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Show H Defendant Pleads Guilty, Is fined $8000, Pays Back $1 92,000 For Coa! -; ; Extracted and Forfeits H Lands. 7 H CELEBRATED LAND FRAUD CASE H IN WHICH UNCLE SAM IS WINNER Fred A. Maynard, Special Counsel For Government, H Gives Full Details of Great Legal H Struggle. H Pleading guilt' to having de- v frauded the United States gov- i eminent out of 14-10 ncrcs of y ! coal lands located in Salina can- -j yon, Sevier county, Utah, the r !- Utah Fuel company of this city - -I- was fined $S00O by Judge John v A. Marshall in thc United -J I States district court, late Mon- S ! day afternoon. Resides this, the 4- ! Puel company pays to the United States the sum of $102,000 for r coal extracted, deeds back the -r v4 land to tho government, and is -! - Hie loser by thc transaction of - $1-1 ,'100 paid bv it for thc lands, i- making a total of $214,100 it - I- is out by the deal in spot cash. r -I to say nothing of thc land. The v money was paid immediately ! v afier the passing of sentence in ! v drafts upon the National Bank r of Commcrco of Now York, one of which was "for $100,000, one v r for $40,000, one for $30,000, two 4-r 4-r for $10,000, ono for $S000, and y one for $2000. -r 'HH-Hn-4HH-v-H4 One of tho mo?t sweeping victories ever won by the United States government govern-ment in a land fraud case was scored . late Monday afternoon, when J. V. - Vnile, goucral counsel for the Ulah Fuel company of this city, appeared bcforo Judge Marshall in "the federal court and entered a plea of guilty to the indictment in-dictment charging his company with having defrauded the United States government out of 1440 acres of coal land, located in Salina canyon, Sevier 1 county. Utah. Immediately upon the entering of the pica Judgo Marshall imposed a fitio of $S000, which is just $2000 less than the maximum penalty provided by law. The fine was immediately im-mediately paid by draft to J. It. Letcher, clerk of " thc United States courts, and a receipt was given. Tho famous land fraud case lias been occupying the attention of federal au- . thorities for somo years past. The . government had enlisted the services of Pred A. Maynard of this city, who was mado special assistant to the attoruev- general of t ho United States, and in company with United States 'District Attorney II. 15. Booth, he has worked untiringly to achieve the result attained Monday. Thc real work of prosoeuting tho case has fallen to tho lot of Mr. Maynard und the voluminous testimony in tho caso has been taken bcforo Special Examiner Samuel II. Lewis, and after his death, by J. W. Christy. Mr. Maynard has worked night and day upon tho case, and tho victory is duo in tho main to his zeal. On April 22, 1907, the grand .iurv roturncd a crimiual indictment aga'ins't thc Utah Fuel company, Henry G. Williams, Wil-liams, Pobert Forrester, Georgo A. Moore, "William D. Foster. Elrov N. Clark and Alexander II. Cowie. Thc caso had never been brought to a jurv trial, but the Utah Fuel companv'had tried every means at its command to break tho indictment, and, failing, at tempted to break the law under wliii-li the indictment -was returned. Again failing, tho matter was laken to 'tho United States supremo court, and that august body decided every point advanced ad-vanced by the companv adversely lo its interests. Nothing remained for it ro do but surrender, and this it did as grncofully as possible under thc circumstances. circum-stances. Indictments Dismissed. As a result of thc Utah Fuel companv pleading guilty to the indictment, tho cases against all the other defendants were dismissed, together with that of tho United States against Thomas A. Moore. Mr. Moore was charged with penury in having givon falso testimony bcforo tho grand jury at tho time tho indictment; was returned. The government govern-ment being entirely satisfied with tho outcome of the case, decided to drop thc other rases, and tho motion foJ their dismissal was granted bv thc court. Bv thc terms of tho settlement the I' tali Fuel company deeds back to the United States iho 1440 acres of coal land, and tho deeds have already been placed in tho hands of Special Counsel Maynard. Besides this, tho Utah Fuel company pavs to Iho United States the sum of $102,000 for thc coal extracted from (ho lands in question, nnd also loses tho sum of $14,400 paid by it. for the land, making its total loss $214,400 in cash, exclusive of tho lands. The money was paid over to Special Counsel Maynard by E. M. Allison, ir. onn of tho conusor in tho case, in the' presence of a number of people immediately im-mediately at the conclusion of tho case Thc sum of $102,000 was in drafts upon tho National Bank of Commcrco of Now York, and these, wore mado pavable to .T. F. Yailc, special counsel for tho Utah Fuel company. Mr. Yailo at once indorsed in-dorsed each draft, making them payable pay-able lo Goorgo VT. Wic.kcrshnm, atto"r-ney-general of tho United States, arid thoy will be forwardod to that ofllcial at onco by Mr. Maynard, Tho payment of this money is by way of settlement and compromise. Equity Suits Piled. On July 0, 1007. five suit? in equity were also commenced by the United States against the Utah Fuel company, the Morton Trust company of New "i ork and thc Pleasant Yallcv Coal company, but by thc terms of the set-t set-t lenient I hose suits arc dropped, tho land acquired by the companies remain-ing remain-ing as it was previously to the filing of tho suits .the property of the Utah 1'iiel company. The method employed by thc Utah luel company to gain control of these lands was so old at tho time that there was nothing startling about it. Enerv-men Enerv-men 'and entrywomen takiug claims IH were merely the agents of the companv. IH it is alleged, and after having acquired