The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-04

scattered about the State and across the borc.ers into other States. Every year they grew poorer, and all the more te- aaciously did they cling to the land of their birth and the home of their fathers. Though dispersed and forced to conform to some degree to the customs of this country. they nevertheless retained such customs of their own as they were able, and especially the primitive language, which had been handed down from gem eration to generation. Unable to compete with the labor of whites or negroes. too proud of their ancestry to obliterate their race. simple children of the forest, they sank lower and lower in the economic scale. married in poverty and reared children to the same poor lot, acquired nothing and lost. through their own sim plicity or the knavery of others, that which was given them.
 But the national government remem- bered them. A year ago last April its agents came to Mississippi and began to take census of the Indians remaining in the State, about 2,500 in all. By a recent treaty entered into by the Choctaws. the Cherokees and the United States. the un-' occupied land of the Territory set apart for them was divided up and the news proclaimed that to each and every one who should enter Indian Territory within a specified time, there should be given 320 acres of tillable land. To every man, woman and child living on the date of the signing of the treaty farm can be had merely by claiming 1t and living upon 1t.
 But though this treaty was made and the farms set apart, few of the poverty stricken benefciaries knew of the action and fewer still had the means of going fn ha f1d Ol la irntrrr what hnh been given them. Many of them would probably have died without knowledge of the gift had it not been for J. E. Arnold. half-breed Choctaw, who lived in the Territory. Urged by an old friend of his, MT. Arnold came to Mississippi to carry the news to his friends relatives and to urge them to go at once and claim their valuable property. Out of this grew his idea of inducing all his poverty stricken brethren to take up their resi- dence on the farms allotted them.
 On the 7th of. November. he and MT. J. A. Tippit both of Indian Territory, came to Mississippi and began gathering up the Choctaws preparatory to taking them West. Their work has been done almost entirely along the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad. and in less than month they have been able to collect more than a hundred, and these have been induced to follow them to the Ter ritory. Between fifty and seventy4five of these were at Meridian yesterday under the care of MT. Arnold. About fifty, all of whom were found in St. Tammany Parish. were gathered at Pearl River, whence they will leave this morning, and after joining the remainder of the crowd at Meridian. will go to Ardmore, I. T. Here they will be housed in buildings al- ready erected. and in time will choose their farms and plant and cultivate crops for next season. All of their expenses are paid by Messrs. Arnold and Tippit, who expect to make their expenses back by cultivating a portion of the lands all lotted the Choctaws
 MT. Tippit went to St. Tammany last Wednesday and made a personal canvass of all Indian families in the parish. The condition of these families he describes as abject in their poverty. With the ex- ception of one or two men whom he found at work, they were without employment and without apparent means of support Most of them lived in huts built in the piny woods and without cultivated land anywhere In their vicinity. The huts themselves were almost entirely devoid or furniture, not even a bed or mattress to be seen anywhere. Everything betoken- ed abject poverty. Mir Tippit had many of them taken to Pearl River Sunday night but the majority cached there yesterday. Absolutely no accommodation could be secured for them. and Sunday night about twenty were forced to sleep huddled together on the bare floor of the little waiting room. Last night they were made more comfortable in a North eastern passenger coach, which was sent out yesterday afternoon, and in which they slept last night. In all there were forty eight. about fifteen of whom were under 12 years of age, and about half of the rest women. The coach was kept warm and we'll lighted, and in 1t they en- joyed more comforts than they had ever known before
 This transition from their misera ble lot in Mississippi and St Tammany to one of comparative wealth in the Territory will no doubt seem like a dream to many of them. To each there is to come 32O acres, and for a family of three or four this will mean snug fortune. The land in its unimproved condition, is worth from $l0 to $25 an acre, and when improved is worth about $50 an acre As many of the farms rent for considerable sums many of the Indians let their farms and live on the income
 The work of Messrs. Tippit and Arnold if not continued by themselves. will be carried on by others, until every Choctaw in Mississippi and Louisiana will have been taken away to the land of plenty
 With large legacies from the government waiting only their claim, 1t will prop ably not be long before they all will have crossed the great Father of Waters and joined their brethren in the country set apart for them and known by their