The Railroad Land Agent Who Pocketed the Payments
A Northern Pacific receiver says a dead Tacoma land agent kept buyers' installments for years, leaving them with receipts but no deeds — and a loss that could reach $250,000.
TACOMA, April 21.—Receiver Oakes, of the Northern Pacific, said tonight before leaving for the East that the shortage in the accounts of the dead land agent would probably exceed $100,000 and might reach $250,000. Mr. Oakes explained the methods of the dead land agent, saying:
“As payments were made on land contracts during the last four or five years, the money was not always turned over to the clerks, but was evidently kept by Mr. Schulze, and the holders of contracts were given receipts. The payments on many of those contracts have all been completed, but the books did not show it. The holders became impatient for deeds. Their complaints a few months ago were our first intimation of the wrongdoing. Before we can know definitely how large the shortage is we will have to have returns from every one of the holders of our land contracts. They will produce their receipts for payments, and these will be compared with the books.
“The purchasers will not lose anything. The entire loss must fall upon the company. When purchasers present the evidences of their full payments, whether our books tally with them or not, deeds will be issued and the contracts taken up.”
Mr. Oakes said he had positive information that Schulze had embezzled funds of the Yakima Investment Company.
“The purchasers will not lose anything. The entire loss must fall upon the company.”
Land-title fraud sounds like a modern headache, but this 1890s case shows how much depended on paper receipts and honest clerks when railroad land grants controlled access to Washington acreage. The company's promise to honor buyers' receipts was an early version of the title protections homeowners now take for granted.
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