Page:Looters of the Public Domain.djvu/372

 the scope of the Oregon land frauds through Rev. Joseph Schell, a Catholic priest. In his petition asking for a separate trial, Hays set forth many interesting facts in connection with the matter, and as his statements throw considerable light upon the general system in vogue by which large tracts of valuable timber were secured through the "dummy" process of entry, a portion of the petition is presented herewith:

"That in the spring of 1901, and after Alma Baker and others named in the indictment, had filed on the lands set forth in the indictment. I was introduced by Mr. V. G. Howell to C. E. Loomis, then Special Agent of the General Land Office, at which time I disclosed to that Government official the facts that I had learned in relation to the acts of said Thayer, Hadley, Leach, Nolan, Tuttle, Smith and Coates, and requested said Loomis, as such Government official, to make an investigation thereof to the end that said parties might be prosecuted in the Courts of the United States for their unlawful acts; that nothing came of my interview with said Loomis, and in the Autumn of 1901, I went to J. A. Sladen, a Commissioner of the United States Circuit Court for the District of Oregon, and requested from said official a warrant charging said Thayer, et al., with the crime of conspiracy, and was by said Sladen referred to the United States Attorney for the District of Oregon as the proper person to apply for such warrant, and was introduced by said Sladen to Edwin Mays, Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Oregon.

"That I laid the case before said Mays, but he declined to act unless authorized to do so by John H. Hall, then United States Attorney for Oregon, his superior officer; that I went repeatedly to the United States Attorney's office to see Hall, but was always denied an interview, first on one pretext and then another. Knowing of no other official to make application to in order to bring the parties to justice, I furnished, at my own expense, the Rev. Joseph Schell with affidavits and copies of all documents which I had obtained disclosing the conspiracy, who thereupon proceeded to Washington, D. C, and laid the matter before the Department of the Interior, resulting, as I am informed and believe, in the assignment of Special Inspector A. R. Greene to this district for the purpose of investigating the frauds charged against said Thayer, Hadley, Leach, Nolan, Tuttle, Smith and Coates.

"That on August 26, 1902, the day on which I am charged with conspiring with these defendants, I was present at the Oregon City Land Office with Dan R. Murphy, my attorney, and through the latter waived the benefit I might derive through a motion to close the case filed in the contest of Hays vs. Allen (said contest case being one of those referred to in the indictment) and withdrew my motion in order to accommodate the officers of the Government, agreeing that said case might be referred to Edward N. Deady, to take the testimony of contestee therein and his witnesses, Claude Thayer, Clark Hadley, Maurice Leach and Thomas Coates, at Tillamook, Oregon, the Government officials agreeing with me that if said testimony were given before said Deady that the frauds alleged in the indictment would be laid bare, and facts elicited upon which to predicate an indictment as against said Thayer, et al. In order to disclose said frauds and secure indictments, I paid my attorney to accompany said Special Inspector Greene and referee Deady to Tillamook for the purpose of taking said testimony.

"That in the Autumn of 1902, when the United States Grand Jury for the District of Oregon was examining into the conspiracy charged in the indictment herein, I did all in my power to aid and assist Edward N. Deady, then Special Agent of the General Land Office, in gathering the facts against Thayer, et al., and fully and freely disclosed to him all the circumstances tending to show the guilt of said Thayer, et al., elicited by me during the time I had been contesting in good faith said fraudulent efforts to acquire the lands in question. That I am convinced that if it had not been for my contests and the ceaseless warfare waged by me against the fraudulent entries set forth in the indictment. Page 366