Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 4.djvu/593

 COOS BAT VTAaOM 00. V. CSOCESK, 679 �In the spring of 1876 the plaîniiff eaused à letter to be written and sent to the defendant, stating the fact that oer< tain occupants of portions of the then unpatented lands bar- gained and sold to Miller as aforesaid were willing to relin- quish their rights as pre-emptors under the laws of the United States, and purchase from the grantee thereof, and asking for instructions in the premises. The defendant replied, under date of April 5, 1876, "for self and associates," — Stanford, Huntington, and Hopkins aforesaid, who, together, consti- tuted "The Western -Development Company," — stating that "the owners of the land grant of said company do not desire to have any contest with any bona Jide settler who settled upon the land which was granted to said company before the passage of the act of congress, and vras entitled to a pre- emption thereon," and authorized the plaintiff to convey to such settlers the lands occupied by them, upon the payment of $1.25 par acre, — the one dollar to go to the plaintiff and the one-quarter to the defendant and his associates, — and also authorizing the plaintiff "to make contracts with such settlers upon ail unpatented land, and carry them into effect by deed prior to deeds to be made under oar contract to pur- chase, or we will make deeds when deeded to us, not to ex- ceed 1,000 acres; the proof of such settlement to be sent to me before the adjustment is made." �In pursuance of this instruction the plaintiff sold and con- veyed 240 acres of the unpatented lands to settlers thereon for $1.25 per acre, and on October 14, 1876, paid $60 of the proceeds to the Western Developement Company, and retained $240 thereof for itself. At the date of the conveyances and assignment aforesaid, made by Miller prior to August, 1876, he was held in confinement, by the defendant and his asso- ciates aforesaid, upon the charge of embezzlement while in their employ. Afterwards, it was ascertained that Miller's real name was Woodroof, and that he had a wife in Virginia, whereupon the deeds aforesaid to the premises, dated in August, were executed by him, jointly with his wife, in his true name. �On January 19, 1877, the defendant re-assigned said agree-J ����