in" late on the Blue Mountain Reserve. All the land within the lines was taken, but he had filings made on a contiguous piece, and thus began his career in Congress by petitioning to have his land taken in—for "his constituents."
"Why didn't you report this before?" asked Heney of the Special Agent.
"Who to?" said Neuhausen, quick and to the point. "I knew Hall was crooked and——"
Honest Men Discovered
Neuhausen knew the System and he knew it well. He had evidence on Hall and others too. He and Bums completed the case on Williamson. Neuhausen turned out to be an orderly, resourceful assistant; he stayed with Heney to the end and now he is helping Bristol. So the System wasn't complete. The lines of graft ran up into the House, of Representatives, but though they had caught a Congressman, they had caught also an honest Special Agent.
There were other exceptions. So soon as Heney had demonstrated his courage and ability, Governor Chamberlain, a Democrat elected in this solid Republican state, offered the aid of all the executive departments concerned in the land business, and this help, accepted, proved well worth while. The Governor of Oregon was, and he still is, the head of the state, not of the state system, and the people there know that and they appreciate it. For they re-elected Governor Chamberlain, and while Heney was in Portland he saw that Republican city elect for Mayor Dr. Harry Lane, a physician and a democrat (with a small d). No, Oregon isn't a bad state. On the contrary, there is a movement on there which promises to put the people of Oregon among the leaders of reform, but that is another story. Suffice it for the present to say that Oregon was better than most of the United States.
Federal Corruption
The stronghold of the "interests" there was in the Federal branch of the state government. United States District Attorney Hall was one case in point; another was that of the United States Marshal, "Jack" Matthews. Matthews was the Republican boss of Portland and, therefore, the most powerful political agent in the state. He let vice be protected in the city and the public utility companies, and in the state represented railroads and other privileged businesses that "had to" keep politics corrupt. Heney had nothing to do with this, he thought, at first. He had learned in Arizona that he couldn't do much in Tucson without fighting the territorial boss and his Federal organization. He soon learned in Oregon that he couldn't fight Federal graft in Oregon without tackling also the boss of Portland. As United States Marshal, Matthews impaneled Heney's land-fraud juries and Bums convinced him that he exercised the functions of the office to which the President (for the Oregon Senators) appointed him to protect the criminals the President (for Knox and Hitchcock) had appointed Heney to prosecute. Heney had to ask the President to oust Matthews and appoint in his stead Charles J. Reed, his friend.
This change was put through while the grafters were in a state of panic and, lest they should rally, Heney labored hard and swift to accomplish other ends. He got one of the business bribe-givers back of the petty political bribe-takers—Frederick W. Kribs, a great lumber agent for C. A. Smith, and Pillsbury, the flour man of Minneapolis, Minn. Puter delivered Kribs. He said that he (Puter), learning that the Northern Pacific was "copping off" some fine timber land, jumped in with sixty-four fellows on the same land. Pierce Mays handled the railroad gang of perjured claimants and there was a fight, of course. Afraid of the power and the money of the railroad, Puter bethought him of Kribs, who he knew represented Smith and Pillsbury and had lots of money which he used in the most reckless corruption. Kribs went in with Puter, agreeing to pay $5 an acre for the land and all expenses. Kribs was a client of Mays also, however, and through him managed a division of the spoils. The railroad got half the land and Puter and Kribs the other half, but there was a difference in the quality of the timber. "And," Heney says with a laugh, "the railroad got the worst of that deal."
A Bribe-giver Confesses
Puter's "delivery" of Kribs showed that this big business man could deliver others higher up and Bums was sent out to call
