The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1912-02-07


in decree OF the court passed May s.
1896. The course OF the litigation will
be found in 30 and 3S CT. CHS. Reps. pp
1ss, 1SO. respectively
The court decided that under the
Cherokee constitution of 1866 the
freedmen became citizens of the ma
tion equally with the Cherokees and
equally interested in the common prop
.erty and equally entitled to share in
its proceeds, but also decided that the
freedmen TO whom the treaty referred
were those who had returned to the
nation within six months after the
promulgation of the treaty, and their
descendants, and that the freedmen
and the descendants of freedmen who
did not return within six months were
excluded from the benefits of the
treaty United States ex rel. Lowe VS..
Fisher.
The court decreed that the Chero-
kee Nation and the United States be
prohibited from making any discrim-
ination between such freedmen citi-
zens and their descendants and native
Cherokees in the distribution of a fund
of $S,595,7S6 paid by the United States
to the Cherokee Nation for that por-
ton of its territory known as the
Cherokee Outlet"
The court conceived it necessary to
ascertain the individual Indians who
were entitltd under its decree to share
in the fund, and adjudged that the
roll called the wallace Roll" which
showed 1924 persons, should be ap-
proved by the court.
Appeals were prayed by claimant
and defendant, but were withdrawn
afterward by stipulation, and decree
was entered February 3, 1896, as of
May s, 1895. The decree adjudged
thethe rights of freedmen to be as we
have hereinabove set out.
The decree also authorized the Sec
retary of the Interior to appoint COM
missioners to make up roll of the
freedmen entitled to share in the fund
to be distributed, which that officer
did. They completed the roll which
was thereafter known, and to which
We have referred, as the Kern-Clifton
roll. 1t was approved by the secre-
tary on the 18th of January, 1897, and
in the succeeding month the moneys
available for distribution were paid
to the persons whose names were on
the roll
The legislation in regard to the al
lotment of lands and the making of
rolls of persons entitled to allotments
is detailed in United States ex rel.
Lowe VS.. Fisher, and need not be re-
peated except in very brief way. BY
virtue of that legislation the Dawes
Commission, which had been created
before the decree of February 8, 1896
proceeded to make up rolls, which were
finally approved by the Secretary on
March 4, 1907, from which We're ex-
cluded large number of freedmen
whose names were on the Kern-Clif-
ton roll, with the consequence that
such persons so excluded will receive
. allotments of lands or share in the
moneys which stand to the credit of
the Cherokee Nation in the Treasury of
the United States.
On May 8, 1908, Jacob b. Wilson, by
permission of the Court of Claims, and
having been substituted trustee of the
freedmen, filed a supplemental petit
tion in the court in behalf of such ex-
cluded persons, which recited the de-
crees of the court and acts of congress
subsequent to them, asserted right
under the DEGREES and acts of congress
to be upon the rolls, to be allotted
lands and to share in the distribution
of funds, and prayed that the action of
the Dawes Commission and of the Sec
retary Of the Interior be declared un-
lawful, an dthat the Cherokee Nation
and the United States be enioined
from discriminating between such
freedmen and other citizens of the
Cherokee Nation in the allotment of
lands and the distribution of property
and assets of the nation, and that it
and the United States be further en-
joined from further disturbing such
freedmen in the possession and occu-
patton of their homes and improve
ments, and to reinstate such of them
as has been ousted from such posses
sion.
The court took jurisdiction of the
petition, as we have seen, and decreed
as it prayed Al CT Cls. 453, The
court, in an elaborate and ably reason
ed opinion, decided that its decree had
larger scope than a description Of the
class of freedmen and the declaration