Letters, Telegrams, Petitions 141-150

No. 141

Department of the Interior,
Washington, October 9, 1908

Mr. Richard C. Adams,
Bond Building, Washington, D. C.

Sir: The Department is in receipt of yours of the 6th instant, inclosing a copy of a letter addressed by you to the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes. In said letter to the Commission you state that you desire, on behalf of the Delaware Indians, to be allowed “to answer as to such particular tract that is in dispute; that the complete record of the same may be made and transmitted with your report to the Secretary, before whom we can have a last chance to present our side of the case.” A copy of the instructions to the Commission has been sent you, and doubtless there will be no difficulty in your being present or represented before the Commission when they proceed to consider the conflicting rights of parties to the tracts in controversy, if you so desire. The Department, however, will not expect the Com-mission to delay action on account of the absence of parties or attorneys representing them in respect of the disputed tracts. Prompt, efficient, and just action will be expected of the Commission.

A copy of this letter has this day been sent to the Commission for its information. Respectfully,

THOS. RYAN, Acting Secretary


No. 142

Department of the Interior,
Washington, October 13, 1903.

The Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes.

Gentlemen: There is enclosed herewith, for your information, copy of depart-mental letter of the 8th instant to Mr. Richard C. Adams, this city, in reply to his of the 6th instant, regarding his request to be represented before your Commission when you proceed to consider the conflicting rights of parties to disputed tracts of land in the Cherokee Nation.

Respectfully,
THOS. RYAN, Acting Secretary


No. 143
Telegram

Tahlequah, October 1, 1903.

R. C. Adams,
1319 Columbia Road, Washington, D. C:

Can’t get certificate till two weeks’ notice posted in land office door, giving Cherokees permission to file on segregated Delaware land.

Carrie.

Note. The above telegram filed with the Department by R. C. Adams, October 12, 1903.


No. 144

Washington, D. C, October 9, 1903.

The Secretary of the Interior

Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your letter of October 7, transmitting copy of your instructions to the Dawes Commission, requiring them to investigate and determine what lands are subject to segregation for the Delaware Indians. You further state in these instructions “that the Commission can not substitute the judgment of the Delaware Indians, or any of them, or anyone for them or any of them, for their own judgment in this matter.” I wish to call your attention to the fact that the Delaware-Cherokee agreement provides that, “the selection of the lands to be purchased by the Delaware may be made by said Delaware in any part of the Cherokee Reservation east of the said line of 96°, not already selected and in possession of other parties.” The agreement further provides that, “nor shall the continued ownership and occupancy of said land by any Delaware so registered be interfered with in any manner whatever without his consent.” The act referred to in your instructions to the Dawes Commission that is, the 23d section of the Cherokee allotment act also provides that the lands shall he selected by the Delaware and may include lands improved and occupied by them.

We hold that the Delaware Indians are entitled to the right to select 157,600 acres of land, whether improved and occupied by them or not, so long as the land so selected was not, at the time of the selection, improved and occupied by Cherokee. Or if improved and occupied by Cherokees, and Delaware had purchased said improvements, said Delaware had the right to select said lands. We hold and contend that the Delaware Indians are entitled to the right to select 110 acres of average allotable land for each member of the tribe, outside of and in addition to the 157,600 acres segregated. And your Department has concurred with us in this contention so far as to agree that we may hold, subject to the future determination of the suit now pending, 110 acres of allotable land in addition to the 157,600 acres, provided that the Delaware selecting the land is in actual possession of the same. We hold and contend that the Delaware Indians have the right, through themselves or their representatives, to designate what lands they select for segregation, and the Commission only has the right to determine whether or not the land was in possession of some Cherokee at the time the Delaware made the selection.

We insist upon being represented before the Commission and before the Department, and on being fairly heard as to our contention for each particular tract of land for which there may be adverse claims of any nature whatever. And we insist upon a report being made in each case and that the attorneys for the Delaware be furnished with a copy thereof and have an opportunity to answer, both before the Dawes Commission and before your Department.

