Looters of the Public Domain/Chapter 2
Chapter II
DURING the Fall of 1890, Franklin Pierce Mays was United States Attorney for the district of Oregon. I first met him at the U. S. Surveyor-General's office, which was then located in the present postoffice building and on the floor above Mr. Mays' office. As I was frequently in the Surveyor-General's office examining the field notes of different townships, and was brought into contact there with Mr. Mays on numerous occasions, he was acquainted, of course, with the nature of my business, and he came to me personally with the expressed desire of making my acquaintance. I was glad, indeed, for the opportunity, as I had learned previously that Mr. Mays was somewhat of a land speculator himself, and being United States District Attorney, I considered him a good man to stand in with.
Mays said he had learned of my being in the timber land business, and after we, had discussed the situation for some time in a general way, he expressed a desire to get hold of some first-class timber land. I promised to keep him in . mind, and offered to advise him of the first good chance. Shortly after this I secured some fine timber lands in Lane County, Oregon, for him, and also located him on an extra good school section in Tillamook County, Oregon, being Section 36, Township 3 North, Range 7 West. Mays then wanted to introduce me to a man by the name of Savery, stating that he was a special agent of the General Land Office, was stationed at the Oregon City Land Office, and had full charge of the Government lands within the confines of that district. He suggested to me that Mr. Savery would be the right kind of a man to stand in with, and that I had better locate him on some good timbered school section. As in the case of meeting Mr. Mays, I was glad to learn of this opportunity to make a new friend, more particularly on account of the gentleman's position and the influence he might wield in my behalf, and I was frank to inform Mr. Mays that the pleasure would be all mine, and that I would gladly meet his friend at their convenience. Some time later when calling on Mr. Mays in his office, he introduced me to Special Agent R. G. Savery, Jr., and I located him on just such land as he was desirous of securing.
From my first acquaintance with Mr. Mays and up to the time of my conviction, I consulted him in regard to a large majority of the deals in which I was interested, in many of which he became identified with me, both in State and Government lands, besides acting as my attorney from the beginning.
During the Summer of 1891, my first acquaintance with Willard N. Jones began. Our initial meeting was also in the United States Surveyor-General's office in Portland, which seemed to have been fated as the trysting place of men who have since assisted in making land fraud history in Oregon. Jones was then a civil engineer by occupation, and his business brought him frequently to the Surveyor-General's office. He learned that I was in the timber business, and shortly after our first acquaintance, wanted to go in with me on some sort of timber land deal. He represented that he knew a number of lumbermen residing in the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, who would be willing to invest in a tract of good timber on the Pacific Coast. At that time, nearly all the best surveyed timber lands had been bought up, so we concluded that the most feasible plan would be for us to find something in the line of unsurveyed lands that would meet the requirements, get it surveyed, locate a lot of men on it, furnish them the money with which to make final proof, and obtain title in that way, under the Timber and Stone Act of June 3, 1878.
The tract we selected was in Township 3 North, Range 7 and 8 West, on the Nehalem River, in Tillamook County, Oregon, one of the finest bodies of yellow fir timber in the whole State. After cruising the tract to ascertain how many quarter sections could be obtained in one body, we came to Portland.
Jones then went East to consummate a deal, and soon returned with a man by the name of Lumbarger. We took him over the tract lo see how he liked it and he was delighted with the timber and entered into a contract with Jones and myself, he agreeing to advance the sum of $750 a claim, or quarter section of 160 acres, so as to enable us to procure titles to the claims, promising to take as many of them as we could get. We, in turn, agreed to deed to Mr. Lumbarger as fast as proofs were made, an undivided one-half interest to each claim so purchased.
The next move was to find people to locate on the land, and in short order we found all we wanted in Portland and Albina, a suburb of the latter city.
