which, with their interest in the land, was considered as making the price of their right equivalent to $100 for each 320-acre tract applied for by them. This I regarded as exorbitant, as the land itself was of comparatively small intrinsic value, having already been applied for several times and permitted to revert to the State on that account. It was certainly far above the prevailing market rate for this class of "dummies."
Upon presenting the ten applications to G. G. Brown, Clerk of the Land board, together with draft for $2,000. I requested him to apply $200 to each application as a portion of the purchase price. He thereupon notified me that he had received instructions from the State Land Board to the effect that all the applicants would be required to make personal appearance at his office in order to take the necessary affidavit and deposit the money. Not wishing to trust the applicants with that much cash, I obtained ten cashier's certificates from the Ladd & Bush bank in Salem, for $200 each, and made payable to Clerk Brown, and handing one of these to each applicant, told him to present this to Brown at the time of tendering the application.
Calling in the afternoon for my certificates, I was informed that a special meeting of the Board was in session for the purpose of considering the subject of my applications. Upon being thus advised, I immediately repaired to the Governor's chambers, where I found the full Board assembled. Besides Governor Chamberlain, there were present Secretary of State Dunbar, State Treasurer Moore and Attorney-General Crawford. No sooner had T put in an appearance than Governor Chamberlain proceeded to denounce me in round terms for my audacity in coming under the very dome of the capitol building, as he expressed it in vigorous language, and attempting to fraudulently obtain title to 6,400 acres of State School land, by inducing ten persons to commit perjury in doing so. It required no second glance to see that the Governor was decidedly angry, and it was utterly impossible for me to get in a word edgeways in my own defense, as he jumped all over me. declaring that he was aware that I then had in my possession blank assignments already signed and acknowledged, conveying the land to me, and that it was his intention not only to forfeit the money I had deposited as part payment, but also to prosecute me to the full extent of the law for my part in the matter.
I endeavored to explain that I was unaware that I had violated any law, and that it was never my intention to do so, but the Governor refused to listen to anything I had to say, giving me to understand that the less I said under the circumstances the better it would be for me.
After giving the subject careful consideration, however, the Board concluded that affairs were not so bad as their imagination had first pictured, as I was a few days later notified by Clerk Brown that the $2,000 would be refunded upon presentation of orders on him from each of the ten applicants. This I succeeded in doing after considerable difficulty, as all the applicants held me up to the tune of from $10 to $20 each before they would let go. which amount, added to what I had already paid them for their rights, brought me out loser to the extent of from $30 to $50 on each application.
This transaction was later made the basis of three indictments by the Marion County grand jury, under which I am now out on bonds to appear for trial at some future date.Page 338
