WINDSOR AND ROBERTS.
[Col. J. H. Windsor and Senator or Dr. Roberts appear to be main
owners.]
[Also mentioned: A. D. Windsor, possibly the son of Col. J. H. Windsor.]
In the matter of Roberts [Senator or Dr.]
it is really confusing. I have seen the following mentioned: N. B. Roberts,
H. W. Roberts, and D. W. Roberts.
The Traveler of October 3, 1883,
stated that W. B. Roberts and E. T. Roberts and Colonel J. H. Windsor of
Titusville, Pennsylvania, were the owners of Willow Springs stock ranch.]
CATTLE AND OIL INTERESTS.
Windsor & Roberts become members of
the Cherokee Strip Stockmen’s Association in October 1882. “Major
J. Gore” is with them. Article refers to them as the “Pennsylvania
Oil Company.”
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, October 26, 1882.
THE STOCKMEN IN COUNCIL.
Special Meeting of the Cherokee Strip Stockmen’s Association.
In accordance with the call issued by
the President, the Cherokee Strip Stockmen’s Association met in Caldwell
at 10 a.m., on Tuesday, the 24th, inst.
President Ben S. Miller called the association
to order. The regular secretary being absent, W. B. Hutchison was appointed
to act as secretary pro tem.
Ed. M. Hewins stated the meeting was called
for the purpose of taking such action as would prevent the stealing of stock
from members of the association, and where stock was stolen to bring the
thieves to prompt punishment. Mr. Hewins closed his remarks by offering
the following resolution.
Resolved, That A. M. Colson, chairman of the Inspection Committee, be and
is hereby empowered to offer a reward of $1,000 for the arrest and conviction
of any person or persons stealing stock from members of this association.
The resolution was adopted by a unanimous
vote.
Mr. Hewins also moved that the Inspection
Committee be empowered to employ detectives, whenever it may deem necessary
to aid in the detection and capture of parties engaged in stealing stock
from members of this association. Carried.
On motion the following was adopted.
Resolved, That any member or members of this association who fails or refuses
to pay his or their proportion of an assessment made by the duly authorized
Inspection Committee of this association, of which A. M. Colson is chairman,
be debarred from all the rights and privileges of this association.
Col. J. H. Windsor and Major J. Gore were
elected members of the Cherokee Strip Association upon paying the requisite
admission fee.
On motion of Mr. Colson, the proceedings
of the meeting were ordered to be published in the Caldwell and Anthony
papers, and in the Kansas City Indicator and Price Current.
There being no further business, the meeting
adjourned.
BEN S. MILLER, President
W. B. HUTCHISON, Secretary, pro tem.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, October 26, 1882.
Col. J. H. Windsor and Major J. Gore of
the Pennsylvania Oil Cattle Company, were in attendance at the meeting of
the Cherokee Strip Stock Association on Tuesday. The company have their
ranch south of Arkansas City, and sufficient pasture room for 10,000 head
of cattle. The company’s brand will be P on left shoulder, O on the
side, and Co on left hip. Senator Roberts, of Pennsylvania, is a member
of the P. O. Company, and takes a great interest in it. It is perhaps unnecessary
to add that the company, with commendable forethought, made arrangements
to have a copy of the COMMERCIAL every week.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, November 23, 1882.
Fencing on the Strip: Chief Bushyhead’s Message.
We see by the Cherokee Advocate, that
Chief Bushyhead has called attention in his message to the fencing of ranges
in the Territory. He makes no objection to fencing, but in plain and pointed
language enters a protest against a few individual Cherokees parceling out
the Strip to their personal advantage. In this, the COMMERCIAL heartily
concurs with the chief. The Strip is the common property of the Cherokee
Nation, and while there ought not to be any objection to the Nation making
such use of the land as will inure to the benefit of the Cherokee people
as a body, nothing like monopoly upon the part of the shrewder members of
the Nation should be tolerated. This thing of John Jones, Dick Dunbar, Big
Hand, and Little Finger coming to the Strip, laying out patches of ten to
twenty-five miles square, and then selling the right to occupy them, putting
the money in their own pockets, is an outrage upon the poorer members of
the Nation. If a railroad company should attempt anything half as vicious,
not only the Cherokee Nation but the Interior Department at Washington would
be in arms against it.
The proper way for the Cherokee council
to do, is to pass a law giving the stockmen the privilege of fencing in
a reasonably sized range for a consideration that will be equitable to both
parties, the money to be placed in the treasury for the benefit of the whole
Nation. The council should also provide that the ranges shall be of uniform
size, taking into consideration a fair supply of water, etc., but no man
or organization should be allowed such a range as would give him or them
advantages over individuals of smaller means. Treat all alike, and if one
takes a range for 10,000 head of stock, make him pay for that number. If
he takes a range for 5,000 head, make him pay for that number, and so on.
And to the extent of range to be allowed,
we have no suggestions to make. We can only say that the best policy would
seem to be, both for the interest of the Cherokees and the cattlemen, to
make the ranges as small as possible without destroying the profits of the
business.
Another thing, the council should unite
upon a system of fencing that would leave a free roadway from all ranges
to shipping points on the Kansas line. Without some such arrangement, trouble
will arise among the cattlemen, and their last state will be worse than
their first.