We then proceeded to enter into a contract with each person, whereby we agreed to locate them on the land, we to pay all expenses in the way of railroad fares in going to and from the land, besides the land office fees, and to advance the money to pay the Government at the time of final proof. In return, the entrymen agreed to deed the land to Jones and myself, as soon as final proof was made, for the sum of $750 a claim, all costs and expenses in procuring the titles to be deducted therefrom, and the balance to be paid to each one upon receipt of his deed.
The understanding was that each person was to file on two claims; one under the Timber and Stone Act of June 3, 1878, and the other under the Homestead law, the latter to be commuted to a cash entry after 6 months' residence. The cost of each claim was about as follows:
COST OF HOMESTEAD ENTRIES:
$10.00
25.00
200.00
$235.00
This amount, deducted from $750, left a balance of $515, which was to be paid to the entryman upon receipt of a deed to his homestead.
COST OF CLAIM UNDER TIMBER AND STONE ACT.
$30.00
400.00
$430.00
This left a balance of $320 to be paid to the entryman upon receipt of a deed to his claim under the Timber and Stone Act.
After having a fair understanding with all of the men, contracts were drawn up and each one signed them, Jones and myself retaining the documents. In all, forty persons were contracted with in this way, each to take two claims as indicated, making eighty claims in all, or a total of 12,800 acres.
The next move was to locate the people on the land. Two trips were necessary in doing this, twenty persons being taken at a time. The land had previously been surveyed, but not accepted, so there was no trouble in locating each party on the particular tract previously contracted to file on. The location consisted in laying the foundation for a cabin; four poles in the form of a square, and a notice posted on a tree. At the same time, each person made an examination of the quarter section he was to file on under the Timber and Stone Act.
The next proceeding was to build the cabins on the different quarter sections, calculated to be filed on under the Homestead Act. We hired two Swedes at $1.50 per day, each, and furnished them with a tent, provisions and tools, and set them to work constructing the shacks, or cabins, after which we initiated efforts in the direction of having the survey of the township approved by the government.
The facts in regard to the survey of this tract of timber land are as follows: Henry Meldrum, a United States Deputy Surveyor, who was later appointed Surveyor-General of the State of Oregon, but afterwards removed from office and convicted for his complicity in making fraudulent surveys, had surveyed this tract in 1889, under contract from the Government. Meldrum completed his part of the contract, but the Commissioner of the General Land Office suspended the survey for the reason that sufficient funds had not been appropriated to cover all contracts of this character. Mr. Meldrum's contract, however, was approved in 1891, and sufficient funds appropriated for the purpose, so it became necessary for him to re-survey the land.
While Meldrum was engaged in doing this. Jones and myself met him on the laiid on several different occasions, and we entered into a contract with him, whereby we agreed to pay him $5 each for inserting in the field notes of the survey and on the plats, the names of all the homesteaders located on the land by us, Jones and I agreeing to furnish the names of the claimants, and the description of the land each one was to file on.
Mr. Meldrum complied with his part of the contract, and inserted all of the names that we gave him in the field notes of the survey, as well as on the official plat of each township. Our reasons for wanting these names inserted in the field notes and on the plats, was in order to keep other locators from rushing in and settling on the land after the acceptance of the survey; actual settlers in a township having a preference right for ninety days after an official survey has been made, and the plats thereof filed in the local land office. We also wanted to make it appear that our homesteaders were bona-fide settlers, and were living on the land prior to survey.
Now, as we had the cabins all built, and notice was posted on the land showing the name of the claimant, and describing the particular quarter section that he claimed, and his name appearing in the field notes, it was not at all likely that any one would squat on the claims; so it only remained for us to wait until the survey was approved by the United States vSurveyor-General and the township thrown open to entry.
While waiting for the land to come into market, which would not be until November, 1892, Jones and I concluded to make an abstract of the State school land for the purpose of ascertaining how much, if any, indemnity lands the State of Oregon was entitled to. This rec[uired about two months' work in the State Land Office at Salem. We found several thousand acres still subject to use as lieu by the State, and this base we sold at the rate of $2.50 per acre, which, after paying the State price of $1.25 an acre for the land embraced in the selection, netted us $1.25 per acre profit.
