The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1868-11-10
PROFITABLE LOYALTY.
Another Big swindls Of /" Loyal" Speech,
iators-A Quarter Of a Hillion Stol.
en- from the Chowtaws,
lCoresPoadenes Of ne ". j. HeraidI

Icompleted in this city. There is, or was
fund of s2,453,Sl0 held in trust by the
United States for the Choctaw and Chick
asaw Indians, and about $4,000 for
the Cierokecs. ,ft - OH ll4
| Ever since the celebrated Indian trus,
fund defalcation there has not been want
ing enterprising individuals constantly
engaged in casting about for schemes to
get hold Of these tempting trust funds
Accordingly a clause was inserted in a
treaty between the United States and
those two powerful " nations" the Chloe
taws and Chickasaws, providing that ''the
President of the United States shall APP
point commission who shall take into
consideration and determine the claims
of such Choctaws and Chickasaws as al
lege that they have been driven from their
homes in the Choctaw and Chickasaw
nations, on account of their adhesion to
the United States, for damages, whose
report, when ratified by the Secretary OF
the Interior, shall be final, and authorize
the payment of the amount from any
moneys of said nations in the hands OF
the United States, as the commission
may award"
Now it happens to be historical fact
that the Choctaws and Chickasaws went
into the rebellion with unanimity un.
paralleled in any of the Southern States
1t is an admitted fact that there were alb
solutely no loyal persons among them
to be "drivon from their homes on ac-
count of their adhesion to the United
States The larger part of the able
bodied Choctaws were in the rebel army,
and none of them in ours. 1t might be
thought, therefore, the Commissioners
sent out to find loyal claims, and the
spectators following after to purchase
them, went to poor market. You shall
| see. Ua..s. 1865 ..t
The commission was appointed and
went out to the Indian territory in July,
1866, and returned with their report on
the 3lst day of December following. The
amount of loyal claims discovered and
damages awarded amounted to something
over S250,000 7t
| The attorney of the Choctaw nation
Immediately filed protest against their
payment, partly on the ground of the dis
loyalty of the claimants, citing their rec
ord in evidence. For example: g Claim
No. 3 was that of one A. j. Stanton, a
Confederate soldier, to whom 81, 743 was
allowed Claim No 5 was that of one
b. +. Walls, another Confederate soldier,
to whom $3.50 was allowed. w. T.
Stephens, No 6, another c. S. A. soldier,
gets an award of Sl,917. Claims Nos. Z
and were made bypersons who, instead
of having been driven from their homes
on account Of adhesion to the United
States, were actually ordered out of town
for disloyalty by the United States officers
then in command yet 50, 1876 was award
ed them. No. 20 Sampson Mccain; al
lowed S2,762, This person was Lieu
tenant in the Confederate army, as can be
proved, He deserted and went to Fort
Smith 1t cannot well be said that he
was driven from his home within the
meaning of the treaty. Case No. rs,
Stephens, executor of j. r. Halls estate
allowed 1886, Hall was Captain in
the Confederate service, and was killed in
the streets of Fort Smith, and Stephens,
his administrator, was a private in his
company
1t can be judged whether these claim
ants were likely to be +" driven from their
homes on account of their adhesion to the
United States"
In the face of this evidence Secretary
Browning promptly and properly decided
that though fully empowered to pay the
awards of the commission, he should not
do so without special act or order from
Congress.
Resolutions orderingt the payment were
accordingly introduced in both Houses
of the Thirty ninth Congress, only to be
defeated by the following protest by q
delegation of the Choctaws authorized to
defend their nations funds .... 81
To the Senators and Representatives of the
United States:
We, the undersigned, delegates of the Choc-
taw Nation do respectfully protest against
the passage of either Senate joint resolution,
Mo. III, or House joint resolution, No. POS,
both of which provide for the payment of
certain losses sustained by loyal Choctaw and
Chicasaw Indians and for the following rea-
: sons a .rpy
That ee-foufths of the so-called loyal
claims arr, those OF persons who can De proven
TO have been re, els, the majority OF them hav-
Ing served in the rebe.. army. .u..
3. That although the lo,n OF our na.,o oaI
ourselves included. have suffered ss'c'c VS. -
by the rebellion, in no case do we know VI
single just claim for damages preferred by
thoroughly loyal man.
8. That by treaty concluded last year be-
tween the United States and the Choctaw and
Chicasaw Nations. the Secretary of the lnte-
rior was invested with the power to pay these
claims If proven on testimony to be those OF
loyal persons. ...
4. That the Secretary OF the Interior has re-
fused to authorize the payment Of the awards
to tho claimants.
@. That the claims, even IL just, are many of
them fictitious. and ifnot fictitious are at least
three or iour times IN excess Of damages slis-
tanned.
@. That If the resolution pass, the moneys
paid in award of claims will mostly accrue to
Spectators, who, at small valuation. have
bought up the greater portions of the claims.
We may well ask II 1t is not strange that
Joint resolutions, the same IN effect and pur-
pose, should DO presented at the Same time In
The Senate and House. For ourselves and the
people we represent, we donounce them as
links in q vast chain of schemes concOcted by
desperate men for the robbery OF our nation
Not only believing, but knowing the claims
to be a fraud upon the Government as well as
upon the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations,we
earnestly ask the defeat of the Joint resolu-
tions referred to. PIP, PlTCHIYNN,
ISRAEL FOLSOM.
Similar resolutions were tried in the