As to the stockmen, we have no advice
to give them. They probably know their own business better than any newspaper
scribbler can tell them, but at the same time we can’t refrain from
suggesting to them the propriety of having, through representatives chosen
from among their own number, a free, full, and frank conference with the
Cherokee council while it is in session, and among other things make arrangements
for holding grounds adjacent to the shipping points on the Kansas line.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, November 23, 1882.
The stockmen on the Strip should make
some kind of an arrangement with the Cherokees whereby a fair sized strip
of country can be held open for the exclusive use of cattle shippers. In
order to do this they should at once set down upon those fellows who are
selling ranges for their own advantage. Our advice would be, give not a
dime to any man, full blood, half white, or brevet Cherokee, for the privilege
of occupying a range. Pay honestly and faithfully every dollar due the Cherokee
nation for the privilege of holding stock on the strip, but not one cent
for a shark to put in his pocket. In other words:
“Millions for de fence,
Not
one cent for tribute.”
Note. Evidently the paper at Arkansas
City under Standley was asleep at the switch and did not know what was happening
to them. About the time they noted that Capt. C. M. Scott had left on a
train for the east for Washington, D. C., Windsor & Roberts had already
had their “advance man” called “Superintendent,” referred
to as “Major Gore” fencing in the Windsor & Roberts property
south of Arkansas City. What I am really puzzled about is the item that
tells about Scott’s journey to Washington, D. C. It mentions two others
going there. Whether they were advising Scott or whether they had other
interests are never made clear. MAW
Arkansas City Traveler, December 6, 1882.
Major Gore, one of the most genial of
the B. I. T. men, left for the East last week. He will visit Texas to buy
stock before returning to this section.
Arkansas City Traveler, December 6, 1882.
Messrs. N. T. Snyder, C. H. Searing, and
Capt. C. M. Scott left on Monday’s train for the East. Before returning
all three of the gentlemen will visit Washington, D. C.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, December 7, 1882.
Concerning Fencing.
The following is a part of the bill passed
by the Cherokee council in convention assembled at Tahlequah, in regard
to wire fencing on the Cherokee Strip west of 96 degrees, and has been sent
to Chief Bushyhead for his signature. We would have published the bill in
full if space could have been spread, but the part copied is what interests
our citizens most.
“Be it further enacted. That all fencing, of whatever character,
done or that may be hereafter done on the herein before mentioned lands
for purpose of pasturage by citizens of the Cherokee Nation, or persons
claiming to be citizens of the same or in the names and on account of such
persons by citizens of the United States, under whatever pretense, are hereby
declared to be illegal and unauthorized, and the owners and claimants of
such fences, whether of wire and posts or other material, are required to
remove the same within six months from the date hereof, or the same shall
become the public property of the Cherokee Nation and be sold subject to
removal by the Sheriff of Cooweescoowee District or his lawful Deputy, after
he shall have publicly advertised the same in the Cherokee Advocate
and one other newspaper, published in the town of Caldwell, Kansas, for
the space of thirty days immediately preceding said sale. Provided, That
wherein it may be made to appear, that posts or other wood and material
used in the construction of said wire or other fences, have been obtained
from the lands aforesaid of the Cherokee Nation—the same shall be taken
possession of in the name and on the behalf of said Nation and sold in the
manner above provided, in the first instances, and shall not be subjected
to sale or removal by owners or claimants. Provided further, That
this act shall not be so construed as to prevent licensed stockmen from
constructing such lots at their usual headquarters, not exceeding twenty
acres in extent, as may be necessary for the better management of their
stock.”
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, December 14, 1882.
We urge upon Hon. Thomas Ryan the propriety
of pushing through his bill for attaching the northwestern portion of the
Indian Territory to the District of Kansas for judicial purposes, and for
the establishment of a U. S. Court at some eligible point near the southern
border of Kansas. The western portion of the Territory is now practically
under no other law than that of force, for the reason that where a criminal
is arrested and sent to Fort Smith, persons having knowledge of his guilt
cannot be induced to give information for fear of being dragged to Fort
Smith as witnesses at a great inconvenience and loss of time and money.
The practical effect of this state of affairs is to make the Territory a
harboring place for the worst class of outlaws in the country, whom the
law-abiding and orderly people cannot rid themselves of except by taking
the law into their own hands.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, December 14, 1882.
Chief Bushyhead has vetoed the bill annulling
the contracts made between cattlemen on the Cherokee Strip and citizens
of the Cherokee Nation, and also the bill to lease the Strip to a combination
of members of the Nation. His veto messages have not been received, but
it is safe to say that in both vetoes, the chief was eminently correct.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, December 14, 1882.
While on our wanderings down in the Territory,
we heard a conversation among cowboys accidently brought together at one
of the stage ranches on the road between here and Reno. They were discussing
the cattle business, as only cowmen can, and commented upon fencing, cowmen’s
work, etc., at the same time freely criticizing some of the cattle bosses.
In speaking of the extra work entailed by reason of fencing, one of them
stated that S. Tuttle was one of the whitest men on the range. He had built
a comfortable house for his hands, and while he exacted faithful services
on their part, at the same time he did not require impossibilities. The
line riders had each only ten miles of fence to look after, instead of twenty-five,
as on some ranches, and in so far as he could, Mr. Tuttle made the hard
and laborious life of a cowboy as smooth as circumstances would permit.
The moral to this will show itself next spring when, we believe, S. Tuttle
will find very few of his cattle outside of his range at the general round
up.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, December 14, 1882.