The rule of the State Land Board at that time was that any person who should indicate to the Clerk of the School Land Board where there was any indemnity land that the State was yet entitled to, would be allowed to select the same amount of Government land within the State that was vacant. Under those conditions, Jones and I were doing a land office business in State indemnity lands, until trouble arose between us, and we dissolved partnership.
This was in the Fall of 1892, and the cause of dissolution of partnership arose from the fact that Jones made a proposition to take Geo. W. Davis, Clerk of the State Land Board at Salem, in with us on all State Land business that we put through the State Land Office, the idea being, that by so doing we could monopolize all of the State indemnity lands, and shut E. P. McCornack, Jack D'Arcy, and W. T. Rader out of all the indemnity business, especially E. P. McCornack, he being the principal operator. These three, aside from Jones and myself, were the only dealers in State indemnity lands at that time in the State of Oregon.
Jones' proposition was to pay Davis fifty cents per acre for all the indemnity lands put through. This I objected to, as Davis was working with us then, and doing everything we required for less than half that amount, and as the profits were only $1.25 an acre, fifty cents was too much to pay him. Besides, I did not think we could shut E. P. McCornack out, as he was too big a fish, and too old at the game.
Jones, however, did not view the matter in the same light, and insisted that Davis must have fifty cents per acre on all indemnity lands, and claimed to 
This break in our business relations, however, was not supposed to affect the understanding between us in regard to the forty persons located on eighty claims in Township 3 North, Ranges 7 and 8 West, in which deal we were equally interested.
Previous to this I had met F. Pierce Mays at different times and he never lost an opportunity of bringing up the "3-7" deal, and would invariably caution me to be careful, stating that he would very much dislike to be forced to prosecute me, on account of the fair manner in which I had treated him in securing certain lands for him throughout the State, as well as school section 36 in Township 3 North, Range 7 West. Mays told me on one occasion that there was a special agent sent out by the General Land Office to investigate the "3-7" deal in which Jones and myself were interested, and that he was onto our scheme, and further, that this agent would be at the Oregon City Land Office to bag those forty homestead and timber entrymen as soon as they made their filings.
I told Mays at this time that Jones and I had no deal on of a fraudulent character, whereupon he informed me that he knew better; that we already had contracts signed by forty people and that these contracts had been placed in a vault in East Portland for safe keeping. Mays likewise volunteered the information that he was familiar with the contents of the contracts.
How Mays should know of the existence of these contracts, and more particularly, how he should be apprised of their nature, and of their place of keeping, was somewhat of a mystery to me, but as I was not much given to talking about my business, or making admissions, I let the subject drop without comment.
It was sometime after the dissolution of partnership between Jones and myself, that I met the latter on the street, and the subject of the "3-7" deal came up for discussion. Jones acted strangely and seemed averse to going ahead with it, declaring that he had been advised by Mr. Mays that we would both be up against it if we made any further attempt to proceed in the matter, and further, that he had learned Mr. Lumbarger, our financial backer, was not disposed to consider the proposition, and would probably attempt to break his contract with us. Jones said I might go ahead with the deal personally, if I felt so inclined, but expressed himself as not willing to take any hand in the transaction.
That settled this deal so far as I was concerned, as I was left without a financial backer, and besides, the time was drawing near for the land to be thrown open to entry.
As the survey of the township had been accepted and approved and was advertised to be thrown open to entry on November 11, 1892, the Special Agent was at the Oregon City Land Office bright and early, waiting to bag the forty homesteaders as soon as they filed. When the land office opened at 9 o'clock and none of the supposed entrymen put in appearance, much to the surprise and chagrin of the Special Agent, he inquired of Register J. T. Apperson, how it was that these parties, whose names were on the maps as bona-fide settlers, had failed to appear and file on their land.
