checks in nearly every instance that had been transmitted to the Receiver at The Dalles Land Office as payment for the different tracts, had been issued in the name of Dr. Van Gesner an a Prineville bank, and further inquiry led to the discovery that Dr. Gesner was a member of the sheep raising firm of Williamson & Gesner.
It developed, upon investigation by Mr. Neuhausen, that while the lands were being taken up under the timber act, they were almost invariably bereft of standing timber of any commercial value, and were chiefly valuable for grazing purposes. Putting these circumstances together, he concluded that a fraud of huge dimensions was about to be perpetrated, and succeeded in obtaining confessions from a number of the entrymen, many of whom were employees of Williamson & Gesner, who admitted locating the lands in the interest of the stock raisers. A quantity of photographs were also secured, taken at different points in the two affected townships, nearly all of which indicated that the "timber" on the claims consisted for the most part of sagebrush and other undergrowth. These photographs were introduced in evidence, and formed part of the Government's exhibits in the case.
The defendants were represented in Court by Judge A. S. Bennett and H. S. Wilson, of The Dalles, and George W. Barnes, of Burns, Oregon.
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