WASHINGTON.
An Indian Territory special says the Indian
authorities and Indian Agent Tuft are trying to remove 2,000 Indians from
the Creek and Seminole countries, who have moved in, settled, and occasionally
intermarried. Secretary Teller has the matter under advisement. If removed,
they may make trouble.
Arkansas City Traveler, December 20, 1882.
Capt. Haight informs us that he was called
into the Territo­ry a short time ago to settle a boundary line between
two large pastures. One of them, just south of Arkansas City, contains 190,000
acres, and is being fenced with barbed wire. This is being done by Col.
Windsor, of Titusville, Pennsylvania, under the cover of the names of two
Cherokee Indians. The other is being fenced by Mills and Stevens. Telegram.
Arkansas City Traveler, December 20, 1882.
Stockmen’s Meeting.
ARKANSAS CITY, Dec. 18th, 1882.
Pursuant to notice published, calling
a stockmen’s meeting at the Central Avenue, on Monday last, about thirty
stockmen responded, and the meeting was called to order at 1 o’clock
p.m. Mr. Hodges was called to the chair, and O. O. Clendenning was appointed
Secretary. The Chairman then read an article from a Cherokee paper, stating
what the Cherokee Council had done to prevent Eastern Companies from fencing,
and thus depriving the stockmen of the several ranges for which they had
paid and held license to in the Indian Territory.
Mr. J. E. Snow, Attorney of Winfield,
then read a series of resolutions prepared by himself and W. P. Hackney,
the acting attorneys for the stockmen. The resolutions are too lengthy to
be inserted here, but the sum and substance was that the stockmen there
assembled pledged themselves to abide by and aid each other to the utmost
extremity in resisting the action of the fencing monopolies which are attempting
to illegally force them from their ranges.
The resolutions were adopted and signed;
and the following gentlemen, Messrs. F. M. Stewart, D. Warren, and W. H.
Dunn, were appointed a committee to act in the premises and decide as to
the action necessary to be taken to enforce the resolutions as adopted.
A motion was put and carried that the
minutes of the meeting be published after which the meeting adjourned subject
to a call of the committee.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, December 21, 1882.
From Caldwell, Kansas.
EDITOR INDIAN CHIEFTAIN: As you have an
outspoken people’s paper, I send you a few lines upon matters west
of 96 degrees.
The spirit of invading Oklahoma is on
the boom, and they threaten to march about the middle of February in strength,
and hold by force. If a rope and tree could be furnished the leaders, the
cause would end.
After looking over our delegates’
report to the council and seeing so much bosh from the U. S. Indian department,
I feel it my duty to defend Cherokee rights. We have 6,500,000 acres of
beautiful, rich land unsold west of 96 degrees, and we ought to control
it like men, and quit begging thieving officials who always act in favor
of those who pay the most for their influence—it is ours until sold
and title conveyed. They claim a right to control by a clause of the treaty
of 1866, which says, “the government may locate friendly Indians, etc.,”
which clause conveys no title and is abrogated by a provision to remove
no more Indians from their homes, etc. Doing, and failing to do, are different
things. Then they claim a set price of 50 cents per acre, dated 1878, when
the treaty provides for a commission to value all lands sold. Admitting
that a price was fixed in 1878 for such land at 50 cents per acre, to hold
before sale and regardless of increased value, shows fraud which annuls
the whole proceeding. They have bought and paid for the Oklahoma ceded lands,
and have room there for more Indians than there is to locate. Such a sale
of our land works an evil instead of good, it furnishes fusions instead
of homes for other tribes, and gives land sharks an excuse to move and rob
them of their homes at our expense. This country was provided by our parents,
and we should hold it sacred as a headright for the Cherokee blood, and
not ruin our inheritance by blind and corrupt legislation, as has been done
with our homestead east of 96 degrees, where parties ignore Cherokee rights
to buy foreign votes. If we have 15,000 Cherokees, a division of this land
will give 433½ acres per head, and with an individual title placed
on the market would bring from $3 to $40 per acre, and at a low average
of $5 per acre, would give $2,166.83 per capita, enough to end our cry for
bread money that politicians so eagerly take advantage of to make voting
stock.
Fencing stock pastures west of 96 degrees,
I will state, was a means of self-defense adopted by stockmen, and guaranteed
by individual enterprise of Cherokees, upon common right.
Our land unsold begins east at the Arkansas
River, and runs west to the Panhandle of Texas, being 178 miles long by
57½ wide, and joins Kansas on the south in length. Under the old
mode of herding, no one could afford to hold stock nearer than 10 to 20
miles of the state line; they would ramble or be driven to Kansas pens,
and to recover them, owners have to pay a fine, damages to crops, and other
expenses, as per herd law. The result was that licensed herds left about
one-third of our range vacant, which was covered by men living on the line
with sheep and other stock on which they paid no taxes. Most of said range
is being reclaimed by men fencing and stocking pastures, thereby saving
the range and timber and creating more revenue for the Nation and establishing
Cherokee rights by fencing squatters out.
It is true, some of our people abuse the
cause by covering stock from tax or taking more range than is needed. Our
treasurer has the right to tax all stock west of 96 degrees, and cover all
extra range with stock, which will stop the swindle and greed. J. W. JORDAN.
Arkansas City Traveler, December 27, 1882.
