Thank you for visiting SNEWPapers!
Sign up free
Story
September 18, 1887
The Cheyenne Daily Leader
Cheyenne, Laramie County, Wyoming
What is this article about?
C. D. Kelly recounts how a clever Swede in early Nebraska sold land to Eastern speculators by using field glasses to feign spotting sites where government surveyors were supposedly killed, explaining absent cornerstones.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
SMOOTH SWEDE
He Corrects the Mistakes of Government Surveyors.
C. D. Kelly, the real estate man, tells a pretty good Nebraska story about some transactions in farming property in that state in early days. It will certainly bear repetition.
A rather intelligent Swede was selling land by the wholesale and planting colonies right and left. He would take a party of Eastern speculators out on the plains and show them desirable townships. Some of the government surveying had been done rather loosely and cornerstones were not to be found without considerable exertion. They were a continual source of annoyance and stumbling blocks to the Swede, but he hit upon a happy and ingenious expedient to overcome the lack of landmarks.
Every time he struck a stretch of country where the cornerstones were unusually scarce, he would solemnly draw a pair of enormous field glasses, studiously and earnestly scan the surrounding country, hurriedly replace the glasses in a leather case, and impressively inform the tender foot that "this is the place where the surveyors got killed last year."
The well told story never failed to have the desired effect, and a day or so later the enterprising Swede would be selling land to the same party in another section.
He Corrects the Mistakes of Government Surveyors.
C. D. Kelly, the real estate man, tells a pretty good Nebraska story about some transactions in farming property in that state in early days. It will certainly bear repetition.
A rather intelligent Swede was selling land by the wholesale and planting colonies right and left. He would take a party of Eastern speculators out on the plains and show them desirable townships. Some of the government surveying had been done rather loosely and cornerstones were not to be found without considerable exertion. They were a continual source of annoyance and stumbling blocks to the Swede, but he hit upon a happy and ingenious expedient to overcome the lack of landmarks.
Every time he struck a stretch of country where the cornerstones were unusually scarce, he would solemnly draw a pair of enormous field glasses, studiously and earnestly scan the surrounding country, hurriedly replace the glasses in a leather case, and impressively inform the tender foot that "this is the place where the surveyors got killed last year."
The well told story never failed to have the desired effect, and a day or so later the enterprising Swede would be selling land to the same party in another section.
What sub-type of article is it?
Deception Fraud
What themes does it cover?
Deception
What keywords are associated?
Swede Land Seller
Nebraska Deception
Missing Cornerstones
Surveyors Killed Ruse
Field Glasses Trick
What entities or persons were involved?
C. D. Kelly
Swede
Where did it happen?
Nebraska Plains
Story Details
Key Persons
C. D. Kelly
Swede
Location
Nebraska Plains
Event Date
Early Days
Story Details
A Swede selling land in Nebraska uses field glasses to pretend scanning for landmarks, then claims the spot is where surveyors were killed last year to explain missing cornerstones and facilitate land sales to Eastern speculators.