While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
27. The rolls of the Choctaw and Chickasaw citizens and Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen shall be made by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, in strict compliance with the act of Congress approved June 28, 1898 (30 Stats., 495), and the act of Congress approved May 31, 1900 (31 Stats., 221), except as herein otherwise provided: Provided, That 110 person claiming right to enrollment and allotment and distribution of tribal
property, by virtue of a judgment of the United States court in the Indian Territory under the act of June 10, 189(5 (29 Stats., 321), and which right is contested by legal proceedings instituted under the provisions of this agreement, shall be enrolled or receive allotment of lands or distribution of tribal property until his right thereto has been finally determined.
28. The names of all persons living on the date of the final ratification of this agreement entitled to be enrolled as provided in section 27 hereof shall be placed upon the rolls made by said Commission ; and no child born thereafter to a citizen or freedman and no person intermarried thereafter to a citizen shall be entitled to enrollment or to participate in the distribution of the tribal property of the Choctaws and Chickasaws.
29. No person whose name appears upon the rolls made by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes as a citizen or freedman of any other tribe shall be enrolled as a citizen or freedman of the Choctaw or Chickasaw nations.
30. For the purpose of expediting the enrollment of the Choctaw and Chicka saw citizens and the Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen, the said Commission shall, from time to time, and as early as practicable, forward to the Secretary of the Interior lists upon which shall be placed names of those persons found by the Commission to be entitled to enrollment. The lists thus prepared, when approved by the Secretary of the Interior, shall
constitute a part and parcel of the final rolls of citizens of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes and of Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen, upon which allotment of land and distribution of other tribal property shall be made as herein provided. Lists shall be made up and forwarded when contests of whatever character shall have been determined, and when there shall have been submitted to and approved by the Secretary of the Interior lists
embracing names of all those lawfully entitled to enrollment, the rolls shall be deemed complete. The rolls so prepared shall be made in quintuplicate, one to be deposited with the Secretary of the Interior, one with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, one with the principal chief of the Choctaw Nation, one with the governor of the Chickasaw Nation, and one to remain with the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes.
31. It being claimed and insisted by the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations that the United States courts in the Indian Territory, acting under the act of Congress approved June 10, 189(5, have admitted persons to citizenship or to enrollment as such citizens in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, respectively, with out notice of the proceedings in such courts being given to each of said nations ; and it being insisted by said nations
that, in such proceedings, notice to each of said nations was indispensable, and it being claimed and insisted by said nations that the proceedings in the United States courts in the Indian Territory, under the said act of June 10, 189G, should have been confined to a review of the action of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, upon the papers and evidence submitted to such Commission, and should not have extended to a trial de novo
of the question of citizenship; and it being desirable to finally determine these questions, the two nations jointly, or either of said nations acting separately and making the other a party defendant, may, within ninety days after this agreement becomes effective, by a bill in equity filed in the Choctaw and Chickasaw citizenship court hereinafter named, seek the annulment and vacation of all such decisions by said courts. Ten persons so
admitted to citizenship or enrollment by said courts, with notice to one, but not to both of said nations, shall be made defendants to said suit as representatives of the entire class of persons similarly situated, the number of such persons being too numerous to require all of them to be made individual parties to the suit; but any person so situated may, upon his application, be made a party defendant to the suit. Notice of the
institution of said suit shall be personally served upon the chief executive of the defendant nation, if either nation be made a party defendant as aforesaid, and upon each of said ten representative defendants, and shall also be published for a period of four weeks in at least two weekly newspapers having general circulation in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations. Such notice shall set forth the nature and prayer of the bill, with the time
for answering the same, which shall not be less than thirty days after the last publication. Said suit shall be determined at the earliest practicable time, shall be confined to a final determination of the questions of law here named, and shall be without prejudice to the determination of any charge or claim that the admission of such persons to citizenship or enrollment by said United States courts in the Indian Territory was wrongfully
obtained as provided in the next section. In the event said citizenship judgments or decisions are annulled or vacated in the test suit hereinbefore authorized, because of either or both of the irregularities claimed and insisted upon by said nations as aforesaid, then the files, papers, and proceedings in any citizenship case in which the judgment or decision is so annulled or vacated, shall, upon written application there for, made within
ninety days thereafter by any party thereto, who is thus deprived of a favorable judgment upon his claimed citizenship, be transferred and certified to said citizenship court by the court having custody and control of such files, papers, and proceedings, and, upon the filing in such citizenship court of the files, papers, and proceedings in any such citizenship case, accompanied by due proof that notice in writing of the transfer and
certification thereof has been given to the chief executive officer of each of said nations, said citizenship case shall be docketed in said citizenship court, and such further proceedings shall be had therein in that court as ought to have been had in the court to which the same was taken on appeal from the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, and as if no judgment or decision had been rendered therein.