the land, which was declared to be good only for agricultural' purposes, thev would sell it to the Utah Fuel companv at $,0 an acre. It was some little time jH before the real nature and value of tho land became known. In fact, it was supposed the land was lit only for agricultural pursuits until the Utah Fuel company and its subsidiaries be-gan be-gan thc work of mining coal from it. Learning that it was mineral land, tho JLW government immediately sought to gain IH "trol of it, setting up the claim that IH it had been defrauded. Bv every pos- IH stole means the companv attempted to IH disprove the claim, but" tho task was too great, and it was doomed to an ignominious defeat. Special Counsel Mavnard. in dh-cnspingj.he dh-cnspingj.he case with a representative ol Hie Inbune Monday afternoon, said: Groat Victory Won. ."Wc feel that this is the greatest victory ever won in the United States LM oy the government. True, thc "overn-ment "overn-ment has had matters before thc court3 Lm 111 which greater sums of mouev were concerned, but this is a case tnat has been absolutely proven; the defend-ants defend-ants havo pleaded guiltv, and the en- Ltm tiro sum of $200,000 has been paid in fLmmU cash. To think that the Denver & Iho Grande, the principal Gould rail-road, rail-road, should be forced to bow its head to the supremacy of the law, and in open court to admit its guilt in tho formntion of a conspiracy on tho part of itself, its ofiiccrs and agents to unlawfully acquire title to 1440 acres of coal lands belonging to the United States, is simply astounding. It cx-hausted cx-hausted every means at its command In an effort to break the indictment, IH and, failing, tried to break the law IH under which thc indictment was brought. Jt only stopped when tho United States supremo court decided all points against it. It not only cm-ployod cm-ployod its great array of local" legal talent, 1ml imported two outsido attor-neys attor-neys as special counsol in tho persons of John M. Zanu of Chicago and John M. Waldron of Denver. Finding that thero was absolutely nothing left for it to do but face a jury, and knowing well the strength of the government caso, it simply surrendered. "In addition to the $S00O tine, tho JM fuel company restores to tho United States tho 1440 acres of coal land il-legally il-legally gained, pays $102,000 for tho coal extracted, and forfeits the sunt of $14,400 which ir paid for tho lauds. Tho moral effect of tho Gould' system IH in declaring itself guilty of so flagrant a violation of Uncle Sam's laws should put a stop to future depredations of this nature "Shortly after the criminal indict-ment indict-ment hnd been returned tho govern-ment govern-ment commenced five suits in equity to set asido nnd cancel patents to largo tracts of coal lands in this stale, which' we claimed were fraudulently procured from thc "United States by dummy en-trymcu en-trymcu and dummy entrywomen. Wn also ask od for an accounting of the coal which had been extracted from theso lands. Millions Prom Bond Sale, During tho taking of thc voluminous testimony it was established that over $2,000.000 worth of bonds had been sold, iu good faith, to the general pub-lie pub-lie throughout the world. In consider-at consider-at ion of tho whole caso. and not; to do an injustico to the purchasers, tho at- torncfy gcneral and tho secretary of tho interior, upon thc presentation of the facts, decided to accept the offer which hnd been made of $102,000 in satis-faction satis-faction for tho coal which had been extracted from tho lauds named and described. This decision was icache.1 during my rocent visit to Washington, As a result of this action upon tho part of tho government officials, tho land re-mains re-mains ns it was bcforo, tho government not caring to go iulo thc coal business. H Theso lands, described iu the equity mnt, arc not tho ones described iu tho criminal proceedings. Tho Utah Fuel company retains tho lands alluded to in the equity case, ho that thc bonds H which have been sold still hold good, H and tho peoplo who purchased tho bonds H still retain thorn and arc not out of j pocket one cont. H "Since suit was brought by the gov- . crnmcnt, or, rather, sinco criminal pre- ' Continncd ou Pago Twoj ' ' GOVERNMENT'S VICTORY IN UTAH. FUEL COMPANY CASE Continued from Page One. ceedings were instituted under the indictment in-dictment roturned bv tho grand ."jury, thcro has been a reclassification of the lands described in the indictment, and these aro now valued by the government govern-ment at $.1.00,000. The equity proceedings proceed-ings have been dismissed, and conviction convic-tion has been gained only under the criminal proceedings. Tho Pleasant Valley Coal company and the Morton Trust company of New York, against both of which oquitj proceedings were instituted, have been dropped along with tho equity suit against the Utah Fuel company, which really owns thc3C two." Offer Made in Now York. The offer of settlement and compromise, compro-mise, whereby tho Utah Fuel company stated its willingness to pay the government gov-ernment $192,000, was made to Mr. Maynard while ho was in New York taking testimony in the Morton Trust company case. As soon as the offer was mado Mr. Maynard hastened to Washington to confer with the government govern-ment officials aud lay the matter before them. The government had previously declared de-clared that it would accept nothing short of $200,000 in payment for tho coal extracted from the lands, but at first the defendant company was only willing to pay $100,000. The government govern-ment refused absolutely to recedo from its point, and it was finally agreed that the $200,000 should bo paid. The $8000 flno was then settled upon with tho, stipulation that tho company pay $192,000 for tho coal. |