The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-08-19

ent that the parties having them in Gus
tody-Mr. Clarke, the Agent Taylor,
and ex-Agent Abbott, either, or all of
them, were Withholding the patents
from the Indians, even keeping them in
ignorance of their existence, and refus-
ing to deliver them to the Indians or re-
turn them to the Department, while
they were procuring the execution of
deeds under them, for the conveyance
of the lands to themselves or others.
Upon an examination of the case by
the then Secretary of the Interior, and
the development of these facts, all fur
Their proceedings in the matter were
stopped. None but the original sixty
nine patents had been executed, and
these were fraudulently issued; and
though further application for issuance
of siXty-fve more was made, it was de-
clined by the Department and although
large number of pretended deeds of
conveyance, or sales, under these pat
ents, had been executed and Forwarded
to the Secretary of the Interior, for his
approval, not one was approved, and
there the whole matter rested until the
4th day of March, 1869.
On the 9Th day of June, 1863, Super
intendent Hoag was directed, by the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, to in
stitute an investigation into this whole
matter. !
1t appears that under the patents that
had been fraudulently issued, and sur
reptitiously delivered to the Indians,
thirteen months after they had been
transmitted to Mr.. Clarke, in compliance
with his verbal request, and while they
were still in the hands of some, or all,
of the parties who were manipulating
this business, forty-three deeds of con-
veyance had been executed for lands
embraced in the patents, but were held
in allegiance by the Secretary of the In
terror, awaiting the examination ordered
to be made by the Superintendent.
One point he was ordered to investi-
gate was whether undue influences
were used to induce the Indians to
make selections" The Superintendent,
in his report, answers in terms that
at appears from the investigation that, to
some degree, undue influences acre used to
induce selections"
whether adequate compensation had
been paid to the Indians for their lands.
To this he answers:
at is also quite evident that an adequate
compensation has not been paid to them (the
Indians) by the grantees" That sin sixteen
of the forty-three sales made by Indians to
whites, (schedule Sc the prices paid by the
latter, as specified in said deeds of conveyance,
| amount to 5000. BY the testimony of the
grantors, they received only $3.50, leaving a
deficit of 81, 720. Explanations given by the
| contracting party for this discrepancy of near
| ly one-fourth the whole amount purporting to
have been paid for said lands, have not been
satisfactory
But these sixteen cases of fraud do
not make up the sum total of this vii
lainy. In his letter to Commissioner
Parker on the same subject, and in ex-
<zGh - la -
December 11th, 1869, the Superintend-
ent makes a still further exposure of
the dishonest character of these sales.
He says:
"I did not intend the language of my report
| should convey to you an impression that the
| remaining twenty-seven of the forty-three
transfers set forth in schedule 'C' were void of
| the deficiencies pertaining to the sixteen spec
| ifed, but the discrepancies in them the twen-
| ty-seven) were not so large. They should all
be subject to the same ruling"
It will be seen, therefore, that the ev-
| idence of fraud in these forty-three
sales is clear, pointed and convincing in
striking degree 1t is established by
| the report of the Superintendent, the
testimony of the Indians, and by the
confession of the parties perpetrating
the frauds. To consummate these for
| ty-three frauds, it was necessary that the
Agent should make out and sign, under
his oath of Office, forty-three false GER
| tificates, which he did, attaching one to
each deed, setting forth, as will be seen
by referring to the printed documents,
LIST, that the consideration mentioned in
the deed was fair price for the lands /;
I'd, that the same was paid to the gran
tor in his presence, in gold or silver coin
of the United States; and Sd, that the
conveyance ScoS an every respect free
from fraud or deception.
1t was by such transactions as this,
that the SPECTATORS proposed to defraud
the Indian out of his land by paying
him less than the price agreed upon,
and to defraud the settler out of the
many thousands of dollars worth of
improvements he had put upon the
lands. The transaction was palpable
violation of the rules established by the
government governing the transfers,
and could only be perfected through
fraud upon the Indians and official per-
jury on the part of the Agent.
The treaty of 1854 provided that
GIN the settlement known as Black Bob's set
Element, in which he has an improvement
number of Shawnees who desire to hold their
land in common: it is therefore agreed that all
Shawnees, including the persons adopted as
aforesaid, and incompetent persons and minor
orphan children who reside in said settlement,
respectively, and all who shall within sixty
days after the approval of the survey herein
after provided for signify to the United States
Agent their selection to join said COM
munity and reside with them, shall have q
quantity of land assigned and set apart off to
them in a compact body at the settle
ments aforesaid, equal to two hundred acres
TO each individual in said community.
A census of the Shawnees residing at
these settlements and of the minor orphan
children of their kindred, and of those eIecting
to reside in said community, shall be taken by
the United States Agent for the Shawnees, in
order that quantity of land, equal to two
and allotted to them to hold in common as
aforesaid
Under this provision a census was
taken in the winter of '56-7. 1t was
found that there were one hundred and
sixty-seven persons in the band. That
was the last census ever taken of them,
and we are informed by letter from
18th, 1869, that "there is nothing in the
possession of this Office showing the
number of Indians in said band at the
present time" or on the 10th day of
June, 1867, the date of the issuance of
the patents.
But the Superintendent reports to the
Secretary that this remnant of the Black
Bob band of Indians now numbers, call
told some sixty-six persons" Yet we
HnQ LnaL 6lXCy-nlne patents nave Deen
issued to them-that applications for
sixty-five more are pending, and it is
known that quite a number have not
received or made application for patents,
but insist that their lands shall not be
divided; making it apparent that the
intention of the schemers is to find
names enough to take up the entire
number of the one hundred and sixty
seven 200-acre tracts.
Now deduct the number given by the
superintendent, sixty-six, from one
hundred and sixty-seven, the number
of the band in 1866, on the basis of
which the lands are now proposed to be
divided and patented, ana we can form
a not very faint idea of the number of
fictitious and fraudulent names that
have already been filed in the depart
ment, to say nothing of the number yet
to be filed as applying for patents, and
whom the Agent certifes, February
18th, 1869, to have applied for the par
tition of their lands, and to have made
selections of their ailotments.
If we were to take the pretended ap-
plications for patents already made as
criterion of the number of the band.
there would be not less than one hun
dred and thirty-fou persons; but if we
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