32. Said citizenship court shall also have appellate jurisdiction over all judgments of the courts in Indian Territory rendered under said act of Congress of June tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, admitting persons to citizenship or to enrollment as citizens in either of said nations. The right of appeal may be exercised by the said nations jointly or by either of them acting separately at any time within six months after this
agreement is finally ratified. In the exercise of such appellate jurisdiction said citizenship court shall be authorized to consider, review, and revise all such judgments, both as to findings of fact and conclusions of law, and may, wherever in its judgment substantial justice will thereby be subserved, permit either party to any such appeal to take and present such further evidence as may be necessary to enable said court to determine the
very right of the controversy. And said court shall have power to make all needful rules and regulations prescribing the manner of taking and conducting said appeals and of taking additional evidence therein. Such citizenship court shall also have like appellate jurisdiction and authority over judgments rendered by such courts under the said act denying claims to citizen ship or to enrollment as citizens in either of said nations. Such
appeals shall be taken within the time hereinbefore specified and shall be taken, conducted, and disposed of in the same manner as appeals by the said nations, save that notice of appeals by citizenship claimants shall be served upon the chief executive officer of both nations: Provided, That paragraphs thirty-one, thirty-two, and thirty-three hereof shall go into effect immediately after the passage of this act by Congress.
33. A court is hereby created, to be known as the Choctaw and Chickasaw citizenship court, the existence of which shall terminate upon the final determination of the suits and proceedings named in the last two preceding sections, but in no event later than the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and three. Said court shall have all authority and power necessary to the hearing and determination of the suits and proceedings
so committed to its jurisdiction, including the authority to issue and enforce all requisite writs, process, and orders, and to prescribe rules and regulations for the transaction of its business. It shall also have all the powers of a circuit court of the United States in compelling the production of books, papers, and documents, the attendance of witnesses, and in punishing contempt. Except where herein otherwise expressly provided, the
pleading, practice, and proceedings in said court shall conform, as near as may be, to the pleadings, practice, and proceedings in equity causes in the circuit courts of the United States. The testimony shall be taken in court or before one of the judges, so far as practicable. Each judge shall be authorized to grant, in vacation or recess, interlocutory orders and to hear and dispose of interlocutory motions not affecting the substantial
merits of the case. Said court shall have a chief judge and two associate judges, a clerk, a stenographer, who shall be deputy clerk, and a bailiff. The judges shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall each receive a compensation of five thousand dollars per annum and his necessary and actual traveling and personal expenses while engaged in the performance of his duties. The clerk,
stenographer, and bailiff shall be appointed by the judges, or a majority of them, and shall receive the following yearly compensation: Clerk, two thousand four hundred dollars; stenographer, twelve hundred dollars ; bailiff, nine hundred dollars. The compensation of all these officers shall be paid by the United States in monthly installments. The moneys to pay said compensation are hereby appropriated, and there is also hereby
appropriated the sum of five thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, to pay such contingent expenses of said court and its officers as to such Secretary may seem proper. Said court shall have a seal, shall sit at such place or places in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations as the judges may designate, and shall hold public sessions, beginning the first
Monday in each month, so far as may be practicable or necessary. Each judge and the clerk and deputy clerk shall be authorized to administer oaths. All writs and process issued by said court shall be served by the United States marshal for the district in which the service is to be had. The fees for serving process and the fees of witnesses shall be paid by the party at whose instance such process is issued or such witnesses are subpoenaed,
and the rate or amount of such fees shall be the same as is allowed in civil causes in the circuit court of the United States for the western district of Arkansas. No fees shall be charged by the clerk or other officers of said court. The clerk of the United States court in Indian Territory, having custody and control of the files, papers, and proceedings in the original citizenship cases, shall receive a fee of two dollars and fifty cents
for transferring and certifying to the citizenship court the files, papers, and proceedings in each case, without regard to the number of persons whose citizenship is involved therein, and said fee shall be paid by the person apply ing for such transfer and certification. The judgment of the citizenship court in any or all of the suits or proceedings so committed to its jurisdiction shall be final. All expenses necessary to the proper
conduct, on behalf of the nations, of the suits and proceedings provided for in this and the two preceding sections shall be incurred under the direction of the executives of the two nations, and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, upon certificate of said executives, to pay such expenses as in his judgment are reasonable and necessary out of any of the joint funds of said nations in the Treasury of the United States.
34. During the ninety days first following the date of the final ratification of this agreement the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes may receive applications for enrollment only of persons whose names are on the tribal rolls, but who have not heretofore been enrolled by said Commission, commonly known as " delinquents," and such intermarried white persons as may have married recognized citizens of the Choctaw and Chickasaw
nations in accordance with the tribal laws, customs, and usages on or before the date of the passage of this act by Congress, and such infant children as may have been born to recognized and enrolled citizens on or before the date of the final ratification of this agreement; but the application of no person whomsoever for enrollment shall be received after the expiration of the said ninety days: Provided, That nothing in this section shall
apply to any person or persons making application for enrollment as Mississippi Choctaws, for whom provision has herein otherwise been made.
