Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-08

and to cause each of said districts to be SO
| described, by natural or artificial marks, as
to be easily distinguished from every other.
.. That it shall and may be lawful for the
| president to exchange any or all such dis
| tricts, SO to be laid off with any tribe or na-
| ton OF Indians, now residing within the
| limits OF any State,' etc. s. In making
| any such exchange or exchanges, it shall
| and may be lawful for the president
soemnly to assure the tribe or nation,
with which the exchange is made, that the
United States will forever secure and
guarantee to them and their heirs or sue
cessors the country so exchanged and if
they prefer it. that the United States will
| cause patent or grant to be made and exc
cuted to them for the same Provided,
always. that said lands shall revert TO the
United States if the Indians become ex-
tinct or abandon the same. Under the
| authority of this act the president caused
to be surveyed two tracts of lands in the
country described in the act, one of which
contained 100000 acres, coded by the treaty
of 1885, and afterwards known as the
Neutral Land and the other, whose
metes and bounds are described with
wearisome mlnlteness, was ascertalned 10
contain exactly 1884, 1856 14-1O0 acres
this so-called outlet was embraced
in this country, and it was for this tract,
or district, SO marked as to be easily
distinguished from every other"
residue of their lands east
of the Mississippi river, second time for.
The patent issued by Martin Van Buren,,
president of the United States, dated De-
cember 81, 1898, recites: ''And, whereas,
the United States has caused the said tract
of seven millions of acres, together with
the perpetual outlet to be surveyed in
one tract, the boundaries whereof are as
follows:'' And here follows the boundary
lines, and then follows the conveyance of
'.the two tracts of land so surveyed and
hereinbefore decribed, containing in the
whole fourteen million, three hundred and
seventy-four thousand one hunded and
thirty-five acres and fourteen one hun
dredths of an acre. The distinction be-
tween the seven millions Of acres aud the
outlet was forever Obliterated. No man
knows, or ever knew, where the western
line of the seven millions Of acres was, or
is. The third article of the treaty of 1885
superseded the necessity for its definition.
1t should not oe forgotten that the United
State sold this country twice to the Cher
okees. Once in the treaties OF lS2s and
1888 to the Western Cherokees,
in exchange for their lands in Ar
kansas, for which they had eX
changed lands, acre for acre, east of
the Mississippi, and again to the Eastern
Cherokees in 1885, for the residue of their
lands east of the Mississippi river. And out
of this fact grew the troubles and conten-
tions in the Cherokee family prior to 1916
The Western Cherokees claimed the exclu-
sive ownership of all the lands as conveyed
to them by the treaty of 1888, and for which
they were promised patent, and the East
ern Cherokees claimed an equal ownership
with their Western brothers, under the
treaty of 1885. This contention was adjusted
by the treaty of 1916, the Western Chero-
KEGS relinquishing their claim TO exclusive
ownership for sum of money. The first
article of this treaty provides that the
lands now occupied by the Cherokees shall
be secured to the whole Cherokee people
for their common use and benefit, and u
patent shall be issued for the same, includ-
ing the 100000 acres purchased, together
with the outlet promised by the United
States in conformity with the provisions
relating thereto contained in the third arti-
Gle of the treaty of 1885, and in the third sec
ton of an act of congress, approved May
IS, 1885," Then follows the section making
it part of the treaty obligation. This is
the third promise of patent, and the franz
ers of this article must have been i'm
pressed by the words-"the lands now oc-
cupied by the Cherokee Nation"-was
wanting in descriptive force, and added,
1.-The 500 600 acres purchased" and the. out
let" using the word ''outlet" merely to de-
scribe another section of country to be in
Guided in the patent. This view is sus-
tanned by the fourth article, "incconsldera-
tom of certain stipulationS the Western
Cherokees relinquish their claim to the ex-
elusive ownership of the lands coded to
them by the treatyof 1888, west of the Mis-
siscippi river including the outlet west,
consenting and agreeing that the said lands
together with 100000 acres ceded to the
Cherokees by the treaty OF 1888, shall be
and remain the common property OF the
common property of the whole Cherokee
people, themselves included. Here it Is
agreed that the s'outlet'' shall be and re- i,
main the common property of the whole
Cherokee people, and no distinction is
made in the common property the out
let'' and other parts specially designated.
The treaty of 1856 created new line OF
division in the Cherokee country. This
hne is the Goth meridian. East of this line
the United States may settle civilized In
dams under certain conditions, but nothing
is said of conveying lands to them by any
tenure, while west of that line, where the
outlet lies, 'the United States may settle
friendly Indians in any part of the Chero-
kee country, the boundaries of each district
to be distinctly marked, and the land con-
veyed in fee simple to each of said tribes"
No one will assert that our title IS better IN
the Western section than in the Eastern.
Yet it is to the Western. section we are re-
quired to make the fee simple title. Nor is
it to be supposed that the government of
the United States would require US to make
a title we did not ourselves hold.
Judge l. c. Parker of the Western dis
trict of Arkansas, in the case OF the United
States VS.. d. L. Payne, says: "a treaty,
like statute must be construed TO give 1t
effect, if possible, and courts always adhere
to this rule.
Gin constituting this (the Seminole) treaty,
we have a right to take into consideration
the situation of the parties to it at the time
it was made, the property which is the SUBJ
ject matter of the treaty, and the intention
and purposes of the parties in making the
treaty To get at this we have right to
consider the construction the parties max
ing it, and who We're to be affected by it
have given it.'' Applying this rule, and no
one will doubt its soundness. the conclusion
is overwhelming that we own and hold the
outlet, so-called, by the same tenure we own
and hold the country east of the Goth meri-
dian. Secretary of War ]. c. Calhoun, jan
uary "a, 1925, addressing the president of
the United States said, 'the lands west of
the Western Cherokees should be reserved,
as means of exchange with those
who remain East"
On March 10, 1885, Andrew Jackson.
president of the United States, declared to
the Cherokees East, in public address,
urging them to move West, that he should
offer the stipulations of
can addition to the country already as
signed to you west of the Mississippi, and
for the conveyance of the whole OF 1t, by
patent, in fee simple
President Jackson told them in the same
address that there were
Not less than thirteen million eight
hundred thousand $500, 000) acres des-