The National tribune., 1901-05-30
A CLOUDED TITLE.
Question Raised as to the Validity
of the Treaty with the Kiowas,
ComanChes and Apaches.
MATTER TO GO TO THE COURTS
Secretary Hitchcock and Indian Agent
Jones Both Denounced II on Ground
of Fraud.

sion OF further proceedings in the opening
of the Kiowa, COmanche and Apache
Reservation is the latest phase of the
situation with reference to these lands.
Astounding as the proposition may seem
to be at this late date, protest filed by
the head men of the tribes through an
attorney with Acting Secretary of the
Interior Ryan, brings to light circum.
stances not heretofore known to the pub.
lie and practically unknown to Congress.
1t appears that Secretary Hitchcock
and Commissioner of Indian Affairs Jones
formally called attention of Congress by a
letter to the Senate in January, 1900, to
certain facts which were thereafter
| ignored.
Secretary Hitchcock in this communica-
| tion strongly advised against the ratifica-
ton of the treaty with the Indians upon
several grounds, one of which was that
it proposed impossible conditions, and an
| other was that the Indians themselves had
| withdrawn the treaty in formal man
ner by the signatures of over three -fourths
of the allied tribes. Third. that the Depart
ment had been deceived, and that the
| original treaty or the original document
| appearing to be a treaty had not received
the legal number of signatures.
y letter of Commissioner Jones accom-
| panied that of Secretary Hitchcock, in
which it was fully set forth that Congress
proposed to amend the alleged treaty with
out the knowledge and consent of the other
! party to it, and that no adequate provi-
sion was made for paying for the lands,
and that in various other particulars fraud
| peImeated the transaction to the disad-
vantage of the Indians.
The circumstances surrounding the pas
sages of the act in Congress, ratifying the
| treaty with the Kiowas, Comanches and
| Apaches, upon which the title of the
| United States to the lands rests, were
| peculiar. The bill carrying the legisa-
| ton did not mention its character in the
| title. 1t appeared to be bill relating
to the Fort Hall Reservation iu Idaho,
ard no mention was made in the title of
the Oklahoma lands. Mr.. Shoup, at that
time in the Senate, being a very popular
member of the body, had charg, of the
Fort Hall bill and managed to have an
innocent looking rider attached to it at
some stage of the proceedings ratifying
the treaty with the Oklahoma Indians 1t
passed through the House in the dying
hours Of the session in the same slipshod
manner. There was no report upon the
bill from a committee and no debate The
letter of Secretary Hitchcock and the pro-
test of Indian Commissioner Jones were
lying in their pigeon holes in the docu-
ment room of the Senate.
In the meantime the Indians, not read
ing English and being confined to their
reservations in Oklahoma, were assured,
it is stated, that the fact that they had
withdrawn the treaty and that the Secre-
ary had protested against action upon it
settled the matter, and they were ar
rested
Recently having learned that their land
was to be taken on the unsatisfactory
terms proposed, several of their head men
have come to Washington, and through
their attorneys have taken steps to have
the matter looked into.
In this connection it is curious to COM
pare the glowing statements embraced in
the tentative proposition for settlement
of the lands recently issued by the In
terror Department unOfTicially with the
official letter of Secretary Hitchcock to
the Senate. In the tentative plan put
out, casual readers would have inferred
that there was a great deal of good land
on the reservation to be opened, even after
the Indians allotments had been made.
The letter of the Secretary to the Senate
states point blank that there are only in
the reservation some 10000 acres of
agricultural land, all told, and the Indians
assert, as a whole, the land is not agricul-
tuppI lnt nUIV SI.ita hln for azjn
poses. The Secretary pointed out to Con
gress that instead of having 160 acres of
good land TO each Indian, there are only
about 80 acres of agricultural land TOR
each one.
The question, therefore, naturally arises
wherefore all this feverish anxiety to get
farms in this new country?
Commissioner Jones, discussing the case
informally on Monday of this week, stated
that he did not know how the contest as
to the title of the lands would come out,
although the courts had always been, in
his opinion, just to the Indians; but he
did know that the equity of the case was
with the Indian tribes. He said they had
been defrauded in the matter of payment
for the lands; defrauded in the matter of
aliotments; and that the Department had
been defrauded by the Misrepresentation
of the treaty by its agent, falsely certify
ing that three-fourths of the Indians had
signed the original treaty, when such was
not the case.
Hon. William M. Springer, late Federal
Judge for Oklahoma, appears as counsel
for the allied tribes; and proposes to carry
the matter through the courts, unless, in
deed, such action should be made unneces-
sary by Withholding further proceedings
until Congress shall have met and the
matter be properly adjusted.
Judge Springer holds that under the
law the proclamation of the President
may be deferred until next February.
The following is the protest filed in the
Department, briefly setting forth the main
grounds for delay and requesting that
action be postponed:
Hon. Thomas Ryan, Acting Secretary of
the Interior
Sir: The undersigned members of the
kiowa tribe of Indians in Oklahoma Ter
ritOry respectfully represent to you that
they have recently learned, with great sur
9th day of June, 1900, ratify and put in
with the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache
tribes of Indians. They respectfully call
your attention to the following facts, which
are supported by the records of the In
terror Department:
The Honorable Secretary of the In
terror, Mr.. Hitchcock, transmitted a let
ter to the Speaker of the House of Repre-
sentatives on the 22d day of January, |
1900, in which he inclosed letter to him |
from the Honorable Commissioner of In
dian Affairs of Jan. 5, 1900, and also |
transmitted a memorial of said Indians |
tiInf.tn1 81 Mnnnt naN