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Letter of Dixon J.
Bynum, January 1911
Department of The Interior,
Commissioner To The Five Civilized Tribes,
Muskogee, Okla., January 27, 1911
Hon. W. C. Pollock.
Assistant Attorney, Interior Department, Washington, D. C.
Sir: With reference to the enrollment of Indians confined in penal or
eleemosynary institutions, I beg to advise that of the 768 Indians who have been
confined at one time or another during the past 10 years at the United States
penitentiary at Leavenworth. Kans., 542 have been identified as members of one
of the Five Civilized Tribes and 98 as Indians coming from parts of the United
States which would appear to indicate that they were members of other tribes of
Indians. In making a final investigation of Indians in said institution a list
of 55 was prepared of persons who died during confinement or who were discharged
within six months prior to, or subsequent to. December 1. 1905, the date
prescribed under the act of Congress approved April 26, 1906 (34 Stat. L, 137),
as being the limitation of time during which applications for enrollment could
be received. Of this 55, 23 were identified, which identification includes all
who are still confined in the penitentiary or who have been but recently
discharged. With reference to the 32 remaining unidentified, all possible data
were secured from the records of the penitentiary, and letters were addressed to
the parties themselves, their relatives, friends, and attorneys in attempts at
identification: however, the great majority of these communications have been
returned undelivered. In my experience, however, in making this investigation I
do not believe that a single person failed in enrollment by reason of having
been confined in either the above or the Atlanta Penitentiary. The fact that
they can not be identified comes from these persons using an alias to conceal
their identities or by reason of misunderstanding of the authorities in setting
out their names or the fact that so many have three or four names. For instance,
I found Littletown Birdhead, still confined in the penitentiary, who stated that
his name was Talof Harjo, and is enrolled as a Creek Indian by blood opposite
No. 7501.
There were 49 Indians received to May 23, 1910, in the Atlanta Penitentiary, of
Georgia, of which 43 have been identified as members of the Five Civilized
Tribes. Of the six not so identified four were discharged sufficient time prior
to December 1, 1905, to have returned and made application for enrollment; one
was discharged February 3, 1906, and can not be located; and the sixth, Roscoe
Hamilton, claims to derive his Indian blood from his mother, Catherine Hamilton,
and she states that she is a Cherokee Indian, but her name can not be identified
upon any of the tribal rolls.
Investigation of the Odd Fellows Home near Checotah, Okla., developed that only
eight of the children were supposed to have Indian blood. Of these eight, five
were found to be enrolled and allotted, and the claim of the others, viz, Cecil
Edward, Alfred D., and Mary Caroline McMillan, who were 16, 14, and 12 years of
age, respectively, was found to be based upon the fact that their uncle, Andrew
Jackson McMillan, married a Chickasaw Indian and was himself enrolled as an
intermarried white.
In the Cherokee Orphans Home at Pryor all children have been enrolled with the
exception of two boys, whose cases have been investigated by Mr. Mills.
In the Chickasaw Orphan Home at Lebanon, Okla., all the inmates have been
enrolled; likewise the Creek Orphans Home at Okmulgee, Okla., with one
exception, viz, Mattie Byrd, whose case is in the hands of Mr. Bliss.
In the Armstrong Academy all have been enrolled; likewise in the Tullahassee
Boarding School at Tullahassee, Okla.
In the Wheelock Orphan Academy at Millerton, Okla., all the inmates have been
enrolled.
In the Marrow Indian Orphan Home all have been enrolled with the exception of
the four Archibald children, whose cases Mr. Bliss has.
All of the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes in the insane asylum at Canton,
S. Dak., have been enrolled. Respectfully,
Dixon H. Bynum,
Chief Clerk
Notes About the Book:
Source: Five Civilized Tribes In Oklahoma, Reports of the Department of the
Interior and Evidentiary Papers in support of S. 7625, a Bill for the Relief of
Certain Members of the Five Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma, Sixty-second Congress,
Third Session, Published 1913, by the Department of the Interior, United States.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
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