United States v. Healey

On the 5th day of February, 1889, the appellant, Benjamin Healey, filed in the local land office at Yisalia, California, a declaration of his intention to reclaim a tract of land containing 639.20 acres, and belonging to the United States.

The declaration stated all the facts required in the cases embraced by the act of Congress of March 3, 1877, c. 107, providing for the sale of “desert lands” in certain States and Territories. 19 Stat. 377; Supp. Rev. Stat. 2d ed. 137. That act fixed $1.25 per acre as the price of such lands.

The lands described in the declaration constituted one of the…