C. M. Scott is now at Cadiz, Ohio, having
left Washington on Friday last in order to spend the Holidays with his parents.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, December 28, 1882.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 22. Captain Scott, of
Arkansas City, Kansas, is here to consult with the interior department respecting
the conflicting leases of lands in the Indian Territory, made by the Cherokee
Nation to various cattle men of Kansas and Missouri for grazing purposes.
This is the inauguration of a big fight between the original lessees, who
are small cattle owners, and the large companies who are striving to acquire
control of these lands to their prejudice.
Arkansas City Traveler, January 3, 1883.
It would please us to hear of a nice little
rebellion and uprising of the people along the line of the Territory on
both sides. A company in Pennsylvania is fencing in large tracts of land
already occupied by settlers, to the exclusion of any who may choose to
cross the border. Barb wire fences twenty-five miles long are being stretched
all along the line. One of the pastures south of Arkansas City contains
190,000 acres. This is being fenced by Col. Windsor, of Titusville, Pennsylvania,
under cover of the names of two Cherokee Indians.
Burden Enterprise.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, January 4, 1883.
THE CHEROKEE OUTLET.
Important to Stockmen.
The Globe-Democrat of last Sunday
publishes the following special from Washington, which may or not be of
interest to stockmen on the “outlet,” according as they view it.
It is dated Dec. 30, 1882.
Reports have reached the Indian Bureau
from Cherokee County, Indian Territory, to the effect that the white men
are erecting buildings and fencing off pastures in the “Cherokee Outlet.”
Commissioner Price today addressed a letter to Agent Tufts at Muskogee to
warn the white herders to remove with their stock from off the reservation,
allowing twenty days for the exit. If the herders fail to get out at time,
the agent is authorized to call on the military to eject them.
If we understand the above rightly, the
attempt will be made to remove the stockmen from the strip, or “outlet,”
as it is termed in the dispatch. Should such be the case, the move will
be an outrage upon the stockmen, for which no excuse whatever can be offered.
For they have paid taxes to the Cherokee Nation and received a permit therefor
to hold their stock on the strip. In addition to paying taxes, many of them
have also bought and paid for such right as the Cherokees could give to
fence their pastures and to erect suitable buildings for the shelter and
accommodation of their employees. They, therefore, have an equitable right
to remain undisturbed so long as they do not violate the laws of the United
States and the regulations of the Cherokee Nation governing the occupancy
of the lands.
But, it will be urged, the Cherokee have
no right to grant pasture-fencing privileges on the Strip. Why not? It is
not worthwhile to quote extracts from their treaties at this time, for they
have been published so often as to be familiar to everybody who has taken
the least interest in the Territory affairs. It is only sufficient to state
that these treaties convey to the Cherokees, in fee simple, the lands in
question, and that, until paid for by the United States, the Cherokees have
the sole control of the lands, with the undoubted right to secure from them
the largest revenue possible. No one who thoroughly understands the full
merits of the question will argue differently. Therefore, it seems to us
that if complaint has been made against the stockmen, it comes from envious
or malicious parties, parties who cannot occupy the country themselves and
are not willing to allow others to do so.
The stockmen, in their own interests,
should take steps to ascertain the full meaning of the dispatch, and if
there is anything in it, adopt a course that will protect their rights.
Since the above was put in type, we have
discovered the following in the Washington letter of the Kansas City
Times.
“By the Cherokee law each Indian
has been allowed to appropriate a given quantity of land suitable for grazing
purposes in the Indian Territory. It appears that the rich and powerful
corporation known as the ‘Standard Oil Corporation’ have gone
into the speculation of cattle raising, and the better to serve a monopoly,
have hired Cherokee Indians at nominal rates to take up grazing lands for
the benefit of the company. Heretofore, the people of Missouri, Kansas,
and Texas have been able to graze their cattle in the Indian Territory by
paying so much a head, but the plan of the Standard Oil Company is to drive
out all those engaged in raising cattle in a small way. The leases or contracts
made with these Indians by the Standard Oil Company have been submitted
to Secretary Teller, and to his credit, be it said, he has peremptorily
declined to approve them. This evidences the fact that the Secretary appreciates
the interests and wants of the western people, and is not to be dragooned
into injustice even by so powerful a corporation as the Standard Oil Company.”
This, we think, accounts for the Globe-Democrat’s
special.
It is well enough to restrain monopolists,
but we venture the assertion that the parties who are objecting to the Standard
Oil Company’s leases are stock owners on the Kansas border, who have
been in the habit of holding cattle in the Territory without paying one
cent of taxes on them to the Cherokees or the state of Kansas. In their
way, they were monopolists as well as the Standard Oil Company.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, January 11, 1883.
LEASING THE OUTLET.
The Schemes of Monopolists.
Last week the COMMERCIAL published a statement
regarding the flurry created by an order, issued by the Secretary of the
Interior, for the removal of stockmen from the Cherokee Strip. On Friday
last, Mr. Tuttle, of this city, received a telegram stating that the order
had been rescinded, and on Saturday the following appeared in the Globe-Democrat.
WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 5. B. H. Campbell,
representing a syndicate of Chicago capitalists, is negotiating with the
Secretary of the Interior for a lease of a tract of land thirty miles square
in the Indian Territory belonging to the Cherokee and Cheyenne Indians.
