the nation, payments being made in installments. In this way most of the towns in that nation have been established, and the lots are in the ownership or possession of citizens who acquired this ownership or possession for valuable consideration paid to the nation. Some correspondence has been received in this office from parties who are still in debt to the nation for town lots purchased under this arrangement, in which they have asked whether they should continue to pay to the Indian agent of course for the benefit of the nation-the balances on their indebtedness for the lots purchased. The office instructed the agent to collect these balances due from citizens for town lots, but advised that the parties paying the same should be permitted to do so under protest, so that any rights they may have might be preserved. Under section 15 of the act unimproved lots are regarded as the property of the nation and are sold at auction to the highest bidder at not less than the appraised value. No hardship can follow this rule in the Creek, Choctaw, or Chickasaw nation; but in the Cherokee Nation, where, under the law, citizens thereof have purchased from the national authorities the lots in a town, and in some instances paid high prices for them, it would naturally follow that they should be given a preference to purchase the same lots in case of sale by the Government under the town-site law contained in the Curtis Act. Of course, the title obtained by the citizens from the Cherokee Nation in this purchase was a mere right of occupancy and protection by the nation in that right of occupancy, but the question is whether the nation shall be permitted to sell to its citizens the right of occupancy and not give the citizen the benefit of that right when the lots come to be sold in absolute title. The office is inclined to think that justice and right would suggest a modification of the town-site provision in the Curtis Act so as to authorize the sale to Cherokee citizens of town lots which they have purchased from the nation, they to pay such additional price over what has already been paid as will make up the difference in the value of an occupancy right and a fee simple. MISCELLANEOUS. Improvements of Intruders.—Among the miscellaneous matters in the Indian Territory that do not fall under the general classifications of affairs as hereinbefore set out is the question of the payment of the value of improvements of intruders in the Cherokee Nation. By the act of 1893 the agreement between the United States and the Cherokee Nation, providing for the cession of the Cherokee Outlet, was ratified with an amendment, among others, providing for the appraisal of the improvements made by intruders in the nation prior to August 11, 1886, and for the payment to them of such appraised value before such intruders would be liable to removal under the provisions of the agreement and the previously existing treaties. A board of appraisers was appointed under this amendment, who appraised all of the improve ments of the intruders in the nation which had been made prior to August 11,1886. By a clause in an Indian appropriation act Congress provided that on the payment of the appraised value by the Cherokee Nation, or tender of the payment, these improvements would become the property of the nation and the intruder would be liable to the nation for rent thereof unless they were surrendered. When payment for the improvements came to be made in 1896 about half of the intruders declined to accept the amount tendered, and the balance of the money appropriated for the purposes of paying for these improvements was held in the treasury of the Cherokee Nation until the last regular session of the council of that nation, when an act was passed covering the money into certain funds of the nation. Now, some of the intruders have applied for this money. The Indian nation has no power to disburse any of its money, the amount previously held to meet this liability having been turned back into the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the Cherokee funds. The question was therefore submitted by this office to the Department as to whether or not the Cherokee Nation was bound to hold the amount of the appraised value of the improvements of an intruder continually subject to his demand, and if so, whether at this time, the money having been returned to the Treasury, the Department could use any of the ordinary funds of the nation for the purpose of paying these amounts. The office also suggested that if the Department thought these amounts should be paid at this time, it would be but just and right to charge the intruder the reasonable rent which is due the nation for the improvements which have been held by him since the date of tender. The Secretary decided that the Cherokee Nation was not bound to hold the money on tender for an indefinite length of time, and that it is too late now for the intruders, who declined to accept payment when the amount awarded was tendered, to make application for payment. Therefore, if these intruders desire to insist on payment at this late date they will have to go to Congress for their relief. Southern Boundary of Indian Territory.-Another question of considerable importance is the southern boundary of the Indian Territory-that is, the boundary between the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations and the State of Texas. When this office came to make up tract books from the plats of the survey of the Choctaw Nation it was observed that along the southern boundary a large number of tracts, some of them embracing as much as two sections of land in one place, had not been surveyed by the Geological Survey, but were marked "Texas." was ascertained from the Director of the Geological Survey that there are persons living on these tracts who claim to have purchased the lands from other persons who acquired them from the State of Texas at a time when the Red River, which is the boundary, ran to the north of these lands. Mr. Fitch, who had charge of the survey of the Indian Territory, states that there is strong evidence of the river having י changed its bed, and that on account of an opinion by the Assistant Attorney-General and correspondence with the Department on the subject, the lands, which are shown to have formerly been south of the Red River, but are now north, were omitted from the survey