Page:Looters of the Public Domain.djvu/170

 F. S. Skiff, a local dentist, testified that Walgamot had studied dentistry in his office, but could not say whether or not he had lived in Portland after discontinuing with him.

The last witness of the day was Miss M. A. Aiken, who was called to prove Walgamot's continuous residence in the city, as he had lived at her house.

On Friday morning, December 2, J. A. W. Heidecke, the star witness of the trial, was placed on the stand by the Government. He testified to a residence of several years at Detroit, and claimed to have assisted in making the Government survey of township 11-7; that he knew all the settlers thereabouts, but had never seen or heard of any of the 12 entrymen involved in the case at issue; that he knew Dan W. Tarpley, S. A. D. Puter and Horace G. McKinley; that Tarpley prevailed upon him to go to Albany, where he was introduced to Puter, who employed him to ascertain, if possible, the source of the complaint relative to the fraudulent homestead entries in township 11-7; that he had accepted this employment, but had failed to secure the desired information; that he met Puter again at Albany by appointment, agreeing upon this occasion to show Special Agent Loomis over certain lands in Township 11-7 and represent them as being the claims he had been ordered to investigate, and that Puter had paid him $110 in gold for the service, and had promised him $250 more when the titles were perfected; that he met Loomis according to appointment, and escorted him to the mountains, where he pointed out certain cabins and improvements and represented to the Special Agent that they belonged to the different homesteads forming the basis for the investigation, when, as a matter of fact, they were miles away, and that Loomis did not know the difference; that the latter met with an accident while in the woods, and was unable to further proceed with the farcical inspection, suggesting that they had gone far enough. The following is a verbatim copy of the testimony at this point from the Court stenographer's notes:

Question (by Mr. Heney): "What happened when you got back to camp?"

Heidecke: "Well, I took the horses and staked 'em out on the grass so they couldn't get away, and came into the house on the Peaslee place, where we were staying, and I says to him, 'are you going to examine any more of those claims?' 'Why,' he says, 'you have saw Puter, ain't you?

"I says 'yes, I seen Puter, and I don't like that very well.'

"'Oh,' he says, 'mum's the word! I am a Special Agent, and whatever reports I make out, the Government will not doubt me. Everything will be all right. "And then I says. 'well, here's all those rangers and Ormsby. " 'Oh,' he says, 'Ormsby has no kick coming!'

So I says, 'I guess I will go fishing then.' and when I went out he took out a map, and he says, 'where would you put those cabins? "So I just sat down there and marked around where the cabins would be, and then I went fishing."

Continuing, the witness said in substance:

"The next day we returned to Detroit, and I accompanied the Special Agent to the rear of Jacobs' store, where the affidavits were drafted by Loomis, as he objected to doing so in the main room of the store on account of so many customers being there. After fixing up a set of affidavits for each of the 12 entries, Loomis obtained signatures thereto from L. Jacobs, proprietor of the store, and several others of the townspeople present. I also signed a set for each claim, and induced the two Thomas brothers to do likewise, paying them $10 apiece for their trouble. Altogether Loomis paid me $15 for my two days' work for him in the woods. This was irrespective of the amount I received from Puter.

"My next experience with the deal," declared Heidecke, "was when I met Captain S. B. Ormsby at Albany in accordance with arrangements that had already been made with Puter. Ormsby informed me that the investigation made by Loomis in 11-7 had to be done all over, and suggested that I go with him as a guide. Shortly thereafter I met Ormsby and Tarpley at Detroit, and was paid Page 164