San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1894-02-10
1.-The FAIR Housefurnishers
TEXAS BOUNDARY LINE.
Facts Concerning the Line Between
Texas and Indian Territory.
AUSTIN, Tex, Feb. TO, 1871

Facts concerning the Line DeGWeeu
Texas and Indian Territory.
AUSTIN, Tex, Feb. 10, 1894.
Special to the Daily LIGHT.
The following facts CLEANED
from a conversation with Mr.. G.
Freeman, Of the counsel for the
state of Texas, will be of interest,
especially at this time, when the
case in question, that Of the Greer
county boundary line, is so Wig
orously agitated.
This suit is brought by a bill in
equity in the supreme court of the
United States, as an original suit
in that court under an act of Con-
gress requiring the attorney gen.
eral of the United States
to institute it. The prayer
of the bill in substance is to re-
cover Greer county to the United
States and to establish the bound
airy line between Texas and the In
dian territory.
The facts in issue relate to the
treaty Of boundary between the
United States and Spain Of Feb.
22d 1919, which declared the boun-
Diary between the territories of the
two powers should pass up Red
River to the Tooth meridian of
west longitude, north along that
meridian to its intersection Of the
Arkansas river and up that river
to its source, etc, the whole to be
so laid down in the last map Of the
United States improved to Jan. LIST,
1918. The part Of this boundary
along the Tooth meridian as laid
down on Melish's map between the
Arkansas and Red River is that
In dispute. Melish's map lay
ing it down nearly ninety
miles east Of where the true
Tooth meridian is supposed to be,
while the United States disregards
this and insists that the boundary
is along the true Tooth meridian,
The controversy evidently took its
rise from the circumstances that
Melish's map went out Of use
shortly after the treaty was made.
Twenty years later, when the COM
missiOnerS of Texas and the United
States, who were marking, the part
OF the boundary between Louisiana
and Texas needed it to settle an is
sue between them single copy OF
it could not be found by diligent
search over the whole country
though copy was, in fact, on file
with the treaty in the department
of State at Washington, which wa:
brought to light only ten or twelve
years ago, after this contrOversary
was we'll under way.
Before it's discovery the United
States had caused a line to bC
marked for the Tooth meridian
boundary line by Morey and Nc
Elellan, of the United States army
some ten or fifteen miles east o
the forks of the Red river, and il
1889 two surveyors of the United
States had marked a line for i
sixty or seventy miles farther west
against which Governor Houston
had protested. Neither of thes
llllCS liu lllt NOuStllU vi ltAdS
but Texas had occupied the cOun
try north and east Of Greer count,
by her troops for years and no is
sue as to her right to do so ha
been raised.
Under this state Of the case, the
Congress of the United States
about the year 1885, provided 70
joint commission to mark tina
part Of the boundary in contro
versy, as did also the legislator
of Texas. The preamble to the &C
of Congress, reCited that the lin
in question had never been ascer
tanned and fixed by any authorit,
competent to bind the u
tied States and Texas. B
the time this commissio
was organized Melish's map ha
again become known; and the Te,
as commission were able to procul
photograph copy Of it. 1t deve
Cped the fact that the Tooth merit
ian of Melish's intersected the 4
kansas river very near the mort
err extreme Of a well known ben