The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1903-09-28
WHITE MEN
VICTIMS Of
THE FRAUDS
Lose More Than the
Reds in Indian
Territory.
Deplorable Condition in the
Choc:aw, Chickasha and
Greek Nations.
Law Prevents Starving Tribesmen
Selling Their Holdings and
Settlers Lease the
Lands.
Special Dispatch to The Call.


respondent who has just spent three
weeks in Indian Territory investigating.
the land scandal, the conditions in the
Choctaw, Chickasha and Creek nations
are as bad as they can be and the graft
ing has already exceeded in proportion
the postofice scandal The Indian scan
dals involve the good faith and integrity
of the Government in the administra
ton of an estate of 7Oe00 helpless per-
sons who are wards of the Government.
I'm the Choctaw and Chickasha cOun-
tries the sufferers are white homeseekers
rather than the Indians" said Bailey to-
night. After the passage OF the Curtis
act, which provided for the allotment of
lands and the ratification of the Atoka
agreement and a supplementary treaty,
each Choctaw and Chickasha Indian be-
came entitled to 800 acres of average land,
leo acres of which became a homestead
inalienable for twenty years. The re-
manning 160 acres the Indian was permit
ted to sell, one fourth each year, after
he received mis- patent, until all Of Ii was
disposed of. Then it was that the whits
homeSeekers from Texas, Arkansas,
Kansas and Missouri began to flock into
the two nations by thousands in order TO
be on the ground when the allotments
were made, so as TO secure homes by ac-
quiring the aiienable lands of Indians. Up
to the present time these whites have
been renting the lands from the Indians,
paying therefor a percentage of the
crops raised. During this period of wait
ing they have endured all manner Of
hardships, lived in the merest shacks,
their children have been without school
facilities and they have been preyed upon
by land grafters and Indians alike They
have suffered too much already and Con-
gress should see to it without delay that
they receive better treatment
THE scandals have reached the highest
development in the Creek nation, for the
reason that the Creek allotments have
been completed. Bradley, of the Bradley
Real Estate Company, informed me that
the so-called grating of the kind he was
engaged in was the result of the policy of
the Interior Department in making it diff
flcult for Indians to sell their land.
Creek fullblOods are in a semi-starving
condition and they leased their lands in
I order to get money to buy food. If they
had been permitted to sell they could
have paid their debts, purchased nee
essaries and improved their inalienable
homesteads.
J There are Indians in the Federal Jail
at Muskogee charged with cattle theft
| who were caught in the timber eating the
/ raw flesh of a yearling they had killed
/ because they were pressed by hunger.
/ lEcSe 1HuiduS are possessed OF VOW or
( $1,000 worth of land and yet they are GRIM
I ipals because they could not use their
property to prevent starvation"
o
on coma. Under her pillow was found
/ blank envelope with enough sulphate of
morphine in it to kill a dozen persons
/ To DR.. G.. b. Campbell, who attended her
I the woman admitted that she had taken
/ the poison. She was removed yesterday
! morning to the house of the friend whom
she had first visited and there died about
( three hours later.
! Coroner Gormley was called in the case
/ and by friends of the woman asked to
J keep the affair out of the newspapers.
/ Gormley complied with the request. even
! to the extent of denying knowledge or
/ the affair until he found The Call had
/ secured the information outside his office.
a jury was summoned. DR.. Campbell
/ appeared before 1t and testified that the
/ woman had died of poison evidently
/ taken with suicidal intent, and the verdict
4 Of the jury was in accordance with this
( report. At the CapItal Hotel no fnforma-
! ton whatever could be obtained, not even
/ the name of the woman, and it was ap-
parent that every effort was being made
to keep the affair secret.
! Mayor Clark was called upon this morn.
/ ing and asked for a statement of his conc
4
/ About two weeks ago" said the Mayor.
Mrs. MacEwen called at my establish
ment and said she expected to die soon,
| as she was afflicted with heart disease.
| She asked me what it would cost to give
| her a proper burial in the event of her
death, and l gave her different prices for
! different kinds of funerals. One price
pleased her and she said she would depos-
/ il the amount in a local bank. subject to
/ my order.
II thought at the time that the woman
was in respondent mood and that she
would think no more of the matter when
! she recovered from her dependency.
When 1 heard yesterday that she was in
a dying condition and was told by DR..
| Campbell 1t a case of suicide I i'm
| mediately recalled her visit to my estab-
| lishment."
| DR.. Campbell. in an interview with The
| Call correspondent to-day, said II was
| clear case of suicide and he had so testi-
! fed at the Coroner's inquest He said
/ he asked the woman If she had taken
the poison and she nodded affirmatively
He asked her If she had taken 1t of her
own volition and she replied in the same
manner that she had. He could not get
her to say whether she had taken the
drug with suicidal intent, but he was
certain such was the case, and he said
| upon his evidence such a verdict was re-
| turned by the Coroners jury.
DR.. Campbell showed an envelope con-
tanning the poison, which he found under
| Mrs. MacEwen's pillow. In it remained
considerable quantity of poison. The
envelope was entirely blank, save for a
notation in Dr. Campbells handwriting
Found under Mrs. MacEwen's pillow
AS there is State law against selling
! deadly poisons in such quantities. or at
all without a physicians prescription,
and as Mrs. MacEwen was not being
i i'll 1T a. t.
druggist is guilty of a violation of the
/ State law, and another reason appears
! why there was an effort to hush up the
| case.
Mrs. MacEwen was a highly respected
woman and was very we'll known to the
older generation Of Sacramento people,
Fall Line of Leather Goods