WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1859
263
It then became necessary to use another party in the matter, and a gentleman by the name of Williams, of North Carolina, is substituted. Thus we see this man, bent on accomplishing his ends, throughout, identifying himself and the counsel of Judge Watrous with a scheme in which both were acting only mercenary parts, using the word in its broadest sense; in which he was hired to act the part of a litigant in the court of his friend and partner, Judge Watrous, in fraud of the jurisdiction of that court; and in which the judge's counsel and familiar too; was hired under a contract of champerty, was to have a share of the land for "doing all the legal part of the matter." This is to be remarked as the first introduction of Hewitson into the Federal court, and was shortly lead, as I shall show, to the development of other connections between him and Judge Watrous in the perpetration of other and more astounding frauds than have yet been disclosed. I conceive that it is required, in order to complete the his- tory of the system of frauds, in which Judge Watrous was prominently concerned, to show further the connections between some of the prominent actors introduced into this narrative and others to be introduced, in matters which have been the subject of late congressional investigation, and of fierce debate. I cer- tainly do not propose to review the debates that have taken place on this subject, but I refer more particularly to the trans- actions, which I shall proceed to give a brief sketch of, of the obtaining of lands by Judge 'Watrous, the wrongful use of ·his court in relation thereto, and his participation in fixing a forged link in a chain of title upon settlers of Texas, that I may more fully show and illustrate the constant and prevading connec- tion of parties already alluded to with the judge, in attempts to plunder the citizens of Texas, and in administering a system of fraud through his court. In January, 1854, we find that two suits were commenced in the United States court in Texas, presided over by Judge Watrous. One was entitled Ufford vs. Dykes ;s the other was Lapsley vs. Spencer 0 and ten others. These two suits were commended in Judge Watrous's court at the same term, for, between fifty and sixty thousand acres of land each. vVilliam G. Hale was counsel for the plaintiff in one case, and Robert Hughes counsel for the plaintiff in the other. In both cases, it appeared from the testimony, the prop- erty claimed was owned in the State of Alabama ; and in both cases, the claims of the parties had slumbered for nearly twenty
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