Grant

This is an action to recover the possession of eighty acres of land situated in the county of Alameda. The answer denies all the allegations of the complaint. Defendant filed a cross-complaint, setting forth that he settled on the lands in controversy, with his family, claiming the same under the pre-emption laws of the United States, prior to July 8, 1878, and continuously since that date has resided and made valuable improvements thereon. The defendant then proceeds to show that Thomas’s application for a homestead was filed at a time when the lands in controversy were not subject to sale under the land laws of the United States, because they were within the exterior boundaries of a Mexican grant; but notwithstanding this fact, the claim of Thomas, plaintiff’s grantor, was approved by the officers of the land department in violation of law. It is alleged that the name of Thomas was fraudulently used for the benefit of one Benson, and that the commissioner of the general land-office and the Secretary of the Interior, in violation of the legal and equitable claim of the defendant, neglected to read, examine, or weigh the evidence taken before them on appeal from the decision of…