Show THE republican RECORD another letter from the world correspondent corres den t shows that the administration has be ban n vad shil iding ding an organized band of public land grabbers an honest by some rare oversight had been appointed by harrison detected the wholesale robbery and upon making a charge against the thieves he was promptly dismissed from the government service in the case of the baltimore ward wor kert and heelers beita rewarded with important offices over the protest of theodore roosevelt republican civil service commie sA administration ministration lowered itself it in the estimation of all cl alases ases ses in the eases to be considered in this article no greater regard for honesty or justice is shown by the republican president lie ile dischar discharged ged a zealous public officer in order to protect a syndicate of swindlers lers rs from conviction in tho the courts and to baffle the government in its effort to reco recover ver the millions they had bad dishonestly filched from the public treasury it did so at the behest of pacific coast millionaire politicians bankers and railroad nied men soun souie of if whom were directly directly or indirectly implicated in the robberies thus shielded from successful saul prosecution it did so manifestly for for fear of losing the political support of these men and the laria land grabbing corporations they represented for sixteen years one benson biad tad been at the head bead oft of a syndi syndicate cafe organized for the purpose of defrauding fra the government through cl the land labul offices for three years charles P F conrad a special agent of the general land office had been engil engaged el ed in ferreting out the facts of the syndicates syndic ittes robberies 9 collecting the proofs and getting gettin ready for trial the many indictments he had secured against the plunderers and the civil suits instituted at his suggestion for the recovery of the money just when n the cases were ready for trial at the next term of court conrad was suddenly dismissed the service this thib u atas as done at the demand of men representing interests in leagie with bensons syndicate it was dono done without the shadow c of a harge charge against conrad I 1 it t iv way as done ac in the face of a protest front from the acting 0 land commissioner in the interior department who declared Is that without conri ad t if e government could not fully with tile the criminal prosecution tio s or the civil suits and without conrad the gov has not successfully prosecuted a single one of the cases it hag hae not brought a ca case cae e to trial during the three years that have elapsed since conrads demov removal al it has hag not sent one of the culprits to prison it lias has not recovered a dollar of the stolen money and th ill ere cre is no encouragement 0 to believe that it in ever av will ill while the Adin administration inist ration which protected the thieves by removing n the chief 0 witness shall remain 1 in n power tit the methods of the syndic syndicate te were simple when af affidavits lid aro are filed in ili a land office de declaring clarin 9 public lands in any quarter to be avail availably abl for settlement and ask in ng fur for their survey a commission aruea for that purpose the petting getting it selects his surveyor s urve has aas hirn him made a deputy surveyor under government authority and ie pr proceeds 0 ceede to male make the survey file tile the plots and field notes and collect the fees the syndicate hill had its subservient tools in all the offices through which business bus ineis hid had to he be done these hiese smoothed the road it had the backing b of powerful directors iu in the nevada bank and of lund land railroad companies compani eg to which wh ch it rendered ed rascally service these stood ready to furnish bail in case if need and to afford financial and political political loli protection should that necessary tile the syndicate employed a numer of ignorant youths and im unious persons as clerks whose business etwas it was to si sin sign n blank applications for survay sur blank affidavits davits and other papers without citi t teg mi aa vestern western Vt stern land office with ions for surveys the landstorm land ifor sTor he survey of which the applications called lay sometimes in remote parts of the sierra nevadas or the coast ranzo range i far above the timber line where aher c no settler ever will desire to dwell sometimes comet ines they lay in desert regions 11 incapable of supporting life often they did not exist at all persons person in the syndicate s employ were sent out nominally nor binally to survey the indicated tracts really to camp somewhere and manufacture fraudulent plots and field notes on their return benson would file tile the papers and collect tile the fees fe in the course of these transactions triplicate certificates were ivere issued bythe by alie sub treasury these were receivable at the land offices in payment for lands bought of the the gove government ram nt but benson knew a better trick than that ile he had his agents in the land offices it was easy for him to i jacc his certificates with them receive for them the gold that had bad been paid into the office by other men and have the land office people turn them into the treasury as if they had been received for land under the land grant laws the california and oregon and the southern pacific railroad companies were entitled to alternate sections of land aloia along their lines benson was the surveyor curve of this land in large part and when mr conrad came to investigate lie found that the sections allotted to the railroad companies frequently contained from one thousand to four fourteen feen hundred acres instead of the properly belonging to them it was senator leland stanford of the southern pacific railroad company who headed the list of senators and congressman alj demanding mandi