as members of the
state game and fish commission, and
Lee C. Pettibone OF Dawson, as the
boards ostensible agent, participated
in the distribution Of graft to the ex-
tent Of S5,440 are made in papers
served on Mr.. Bloom in Fargo today.
and which have been dispatched by
the attorney generals office for serv-
ice on the Messrs. Hogue and Petit
bone. .
1t is charged that a certain tract of
1860 acres in Kidder county, pur-
chased in 1921, was represented as
having cost the state $4,000, or at
the rate of $40 an acre, when in fact
only Sc an acre was paid for the land.
Not only does the state ask the
courts to order the return Of the
$5,440 to the state, but it also de-
mands an accounting for the entire
sum-$13, ,600-on the premise that
the game and fish board was without
authority to make the purchase. Funds
used in tn transaction were charged
in two items: $4,000 to the purchase
of the land, and $1,000 to "travel ex-
pense", the complaint recites.
c. E. Manning, the third member
of the board who voted for the pur-
chase, is represented by the attorney
generals complaint as having no part
in what is termed a fraudulent con-
spiracy to divert public funds to the
private use of the three Defendants
Bloom, Hogue and Pettibone.
The land in question, it is set up in
the complaint that is signed by Attor-
ney General Sveinbjorn Johnson and
his assistant, Geo. Shafer, was pur-
chased for the purpose of propagat-
ing game and fish. For that purpose
it is asserted the land is valueless.
The deal took place in September,
October and November, 1921, accord
ing to the complaint.
Mr.. Bloom is the present manager
of the Nonpartisan league daily in
Fargo; Mr.. Hogue of Steel has been
secretary of the game and fish COM
mission several years and Mr.. Petit
bone is an oldtime Kidder county res
ident who has long been prominenx
politically.
A part of the information contained
in the complaint which was served on
Mr.. Bloom yesterday is printed here
with:
"The plaintiff alleges that the
tracts and parcels of land ** are of
no value for the propagation of game
or fish; that the lands ~ are wet and
swampy, of alkaline character, sand
and some portions thereof merely
slough; that such premises and tracts
of and are not of actual value for
grazing or agricultural purposes to
exceed $5 per acre.
"Tle plaintiff alleges, on informa-
tion and belief, and therefore states
the same to be the fact, that in truth
and in fact, the said North Dakota
game and fish commission, and the
said defendant, John H. Bloom, as act
ing game and fish commissioner, md
&C acting member of said boaro, and
the said Geo. M. Hogue, as secretary
of said board, and the said C. E. Man.
ming, as the president, agreed to pap
the defendant, Lee C. Pettibone, or
the vendor and owner thereof, in fact
and in truth, Sc per acre only for the
said land; that the balance towit: 81
an acre, and the total sum of $5,44O
was in truth and in fact retained and
appropriated by the defendants, John
H Bloom Geo. M. Hogue and Lee G.
Pettibone, that although the said
amount was collected from the State
of North Dakota and charged to game
propagation, in the sum of $4,000, and
to travel in the sum of $1,000, it was
not paid as a consideration for the
premises herein described, but was in
the amount of $5,440 fraudulently ap-
propriated to the uses and purposes
of the defendant in this action; that
the owners of the premises herein de-
scribed and purported to be purchased
by the game and fish board as here
inbefore alleged, in truth and fact
agreed to sell the same for the sum
of Sc per acre, and no more, to the