They propose using it for grazing cattle, and agree to cut only such timber
as is necessary to provide posts for wire fences to enclose the land. They
offer $50,000 rental for the land. The Indians are represented as being
anxious to enter into the arrangement.
B. H. Campbell has evidently experienced
a change of heart since he quit editing a greenback paper in Iowa. Then,
his soul was harrowed by the privileges granted monopolists and their encroachments
upon the rights of the people. Now, he is only too anxious to be enrolled
in the ranks of that hated class.
Letting Mr. Campbell rest for the present,
it is well enough to state here, that
1. The Cheyennes do not control any lands
in the Indian Territory.
2. Even if they do, neither they nor the
Cherokees, jointly or separately, have anything to say about leasing lands
in the Territory for grazing purposes.
3. Secretary Teller has no authority to
lease lands in the Territory for any purpose whatever.
But even if he has that authority, and
chooses to exercise it in favor of a cattle syndicate or an individual who
desires to engage in the stock business, then he may also lease a tract
or tracts to colonies or individuals for agricultural or mining purposes.
Furthermore, to acknowledge the authority
of the Secretary to give a lease to Mr. Campbell’s Chicago syndicate,
is practically an assertion that the land in question belongs to the government,
and therefore is subject to settlement. Certainly no one assumes that to
be the case.
In the above we do not wish to be understood
as objecting to leasing the lands in the Territory, west of 96 degrees,
and not absolutely required for the use of the Indians now occupying them,
for grazing purposes. On the contrary, the COMMERCIAL has been the first
to advocate such a course, believing it would be beneficial to the Indians,
a great saving to the country, and put at rest—for a time, at least—all
attempts to force the Territory open to settlement. But this must be by
the authority of Congress, and under such regulations as will not permit
the entire country to be absorbed by two or three combinations like the
one represented by Mr. B. H. Campbell. And it is well to remark right here,
if the attempts being made to place the control of the grazing lands, in
the Territory, into the hands of a few men, or any combination of capitalists,
is persisted in, the results will be that in less than one year the land
in question will be dotted with claim houses instead of cattle. A little
reflection on this point may possibly save some useless and likewise expensive
trips to the national capital.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, January 11, 1883.
COUNTERMANDED.
Notice was received from Agent Tufts,
on Monday, to publish the order notifying stockmen on the Strip to remove
fences and improvements. Yesterday morning a dispatch was received from
him countermanding the notice to publish. It would seem, from this, that
the order issued by the Indian Bureau had been suspended until the condition
of affairs on the Strip are thoroughly investigated. Should this prove to
be the case, the stockmen need not fear any further trouble, as such an
investigation will undoubtedly convince the Interior Department that no
cause exists for interfering with them.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, January 11, 1883.
Stockmen’s Meeting at Topeka.
We see by the Commonwealth that
a special meeting of stockmen belonging to the Stockmen’s Association
of the Cherokee Strip, was held in Topeka on Monday. M. H. Bennett was elected
chairman pro tem., and after a free and full discussion of the order issued
by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs removing all improvements from the
Strip, on motion Hon. E. M. Hewins and Maj. A. Drumm were appointed to wait
upon the Secretary of the Interior and request a thorough investigation
of the intentions of the stockmen in erecting enclosures and making the
improvements complained of. Also, to request a suspension of the execution
of the order until the investigation is made.
The meeting adopted the following preamble
and resolutions.
WHEREAS, We have an association known
as the Cherokee Strip Stockmen’s Association, whose members own over
ninety percent of all livestock grazed upon the Cherokee Strip, Indian Territory,
and all difficulties heretofore arising between members of this association
have been amicably settled by themselves, and
WHEREAS, We, as stockmen of the Indian
Territory, claim no right whatever in said Territory, only as guaranteed
us by virtue of paying a grazing tax on stock to the Cherokee nation; therefore,
be it
Resolved, That we would respectfully request the Secretary of the Interior
to make a full and complete investigation of the interest and purposes of
the stockmen on the Cherokee Strip in the Indian Territory, as regards their
improvements further than to simply protect their stock from trespassing
upon the ranges of their fellow stockmen.
Resolved, That we are opposed to any company or individual monopolizing any
part on the Territory that infringes upon the rights of any person or persons
that have paid the grazing tax upon their cattle and have grazing ground
allotted and set apart for the benefit of the cattle upon which said tax
has been paid.
Resolved, That we unanimously disapprove of the Standard Oil Company or any
other corporation or company of individuals, in fencing up the grounds known
as the “quarantine grounds,” said grounds having been set apart
by the association, by and with the consent of the Cherokee authorities,
for the benefit and use of persons driving cattle from Texas and other points
for shipment.
Resolved, That we, as members of this association, will use our utmost endeavors
to prevent all trespassing upon the timber lands of the Cherokee Strip by
whomsoever it may be. We do also insist upon all persons holding stock upon
the Cherokee Strip preserving order and quietly submitting to all the laws
and decisions of the governing power of the hour.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, January 11, 1883.
The Commonwealth: The Chicago capitalists who are negotiating
with the Secretary of the Interior for a lease of 2,400,000 acres of land
in the Indian Territory, are under the leadership of B. H. Campbell, late
United States marshal for the northern district of Illinois. They offer
the magnificent sum of two cents an acre for the richest land in the west.