35. No person whose name does not appear upon the rolls prepared as herein provided shall be entitled to in any manner participate in the distribution of the common property of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes, and those whose names appear thereon shall participate in the manner set forth in this agreement: Provided, That no allotment of land or other tribal property shall be made to any person, or to the heirs of any person,
whose name is on the said rolls, and who died prior to the date of the final ratification of this agreement The right of such person to any interest in the lands or other tribal property shall be deemed to have become extinguished and to have passed to the tribe in general upon his death before the date of the final ratification of this agreement, and any person or persons who may conceal the death of anyone on said rolls as aforesaid, for
the purpose of profiting by the said concealment, and who shall knowingly receive any portion of any land or other tribal property, or of the proceeds so arising from any allotment prohibited by this section, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and shall be proceeded against as may be provided in other cases of felony, and the penalty for this offense shall be confinement at hard labor for a period of not less than one year nor more than
five years, and in addition thereto a forfeiture to the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations of the lands, other tribal property, and proceeds so obtained.
36. Authority is hereby conferred upon the Court of Claims to determine the existing controversy respecting the relations of the Chickasaw freedmen to the Chickasaw Nation and the rights of such freedmen in the lands of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations under the third article of the treaty of eighteen hundred and sixty-six, between the United States and the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, and under any and all laws subsequently
enacted by the Chickasaw legislature or by Congress.
37. To that end the Attorney-General of the United States is hereby directed, on behalf of the United States, to file in said Court of Claims, within sixty days after this agreement becomes effective, a bill of interpleader against the Choc taw and Chickasaw nations and the Chickasaw freedmen, setting forth the existing controversy between the Chickasaw Nation and the Chickasaw freed men and praying that the defendants thereto be
required to interplead and settle their respective rights in such suit.
38. Service of process in the suit may be had on the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, respectively, by serving upon the principal chief of the former and the governor of the latter a certified copy of the bill, with a notice of the time for answering the same, which shall not be less than thirty nor more than sixty days after such service, and may be had upon the Chickasaw freedmen by serv ing upon each of three known and recognized
Chickasaw freedmen a certified copy of the bill, with a like notice of the time for answering the same, and by publishing a notice of the commencement of the suit, setting forth the nature and prayer of the bill, with the time for answering the same, for a period of three weeks in at least two weekly newspapers having general circulation in the Chickasaw Nation.
39. The Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, respectively, may in the manner pre scribed in sections twenty -one hundred and three to twenty -one hundred and six, both inclusive, of the Revised Statutes, employ counsel to represent them in such suit and protect their interests therein; and the Secretary of the Interior shall employ competent counsel to represent the Chickasaw freedmen in said suit and to protect their interests therein;
and the compensation of counsel so employed for the Chickasaw freedmen, including all costs of printing their briefs and other incidental expenses on their part, not exceeding six thousand dollars, shall be paid out of the Treasury of the United States upon certificate of the Secretary of the Interior setting forth the employment and the terms thereof, and stating that the required services have been duly rendered ; and any party feeling
aggrieved at the decree of the Court of Claims, or any part thereof, may, within sixty days after the rendition thereof, appeal to the Supreme Court, and in each of said courts the suit shall be advanced for hearing and decision at the earliest practicable time.
40. In the meantime the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes shall make a roll of the Chickasaw freedmen and their descendants, as provided in the Atoka agreement, and shall make allotments to them as provided in this agreement, which said allotments shall be held by the said Chickasaw freedmen, not as temporary allotments, but as final allotments, and in the event that it shall be finally determined in said suit that the
Chickasaw freedmen are not, independently of this agreement, entitled to allotments in the Choctaw and Chicka saw lands, the Court of Claims shall render a decree in favor of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations according to their respective interests, and against the United States, for the value of the lands so allotted to the Chickasaw freedmen as ascertained by the appraisal thereof made by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes for
the purpose of allotment, which decree shall take the place of the said lands and shall be in full satisfaction of all claims by the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations against the United States or the said freedmen on ac count of the taking of the said lands for allotment to said freedmen : Provided, That nothing contained in this paragraph shall be construed to affect or change the existing status or rights of the two tribes as between
themselves respecting the lands taken for allotment to freedmen, or the money, if any, recovered as compensation there for, as aforesaid.
This site
includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes
reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These
items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be
interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes
implied .
Laws, Decisions and Regulations Affecting the work of the Commissioners to Five Civilized Tribes, 1893-1906, Copyright 1906
