Page:Looters of the Public Domain.djvu/370

 advised Hall of the suspicious characlcr of the twenty filings that had been made bv the men in charge of Gosslin and Burke. Further testimony was introduced bv the Government to establish its contention that while Hall knew of the illegal acts he never prosecuted any of the offenders, on account of their pull, and that eventually the indictment against the accused was dismissed.

As further proof that Hall had been derelict in his duties, it was brought out at the trial that in the case of Claude Thayer, the United States Attorney had completely ignored the charges of Special Agent Edward N. Deady that Thayer had been guilty of a conspiracy to defraud the Government of a large tract of timber in Tillamook county. The facts as uncovered by Deady during his investigations, and corroborated by abundant proof, were as follows:

In September, 1899. Claude Thayer, president of the Bank of Tillamook and a son of the late Governor Thayer, of Oregon, had induced eighty-eight persons to make timber entries in Township 2 North, Ranges 6 and 7 West, Tillamook county. They were mostly aged persons who were incapable, physically, of making personal examination of the land, as required by law. although they all took the necessary oath that they had inspected each subdivision. It developed during Deady's investigations that Thayer had paid all the Land Office expenses incident to the filings, and nine weeks after the entries were made at the Oregon City land Office, final proofs were offered on each claim. The Register and Receiver were obligated to refuse to issue the final certificates for the reason that Secretary Hitchcock had ordered a suspension thereof in connection with Oregon timber entries until such time as the Special Agents of the Land Department could investigate their validity. Deady had shown that the eighty-eight entrymen in question were under contract to deed their claims to Thayer as soon as final proof was made, and were to receive $150 each for their rights. It had developed also that at the time of offering proof one entryman had made a tender of the $400 purchase price of his claim, the acceptance of which was declined by the Land Office officials, and that he had thereupon handed the amount to one of the other entrymen, who had made the same sort of tender. In this way the one payment of $400 answered the purpose of a tender for the entire eightyeight claims.

Shortly after this the so-called proof had been made, Thayer saw breakers ahead, and consulted with F. P. Mays relative to overcoming the threatened difficulties. Mays suggested, as a means of throwing the Government agents off the scent, that arrangements should be made with the Northern Pacific whereby the railway corporation should file a selection list covering the lands embraced in the eighty-eight claims. Mays was one of the attorneys for the Northern Pacific, and therefore in a position to make this recommendation. The lieu selections were offered accordingly, but were rejected by the local Land Office as being in conflict with the eighty-eight timber entries, the idea being to cloud the issue to such an extent that it would tie up the land temporarily and have a tendency to prevent bona fide claimants from interfering in the acquisition of title.

In January, 1900, or about a month after the Northern Pacific had attempted to select the lands, Charles E. Hays, a timber locator of Portland, filed contests on all the eighty-eight entries, alleging in his affidavit that the latter were fraudulent, and furthermore that the Northern Pacific lieu selections had been made for collusive purposes. Hays won out on his contest, with the result that the eighty-eight entries were cancelled by the Land Department, and the Northern Pacific, on July 10, 1900, voluntarily withdrew its contest.

These facts were brought to the attention of the Federal Grand Jury by Special Agent Deady, who declared that Hall refused to proceed against Thayer and the others involved, contending that the statute of limitations had run against their offenses. In consequence no indictment was returned, and even if one had been, it would have been futile, as Hall was determined to protect his friend Thayer, and had announced that he would not prosecute the latter, according to Deady's statement on the witness stand. It is interesting to note that notwith-

Page 364