of the Indian Territory. This presents a rather serious condition, inasmuch as it is quite certain that if the river will in one case change its bed by taking a short cut across instead of going around a bend, so as to throw land north of the river that was formerly south, it would also in like manner change its bed throwing to the south land that was formerly north; but as the Geological Survey had no authority to make any investigations in Texas there was no data to determine whether in the changes of the river the State of Texas or the Choctaw Nation is the loser. Mr. Fitch suggests that a commission be appointed for the purpose of establishing the boundary between Texas and the Indian Territory, and it seems to this office that this is very desirable. INDEMNITY FOR LYNCHING OF SEMINOLES, INDIAN TERRITORY. In the last annual report a full account was given of the torturing and burning of Seminole Indians at the stake, by a mob of white men from Oklahoma, in revenge for the killing of one Mrs. Leard, a white woman living in the Seminole Nation. It was also noted that Congress had appropriated (in act approved July 1, 1898) a sum not exceeding $20,000 as indemnity to be paid other members of the Seminole Nation who had been injured by the mob. January 4, 1899, the Department transmitted to this office a report dated December 20, 1898, from J. George Wright, United States Indian inspector, giving the names of the Seminoles entitled to "indemnity for injuries or aggressions" committed upon them, and also the amount to which each one was, in his opinion, entitled by reason of personal injury, loss of a relative, or destruction of property. January 19, 1899, after consultation with Inspector Wright, the office submitted to the Department a statement of the injuries sustained by each of the twentyfour persons found to be entitled to remuneration, with recommendation made as to the amount that should be paid in each case, as follows: 1. Thomas McGeisey: 4. George P. Harjo, for severe personal injuries 6. George Kernell, for personal injuries 7. Sam Ela, for personal injuries...... $300.00 300.00 100.00 100.00 8. Kenda Palmer (light horseman), for arrest and deprivation 50.00 9. Tul Masey (light horseman), for arrest and deprivation of 50.00 January 21, 1899, the Secretary directed payments to be made as above through the United States Indian agent for the Union Agency, Indian Territory, and the agent was so instructed February 2, 1899. Out of the $13,078.75 to be disbursed, he has paid up to the present time about $11,000. POTTAWATOMIE AND KICKAPOO SURPLUS LANDS IN KANSAS. The act approved February 28, 1899, authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, with the consent of a majority of the chiefs, headmen, and male adults of the Prairie band of Pottawatomie tribe of Indians and the Kickapoo tribe of Indians in Kansas, expressed in open council by each tribe, to cause to be sold in trust for said Indians the surplus or unallotted lands of their reservations in Jackson and Brown counties, Kans. This law is virtually a reenactment, except as to a few minor details, of the provisions of section 10 of the act of March 2, 1895, under which act negotiations with the Indians for the sale of their surplus lands failed. March 17, 1899, Inspector A. W. Tinker was instructed by the Department to present the matter to the two tribes and to report the results of his conference with them. PAYMENTS FOR OTOE AND MISSOURIA LANDS IN KANSAS AND NEBRASKA. The controversy that has existed since May, 1883, between the Otoe and Missouria Indians and the settlers on their former reservations in Kansas and Nebraska as to the purchase price of those lands remains unsettled. On April 20, 1899, the Department transmitted to this office a proposition of settlement formulated by Mr. J. A. Van Orsdel, an attorney for the settlers, which provided for revision and readjustment of sales, in accordance with the act of March 3, 1893 (27 Stat., 568). The proposition was as follows: 1. That the actual market value of the lands at the time of said sale shall be ascertained by sworn testimony taken in the form of depositions before an officer legally authorized to take depositions, at which the settlers, the Government, and the Indians may be represented by counsel. Except as herein specially provided, such evidence shall be taken under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. 2. From the evidence so taken, the Secretary of the Interior shall ascertain and declare the actual market value of said land at the date of said sale; provided, however, that in no case shall the value so ascertained be declared at less than the original appraised value of said land. 3. The basis of settlement between the parties in interest shall be the value so declared by the Secretary of the Interior, together with simple interest at the rate of 5 per cent per annum from date of sale, with due credit and allowance for any payments made by settlers from the date of such payments. 4. That any and all balances found to be due from said settlers to the Government for the use of said Indians shall be paid and fully satisfied within ninety days after notice shall be given to said settlers of the amount due in each instance. 5. That where lands have been fully paid for at the original purchase price, any amount paid in excess of the value of such lands as ascertained and declared by the Secretary of the Interior, as herein before provided, together with simple interest on such excess amount at the rate of 5 per cent per annum, shall be rebated to said settlers out of any moneys held by the Government to the credit of the said Indians within the period of ninety days after the values are ascertained and declared as aforesaid. By direction of the Department, Inspector James McLaughlin, on June 15, 1899, was instructed to hold a conference with the Indians and lay the proposition before them. August 17 he reported that after a full discussion of the matter they emphatically expressed themselves as against the conditions of Mr. Van Orsdel's plan of settlement. HOSTILITIES AMONG PILLAGER CHIPPEWAS IN In the latter part of September, 1898, it was reported to the Department that a conflict was feared at Leech Lake, Minnesota, between the Pillager Chippewas and the white people. The United States Indian agent of the White Earth Agency, John H. Sutherland, and also |