The Irish standard., 1903-10-24
WASHINGTON LETTER.

Washington. ID. c.. Oct. 19.-The re-
moval of the last of the Choctaws
from Mississippi to the Indian Terri
tory concludes Il chapter in Indian his
tory which had it's beginning at the
time of President Andrew Jackson.
jackson impressed upon Congress i'll
several messages the necessity of Civ
ing the Indians Il permanent reserva-
ton. and recommended their location
in the Indian Territory. \ treaty was
finally consummated with the Choc-
taws and the bulk of them removed to
their new home. \ large number
however, preferred to remain, and
have been located in Mississippi until
the present day. Bishop Janssens of
Natchez, afterwards Archbishop Of
New Orleans established a mission
among the Mississippi Chocktaws. Fa-
tler Beckkers took charge of this
work. and through his untiring efforts
practically all accepted the Catholic
religion. When Father BecklScrs had
|
| effort to obtain Il younger priest to
take up the work. but in this he failed~
lie finally went to Europe. and there
! was able to induce the Carnleiite F:l-
tllrrs of Holland to come over. The
| land allotted to the Choctaws in the
| Indian Territory had to he divided in
recent times. and it became necessary
chat the Mississippi ChoctnWs move to
he Territory to SETTLE OH th"ir land.
rs i, result the nissinll va; broken up
H,allr last spring ira. .Gnrsi!}!2 parties
began to move the Choctaws from
mississippi ;lnsl 10 settle them among
| ,lc thortaw and Ehic!i;.S;lw nations ils
the Indian Territory. Realizing thc.
iliiport;,nc" OF. lial ilw these people To-
Gated in Il hutly in tho vicinity of Cath
Ollie churches. the Chortiiws in the Ter
ritoly not being Catholics. Cardinal
Gibbons authorized Father Ketclanr
to go to Mississippi and the Indian
| Territory to learn what could be done
toward that end. The task was, of
course. something stupendous. After
looking over the field and negotiating
With the Secretary of the Interior and
the Dawes Commission. who both were
favorably disposed toward the plan.
Father Ketcllam found it impossible
to have them located in one place, but
succeeded III coloniZing them to some
extent near churches. Then he under
took the arrangement with the bishop
of the Indian Territory to allow their
missionaries to follow them, and to
| persuade the Carmelite Fathers to re-
i move to the Territory and assume the
charge of the widely scattered flock
One obstacle in the way was the uil-
willingness of some Indians to leave
Mississippi. but at the present time
nearly all of them have gone. The re-
suit of several months of negotiations
| OH the part of the director of the
Catholic Indian Bureau is that during
this month of October the Carmelite
community will finally remove to the
dL
which. by the way, is Father Ketch-
ANS old mission, and the taking
charge of the spiritual welfare of the
| entire Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes
including the new corners. They will
establish several mission centers and
go to work in a truly apostolic way
They are very able and Jealous mis-
sion priests. who have already given
evidence of their ability in this field.
The Superior of the Carmelite COM
munity is the Very Rev. Augustine
Breek. O. c. c.. and the Right Row
Bishop of the Indian Territory is -
he congratulated upon the acquisition
of this energetic body of missionaries.
Enormous difficulties We're encounter
ed in the execution of this plan of re-
mOval. and the credit for their sue
cessful solution is unquestionably due
to the Rev. William Ketclam, the di-
rector of the bureau of Catholic In
! dian Missions.