We insist that the Dawes Commission, both in their reports to the Department and in a letter to K. S. Murchison, have misrepresented our rights to certain parts of the land that was selected for the segregation. Out of the 27 allotments referred to in the letter of July 21, 1903, to K. S. Murchison, setting forth particular tracts of land that have heretofore been filed upon by Cherokee and which tracts the Commission states are said to belong to Cherokee who have valuable improvements thereon, we find, on a careful examination of the schedule, to be in every case tracts which have long been occupied by Delaware and claimed by them, except two only, and these two are not included in the segregation at all, and never have been claimed by Delaware, so far as we know.

Surely the Commission has not thoroughly investigated this matter or they would not have made such a report; they would not have stated that these two tracts were included in the segregation if they had been careful enough to examine the list closely, and they would not have given credence to the statement that no Delaware owned the other tracts if they had given the Delaware a chance to be heard before they made their report or acted in the matter.

For the last five years we have tried to get the Dawes Commission and the Department to make the segregation of the Delaware lands, and the reply of the Commission has been that all that was required of them was to set aside the lands selected by the Delaware. The Department concurred in this view of the Commission, and so stated to me in a letter dated April 8, 1901.

All the Delaware want is fair treatment at the hands of the Dawes Commission. We have been put to large and unnecessary expense in defending our homes and our rights, and the Delaware who have written to me feel, and apparently with good reason, that they have but little hope of fair and impartial treatment from the Dawes Commission and the Cherokee. The Commission should have no motive in protecting the rights of the Cherokee to the detriment of the Delaware, and we certainly do not ask them to give us anything to which we are not entitled. I can name a large number of cases where filings have been made on lands of Delaware who have owned their homes and improvements for many years, and whose rights to the same have never been questioned, and are not questioned today except that some Cherokee has set up a claim to the land, not because of owning any improvements thereon, nor because of any right to it, but for reasons and motives unknown to us.

I wish to be able to advise my people immediately of the true status of their affairs and on what they can depend as to the course that will be pursued in the future regarding their lands. They feel much discouraged, for everything that is done apparently leaves them in a worse predicament than before.

For these reasons we request permission to appear before the Dawes at any sittings it may have for the purpose of finally determining what lands shall be included in the Delaware segregation, and that a complete record and report may be made of such proceedings in order that we may have the opportunity to file exceptions for review by your Department in case we shall consider that the segregation is not made in accordance with the law and in full justice to the Delaware.

Yours truly,
RICHARD C. ADAMS


No. 145

Department of the Interior,
Washington, October 15, 1903

Mr. Richard C. Adams,
Bond Building, Washington, D. C.

Sir: The Department is in receipt of your communication dated October 9, 1903, relative to the claims of the Delaware Indians, stating, among other things, that “all the Delaware want is fair treatment at the hands of the Dawes Commission;” also requesting “permission to appear before the Dawes Commission at any sittings it may have for the purpose of finally determining what lands shall be included in the Delaware segregation, and that a complete record and report may be made of such proceedings, in order that we (you) may have the opportunity to file exceptions for review” t))’ this Department, in case you consider that the segregation has not been made in accordance with the law and in full justice to the Delaware.

It is evident that when your said letter was written you had not received departmental letter of October 9, in response to yours of the 6th instant, inclosing a letter addressed by you to the Dawes Commission, asking to be allowed “to answer as to each particular tract that is in dispute, that the complete record of the case may be made and transmitted with your (their) report to the Secretary, before whom we (you) can have a last chance to present our side of the case.”

In said letter you were advised that a copy of the instructions to the Commission had been sent you, and “doubtless there will be no difficulty in your being present or represented before the Commission when they proceed to consider the conflicting rights of parties to the tracts in controversy, if you so desire. The Department will not expect the Commission to delay action on account of the absence of parties or attorneys representing them in respect of the disputed tracts. Prompt, efficient, and just action will be expected of the Commission.”

