The age-herald., 1901-07-30
The First American Land Lottery.

OA be an important one"
 The First American Land Lottery.
 'rhe extraordinary scenes in and about El Reno, Indian Territory, in connection with the United States governments plan of land drawing by lottery, recall the fact that the first drawing of land by chance or lot took place in Georgia in 1s17," said MT. John Towers, the assistant postmas- ter of Birmingham. who is a Georgian.
 'It was in 1917 that the United States agreed to the removal of the Cherokee Indians from what was called the Cher okee Country, which was mainly in north ern Georgia and included what is now Floyd county, with It's present city of Rome.
 But 1t was not till 1887 that the gov ernment actually began the work of re- moving the Indians from the Cherokee Country to what we now call Indian Ter ritory, which is at once the most fertile and most beaptiful land of our great em- pire of fertility and beauty
 '"The Cherokees carried their case to the Supreme Court of the United States-that is to say, this tribe of Indians appealed to the supreme tribunal for protection against the act of Congress for their ex- puls'on or removal. The counsel of the Cherokees was the famous William Wirt of Virginia, the maternal grandfather of the late Judge William wirt Henry of Richmond, who was a paternal grandson of Patrick Henry. They paid MT. Wirt s2o,OOO for his legal services
 General Winfield Scott, the hero of Lundy's Lane, and afterwards com mander-in-chief of the United States army, was in charge of the Cherokee h. dlans in Geongia. By authority vested in him, or rather by direction of the Presi- dent, General Scott ordered all the Indians to gather in the forts situated within Georgia, including that part of Georgia which Is now Alabama. The Indians re- fused to obey, and sought to return to their lodges in their vast wilderness. their boundless contiguity of shade and that caused considerable trouble
 But the decree of the white nation was irrevocable. The Cherokees were commanded to journey to land which to them was utterly unknown They were by the bayonet driven from the lands which they had owned for count less years, and which they had wrest- ed from aboriginal enemies Much of these lands had belonged to the Creek TndianS Chief T oorlry I, conspicuous leader.
 "The Cherokees hadn't sold, lost in war or given away their lands, but were re- quired, by a law they couldn't under stand or comprehend, to surrender their heritage and to begin the bitter journey to far away and mysterious country.
 ''The Georgia. lands of which the Cher okees were robbed-"The Cherokee Country'-were in part disposed of by being parceled out today-be.ng taken in some instances. from the very descend ants of defenseless aborigines driven from Georgia nearly seventy years ago.
 'The lottery scheme was first worked by the government, in Georgia, nearly century ago. There were 1902 lots of land that were disposed by govern ment lottery. One man, Sam Ellis by name drew the identical lot in Floyd County upon which he had 'squatted' thirty years before
 Sometimes think the wild outbursts of some sensational newspapers of our own country against great nations that 'oppress and rob weaker peoples are scarcely well-considered, in view of our treatment of the aboriginal Americans" | How true 0 speech that is!