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LKTTtBN PKllltl WASHINGTON,i»A Senator aid hk HIbv iadgad by their owi Offl-' . ' , ' Bfforda. - - . •— ‘^MbM :-% i»8p*cial OorrMpomknw of tbp Cincinnati (fUMtto., WiBHiJioros, January 11.Much has been written about the sale of the Cherokee neutral laud* bv Secretary Harlan to the American Emigrant Company. and the subsequent safe by Secretary Browning of the same lands to James K. Joy after the opinion of Attorney General Htaubery that the fTarlan salewas illegal. L *,'*• ,n• Mo complete history of these transactions, ftuudtd directly upon the official records, has yet been published in any quarter. The late denials of Messrs. Harlan, Grin net I and Joy, ol statements made iu thri corre-poud-i me, huM'd upon official records, make it necessary to pre. eut a history of the matter, which can not be dispuu d, unless the record bo proved[ lia . v^'; hi*% The lands sold comprised a tract of about 800 ,000 acres, in Southern Kansas, fifty miles , long and twenty-five v* ide.The treaty under which the sale.* were made , was concluded July 19. 1866. and ratified by the Senate, with mu end incuts. July 31, o! thatyear. *rV^ - j« * '•It provided that the land might be sold iu a bi dy, tor cash, at not less than one dollar peratue. aid the proviso excepted the. laud * ot actual settlers. 1W-■’ in iI Mr Harlan sold to the American Emigrant Clt; ntpany. the day before he went out of ofti«*i(August 80* 1806), for $25,000 down, tta** balance iu payments extending over nine years, at five per cent, interest, and did not except the lauds i ot actual settlers.j THB a MKKICAN EM .OKAN r COMPANY.The official tcoord ot this company will ahow the chaibc;erot the parties to whom Mr. Harlan made hi*i illegal -ale And thin history, as will he seen, G one of glaring and known fraud.This clt; mpuy was incorporated by the Legislature of Connecticut in June, 1863. It num-» bend some of the most re.n** enable Eastern men , an »»i g Its officers and stockholders. It ope red j ati aget cy iu Iowa and its agent* there were . the | ersons w ho perpetrated the great fraud* to be mentioned. By special pernj»B-ion, a* their circular says, they were allowed, among others,to it*ter to Mj . Uatlan.! In 1865 the charter of the company was : amended so as to allow it not only to own land*, but to hire, or own steamships, deal iupMssenger tickets, and own sheep, or other stock, to let or m II to emigralt; ts.The company went i*to Iowa, and through its agents »nerecontracted wi?b the Supervisors ot i wenty-eeveii or morecouuties for the sw amp lar d* of these counties. ' * ^ i - *! Here it w ill he remembered that the Govern-j n tftt had by act of Oongrau, given lands• proved to be subject to overflow to the State*, and that where miliary warrants had been 1 cw’»d on such lar ds, or where settlers had purchased them, 'he Government indemnified the States bv repayment in cash at one d dlar andj twenty-fivecents per acre, and for swamp landsi not taken up it allowed others to be entered m*w..i. . . '*■Hrj l»XA * * • . •• *•The Emigrant Company went aroiiful to the Supervisors of tne counties and offered to put up (Joint Houses, or jails, or bridges, or to openj reads, in exchange tor swamp lands, the c im-. p«ny to assume the trouble . r proof Then by false proof, they sough* to establish a claim to I si me of the best laud- in the counties, whhdt had no element whatever oi swamp land. And. now for the record: -’*... ■I fiese things coming to the attention of JudgeEdmunds, Comm is?-toner ot »he La.-.d urn • ethen tinder Mr Ciriier, later under Mr Harlau, be sent Mr W. W Curtis to l*wa to investigate the matter. His retain on the subject, now on file fceic. for the r-ingle county of Green,? hated January 20, 1804. sets thrift: “That by far ibe gi eater part tor which iudem*«itr rii clain.ed m dry land, and the most valuable iui the couj*ty\’ l ■’ */i;In ugatd to the affidavits t~ prove the landsswamp he says: ‘The evidence of Mr. Cimethow f that these affidavits were almost entirely• tilled up in his office at the county seat, and that i»o hc uni examination of the tracts in question were made at the time. * * *A company, known as ?he American Emi- RTUlit Company, purchased the entire interest: if Green county jn »be rwauip grant, in comsidt rttJit u of erecting certain