It is hardly necessary to assure you that the Department earnestly desires that its every action shall be in strict accord with the principles of justice as to the rights of both the Delaware and the Cherokees.

Respectfully,
THOS. RYAN, Acting Secretary


No. 146

Washington, D. C, October 26, 1903.

The Secretary op the Interior.

Sir: Kindly furnish me with copies of the following:

Departmental letter of September 28, 1903, to the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, in regard to a letter from me respecting the Delaware lands. Letter of September 28, 1903, I. T. D. B798.

Departmental letter of October 7, 1903, to Mary Nairn, requesting to be advised why all of the registered Delaware lands are not segregated.

Copy of report of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes of September 5, 1903, submitted with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs’ letter of October 1, 1903.

Respectfully,
RICHARD C. ADAMS


No. 147

Department of the Interior,
Washington, October 27, 1903.

Mr. Richard C. Adams,
Bond Building, Washington, D.C.

Sir: In compliance with the request in your letter of the 26th instant, there are enclosed herewith copies of the following letters:

Report of the Commission of the Five Civilized Tribes, dated September 5, 1903, upon a communication from Mary Nairn, of Coodys Bluff, Ind. T., regarding Delaware segregation.

Departmental letter of September 28, 190o, to the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, asking for report upon charges made by you, concerning the acceptance of applications by the Commission, after the receipt of notice of the order of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia in the case of George Bullette et al. v. E. A. Hitchcock et al.

Departmental letter of October 7, 1903, to said Mary Nairn.

Respectfully,
THOS. RYAN, Acting Secretary


No. 148

Baltimore, October 6, 1903.

Hon. Thomas Ryan,
Acting Secretary, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C.

My Dear Sir: I understood from your recent letter that I should receive within a day or two after its date a commission either as “Special inspector” or “Special supervisor;” as yet, however, it has not come to hand. The matter would not be one of any consequence in itself, but, as I am about to write to the officials in the Indian Territory affected by the statements of the Brosius report, and also by those contained in other documents which I have received, I should like to sign the letters with my proper title; although, as I think I stated to you, I have no preference between the two suggested.

I was informed this morning that some expressions had fallen from Judge Anderson, and had been published, commenting upon the action of the Dawes Commission in resuming the practice discontinued by reason of the temporary restraining order in the case of the Delaware Indians immediately upon the dissolution of that order, and also that some action had been taken by the Department in connection with the same matter. These various incidents are said to have occurred either yesterday or the day before, but I have seen no reference to them in such papers as I have read, nor was anything said to me on the subject by the counsel of these Delaware Indians who called upon me yesterday. If these matters are of any relevancy in connection with the investigation entrusted to me, and the Department can give me any information in the premises, I shall be much indebted.

I enclose you herewith an original paper which seems to have been overlooked when I returned the others. It consists of a letter from one P. M. Clark, signing himself as “Notary public,” addressed to the Secretary of the Interior, reflecting upon the town site commission of Boswell, and inclosing a clipping about another town site commission in the town of Coalgate. I remain, my dear sir, yours, most truly,

CHARLES J. BOXAIARTE


No. 149

Department of the Interior,
Washington, October 7, 1903.

Mr. Charles J. Bonaparte,
Special Inspector for the Indian Service, Baltimore, Md

My Dear Sir: Referring to your letter of yesterday, I will state that your commission, dated September 15, 1903, as special inspector for the Indian Service, will be mailed you immediately upon the return of the Secretary, probably next Saturday.

Referring to that portion of your letter relative to the action of the Department and the Dawes Commission under the restraining order in the case you refer to, I am inclined to think you should have copies of the entire record in the Department on the subject, inclusive of such as are pertinent to the matter of the segregation of the Delaware lands, in order that you may have an intelligent view of the situation regarding it; accordingly, the Department has in preparation such copies and will forward the same to you at the earliest practicable moment, imparting to you all the relevant information in the possession of the Department.

Immediately upon the return of the Secretary I think he may desire to call your attention to town site conditions in the Indian Territory, but I will not here attempt to anticipate his action in the matter by any further reference to the subject.

