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Nine Ranchmen Indicted
Charged With Conspiracy To Drive Away Homesteaders
Threats Of Murder Alleged
One Man Said To Have Been Declared Insane and Locked Up In
An Asylum
Omaha, Nebraska,
November 3 – Indictments returned by the Federal Grand Jury Wednesday against
nine ranchmen of Western Nebraska were made public
today.
The indictments charged conspiracy to drive from their
claims at the points of guns homesteaders who took sections of semi-arid land
under the Kinkaid Homestead Law.
Several ranchers, Yeast and his associates among them,
depended on this land for their hay.
Those indicted are Perry S. Yeast, of Hyannis,
Nebraska; his son, Frank W. Yeast; Leslie
E. Ballinger, M. C. Hubbal, Emil Anderson, Willmet Z. Emerson, Harry Sutton,
Boone B. Hawthorne and Dr. Harry H. Huff.
Dr. Huff, a prominent physician, and Mr. Sutton, county
attorney of Garden County,
are members of the insanity board.
Yeast, one of the largest ranchers in the state, was convicted two years
ago of fraudulently accruing title to homestead land, and paid a fine and
served a jail sentence.
According to the charges made in the indictment, Yeast and
his associates carried their efforts so far as to secure the incarceration in
the insane asylum at Hastings, Nebraska,
of one of their alleged victims.
The indictment charges that a bank of about 30 persons,
headed by Yeast, went to the homes of many of the homesteaders and by
intimidation and threats of taking their lives and those of their families
forced them to leave the claims.
The specific case of J. Davasher is mentioned in
detail. It is charged that Yeast and the
other defendants, accompanied by a band of cowboys, visited Davasher’s home
and, after threatening to kill him and his family if they did not leave the
country, destroyed his home, broke up his machinery, cut his horses to pieces
and in other ways mistreated him.
Later,
according to the indictment, Yeast conspired with members of the county
insanity board and secured Davasher’s incarceration in the asylum.
The insanity commissioners, it is alleged, went through a
mock examination, declared Davasher insane and issued a warrant for his
arrest. This was served on the spot and
within an hour he was rushed off to the asylum without being permitted to have
the advise of counsel.
Davasher’s case was brought to the attention of the
superintendent of the institution, who conducted an examination and at once
decided Davasher was not insane. The man
was released by habeas corpus proceeding.
According to an official of the interior Department the
present indictment covers was of the most remarkable attempts of land grabbing
which has recently been brought to the attention of the department.
A letter written by one of the victims to President
Taft is said to have caused the investigation which resulted in the
indictments. A special grand jury was
summoned to consider the evidence.
Sun – November
4, 1910
Nebraska
Land Frauds
Washington, November, 3.—Word was received at the Interior Department
today of the indictment of Everett Elder at Omaha, Nebraska, several days ago for conspiracy to
acquire title to government land by dummy entries.
The
case involves 10,000 acres of land in Garden County, Nebraska.
This
indictment has no connection with those handed down at Omaha at the same time, in which nine ranchmen were
charged with conspiracy to drive homesteaders from their claims at points of
vantage.
Idaho Statesman –
November 6, 1910
Garden County Awarded Strip of Disputed Land 
Lincoln, Nebraska, November 17. -- The Supreme Court today settled the boundary line dispute between Arthur, Nebraska's youngest county, and Garden County.
A strip, twenty four by three miles has been in dispute since the organization of Arthur County in 1913.
The court decided that by right of occupation Garden County is entitled to the disputed land.
The World Herald: Omaha, Saturday, November 18, 1916
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