The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-17
KANSAS.
The Land TrOubIes-Particulars of the Origin
Ofihe Difficulties.

The Land of the Origin
The recent land troubles of Kansas are
under discussion at the capital. They origi-
mated in the Interior Department, and at one
time they approximated to civil war;
The Indian Bureau and General Land Office
both having a partial jurisdiction in the
matter, the trouble has grown out of the un-
certainty as to which was paramount. AS a
large number of settlers from the Eastern and
Middle States are involved in the troubles,
and no statement of the original cause has
yet been published, / have looked it up from
the records of the Interior Department.
In 1866 the Cherokee tribe of Indians
laid claim to and offered for sale some twelve
million acres of land, embracing a large por-
ton of Southern Kansas and the tract lying
north of Texas. No examination of the In
dians' title to these lands appears to have been
made by Secretary Harlan, nor did he refer
the matter to the General Land Office, but
proceeded at once to sell 800, 600 acres of the
Kansas lands, in trust for the Cherokees,
through the Indian Bureau, to the Ameri-
can Emigrant Company of Connecticut.
The lands thus sold had been previously
settled upon by some twenty-five thousand
people from all parts of the Union, under,
as many of them supposed, the pre-emption
law. Towns had grown up; thousands of
farms had been started, with the expectation
that the settlers would have the usual first
chance to buy from the Government. OF
course these people clung to their homes with
the tenacity usual in such cases. The Indians
claimed to have fee simple title to the land,
under patent signed by President Van Buren
in the year 1888.
On the other hand, men learned in the law
| like Judge Lawrence, of Ohio, and General
| Butler, of Massachusetts, pronounced the In
| dians title altogether worthless-an opinion
| which seems to have been sustained by the
| Attorney-General, who pronounced the Har-
Ian sale null and void. Nevertheless, the
| American Emigrant Company assigned their
| title, such as it was, to the agent of a railway
company, who, strengthening it with another
treaty" with the alleged Indian owners, pro-
ceeded TO take possession, and offer the land
| for sale which the settlers claimed he had no
| right to do until the courts had decided upon
| the title. He persisted and they resisted,
until troops had be calledfor to preserve order
| and enforce the rights of owners, whoever
they may be, which, of course, will be difficult
to tell until case can be carried to the Su-
| pTeme Court.
The whole question will turn upon the In
| dians' title to the land If it is, as claimed, q
fee simple title, the settlers must vacate the
| land or purchase of the American Emigrant
| CCmpanys assignee. If, on the other hand
The Supreme Court decides the Indian title
worthless, the settlers will hold their homes
under the pre-emption and homestead laws,
This is the concluding portion of the Van
Buren grant of 1888, under which the Indians
claim to hold the lands;-
"Ihe United States have given and granted,
and by these presents do give and grant, unto
the said Cherokee Nation the two tracts of
land so surveyed and hereinbefore described
containing in 1.-The whole fourteen million
three hundred and seventy-four thousand one
hundred and thirty-fve acres and fourteen
hundredths of an acre, to have and to
hold the same, together with all the rights,
privileges, and appurtenances thereto be-
longing, to the said Cherokee Nation for
ever; subject, however, to the right of the
United States to permit other tribes of red
men to get salt on the salt plain referred to;
and subject, also, to all the other rights re-
served to the United States in and by the
article hereintofore recited, to the extent and
in the manner in which the said rights are SO
reserved; and subject also, TO the condition
provided by act of Congress of May 2S, 1880,
and which condition is, that the lands hereby
granted shall revert to the United States il
the sad Cherokee Nation becomes extinct, or
abandons the same.