has come when the people of this state ought to know whether the salt springs owned by her are to be a source of wealth, rivaling Saginaw and Syracuse, or not. It is hardly to be supposed for a moment that individual enterprise can afford to take upon itself the risk of ruin consequent upon sinking a well at a vast expense and failing to obtain brine. It may be true that these lessees are able to sell out and make themselves whole. But whether true or not, true it is beyond doubt that individual speculation in our salt springs is not what the state wants. Indeed, I think it hurtful to the reputation of our saline resources. We want them developed. We want the problem solved once and forever. I would much prefer that it be made a condition of the grant or other aid that the present lessees shall not assign their term or any part of it, until they have sunk the well to the depth required. This would certainly be for the best interests of the state. It would insure hearty and vigorous effort on the part of the lessees. I hope gentlemen will consider the subject well, because I know of my own knowledge that these lessees, after a great expenditure made in good faith and at my own earnest solicitation, will be compelled to abandon, for want of means, further prosecution of their enterprise. This very abandonment will by no means tend to increase the zeal of enterpris ing adventurers in making further experiments. I therefore ask at your hands such legislation as will tend to push forward this work to a rapid completion."

This appeal, like the former, fell upon deaf ears, and, without adverting to the subject, the legislature on the same date on which they had been for a second time reconvened, adjourned without day. At the ensuing regular session of the legislature in 1871, Governor Butler was impeached and removed from office, and the lease to Cahn and Evans was never ratified or validated. They proceeded, however, to sink a well to the required depth, before reaching which they struck a stream of flowing water too slightly saline for the profitable manufacture of salt. Their works were then aban

doned, but the stream continues to flow in undiminished quantity.

It was said at the time that the flowing vein was of sweet, fresh water, and that its salt and alkaline qualities, when it reached the surface, were due to its mixture with other veins encountered on its way upward. And it was said, also, that its velocity was such that it would rise in a tube to the height of thirty feet above the ground. I have attempted to verify or disprove neither of these statements. If they are true, the stream may perhaps some time be of practical value for the generation of electric power. Much the same story was told of a well afterwards sunk by the city, on Government (then Market) Square, for the purposes of protection from fire.

Not long after the execution of the lease to Tichenor and Green, the former disposed of his interest to Horace Smith of Springfield, Massachusetts, a member of the celebrated firm of Smith & Wesson of revolver fame, who by personal inspection and with the aid of experts had satisfied himself of the great value of the salt deposit controlled by the lessees. But not deeming the business of manufacture at Lincoln so far developed as to require his personal attendance, he placed his matters there temporarily in charge of his nephew, Mr. James P. Hebbard, of Nebraska City.

There is no reason to doubt that Morton and his associates acquired their supposed title in good faith and felt assured of its validity during all this time, but when or how he became convinced that the land was of any considerable value is not known. He may possibly have read Mr. Harvey's pamphlet or my own. Quite likely he had read the report of an expert inspector on file in the land department and hereafter mentioned, and he was doubtless familiar with the governor's message and with the legislative act of February 15, 1869, and with the covenants of the lease made pursuant to it, and with the purchase by Smith, a reported wealthy and capable business man, after a careful personal examination with the aid of an expert, and with the expenditures of Cahn and Evans and the reassuring indications reported to be obtained by the

sinking of their well. There was certainly evidence enough to convince any reasonable man, and Morton was never accused of lacking the faculty of reasoning. But by the fall of 1870 it had become evident that the title to the tract could never be put beyond dispute otherwise than by a judgment of the courts, and, in a litigation concerning it, certain technical advantages of considerable value, it was supposed, would abide with the party in possession who would enjoy the position of defendant, and be better able to parry an attack than to make one. With a view to securing these advantages, Morton organized an expedition in December of that year. There was then no direct communication between Lincoln and Nebraska City by rail, and he traveled "overland" with a wagonload of provisions and supplies and one or more assistants. Arriving in Lincoln at evening on the 24th day of the month, he looked about him for some trusty local personage to help him out with his enterprise, and finally hit upon Ed. P. Roggen, then just arriving at manhood, afterwards secretary of this state, and with his party thus completed repaired to the salt springs just at nightfall.

