82 F. 810 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Minnesota | 1897
This case is heard upon demurrer to the complainant’s hill of complaint, the allegations of which, so far as they need be noticed, are to the effect: That on May 7,1890, one Robert H. Doran filed in the United States land office at Duluth, Minn., his application to enter as a homestead the S. E. -J of section 22, of township 65 is1, of range 4 W., fourth P. M., in the Duluth land district, which was then subject to such entry, and unappropriated; and that the register and receiver of said land office allowed said application, and delivered to said Doran the receiver’s duplicate receipt or certificate of original entry of said land, acknowledging- the receipt of the proper fees for such entry; and that such entry was noted on the books and plats in said land office, and duly returned and reported to the commissioner of the general land office with the proofs on which it was founded, and there duly entered upon the hooks and records of the general land office. That by law and the rules of the general land office any person making such entry is allowed six calendar months from and after the entry within which to begin settlement and residence upon the land so> entered, without forfeiture of any rights acquired by such entry. That within such period of six months from said entry, and on October 24, 1890, in consideration of the sum of $1,000 then paid to him therefor by the complainant, said Robert H. Doran executed and delivered to the complainant, to be filed by her in said Duluth land office, an instrument of writing” assigning and relinquishing to the United States all his right, interest, and claim to said land, and requesting that his said entry be canceled; such instrument being written and executed on the back of his original duplicate receipt aforesaid. That on said. 24th day of October, 1890, at
The facts found by the secretary upon the evidence are conclusive upon the parties, and cannot bo re-examined; and the only question is whether his decision, based on those facts, was in accordance with law. lie finds from the evidence that from l^ebruary 6, 1885, until October 24, 1890, divers persons had consecutively made filings of homestead entries of this land without in that time making any settlement thereon; and that each of sucli persons at or near the expiration of six months after making- his entry filed a relinquishment thereof, immediately followed by a like entry of another, until the entry by the complainant on October 24. 1890, and her settlement on the land April 22, 3891. Also that Richard Dowman applied on November 18, 1890, to make homestead entry on the land, and made actual settlement on the land September 19, 1890, and (hen began the construction of a house thereon, which lie finished October 10, 1890, making bis home there, and actually living there continuously until November,