The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-11-17

The Trouble with the Squatters on the CbcrO-
kee Nentrnl Lnnds-The Present Situation of
Affairs.
The Washington Tnteuigcnccr OF November 16 gives
the following interesting particulars Of the Cherokee
lane diffculty:-
The squabbles Of Mr. JOY with the squatters in
Kansas have not diminished in bitterness with the
sending of the military there. News reaches us from
time to time of outrages and conflicts between the
civil authorities and these frontiersmen, which the
presence OF few companies Of cavalry Is totally in
adequate to suppress In connection with this mat
ter slight sketch of the history of the imbrogo
may prove interesting to our readers.
IL seems, then, that in 1895 the Cherokee nation,
in removing to the lands they now occupy were ap'
prehenslve that they would not prcve sufficiently
extensive for their wants and purchased under treaty
from the Government, sanctioned by the United
States Senate 100000 acres OF land In Kansas, Tor
which they paid 100000 in gold. In ante-bellum
times they remained in undisturbed possession OF
these lands but on the breaking out Of the late war
the tribe became divided, one portion going South
and the other remaining on the ground. Up to that
time no whites had settled on the so-termed neutral
lands But in 1866 they found white squatters
sprinkled the territory, and made an additional
treaty with the Government, in which it was agreed
that the State of Kansas should have jurisdiction
over them, and they also executed a trust to the
Government to sell the lands at price not less than
81 per acre, cash. Under that treaty Secretary Har-
ian sold the lands to a Connecticut emigration
society," receiving S25,000 in cash and arranging for
the deferred payments.
When Mr. browning became Secretary of the In
terror aside this sale as being contrary to the
terms of the treaty This left the trust in full force.
Another stipulation in the treaty OF 1866 was to the
effect that where any whites had squatted on the
lands up to that time, they might have the privilege
of purchasing not exceeding one hundred and sixty
acres each, at price to be appraised bya commits
sion to be appointed for that purpose Under this
stipulation some eleven thousand whites then there
purchased $4,000 acres The present trouble is not
with these original squattersl The remaining
Ga, 600 acres were then sold by Mr.. Browning to Mr.
JOY, a prominent Western railroad lawyer and
manager. He paid down the sum of $4,000 on the
purchase, and has since made several payments
Mr.. Cox, the present Secretary, has affirmed the
sale to Joyi but, in the meantime,
many other whites have squatted on the
lands, and they are the troublesome customers
whom Mr.. JOY is trying to dspossess. They have
made themselves strong by secret combination and
a number of lives have already been sacrificed on
account Of the quarrel up to the present time. These
illegal settlers trying TO keep up the fight to get
the Government to interfere by legislation other
wise giving them presumption claims to the lands
they have improved Mr. Joy is now engaged in
building the great Misssuri River, Fort Scott, and
Gulf" Railroad which has its terminus at Galveston,
Texas, and in its course passes over these lands,
and s obstructed on all hands by these troublesome
people. The affair is now threatened with new
complication by recent movements of the Cherokees,
who begin to be anxious as to the final ISSUE Mr.
joys legal agent In town in his interest, endeavor
ing to secure his client in undsputed possession Of
his purchase.