n g the removal of conrad from office at the critical moment when his removal was necessary for the protection of benson be and the per of his secrets from exposure for thirteen years bensons Ben sona business bu siness i prospered prosper ed then came conrad with a pestilent disposition to inquire for facts ile he discovered frauds in california alone amounting to with indications that the records in other states and territories i would swell the isum bum to tc ile he found the proofs and got at the witnesses lie ile secured no less than twenty seven indictments indictment against atrain st benson banson with others il his confederates and assistants but benson had friends if not partners who were richand anil powerful when all ii was arrested l wo to directors odthe of the great nevada ban lienk k of san francisco came caino forward tu to give bail for 11 lam fill as they after afler ward vardi 4 till did for a all I 1 his indicted confederate when benson jumped his bail ard and went to denmark whence he was brought back on oil extradition papers the nevada pink employed sell senator ator stewart to defend him upon investigation investigation n agent conrad dise discovered ov red thu thill t as a holder or of bensons Ben sona powers of attorney for lai at d claim surveys surveys the neva nevada aa rank batik was interested in liis his operations to the extent of more than a quarter of a million dollars all this occurred durin during g 11 mr r Clev elands administration with which tile the wealth and political influence behind henson benson could accomplish com nothing conrad was s supported by that Admi nitra I 1 ion in liis his efforts to bring za the robbers of the government to justice and liitle by little lie ho perfected tile the cusses case 1 I against them then mr cleveland went out of office and mr II arnson came in an ali effort was promptly made to get rid of conrad twenty five days sifter after the new Adminis administration tation came into being lie he was summarily atily dismissed but the need of his leisl services was so apparent to his bis immediate superiors that he was reinstated and began 0 again the work of preparing for the trial of tile case against benson and his con federates which were c Is set et down f for 1 I the ensuing november term UP HP was war detailed especially for this work and ordered to place his service service at command of J T cirby the united states district attorney having the prosecution in chap cha r P the pressure for his demov removal a 1 however continued and increased senator stewart wart who had born been employed by the nevada bank as counsel for benson senator leland stanford Stan Start foid whose railroad properties i e had fail profited 1 by y bensons frauds lull and senator e joer lof vey ife yada afir to put out of office and so out of bensch Ben sona way way the man had biad discovered the fra frauds tills and secured the indictments and alio c re moval would woul I do more than any anything thin 0 els to break down ofle prosecutions they demanded ili his dismissal by telegraph it was the demand of mon men able to control the politics of the entire pacific coat co tt and secretary noble yielded on aug 0 2 he dismissed conrad again deforca he did EO however he be asked the opinion of mr stone the acting coin m mioner of the land office and received a reply cepl y iu in which the commissioner after recounting the history of corn coni ads service closed with this emphatic emp haic protest tf the department pros pro erue the cases against again ift demon benson et at al to trial f I 1 airi if or of till thu opinion that tile the borvice 0 f and poli po li Besil by mr conrad c cannot annot in justice uj ilice to la go e a interests be dispensed with he el every step which lel felt to the indictment ul it the several parties and lb it doubtless more familiar with wilh the dots dij of the cafes caes than any oril vial therewith consequently his services eer I 1 in i the alie official capacity as stated are uan undoubtedly a great value balue to the government if it be contemplated to vigorously to the pending cases I 1 nm all arither further of the opinion that bits bi vigorous and work in ill these cases cae hits has local prejudice against him and largely contributed to this demand for liis ins removal and that this demand deserves the careful consideration of the department tile the value of conrads servi services ees and tile the necessity of retain retaining ill 0 him hill were so oblivious ob ivious that three flays days after his second dismissal secreta secretary ry N I 1 noble ob IC rein reinstated anted him but there wis was a power above secretary noble a power whose possessor was more direct directly ly and deeply interested than he in retaining 0 the favor or of the mill millionaire c senators rs who controlled the political influence of the pacific states state S and might easily determine a nomination or an election to the presidency on oct 0 9 kilell the date set for the trial of the be benson bens anso on n case was waa at hand mr air noble fours found d himself compelled to dismiss for the third and last timo the man who alone could make the pros prosecution e successful this removal was waa t kough ought ll 11 t and secured to protect an 0 orea nied band of government from the penalty due to t their heir crimes and from the feces necessity ity of disgorging dis gorging their booty it lias has had the intended effect three years have elapsed s binco in i co that time and not one of the cases ases civil or criminal has ever been brought to trial its it is all a matter of r it rc c irrl I 1 anil and the I 1 he facts were in ill detail in ill tile the N Y wor ail a i ln I 1 aggas ago as october 1880 1889 1 iv no attempt to meet life alio r tic the scandal hir by cunial 1 cause there coul cougil I be no ini the story carries its own 0 coiler it i with it its is un oil its it face |