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Hall's contention that the statute of limitations had run against their criminal liability in 1903, when the matter was before the United States Grand Jury, Thayer and associates were indicted September 2, 1905, for the same offense, at the suggestion of Mr. Heney, who held that the criminal responsibility of the accused was still active at that date.

Those involved in this indictment were Claude Thayer, Clark E. Hadley, Maurice Leach, Walter J. Smith (since deceased), Thomas Coates, John Tuttle, Charles E. Hays and G. O. Nolan, all of whom, with the exception of Hays, were prominent residents of Tillamook county. Later the case against Hays was dismissed, as it was established to Mr. Heney's satisfaction that he had never been connected with any fraudulent effort to acquire the lands. On the contrary. Hays filed a motion in Court during the July term in 1906, wherein he claimed the credit of having first called the attention of Secretary Hitchcock to Page 365