Among the structures erected by the lessees pursuant to their covenants with the state was a small building intended for use as a sort of headquarters and barrack room for the proprietors and their employees. The weather had been cloudy and threatening for the past week, and the manufacture of salt by solar evaporation had been temporarily suspended, and the "works" were deserted. The building was unlocked and unguarded and the party went into occupancy without opposition. News of the invasion soon came to the ears of Green and Hebbard and caused them no little uneasiness. It was feared that unless the intruders could be at once expelled, their possession would ripen into such a character that it could only be terminated, if at all, at the end of a long and tedious litigation, during which the tenants of the state would incur a forfeiture of their lease, besides losing the profits of manufacture in the meantime. In view of these possibilities they immediately repaired for counsel to Col.

James E. Philpott, one of the leading legal practitioners in the city, and laid their case before him. Cord-wood, with the exception of corn, was then almost the sole fuel used or obtainable in Lincoln, and was worth from ten to fourteen dollars per cord, reference being had to quality. The lessees had a large quantity of it piled near the building, and the Colonel suggested that if the trespassers should consume any of it, which on account of the state of the weather they would doubtless be compelled to do, they would commit the offense of larceny, for which they would become liable to arrest and criminal prosecution. Acting upon this suggestion, two persons were dispatched to the salt springs with instructions to observe and report events. They were not long in discovering both Morton and Roggen helping themselves to the wood and carrying armsful of it into the building, and in reporting the fact to their employers. Immediately a complaint charging Morton and Roggen with larceny, according to a statutory form then in use, was prepared by Philpott, and subscribed and sworn to by Hebbard before myself as justice of the peace, which office I then held, and a warrant thereon was duly issued and delivered to a constable named Richardson, who was then also town marshal. I do not recall his given name, but because of the quality of his hair he was commonly called and known as "Curl" Richardson. At about half past ten o'clock on the same night, the constable appeared at my office with both the defendants in charge as prisoners and attended by their counsel, Mr. Jacob R. Hardenbergh, now deceased. Mr. Hebbard and Colonel Philpott and perhaps others were also present. There was a good deal of half-concealed anger and excitement, but there was no outbreak and no "scene." The next day was both Christmas and Sunday. Morton entered into his personal recognizance and became surety upon the recognizance of Roggen for the appearance of both of them at a specified hour on the following Monday, to which an adjournment was taken. When these proceedings had been concluded all persons in attendance left the room. There was a conference that night between Morton and his

counsel on one side, and Seth Robinson, then attorney general of the state, on the other, at the private office of the latter. Who else was there or what was done or agreed upon, I know only from hearsay. I was not present and did not know of the meeting at the time. This much, however, seems certain, namely, that Morton agreed to desist from his attempt to take forcible possession of the property in consideration that the criminal prosecution should be dropped. It was said at the time that he also agreed to waive any claim for damages on account of his arrest, but this he afterwards disputed. At any rate, at the hour to which the case had been adjourned, on Monday, the prosecution appeared and withdrew the complaint and the proceeding was dismissed.

Two weeks later, on the 7th day of January, 1871, Morton began an action against Hebbard and Green, in the district court of Lancaster county, to recover the sum of twenty thousand dollars damages for malicious prosecution and false imprisonment. His counsel was Jacob R. Hardenbergh, with whom was afterwards associated Daniel Gantt of Nebraska City, later a judge of the supreme court of the state. Hebbard and Green filed separate answers, the former being represented by E. E. Brown and Seth Robinson as his attorneys, and the latter by James E. Philpott. A jury was waived and the cause came on for trial at a special term of the court before the Hon. George B. Lake, district and supreme judge. On the 8th day of June, 1871, there were subpoenaed as witnesses a man named Kennedy, E. P. Roggen, Major A. G. Hastings, and myself. There were findings and a judgment for the plaintiff in the sum of one hundred dollars damages and costs of suit. On the same day the amount was paid into court by Robert E. Knight, a partner of Colonel Philpott, and on the same day, also, Morton signed with his own hand upon the records of the court a receipt for it from Capt. Robert A. Bain, clerk of the court. The trial was merely formal, and it was understood at the time that what Morton wished to gain from the suit was not large damages but vindication from the accusation of larceny. Thus ended an episode about which