Allegations of Land Office Fraud
A citizen accuses political candidate S. Garfielde of withholding land certificates and pocketing fees during his time as a receiver of public moneys.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
I was advised by Mr. Garfielde to enter my land claim. I took his counsel, believing him then to be a man of honor. The preliminaries had been made, and then I made the necessary proof required to enter the land, and paid to Mr. Garfielde four hundred dollars, all of which had to be in United States coin. He gave me a receipt for the same, saying at the time that a receipt was all I would get until my certificate came on. Time passed on until June, 1860, when I returned to Olympia and learned from a friend that the books in the land office did not show anything had been paid, or that I had the least title of any sort to my land. Mr. Garfielde then called on Mr. William Wright and asked him for the receipt he had given me in 1857, and gave Mr. Wright a receipt bearing date July, 1860. Now, I ask the voters of Washington Territory, what can be expected of a man to represent them in Congress, who will deceive them in such business as I have mentioned?
“What can be expected of a man to represent them in Congress, who will deceive them in such business as I have mentioned?”
Accusations of corruption in land offices were common during the settlement of the West, where federal officials often exercised immense, unchecked power over claims. This story highlights the personal stakes involved in property rights, a theme that remains a core source of civic distrust in land-use and development issues.
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