Protections
in the Supplemental Treaty of 1902
Mention has already been made herein of the
Supplemental Treaty with the Choctaws and Chickasaws. This treaty was an
act passed by Congress, approved July 1, 1902 and ratified by the Choctaws
and Chickasaws in September following by a popular vote. In this
act the rights of Mississippi Choctaws are better defined, and the rulings
of the Commission find expression herein as law. As the fullest and latest
expression of the rights of Mississippi Choctaws is found in sections forty-one
to forty-four of this act these sections are given in full. They are as
follows:
41. All persons duly identified by the Commission to the Five
Civilized Tribes under the provisions of section 21 of the Act of congress
approved June 28, 1898 (30 Stats., 495), as Mississippi Choctaws entitled
to benefits under article fourteen of the treaty between the United States
and the Choctaw Nation concluded September 27, 1830, may, at any time within
six months after the date of their identification as Mississippi Choctaws
by the said commission, make bona fide settlement within the Choctaw -
Chickasaw country, and upon proof of such settlement to such Commission
within one year after the date of their said identification as Mississippi
Choctaws shall be enrolled by such Commission as Mississippi Choctaws entitled
to allotment as herein provided for citizens of the tribes, subject to
the said special provisions herein provided as to Mississippi Choctaws,
and said enrollment shall be final when approved by the Secretary of the
Interior. The application of no person for identification as a Mississippi
Choctaw shall be received by said Commission after six months subsequent
to the date of the final ratification of this agreement and in the disposition
of such applications all fullblood Mississippi Choctaw Indians and the
descendants of any Mississippi Choctaw Indians whether of full or mixed
blood who received a patent to land under the said 14th article of the
said treaty of eighteen hundred and thirty who had not moved to and made
bona fide settlement in the Choctaw-Chickasaw country prior to June twenty-eight,
eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, shall be deemed to be Mississippi Choctaws,
entitled to benefits under article fourteen of the said treaty of September
twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and thirty, and to identification as such
by said Commission, but this direction or provision shall be deemed to
be only a rule of evidence and shall not be invoked by or operate to the
advantage of any applicant who is not a Mississippi Choctaw of the full
blood, or who is not the descendant of a Mississippi Choctaw who received
a patent to land under said treaty, or who is otherwise barred from the
right of citizenship in the Choctaw Nation, all of said Mississippi Choctaws
so enrolled by said Commission shall be upon a separate roll.
42. When any such Mississippi Choctaw shall have in good faith continuously
resided upon the lands of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations for a period
of three years, including his residence thereon before and after such enrollment,
he shall, upon due proof of such continuous, bona fide residence, made
in such manner and before such officer as may be designated by the Secretary
of the Interior, receive a patent for his allotment, as provided in the
Atoka agreement, and he shall hold the lands allotted to him as provided
in this agreement for citizens of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations.
43. Applications for enrollment as Mississippi Choctaws, and applications
to have land set apart for them as such, must be made personally before
the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes. Fathers may apply for their
minor children; and if the father be dead, the mother may apply; husbands
may apply for wives. Applications for orphans, insane persons, and persons
of unsound mind may be made by duly appointed guardian or curator, and
for the aged and infirm persons and prisoners by agents duly authorized
thereunto by power of attorney, in the discretion of said Commission.
44. If within four years after such enrollment any such Mississippi
Choctaw, or his heirs or representatives if he be dead, fails to make proof
of such continuous bona fide residence for the period so prescribed, or
up to the time of the death of such Mississippi Choctaw, in case of his
death after enrollment, he, and his heirs and representatives if he be
dead, shall be deemed to have acquired no interest in the lands set apart
to him, and the same shall be sold at public auction for cash, under rules
and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and the proceeds
paid into the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the Choctaw
and Chickasaw tribes, and distributed per capita with other funds of the
tribes. Such lands shall not be sold for less than their appraised value.
Upon payment of the full purchase price patent shall issue to the purchaser.
Lawyers
and Real Estate Agents
Such in brief is a summary of the law, and
some of the legal fights that the Court Claimants were making in order
to establish their claims to Indian citizenship. But while the lawyer was
busy in the forum, the real estate agent was busy in the field. Both
lawyer and real estate agent seem to have thought that they could bestow
a greater benefit on all concerned by dealing with the Mississippi Choctaw
located in Mississippi, and directed their labors accordingly.
For a time the lawyer worked by himself, and
by means of letter writing kept as many as a half dozen or more of these
claims on his books. These few claims in connection with his other practice
was about all that he could well attend to. But business grew, and competition
sharpened. The work was not being done, fast enough; dreams of great fortunes
spurred the lawyer to the field. The Choctaw was too far away in his home
in Mississippi, some one needs be on the ground, since a face-to-face and
heart-to-heart campaign would bring greater results.
Meantime the real estate agent on his own initiative,
had gone into the field. The agent soon found that he must have a lawyer,
and the lawyer was soon convinced that he must have an agent. Seeking each
other they came together; partnerships were formed, and united they went
forth to enrich the Mississippi Choctaw, and incidentally (?) to exploit
him out of his fortune.
For a time this practice was regarded
by lawyers as legitimate and professional. This opinion was held during
the years 1899 and the two years following, when only descendants were
interested in the securing of their allotments, and before the interest
of the full-blood, had been enlisted. These descendants were frequently
white men of means, and were able to pay a cash fee. In these instances
the lawyer charged a reasonable fee, and pursued the even tenor of his
way as in his other business. But the security of the claims appeared to
claimants as more and more uncertain, and they soon preferred to spend
no further money on uncertainties. Besides, the claims of clients with
ability to pay had soon all been filed, and only contingent fees could
be had.
These fees were contingent, of course, on the
final success of the claim, and as the contingency was great the fee was
likewise heavy. A certain part of the allotment was to be given as a fee,
and a contract to that effect was entered into. For a time even yet only
a small part of an allotment was attempted to be contracted away in this
manner, but the fee was in a much greater proportion than the work to be
done. If at any time anyone in the work felt scrupulous because of extortion,
he probably justified himself with the thought that he needed a premium
to compensate himself for the hazard he was running of not getting anything,
and eased his conscience by recalling the fact that others were doing the
same thing.
It required but a short time for the advocate
and the agent to make a fortune. The agent made a trip to Mississippi and
rode about the country, writing contracts with the Choctaws. When he had
written a hundred or more, he was probably satisfied, and returned home,
his fortune made. He was the owner on his part by virtue of his contracts
of a few thousand acres of land to be selected by himself from the fertile
prairies and valleys of the Indian Territory.
But dozens of other real-estate agents were
dreaming the same dreams; and probably in less than a month’s time one
of them entering the same indian village, took up the old contracts and
wrote new ones, thus sweeping away all the realities of the great fortune
of the first dreamer, only in his turn probably to have his own claims
to wealth obliterated in like manner by the next agent, a few days later.
When it was known that the contracts had been
taken up by others, there was confusion in the partnership. The lawyer
blamed the agent for leaving his work only half done, and the agent blamed
the lawyer for not furnishing him a contract that would hold the Choctaw.
In fact neither could blame the other. The
agent had done his best to convince the Choctaw, and the lawyer had furnished
an ironclad contract. But how could the ignorant Choctaw be convinced when
he did not understand, and of what benefit is an ironclad contract when
it cannot bind one of the parties to it? All that was left to these firms
of the fortunes, so recently amassed, was a bit of experience, bought perhaps
at the expense of a few thousand dollars, to say nothing of the time and
labor thrown away. Sometimes a second effort was made, probably with better
success; the more cautious, however, felt contented with their first experience.
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Ellen
Pack