The scheme goes on all fours with Uncle Rufus Hatch’s offer to take
the Yellowstone Park off the government’s hands for a hotel site, or
that other proposition of the Standard Oil Company to “freeze out”
all the small cattle men in the Territory.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, January 18, 1883.
The Commonwealth of the 14th informs
us that “stockmen in the Indian Territory are much pleased over the
news that they are not to be removed until an investigation is held by the
Interior Department.”
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, January 18, 1883.
THE CHEROKEE LAW ON FENCES.
Elsewhere will be found the law relating
to pastures and fencing the same, passed by the Cherokee Council at its
last session, and approved December 9, 1882.
On the face of it, the law was intended
to apply only to that portion of the Cherokee country east of the 96th meridian,
yet if it means anything, it means that all fenced pastures on the Strip
must also be reduced to fifty acres, and that those who have erected fences
enclosing a greater number of acres, must remove the same immediately after
the first of March next.
If this is the construction to be placed
upon the law, then it is only fair to characterize it as a piece of bad
faith on the part of the Cherokee Nation toward the stockmen who have fenced
ranges on the Strip. By virtue of the laws of their nation, Cherokee citizens
had taken those ranges and authorized the parties occupying them to build
fences and such other improvements as would make them complete stock ranches
within the meaning of those laws. That being the case, the stockmen acted
in good faith, with no intention of wronging the Cherokee or assuming rights
to which they were not entitled.
And this was fully explained to the Cherokee
Senate by Mr. P. N. Blackstone, one of its members, in the discussion on
the sweeping confiscation act introduced by Mr. Ross, and which failed to
receive the approval of the Principal Chief. Mr. Blackstone, to his honor
be it said, stated at that time, that he and other citizens of the Cherokee
Nation were alone responsible for the course pursued by the stockmen, and
if any punishment was to be meted out to parties for encroaching upon the
rights of the nation, he and others, who had taken possession of the lands
in question, should suffer and not the innocent stockmen. In this course
Mr. Blackstone gave an example of manliness, moral courage, and a sense
of honesty and justice deserving of all credit, and which might be advantageously
imitated by the Cherokee Nation.
The COMMERCIAL stated when the fencing
began, and so believes now, that it would be an injury to the men engaging
in it and the stock interests on the Strip, but it has been adopted by many,
at a great expense, under what was ample authority, and now they should
not be disturbed without just cause.
If they are now compelled to remove the
fences, it is only right that some compensation should be made them in return
for the expense which they have incurred through no fault on their part.
At all events, there should be no such thing as total confiscation or destruction
of their property, such as seems to be contemplated in the law of December
9.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, January 18, 1883.
Leasing Indian Land: Secretary Teller’s Statements.
WASHINGTON, D. C., January 5. There have
been repeated efforts of late on the part of different syndicates to lease
large tracts of land in the Indian Territory. Among the applicants is B.
H. Campbell, of Aurora, Illinois. Upon applying to Secretary Teller tonight
for information, he said that he has not yet considered the application
of B. H. Campbell and others for a confirmation of a lease with certain
tribes of the Indian Territory, which is for a tract of land thirty miles
square. The secretary stated tonight that he is not unfamiliar with the
subject, as it was brought before his attention last summer in the form
of complaints from the Wichita tribe of Indians that stockmen had come into
the Territory and made contracts with the Indians, imposing on their ignorance,
and giving them hardly enough consideration to justly warrant the application
of the term. The secretary stated that the War Department was called upon
at the time to drive these men and their cattle out of the Territory, but
was unable to do it. He had no doubt that today there were many of these
men who have made contracts with the more ignorant tribes for the lease
of large tracts of lands, where the consideration allowed the Indians was
a mere trifle. “This,” he stated, “is especially the case
along the northern boundary of the Indian Territory, where the dishonest
cattle raisers in the southern part of Kansas have imposed on the Indians
most shamefully.”
The Secretary explained that he had no
authority to lease the land, but that he could only confirm or reject a
lease made by the Indians. He stated that Mr. B. H. Campbell presented his
case to the department, and he understood it was to lease a tract thirty
miles square; this in round numbers would be about one million acres, and
the price proposed was two cents per acre per annum, which is the price
paid for grazing land in Texas. The Secretary did not know whether or not
he would be in favor of issuing such a large tract to one party, and was
inclined to think two cents too small a figure. He thought, however, that
the gentleman referred to would pay more than two cents per acre. He called
attention to the Cherokee reservation, in which there are 6,000,000 acres,
which leased at two cents an acre, would amount to a rental of $120,000
per annum. This, the secretary said, was more than could be realized from
any other use of the land, as it is not arable except in occasional spots.
Besides the small price offered for the
land, the Secretary thought that another objection was the promiscuous crowd
allowed to enter the Territory under these contracts, such as cowboys, who,
he thought, had a demoralizing effect upon the Indians. This, he said, it
was proposed to remedy by selecting one-half of the herders from among the
Indians, which, he thought, would be a check, especially in view of the
effort now being made to disarm the cowboys.
The Secretary summed up his statement
by saying that, if a fair price was offered for the land, and the Indians
agree to the contract, he thought that to lease it in tracts of reasonable
size, with certain restrictions, would be a benefit to the Indian. He stated
that there were several cases of this character before the department. One
from Mr. Babbitt, of St. Louis, and one from a Mr. Duncan, of the same place,
were the only two names he could recall, though all of the applicants were
stockmen of the West. He stated that he would probably take up the cases
early next week.