The Register replied that he had that morning received through the mail, an indemnity selection list from the Clerk of the State Land Board at Salem, selecting the entire tract as State indemnity school lands, so all that the special agent could do under the circumstances was to pack his grip and hike back to Washington.
As I had been watching the result of the Special Agent's operations at Oregon City in order to learn how matters terminated, I discovered immediately that the State had filed indemnity selection covering the entire tract of eighty quarter sections, so I lost no time in going to Salem to ascertain in whose interests the selection had been made, and was much surprised, on examining the records, to find that my old friend Jones had gobbled up the land.
It occurred to me that Jones had evidently found a much better and cheaper method of getting those eighty quarter sections than to run chances of attempting to obtain title by filing the forty people under the Timber and Stone Act, and the Homestead law, as was previously arranged. At that time there was a temporary withdrawal of the "Crater Lake" reserve, and I discovered, upon investigation, that Jones had filed applications for the State indemnity embraced in said reserve, selecting in lieu thereof the eighty quarter sections in Township 3 North, Range 7 West.
Some weeks later, the Certificates of Purchase were issued and turned over to Jones. At this stage of the proceedings, I called to mind a certain agreement between Henry Meldrum, Jones and myself, whereby we had promised to pay Meldrum $5 each for inserting the names of settlers on the field notes and plats. As Jones was soon to become possessed of the claims, I thought best to ascertain if Meldrum had received his money and if not, to notify him that I had no further interest in the matter and that he must look to Jones for a settlement. This I did, learning that settlement had not been made, so I notified Jones to meet Mr. Meldrum and myself at the Perkins Hotel in Portland that evening.
When Jones came to the hotel the subject of a settlement with Meldrum was broached, but he refused to pay over the money, nor would he agree to become obligated in any manner for the amount due, stating that the old deal had been declared off and that the lands were now owned by Mr. Mays and himself. Meldrum insisted on some kind of a settlement, stating that he had complied with his contract, and as Jones was to get the land, it was only fair that he should settle. Jones then told Meldrum that it was part of the duties of his office to insert the names of all bona-fide settlers on the field notes and the plat of the survey, and that, if he attempted to make collection for the work involved in the "3-7" case, he would make things warm for him. In reply to this, Meldrum admitted the truth of Jones' contention as regards his duty, but stated that, at the time of inserting the names, he supposed that the "3-7" deal was legitimate, and he wondered at Jones and I making him such a proposition.
However, he had discovered since that the transaction on our part was not on the square, so far as trying to obtain title to the land was concerned, and that, under these circumstances, and because of the fact that we had pulled the wool over his eyes and promised to pay a stipulated amount for services which he would have performed anyway, it was his purpose to see that the bill was paid. As Jones was to have the land, he must pay the fiddler, and to show that he meant business, Meldrum produced from his pocket a telegraph blank, and commenced to write. When he had completed his message, he handed it to Jones and stated that the same would be forwarded to the General Land Office at Washington, D. C, within one hour, unless the amount due was forthcoming. The telegram read, in substance, as follows:
To the Commissioner of the General Land Office,
Washington, D. C.
On November 11, 1892, the Clerk of the School Board of the State of Oregon filed an indemnity selection list in the Oregon City Land Office, embracing all the tracts now occupied by bona-fide settlers in Township 3 North, Ranges 7 and 8 West, Willamette Meridian, using as basis for such selections the school sections lost to the State by the temporary withdrawal within the limits of the "Crater Lake" Reserve, which is not available for that purpose as yet.
O. B. Govt-collect.
Deputy U S. Surveyor.
Upon reading the telegram, Jones asked Meldrum to remain at the hotel until his return, promising to be back inside of an hour, and hurried off to find Mays.
