Oregon land fraud scandal

By the time Roosevelt’s administration decided to put a stop to it, the wealthy and well-connected had been stealing land from the state and federal governments for four decades.

[4] To circumvent the requirements of the land grant, Edward Harriman, president of the Southern Pacific Railroad — which then owned the O&C — hired former surveyor Stephen A. Douglas Puter to round up people from saloons in Portland's waterfront district, escort them to the land office, have them register for an O&C parcel as a settler, and then transfer it to Puter's men.

[5][7][8][9] These looters of the public domain—working with crooked federal and state officials—through rascality and fraud, gained title to thousands of acres of valuable, publicly-owned timber lands, and at minimum prices.

[5] Heney charged that Mitchell had illegally used his position to aid a client in the acquisition of patents to fraudulent land claims.

§1782 (enacted 1864) which prohibited Senators and other officials from engaging in compensated representation in matters in which the United States was interested.

The prosecution argued that the three defendants had attempted to illegally obtain land claims under the Timber and Stone Act.

Williamson appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned the verdict, in 1908, because of apparent jury tampering and witness intimidation.

His second trial for collusion with the actual land fraud was postponed until 1910, and ended in a hung jury; Heney declined to refile charges.