The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1903-10-24
WASHINGTON LETTER.

Washington. d. c.. Oct. 19.-The re-
moyal of the last of the Choctaws
from Mississippi to the Indian Terri
tory concludes a chapter III 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 cons,mmated 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 Il mission
among the Mississippi Chocktaws. Fa-
| ther Beckkers took charge of this
work. and through his untiring efforts
practically all accepted the Catholic
religion. When Father Beckkcrs had
grown old in the service he made an
effort to obtain 4 younger priest to
take up the work. but in this he f;lilcd~
lie finally went to Europe. and there
was able to induce the Carnleite Ia
Tiers of Holland to come over. The
| land allotted to the ChOctawS in tho
Indian Territory had to lie divided in
| =.
:hut the Mississippi Choctaws move to
lie Territory to settle .l tl,'ir land
IS i, result tie mi>$i:n %;l; brnkan up.
iailr las: spring i','%. Gur:;i!}l2 parties
Began to move the Cl,ortaws from
| Mississippi HE,} 10 settle them among
| .lir tliOrtAw and thic!i;,Silw nations ilt-
III" Indian Territory. It"nliZing the
lilportnnc" OF. l!Al in. these people To-
Gated i'll Il lody in the vicinity of Cath
| Ollie churches. til" ChocinwS in the Ter
ritory not being Catholics. Cardinal
Gibbons authorized Father KetcIlanr
| to go to Mississippi and the Indian
| Territory to learn what could be done
|
course, something stupendous. After
looking over the field and negotiating
with the Secretary of the Interior and
| the Dawes Commission. who both were
favoably disposed toward the plan.
Father Ketclam found it impossible
to have them located in one place. but
succeeded in 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 Carmeite Fathers to re-
i move to the Territory and assume the
charge of the widely scattered flock
One obstacle in the way was the I'LL
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
Indian Territory. locating at Antlers,
which, by the way. is Father Ketch-
ans old mission, and the taking
charge of the spiritual welfare of the
| entire Cloctaw and Chickasaw tribes
including the new Corners. They will
establish several mission centers and
go to work in Il 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 Kctcham. the di-
rector of the bureau of Catholic In
! dian Missions.