This being my first intimation that Mays was interested with Jones in these lands, I could readily understand why the United States Attorney was so solicitous of my welfare in advising that I be careful and not get myself into trouble, even going so far as to insist that I would do well to let the deal drop altogether. It developed later, in fact, that Mays had connived with Jones while the latter and I were yet partners, to secure these lands and to beat me out of all interest in the deal.
In thinking the matter over. I concluded that I had no just cause for complaint, as it was a "cold deck" proposition throughout. Jones and I had planned to beat the Government in the first place. I played my hand on the square, as between Jones and myself, but when the third man was introduced into the game, he proved to be too much of a "sure thing" dealer for me, "stacked" the cards to suit himself, and won out.
The whole transaction reminds me of a story told by Francis J. Heney, in speaking of Geo. Sorenson and W. N. Jones (the same Jones with whom I had been in partnership), during the trial of the Blue Mountain Forest Reserve case, when he compared these two persons to a couple of gamblers of whom he had heard, and one of whom, according to the story, suggested to the other, that they call on a certain gentleman that evening, who was fond of playing cards, and have a little social game of "draw," and which suggestion, his friend readily assented to. After the game and while on their way home, the gambler who had proposed the visit, said to the other:
"Well, how did you like my friend?"
"I think he is a d——d rascal." was the reply.
"How's that?" responded the other, in astonishment.
"Because he stole three jacks off my knee," was the rejoinder.
And so it was in the "3-7" deal. I had taken occasion to hold out three jacks, thinking to play them for the benefit of Jones and myself, as against anything that the Government might be able to show down, but "sure thing" Mays forced an introduction into the play and stole my three jacks.
My position in relation to the "3-7" deal, as in the case of the man from whom the "three jacks" had been stolen, did not warrant me in making a "roar," as the saying is, but I was determined, if within the range of possibility, to arrange some kind of compromise, or to "split the pot" as it were. With this object in view, I called on Jones and asked him, straight up, where I got off at on the deal. Jones attempted to treat my claim much as he did that of Meldrum on the start, but when I presented to him the fact of his living in a glass house; that the material was extremely brittle and that, in all truth, it required but the throwing of a small stone to destroy the entire structure, my friend Jones was given something to think about. He then told me, as he did Meldrum, that Mays must be consulted before anything could be done, and in this instance, as in the former, he showed up again and when he came was prepared to settle. This settlement took place on the following day, and resulted in Jones assigning over to me the certificates of purchase to a full section, or 640 acres of this same land, and which I accepted as full liquidation of my claim.
Jones was not out of the woods on this deal, however, by any means. It was probably in the neighborhood of two years after receiving the certificates of purchase, when the forty men, who had previously agreed to take up the land for us, got wind of the fact that the tract had been in the market for some time, and had been selected by the State of Oregon, and certificates issued and turned over to Jones. When this became known to them they pooled their issues and employed an attorney in Portland by the name of D. D. Lynch, to investigate the status of their case, with the result that after he had gone to Salem and discovered the situation, he induced the men to swear out complaints against Jones and myself.
Jones was arrested forthwith in Portland, and immediately wired me at Salem to come down, as he had been taken into custody on account of the Township 3 North, Ranges 7 and 8 West, deal. I proceeded to Portland the next morning, and as soon as I stepped off the train at the East Side station, a warrant of arrest was served upon me by Patsy Eccles, a deputy constable, who took me before a Justice of the Peace, where I found a number of complaints on file against me, my bail being fixed at $500 in each case. However, Mays and Jones arranged for my appearance, in exactly what manner I never learned, and I was allowed to go on my own recognizance.
