Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1896-03-12
UNFAIR RESOLUTIONS.

We take no stock in the sort oi
resolutions, nor the spirit that
prompted them, that were passed
down at Wichita Falls, Texas, last
week, printed in the metropolitan
papers. In the first place the res
olutions assume that all outlaws
in the states bordering on this
country must necessarily come
from the Indian Territory. That
this is not true needs no demon
stration, neither is it transversely
true that all the outlaws in the
neighborhoed Of the territory
come from the states. If there
were no better reasons for the
United States government laying
strong hands on this Indian coun-
try than those set forth in the
Wichita Falls resolutions, then
congress will certainly keep its
hand off for some time to come. II
it be fact that with the present
United States court facilities en-
joyed in the territory and with the
full jurisdiction to come next Sep
tember, with the present small
population, the law can not be en-
forced. what would be the result
with four or five times the present
population. Congress should look
deeper into conditions here than
listen to resolutions passed by a
mob whose hands had just been
dyed with human gore, and which
stood in the way OF the enforce
ment of law, preferring to take the
law in their own hands rather than
see criminals brought to justice in
the legal way. The fact of the
business in a nut shell is that a
mob of infuriated Texans murd-
cred three men down there the
other day, Gt matters not what kind
of men they were in the eye Of
the law and then they jump up
and ask congress to throw the In
dian country "open to settlement
on account of it. They say to
congress, 1--WE lynch a man down
here every few days and occasion
ally we burn q negro alive at the
stake, but the reason of it all is
the awful Indian Territory lie just
north of US, and we are contami-
mated and made blood thirsty by
our proximity to the Indians,
therefore, you must throw their
country open to settlement or the
blood of the people we murder will
be on your heads" While this
territory has criminals enough OF
its own, it is not probable that
either of the Wichita bank robbers
that were lynched were ever resi-
dents of the territory. At least
one of them was resident of Mis-.
souri, and lived at Neosho. OF The
hundred or more outlaws that
Judge Parker has hung from this
territory, less than ten per cent OF
them were born and raised here.
The change of government that
is evidently near at hand for the
five tribes of this territory is for
other purposes. and for other rea-
sons than those given by the Texas
mob. The change of land tenure
10 the chief one, and concerns on
ly the citizens of these tribes, as
they are the sole owners of the
land. This change involves sew
eral other important changes that
must necessarily follow, but all
must be for the protection of the
Indian and not to satisfy the Texas
mob.
Congress doubtless understands
by this time the true condition of
affairs here, ard the indications
are that she is about ready to
apply the remedy, but not as the
Wichita Falls resolutions would
have it. by throwing the country
open to settlement, but first by ad-
justing matters among the Indians,
the real owners of the land, by
seeing that each citizen of these
tribes gets his pro rata share of the
tribal property. In no event is it
at all probable that there will be
any land to throw open to settle
ment," but that it will all be di-
vided up among the owners
equally.