It is highly probable that in the course of your investigations developments will suggest the importance to you of information contained in the records of the Department. In all such cases the Department will promptly and with pleasure furnish you such information upon your request. In other words, the Department desires to impress upon you that all the records of the Department and all other information in its possession pertinent to any inquiry relative to the investigation under your charge are subject to your use.

Respectfully,
THOS. RYAN, Acting Secretary


No. 150

Department of the Interior,
Washington, October 10, 1003.

Mr. Charles J. Bonaparte,
216 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, Md.

Sir: In further reply to your letter of October 6, 1903, I have the honor to enclose herewith a memorandum showing the action of the Department in the matter of the segregation of Delaware lands under section 23 of the act of July 1, 1902 (32 Stat., 716), to which reference is made in the opinion of the supreme court of the District of Columbia in the case of George Bullette et al. v. Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Secretary of the Interior, et al.. No. 23991.

Respectfully,
THOS. RYAN, Acting Secretary


Memorandum

October 10, 1903. Memorandum of action of the Dawes Commission and the Department in the matter of the segregation of lands claimed by the Delaware Indians under the provisions of section 23 of the act of July 1, 1902 {32 Stat., 716).

The Dawes Commission in its monthly report, dated October 9, 1902, of work performed during the month of September, 1902, advised the Department that–

“On September 25, 1902, an order was promulgated, to the effect that on January 1, 1903, an office for the allotment of lands in the Cherokee Nation would he established at Vinita, Ind. T., said office to be maintained there until April 30, 1903, and then removed to Tahlequah, Ind. T., where it would be opened May 4, 1903, and maintained indefinitely.”

Said report was forwarded by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs on October 17, 1902, with the recommendation that it be approved. On October 20, 1902, the Department addressed a letter to the Dawes Commission, stating that its report was approved, without making any special reference to the statement concerning the opening of the land office.

On April 18, 1903, Mr. R. C. Adams addressed a communication to the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, complaining of the action of the Commission relative to the segregation of Delaware lands, copy of which is enclosed, marked “Exhibit 1.” Said letter was forwarded on April 28, 1903, by the Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs, with the recommendation that “the whole matter be referred to the Commission for early report,” and the letter and report were referred to the Assistant Attorney-General for his opinion on May 4, 1903. (See Exhibit 4.)

On April 20, 1903, the Commission made a report relative to its action in segregating 157,600 acres of land under section 23 of the act of July 1, 1902, a copy of which, together with copies of its exhibits, is enclosed herewith, marked ” Exhibit 2.”

On April 30, 1903, the Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs forwarded the Com-mission’s report above referred to with his letter, a copy of which is enclosed, marked “Exhibit3.”

On May 4 the Department referred the matter to the Assistant Attorney-general in a letter, a copy of which is enclosed, marked “Exhibit 4.”

On June 1 the complainants in said case No. 23991 filed a bill, a copy of which is enclosed, marked “Exhibits 5”

On June 1 the Department referred to the Assistant Attorney-General letter of Richard C. Adams, dated May 27, 1903, copies of both letters herewith, marked “Exhibit 5½.”

June 2 the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia granted a restraining order until after final hearing, which was fixed for the 19th day of June, copy herewith, marked ” Exhibit 6.”

On June 6 Mr. R. C. Adams addressed a letter to the President complaining of the action of the Dawes Commission relative to allowing applications upon the lands claimed to have been segregated, copy of which is enclosed, marked “Exhibit 7.”

On June 8 the chairman of the Commission addressed a communication to the Secretary in response to said letter. (Copy enclosed, marked “Exhibit 8.”)

On July 21 the Department received a communication in the nature of a memorandum, dated July 18, 1903, from Mr. George S. Chaste, one of the attorneys for the Delaware, complaining of the action of the Commission in receiving applications for lands claimed to have been segregated for the Delaware. (Copy of said letter is enclosed, marked “Exhibit 9.”)