I consulted with Mr. Mays on the following morning for the purpose of learning what was to be done, and he advised me that, because of the nature of the transaction, as between those forty locators, Jones and myself, it would be best to demand an immediate trial in the Justice Court and to get the matter over with as speedily as possible. Jones was present in Mays' office when this interview took place, and agreed with him that the case should be settled immediately, so as to avoid publicity. Mays acknowledged being interested with Jones in the lands, but said that he was in no wise concerned in the case at issue. He volunteered, however, to lend his advice, and stated that, in his opinion, the whole trouble could be "fixed" for a few hundred dollars. Should the Federal authorities get wind of the transaction. Mays argued, both Jones and myself would very probably be indicted and convicted, as it could be proven that we had written contracts with each and every one of those forty men, and they would show that Jones and I were to become possessed of the claims after final proof had been made and that, because of our having actually taken the men to the lands, which was evidence of our intentions to carry out our part of the agreement, the charge of entering into a conspiracy to defraud the Government could be prosecuted successfully.
Under this showing, it occurred to me that a money transaction would be the best and quickest way out of the difficulty, so I told Mays that I would put up $250, provided he would act as our attorney in the case. Mays replied that he did not care to appear personally, in fact, he did not want to be known in the transaction in any way, preferring to remain in the background, but stated that he would use his influence in a quiet way to our material advantage. Mr. Mays then suggested that we employ Charles F. Lord to defend us, which we did, the case being set for trial in short order.
Before the case came up, Jones came to me and demanded that I contribute $500, instead of $250, the amount originally agreed upon, stating that it would cost him considerably more than that and I should share a larger portion of the expense. This I refused to do, as I had no interest in the lands and was simply giving $250 to have the case quashed in the Justice Court, and for the purpose of keeping it from the notice of the Federal authorities.
On the day set for hearing, both sides had their witnesses on hand ready to proceed. The case, however, never saw the light of day, as Attorney Lord made some sort of settlement with the counsel for the prosecution, whereby Lynch was paid a neat sum of money to have the case dismissed. This fellow Lynch was one of those pettifogging lawyers who make a practice of hanging around police and Justice Courts. The fact is, he had no case in the first place, as the suit had not been brought in the proper court. All he wanted was a chance to make a fee out of the transaction, and this we were only too glad that he should have, in order to dispose of the proceedings and hush the matter up, as we believed, in all probability, the dismissal of this case would close the incident and that no criminal charges would be brought against us.
The actual cost of these claims to Mays and Jones, under this transaction, did not exceed $205 per quarter section of 160 acres, and the same lands were sold during the Spring of 1906 to Wheeler & Cook of Pennsylvania for $30 per acre, or $4,800 per quarter section.
The figure named as the cost of each claim to Mays and Jones, will appear as exceedingly low, but it is nevertheless correct, and I will endeavor to explain my computation thereof, as follows: At the time of procuring titles to the claims in question, all State lands, whether School or Indemnity, were being sold at $1.25 per acre, and any person over the age of 18 years and a citizen of the State of Oregon, was entitled to file on 320 acres of State lands, it being merely necessary for him to appear before a notary public, make application for the land, pay the State one-third of the purchase price, which was $66.66, and receive a certificate of purchase therefor, which could be assigned to any person whomsoever, and the assignee, upon payment to the School Land Board of the balance of the purchase price due the State, would receive a deed in his own name, as if he were the original locator. Jones was therefore in a position to gobble up each half-section of 320 acres at an actual cost of $410, $400 of which went to pay the State, while $10 was given to the original applicant.
The law at that time, but which has since been changed, permitted one person to act as attorney for any number of applicants, he being allowed to file the applications, pay to the Clerk of the State School Land Board the stipulated price, and receive the certificates. Thus Jones, having obtained assignments of all certificates at the time the applications to purchase were made, as they were signed and acknowledged and turned over to him in blank, it only became necessary for him to fill in the numbers of the certificates, together with the description of the lands and date of acknowledgement.
At the time of the trial and conviction of W. N. Jones, F. Pierce Mays and Geo. Sorenson, it was proven that Jones had been successful in reducing the cost of applicants from $10 to $2.50 each, and it has been said, and is no doubt true, that he secured a number of them for a glass of beer.
