Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 31.djvu/782

 730 rirrr-sixrn conensss. sm. II. cus. 12, 13.. 1901. grant, was tried by the United States Court of Private Land Claims, created for the settlement of titles to such rants, in the years eighteen hundred and ninety-five and eighteen hundred and ninety-six; and Whereas ih the earing· of said contest before said court the alleged grantees under said grant were successful and their title thereto by said trial court confirmed, and immediately thereafter the said alleged grantees, for large and valuable considerations, sold to numbers of people, citizens and bona fide settlers on said lands, in tracts of less than forty acres to each, and said settlers, then believing that they had a bona ti e title to said lands sold, made lasting and valuable improvements and permanent homes thereon; and Whereas the Government of the United States ap ealed said cause from the decision of said court below, and on said appeal)the said decision of the said court below was reversed, and the title to said grant in said alle ed grantees adjudged to be void, and that the said lands included · witgin the boundaries of said grant, and sold as aforesaid, belonged to the United States; and if said settlers, citizens, and occupants of said lands who so (purchased the same as aforesaid be not permitted to retain the same, an pay the Government therefor, they will be deprived of their homes, at ruinous consequences to them: Therefore, Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Rqwesentatives of the United $*;%,1 fgy;1 whg States of America vm Ocngress assembled, That where such persons in good glaimants may rgéilailn faith and for valuable considerations urchased from the grant claimants @{*,3 '°l’“'°““°° "‘“°· prior to May twenty-third, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, portions of the land covere by the said grant, and have occupied and improved the same, such persons may, within six months from and after the passage of this Act, or within three months after the said lands shall e restored to entry, purchase the same at the price of one dollar and twenty-Eve cents per acre, upon making proof of the facts required by this Act under re ulations to be provide by the Commissioner of the General Land Oéce and approved by the Secretary of the Interior, joint entries being admissible where two or more pirsons have pur- _,?xg{?°· chased lands on the same forty-acre tract: Provided, at no one person ' shall purchase more than forty acres, and no purchase shall be a lowed for a ess quantity than that contained in the smallest legal subdivision. s,$,mg§“§§'r}_§:Q,°é Sec. 2. That where persons duly qualified to make entry under the laws. - homestead or desert-land laws have occu ied any of said lands with the intention of entering the same under thelhomestead or desert-land laws, such persons shall be allowed three months from and after the passage of this Act, or after the said lands shall be restored to entry, within which to make their entries, and the fact that such persons have impovled or reclaimed such desert lands shall be no bar to their making suc entries. . " Approved, January 14, 1901. January 14,1901. CHAP. 13.-An Act To amend an Act approved June first, anno Domini nineteen ‘—·—·i‘*‘ hundred, entitled "An Act to create the southern division of the southern district oi Iowa for judicial pnuposes, and to Hx the time and place for holding court therein." Be it enacted by the Senate amt Ease g` Rqwesentatiees of the United. c,§,?‘g,;g?,‘g§P°mj““‘ States of America in Congress assemble, That section one of an Act - entitled "An Act tocreate the southern division of the southern discxgnscgg wegrt at trict of Iowa for judicial purposes, and to fix the time and place for ,,,,§,,_ M3?holding court therein,” approved June iirst, ninteeen hundred, be amended by striking out the words " on the third Monday of May and the fourth Monday of September of each year " and inserting in lieu thereof the following words, to wit: "on the fourth Tuesday in March and the third Tuesday in October of each year. "