On July 21 the Department sent a telegram to the chairman directing the Commission to suspend all action on applications for Cherokee allotments received prior to the suit, and not to receive or act upon any later applications until so directed, and to report facts. (Copy enclosed, marked “Exhibit 10.”)

July 22, the Commission wired the Department that the Commission had resolved, “that Cherokee citizens not of Delaware blood occupying lands embraced in the Delaware segregation shall be permitted to make application for such lands,” and claimants might institute contest proceedings. (Copy of said telegram is enclosed, marked “Exhibit 11.”)

On the same day the Department wired the chairman of the Commission “to receive no applications for Cherokee allotments under the resolutions adopted by the Commission June 30.” (Copy herewith, marked “Exhibit 12.”)

On the same day the Department, referring to said telegram, addressed a letter to the Commission, in which it is stated: “Independently of any strict construction of the restraining order herein, the policy of the Department in such cases is always to suspend all action which will in any way affect the matters complained of until such time as they may be passed upon by the court wherein the suit is instituted.” (A copy of said letter is enclosed, marked “Exhibit 13.”)

On the same day the Department received telegram from Commissioner in Charge Needles, stating that Commission has no notice or information of the restraining order referred to in departmental telegram of July 21. (Copy of said telegram is enclosed, marked “Exhibit 14.”)

Under date of September 17 the Commissioner of Indian Affairs submitted a letter of said Adams, dated September 14, relative to injuries claimed to have been perpetrated upon the Delaware Indians now residing in the Indian Territory. (Copy of said letter enclosed, marked “Exhibit 15.”)

The original of said letter was referred to the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes on September 28 for full report. (Copy herewith, marked “Exhibit 16.”)

On September 28 the Department wired the chairman of the Dawes Commission that the injunction had been refused and the temporary restraining order had been discharged by Judge Anderson that morning. (Copy herewith, marked “Exhibit 17.”)

On October 2 the Department wired the Commission not to receive applications for allotments in the Cherokee Nation until further directed, and letter will follow. (Copy herewith, marked “Exhibit 18.”)

On the same day the Department received a letter from Mr. Richard C. Adams, requesting copies of certain letters. (A copy of his letter enclosed, marked “Exhibit 19.”)

On October 3, 1903, the Department complied with Adams’s request of the 2d. (Copy of said departmental letter is enclosed, and, together with copies of the letters therein referred to, is marked “Exhibit 20.”)

On October 6 the formal decree in said case No. 23991 was entered by the judge, (Copy herewith, marked “Exhibit 21.”)

On the same day, October 6, the Department sent a letter of instructions to the Dawes Commission relative to its duty concerning the segregation of the Delaware lands. (Copy herewith, marked “Exhibit 22.”)

October 7 the Department transmitted to Richard C. Adams copy of departmental letter of October 6, 1903, sent to the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes relative to the segregation of lands in the Cherokee Nation for the Delaware Indians. (Copy of said letter to Adams herewith, marked “Exhibit 23.” See “Exhibit 22.”)

On October 7 the Department received a letter from Richard C. Adams, dated October 6, 1903, in regard to what lands should be omitted from the Delaware segregation, and requesting to be allowed to answer as to each {particular tract in dispute, and inclosing copy of a letter addressed by him to the Dawes Commission regarding the same matter. (Copies of both letters enclosed, marked “Exhibit 24.”)

On October 9 the Department replied to Adams’s letter of the 6th, advising him that there would be no difficulty in his being represented before the Commission if he so desired, but that the Department would not expect the Commission to delay action on account of the absence of parties or attorneys representing them in respect of the disputed tracts. (Copy of said departmental letter enclosed, marked “Exhibit 25.”)

A copy of petition in the Court of Claims (No. 24067) of the Delaware Indians ‘. The United States is herewith enclosed, marked “Exhibit 26.”

 


Collection:
Allotment of Lands to Delaware Indians, 58th Congress, 2nd Session, Senate, No.104, 1904

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