The above is copied from the Kansas
City Indicator, not for its intrinsic worth, but to show that all the
humorists or fools have not put the wild, rushing Mississippi between themselves
and the surges of the Atlantic coast, and for the further purpose of giving
our readers an idea of the misinformation which can be put into circulation
with the aid of lightning and printer’s ink.
A careful perusal of this artistically
constructed dispatch will naturally impress upon the mind of the average
citizen of this section that the writer of it, whoever he may be, has attempted—to
use a vulgarism of the day—to put it upon the venerable Secretary of
the Interior, or that he means to create the impression that the aforesaid
venerable is as innocent of all knowledge regarding affairs in the Indian
Territory as a high salaried editor of an eastern daily or an intellectually
pale student of a theological seminary. Contemplate for a few seconds the
idea of Indians, singly or in tribes, leasing any portion of the Territory!
And then the inference that the Indian
“Whose untutored mind
Clothes him in front and leaves him bare behind.”
save when he adorns himself with the picturesque
“gee string,” is a higher order of mammalia than the white herder
employed in the cattle camps of the Territory. Well, it is too rich for
anything.
Notice, too, the oracular way in which
the Honorable Secretary is made to class the stockmen on the Cherokee Strip
as a set of thieves. It must, of course, be highly flattering to such men
as Andy Drumm, Ed. Hewins, Tuttle, Milt. Bennett, Ben Miller, Tony Day,
Charley Moore, Johnny Blair (the editor of the Post), and even Barbecue
Campbell. While we haven’t the least doubt that these men would for
a moment hesitate to take in out of the wet anything they might see lying
around loose, it seems impossible to believe that they could concoct any
scheme whereby the poor Indian would come off second best. At all events,
the Indian is ahead, so far.
To sum up, if the Honorable Secretary
of the Interior did unburthen himself in the above manner, it must have
been all Barbecue could do, with all his gall, to refrain from stuffing
his “wipe” into his mouth. It is a safe bet, that so soon as B.
Q. could do so, he withdrew and sought the friendly shade of some elegant
Washington bar, and there drowned his risibilities in the beverage of the
age A rare joker is—B.
Q.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, January 18, 1883.
Penal Law.
An act to prevent monopoly of the Public Domain.
WHEREAS, The Constitution declares that
the lands of the Cherokee Nation shall remain common property, and that
the National Council shall have power to adopt such laws and regulations
as its wisdom may deem expedient and proper to prevent citizens from monopolizing
improvements with the view of speculation, and,
WHEREAS, The Inclosure of large bodies
of land for whatever purpose is violative of the paramount ownership of
the people in the common property of the Nation, and calls for the exercise
of the power invested in the National Council to adopt such laws and regulations
as it may deem proper to prevent citizens from monopolizing improvements,
therefore,
Be it enacted by the National Council,
That all inclosures of the lands of the Cherokee Nation by wire, whether
barbed or plain—and posts, wood or iron, the said material having been
at no time recognized as constituting a lawful fence in the Cherokee Nation,
or as constituting any part of an improvement under the constitution, are
hereby declared to be unlawful, and where such inclosures exist, the owners
or claimants of the wire and posts used in making such inclosures are required
to remove the same within ninety days after the passage of this act, or
it shall be the duty of the sheriff of the district, wherein such fencing
may be found, to remove it, and to sell so much thereof as may be required
to cover the costs of such removal, after giving further notice of the time
and place of sale in three successive issues of the Cherokee Advocate.
Be it further enacted, That from and after
the passage of this act it shall not be lawful for any person to hold, for
the purposing of grazing, a greater quantity of land than fifty acres attached
to the farm owned or occupied by such person, he being a citizen of the
Cherokee Nation.
Be it further enacted, That in case any
farm is or shall be inclosed by wire and wood or iron posts, such fence
shall be lawful when constructed as follows, to-wit:
Wooden posts not less than seven feet
long, six inches in diameter, firmly set in the ground two feet, and not
exceeding eight feet apart; one wire four inches from the ground; next,
one board, one by six inches, four inches above first wire; next, second
wire four inches above first board; next, third wire fifteen inches above
second wire; second board one by six or eight inches, eighteen inches above
third wire; said wires to be fully stretched and securely fastened to the
posts, and the boards to be securely nailed to the posts.
Approved, Dec. 9th, 1882.
[The ninety days for which the above penal
act has to be published before it becomes a law, will expire March 27, 1883.]
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, January 25, 1883.
AGENT TUFTS APPOINTMENT.
Agent Tufts has been appointed by the
Secretary of the Interior to investigate the occupation of the Cherokee
Strip by cattlemen and the fence question. Mr. Tufts is general agent for
the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles. While we believe
he will act impartially in making his investigation, we are at the same
time convinced that it would have been better for all concerned if the Secretary
had selected someone in no wise connected with either side. No information
is given as to when Agent Tufts will enter upon the discharge of his duties,
but it is presumed that he will make his report in time for the Secretary
of the Interior to lay the whole matter before congress, should such a course
be deemed necessary.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, February 1, 1883.
West of 96.
Hon. John Q. Tufts, our excellent agent
at Muskogee, has very properly been chosen by the Secretary of the Interior
as special agent to investigate the rights of the Cherokees and cattlemen
in this fencing of the land west of 96. He is the right man in the right
place. We are confident he will make an honest and fair report of the matter,
and that the rights of the Cherokee Nation in the premises will be protected
as far as his report can do so.
