ered the situation, he induced the men to swear out complaints against Jones and myself.
Jones was arrested forthwith in Portland, and immediately wired me at Salem to come down, as he had been taken into custody on account of the Township 3 North, Ranges 7 and 8 West, deal. I proceeded to Portland the next morning, and as soon as I stepped off the train at the East Side station, a warrant of arrest was served upon me by Patsy Eccles, a deputy constable, who took me before a Justice of the Peace, where I found a number of complaints on file against me, my bail being fixed at $500 in each case. However, Mays and Jones arranged for my appearance, in exactly what manner I never learned, and I was allowed to go on my own recognizance.
I consulted with Mr. Mays on the following morning for the purpose of learning what was to be done, and he advised me that, because of the nature of the transaction, as between those forty locators, Jones and myself, it would be best to demand an immediate trial in the Justice Court and to get the matter over with as speedily as possible. Jones was present in Mays' office when this interview took place, and agreed with him that the case should be settled immediately, so as to avoid publicity. Mays acknowledged being interested with Jones in the lands, but said that he was in no wise concerned in the case at issue. He volunteered, however, to lend his advice, and stated that, in his opinion, the whole trouble could be "fixed" for a few hundred dollars. Should the Federal authorities get wind of the transaction. Mays argued, both Jones and myself would very probably be indicted and convicted, as it could be proven that we had written contracts with each and every one of those forty men, and they would show that Jones and I were to become possessed of the claims after final proof had been made and that, because of our having actually taken the men to the lands, which was evidence of our intentions to carry out our part of the agreement, the charge of entering into a conspiracy to defraud the Government could be prosecuted successfully.
Under this showing, it occurred to me that a money transaction would be the best and quickest way out of the difficulty, so I told Mays that I would put up $250, provided he would act as our attorney in the case. Mays replied that he did not care to appear personally, in fact, he did not want to be known in the transaction in any way, preferring to remain in the background, but stated that he would use his influence in a quiet way to our material advantage. Mr. Mays then suggested that we employ Charles F. Lord to defend us, which we did, the case being set for trial in short order.
Before the case came up, Jones came to me and demanded that I contribute $500, instead of $250, the amount originally agreed upon, stating that it would cost him considerably more than that and I should share a larger portion of the expense. This I refused to do, as I had no interest in the lands and was simply giving $250 to have the case quashed in the Justice Court, and for the purpose of keeping it from the notice of the Federal authorities.
On the day set for hearing, both sides had their witnesses on hand ready to proceed. The case, however, never saw the light of day, as Attorney Lord made some sort of settlement with the counsel for the prosecution, whereby Lynch was paid a neat sum of money to have the case dismissed. This fellow Lynch was one of those pettifogging lawyers who make a practice of hanging around police and Justice Courts. The fact is, he had no case in the first place, as the suit had not been brought in the proper court. All he wanted was a chance to make a fee out of the transaction, and this we were only too glad that he should have, in order to dispose of the proceedings and hush the matter up, as we believed, in all probability, the dismissal of this case would close the incident and that no criminal charges would be brought against us.
The actual cost of these claims to Mays and Jones, under this transaction, did not exceed $205 per quarter section of 160 acres, and the same lands were