public improvo-ments, to-wit: a Court Hou a, Jail, ami two i bridges, the cost of the w hole amounting to83 500. : *T -JA * ..The vote of the county in favor of the Com-I any. says the report, was obtained mainly by premises to bring emigrants to settle on rhe lands, together with other appliances, a* shown in a letter of their General Agent to Dr.J Lovejoy: ■,*. •; s-t;*‘Drs Moines, IowA,;December IS, 1861.Bkar —It the vote in your county pUSbca at* our comijauy get the lands in m v ab-j fence, present draft for payment to J. C.1 S a very, who boards with me, and who I have asked to pay any draft on me; hut do not tell him what it is for, only gay it ig right.Yours, he., -iyiSSS (Signed) “F. C. D. McKay,T*General Ag?t American Co. for Iowa.,#Mr. Savery is one ot the Iowa agents of this game «ompany. ’ • • ~ ■The report ot Mr. Curtis goes on to show how the papers to prove up high and dry. and valuable lands, as swamp lands, were prepared: “The testimony ot the three witnesses before referred to, whose signatures were affixed to a gieat number ot these papers, shows that thev were signed in blank—that no answers were made to 'interrogatories'therein contained—that no examination of the tracts in question wpre made—that no oath was administered, and that the papers were signed without a full knowledge of t heir eon tenta.*^ A circular of the Emigrant Company, signed by J. C. Savery. off-ring these same laud** for sale, styles them * choice fatm lands, generally contiguous to both water and timber. * * *Ut the rich and productive character of thesoil, and the desirableness of the lands as to location, health, etc.. the most ample evidence can lie given. Ana yet the bogus affidavits, by the quire, described them as subject to regular overflow, and overgrown with reeds and rushes. The agent or the company for the county was one W. D. Thom a*, and the witnesses who sigr ed the printed form* swear that they never made oath to them; that they signed in blank, and never authorized any one to il them up; and yet the report proceeds:The agent, W, D. Thomas, who procured the signatures to these papers, also affixes hts came and seal as Notary Public for Green county, when, in fact, ne never raided in that county, but only visited it temporarily on matters of bust ness. This agent also states that the^e witnesses are toe ‘nearest informed residents to the premises,’ when one of them lived in another county, and twenty five miles from the county seat, and still farther from some of the tracts be is alleged to have testifiedabout. ' • r *“An oath to the contents of these papers is officially certified to by this W. D Thomas w hen, iu fact, no oath was administered. The w hole is a gross violation of his official position on the part of said Thomas, if, indeed, he legally held auch position, and is nothing more or lers than forgery, so far as the answering tothe interrogatories are concerned.By these means, Mr. Curtis reports that the emigrant company proved up over 62.000 acres of good land, as ewamp land in this one county.Judge Edmunds sent this report to Secretary I sbrr, accompanied by a strong letter, and the way of the Emigrant Company was blocked for the time being.. WHAT MR. HAELAN KNRw’OF THia.In the ppring of 1866 the Republican Legislature of Iowa appointed a joint committee offive from the House ana three from the Senategatlo. ... v, -------against the \mer-lean Emigrant Company by William Baker, Swamp Land Agent, and Commissioner Edmunds. and to prepare a memorial addressed to the feecretary of the Interior (Harlan). disft. vowing on the part of the grate any knowledge of or participation in the illegal frauds on the pBTt OY tu® Ammmn EmigrantEarly in April, 1866. the committee presented a repott rigned by Ail the members andlour of those from the House, the fitrh being called away by Mckness ft was adopted bv the House by a vote of 70 to 3, and concurred in by the Senate by 29 to 12.The following extract will show its character: ‘If f»Tu»ee**c from the 'pviricnw of-agent* o!| the company, and otherwise, that voe lt;***(* ol“to exarnine and report as to tbe alleimtlonTol
Newspaper Details
Cincinnati Semi Weekly Gazette
Cincinnati, Ohio, US
Tue, Jan 18, 1870
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Don B.
USA 07 Mar 2023
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