TEXAS. 



831 



riety of soil, climate, and production of our extensive 

 territory. Thews lands ore for wile at a minimum 

 \ inn; il.illur per acre, payable in ten equal an- 

 nuul payments, with interest. " Each individual may 

 ponhMC nt !.-,> than 100 nor more than 640 acres of 

 furmmx' hinds, or throe sections of pasture land. Ap- 

 plication to purchase must bo made to the county sur- 

 vey* >r. 



L'. University lands, 219,906 acres, situated in Cooko, 

 Fannin, Grayson. Hunt, Collin t Latnar, McLennan, 

 Shackclford, and Callahan Counties. These lands aro 

 in the richest and most populous portions of the State, 

 and are for sale in tracts of 80 or 160 acres at a mini- 

 mum price of $1.50 per acre, on the same terms as the 

 school lands. Application to purchase must bo made 

 to the county surveyor. 



8. Asylum land->, 407,615 acres, situated in the coun- 

 ties of Callahan, Comanche, Eastland, Jones, Shuck- 

 elford, Stephens, Taylor, and Tom Green. This sec- 

 ti'>n is settling up and improving more rapidly now 

 than any other portion of the State. For sale in tracts 

 of 160 acres, at same price and on same terms as uni- 

 versity lands. 



4. State Capitol lands, 8,050,000 acres, situated hi 

 Dallas, Deaf Smith, Castro, Cochran, Lamb, Bailey, 

 Hookley. Hartley, Oldham, and Parker Counties. 

 Three million acres of these hinds are subdivided into 

 tracts of one league (4,428 acres) each, and the field- 

 notes returned to the General Land-Office. They aro 

 for sale at 50 cents per acre in such quantities as may 

 be desired. The 50,000 acres are divided into surveys 

 of 640 acres each, and are likewise for solo at 50 cents 

 per acre in such quantities as may be desired, pro- 

 vided that no section shall bo divided. Application 

 to purchase must be made to the General Land-Office. 

 No expense attaches to the purchase of these lands, 

 other than the purchase money and patent fee. These 

 lands will not be offered for sale before January 24, 

 1880. 



5. Public debt reserve. Under the act of July 14. 

 1979 t all the vacant and unappropriated public lana 

 within the territory bounded on the north by the In- 

 dian Territory, on the east by the 100th degree of lon- 

 gitude, on the south by the 32d degree of latitude, on 

 the west by the 103d degree of longitude, all the un- 

 appropriated land within the Pacific reservation, and 

 all tracts of 640 acres or less within the organized 

 counties of the State, are offered for sale in tracts of 

 640 acres each, or less, at 50 cents per acre. Purchasers 

 must apply to the surveyor of the county or dis- 

 trict in which the desired land may be situated. He 

 will survey the land and return field-notes to the Gen- 

 eral Land- Office, at the expense of the purchaser. 

 Within sixty days from the filing of the field-notes hi 

 the Land-Office, the purchaser must pay into the State 

 Treasury 50 cents per acre, or forfeit all right to the 

 lands. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, etc. 



"W. C. WALSH, Commissioner. 



Concerning these lands, forgeries and deceits 

 of all kinds have been for a long time exten- 

 sively practiced to the injury of purchasers, 

 especially immigrants who intended to settle 

 in Texas. The Legislature of 1879 appointed 

 from its own members a Special Committee 

 on Land Frauds, charged to investigate the 

 matter thoroughly. The evil appears to be of 

 such magnitude that, after having spent nearly 

 every night for a month in hearing testimony 

 and examining written evidence, the commit- 

 tee were made sensible that frauds without end 

 had been practiced. 



The aggregate number of teachers employed 

 in the public schools of the State is reckoned at 

 6,000, chiefly home-born. Most of them aro 

 paid from the school fund for four months of 

 tuition, the average school time in the year ; 



but a large numbor of them keep their schools 

 open for six months more in communities that 

 are able to support their schools by private 

 contributions. 



The State Hospital for the Insane, which 

 had 300 inmates in March, 1879, has been con- 

 ducted with good success in the professional 

 treatment of its patients under the superin- 

 tendence of Dr. D. R. Wallace, who has gained 

 a national reputation in this position. The 

 Governor has recently removed him, as well 

 as Henry E. McCulloch, Superintendent of the 

 Institution for Deaf Mutes, both of whom had 

 filled their offices for many years with eminent 

 satisfaction. 



Crime in Texas has rapidly increased. The 

 number of criminals committed to the State 

 Prison is great ; but much greater is the num- 

 ber of those at large, who have escaped from 

 confinement or evaded arrest. Those commit- 

 ted to the penitentiary, as is the practice also in 

 some of the other Southern States, are leased 

 out in gangs as laborers. Each lessee keeps them 

 under his charge in a camp at the place of his 

 work ; the guards also are in his employ, and 

 the State has no immediate control over the 

 convicts, and no means to check the lessee's 

 possible abuse of his powers in overworking or 

 otherwise maltreating them. A list compiled 

 from the official records of the several coun- 

 ties on file at the Adjutant-General's office, and 

 published under his name, shows the number 

 of Texas criminals going at large to be 4,585, 

 charged with the following offenses: Murder, 

 856 ; attempted murder, resulting in wounding 

 or crippling, and not in death, 911 ; infanti- 

 cide, 5 ; accessory to murder, 7 ; threatening 

 human life, 30 ; arson, 20 ; perjury, 39 ; for- 

 gery, 55 ; embezzlement, 32 ; burglary, 81 ; cat- 

 tle-stealing, 541 ; hog-stealing, 169 ; horse-steal- 

 ing, 601 ; abduction, 9 ; swindling, 127. One 

 of the first official acts of Governor Roberts 

 was to revoke all offers of reward previously 

 announced in the name of the State for the cap- 

 ture of criminals. 



The sheriffs' annual convention, held at Aus- 

 tin on September 10th, and attended by about 

 forty sheriffs, was addressed by ex- Governor 

 Lubbock on the duties of executive officers, 

 and by the tax-clerk in the State Comptroller's 

 office on the laws governing the Tax Depart- 

 ment. Resolutions were adopted to provide 

 for the publication of a monthly register of 

 criminals, giving the fullest description possi- 

 ble ; and a committee of five, besides the ex- 

 officio chairman, Sheriff Corwin of Travis, was 

 appointed with power to devise ways and means 

 for the arrest of criminals. A resolution was 

 also adopted taxing sheriffs five dollars each, 

 and deputies half that amount, to aid in the 

 arrest of parties charged with killing sheriffs 

 or their deputies while engaged in the lawful 

 discharge of their duty. 



In connection with this subject, the follow- 

 ing facts seem worthy of record : In February 

 Deputy Sheriff Llewellyn of Omaha, Nebraska, 