There is something in this matter beside
the wire fences belonging to Dick, Tom, and Harry, and in suing for their
destruction by the hands of the U. S. Government, the rights of the Cherokee
Nation are disregarded. The Secretary of the Interior has no more right
to order a fence torn down west of 96 by virtue of his right, or of that
of the U. S. Government, than he has to tear them down east of 96. The land
west of 96 is ours; we own it under patent; we have never alienated it;
we have never sold it, but have only agreed to do so when the government
wants to settle friendly Indians and is ready to pay for it, and when thus
sold and occupied, we yield “possession and jurisdiction,” which
we have especially retained in this agreement. (See treaty of 1866, Art.
16.) But if it is not sold or occupied, we do retain possession and jurisdiction,
and we make every man but our own citizens pay for grazing there—no
man can use it without paying our Nation tax or rent money. Have we the
right to demand and collect rent money and yet no right to protect ourselves
in using this property? Have we a right to the field and yet no right to
protect it from intrusion? Can we rent or use this grazing farm and yet
have no right to fence it? This seems to be the Secretary’s idea, as
he endorses the communication of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, from
which we quote.
“Neither have the Cherokees, in their
national capacity, the right to make settlement and improvement, or to authorize
the same, on the lands in question. This right, I understand, the Cherokee
authorities do not claim, and that they have not authorized such settlement
and improvement.”
The Cherokee National authorities have
never disclaimed the right of settlement and improvement there, though they
have taken no action authorizing it. They do have, however, unquestionably,
the right to settle it and improve it, according to the treaty, but if the
government of the United States wants to settle friendly Indians there,
the improvements and settlements will have to be vacated so as to make operative
the promise made by the Cherokee people in the treaty. Until that time they
have the right, and will maintain it. The opinion of the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs seems to be guided by the contemptible opinion of Chas. Devens,
Esq., while acting as attorney general. We heard some time since a distinguished
gentleman, who had occupied the executive chair of a great state, define
an attorney general as a man of legal attainments, who was salaried to furnish
legal grounds for the course the executive wishes to pursue. Mr. Devens
seems to have been such an attorney general, for it is unquestionably expedient
that in view of future settlement of friendly Indians on this land, no settlement
of a substantial kind should be made by Cherokees. And this was doubtless
the executive wish. Mr. Devens makes his legal opinion, which is a poor
pretext, uphold this wish. He does as he is paid to do and the world rolls
on.
If the government were to want to remove
these fences in response to our request, as a Nation, it would be all right,
but when the government desires to move the fences of its own motion, we
cry stop! If you can destroy fencing of your own motion west of 96, you
can do it east of 96! We object to such a precedent.
Some of our dignified citizens who are,
under ordinary circumstances, fairly good thinkers, have rather rejoiced
at the recent action of the secretary; quite overlooking, in their eagerness
to destroy these leases, the dangerous precedent. There is a principle in
this business; let us bring it to light and stand by it. If we want to destroy
these fences, let us do it as a government as our right, but do not let
us call on the United States to do it as their right, lest when the precedent
is established, the government think it well to lay down our eastern fences
and have them run north and south, and east and west on section lines.
The above is from the Indian Chieftain,
published at Vinita, C. N. The position taken by the Chieftain is
the same advocated by the COMMERCIAL for the past three years, viz: that
the Cherokees had the sole control of the Strip, and that neither congress
nor the interior department had the right to dictate how the Cherokees should
manage it, or what use they should make of it.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, February 1, 1883.
Hon. John Q. Tufts, by advice of the 15th
inst., has been directed to report substantially on the following points
on the lands west of 96:
1st. How much fencing has been done on
the lands in question?
2nd. To whom do the fences belong?
3rd. Name of each individual company or
organization, claiming to own such fences and the quantity claimed by each.
4th. How long since fencing was commenced?
5th. What effect has such fencing had
upon legitimate trade and travel, and also upon mail routes?
6th. What effect upon preservation or
destruction of timber on said lands?
The agent was directed to suspend all
further operations under office letter of the 30th ult., until a full report
as called for above is made and action has thereon been taken by the Indian
department and communicated to him. Vinita Chieftain.
Caldwell Commercial, Thursday, February 1, 1883.
SPECIAL STOCKMEN’S MEETING.
Official Report of Proceedings.
A special meeting of the Cherokee Strip
Stock Association was held in Caldwell, Kansas, January 27, 1883.
The meeting was called to order by W.
E. Campbell, vice-president of the association; John A. Blair, Secretary.
The object of the meeting was stated by
the chair and letters were read by Mr. Walton from E. M. Hewins concerning
matters pertaining to the vital interests of the association.
On motion a committee of five was appointed
by the chair to draft resolutions. Messrs. M. H. Bennett, A. McClain, S.
Tuttle, Marion Blair, and O. Ewell were appointed as such committee.
On motion, a committee of five was appointed
on reception of Major John Q. Tufts upon his arrival in this city, February
7th, 1883. E. M. Hewins, I. S. Ballinger, S. Tuttle, J. W. Hamilton, and
M. H. Bennett were appointed as such committee. On motion the committee
was increased to eight and A. McClain, Ben S. Miller, and A. M. Colson were
appointed as such additional committeemen.
The following resolution