stock from the barrel. He then picked up the Larrel of the gun, and as she passed out the door he struck her several times in quick succession, the force of the blows crushing her skull, and from which she died. The Indian then stepped into the house and made a search for money, but did not find any. He then went out of the house, and drawing the woman's infant of a few months from under her dead body he put the child in the house and left the place.

The only persons present were the woman and the Indian and the woman's children, the eldest a lad of 8 years, the next a girl of 4 years, and the infant. It was not possible for the children to get their moth er's body into the house, and it lay outside during the night. Upon the coming of daylight of the following morning the little boy hastened away to the neighbors for assistance. Upon his return with some of the neighbors it was found that the hogs had gotten into the yard and had partially devoured the body of the woman. The body was then cared for and decently interred and a messenger dispatched for the husband of the woman, who was several miles away. Mr. Leard was accompanied to his home by a number of persons from Oklahoma, and as soon as the burial services were closed those present organized a posse to hunt down the woman's murderer. This posse was heavily armed, and rode all over the western border of the Seminole Nation, taking into custody nearly every Indian who came across its path. All were taken before the little boy for identification, and many of them he was able to state positively did not do the bloody deed. Others he was doubtful in so clearly stating their innocence, and all such Indians were then tortured in an effort to make them confess that they were the ones or had had something to do with the crime.

Finally a confession of guilt was extorted from Palmer Sampson, an ignorant, full-blood Seminole Indian, who also implicated Lincoln McGeisy. The latter denied the charge and until the very last declared his entire innocence. The mob held these boys (for I am advised they were about 18 or 19 years of age) several days, and on the night of Friday, January 7, carried them over into Oklahoma, and chaining them together by their necks with chains, securely fastened them to a tree and piled hay and brush around them, and about 3 o'clock of the morning of the 8th set fire thereto and burned them alive. They continued to burn for about twelve hours, and when found by a searching party their legs and arms were burned from their trunks. The tree was cut down Saturday (8th) afternoon and their remains taken to the Seminole Nation and buried, still chained together.

The first information received of there being any trouble in that country reached me on Saturday night (8th) in a telegram from Deputy Marshal Buchner, who was at Holdenville, and who wired me that there was a raging mob in the Seminole Nation, and asked for instructions. I immediately endeavored to ascertain the cause of the disturb ance, and was advised of the death of the two boys as above related, also that the mob had burned the farmhouses on the McGeisy place. The mob having dispersed before this information reached me, I consulted with United States Judge William M. Springer, and wired my deputies at Holdenville and Wewoka to meet United States Commissioner Fears at Wewoka and obey his orders concerning an investigation. Commissioner Fears went to Wewoka on the 10th and at once issued process for witnesses and a warrant for the interpreter who had served the purposes of the mob. On the 10th I also wired Assistant United States Attorney Parker, then at South McAlester, requesting him to proceed to Wewoka and aid in the investigation. Mr. Parker did so. I would

have personally proceeded to the scene, but could not see the necessity for so doing at the time the information reached me. I was also preparing to transport some prisoners from Muscogee to the penitentiary and had all arrangements made to leave with them.

On the night of the 11th telegrams reached me describing scenes of bloodshed and terror because of an alleged uprising of the Indians, it being positively set forth that the town of Maud, Okla., had been burned and that more than twenty-five men, women, and children had been murdered by the Seminole Indians. This information was traced directly to the telegraph operator of the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway at Earlsboro, Okla., who gave them out as facts. About noon I received telegrams from my deputies and other officials then at the scene of the alleged trouble that the reports sent out by the operator at Earlsboro were all fakes and wholly unfounded, but had been circulated for the purpose of creating a sentiment to shield the members of the mob who came from Oklahoma and burned the two Indian boys. Commissioner Fears also wired me that there was no necessity for my going to Wewoka, as all was then being done that was possible to discover the identity of those who composed the mob.

Mr. Fears advised me that he had issued certain subpoenas and warrants and that he had no doubt the facts would be developed. That night (12th) I received a telegram from one of my deputies that he had reached Wewoka with one of the parties, and asked instructions as to disposition of prisoner. I directed him to take the prisoner and subpœna witnesses before Commissioner Fears at Eufaula. That night I left for Boonville, Mo., Columbus, Ohio, and Washington, D. C., with United States prisoners. I am advised, under date of the 16th, that one of my deputies has secured a full list of the names of all persons who were implicated in the burning of the two Indians, together with the names of witnesses to the crime, and that the whole matter has been presented to the grand jury, now in session at Vinita. I have this list of names before me, but for obvious reasons deem it proper to omit giving them in this connection. Three or four of those on the list were residents of the Indian Territory, but the majority of the mob was made up of residents of Oklahoma.

I desire to assure you that every officer connected with the United States courts in the northern district of Indian Territory will use all lawful means at his and their command to bring the guilty party before the bar of justice. In another communication I will present to you certain suggestions which are, in my opinion, proper for your attention. It may not be out of place for me to advise you at this time of the fact that along the eastern boundary of Oklahoma, within 200 yards, in some cases a mile, from the west line of the Seminole and Creek nations there have been established a great many whisky joints, from which there are daily sold to these Indians many gallons of the vilest of whisky and of alcohol. Such places are located at Maud, Violet Springs, Earlsboro, Keokuk Falls, Stroud, etc. Nearly all the crime along the western portion of my district arises from the presence of these saloons just across the line, and I believe that fully one-half of the whisky introduced in the northern district comes from Oklahoma. The officers of this district hope to secure the cooperation of the official of Oklahoma in putting a stop to this traffic by the prosecution of those who are engaged therein, and steps in this direction were taken several weeks since.

In response to a resolution of the Senate of January 20, 1898, asking that the Attorney-General and the Secretary of the Interior inform the

Senate as to what steps had been taken to ascertain the facts in the case and to punish the alleged offenders, information and copies of correspondence were given, which will be found in Senate Docs. Nos. 98 and 99 (parts 1 and 2), Fifty-fifth Congress, second session.

In the latter part of January last Hon. John T. Brown, principal chief of the Seminole Nation, officially advised the Department of the outrages perpetrated upon members of the nation, and requested, "in view of article 18 of the treaty with the Creeks and Seminoles dated August 7, 1856, whereby the Seminole Nation was promised protection and guaranteed indemnity for all injuries resulting from invasion or aggression," that a suitable person be appointed to ascertain and report the facts as to the burning of the two young men and the inhuman torture of other Seminole Indians, and also to ascertain and report upon the amount and value of the property destroyed or stolen by the mob, to the end that indemnity might be made by the United States for injuries sustained. Article 18 of the Seminole treaty proclaimed August 29, 1856 (11 Stats., p. 704), provides as follows:

The United States shall protect the Creeks and Seminoles from domestic strife, from hostile invasion, and from aggression by other Indians and white persons not subject to their jurisdiction and laws; and for all injuries resulting from such invasion or aggression full indemnity is hereby guaranteed to the party or parties injured out of the Treasury of the United States, upon the same principle and according to the same rules upon which white persons are entitled to indemnity for injuries or aggressions upon them committed by Indians."

In accordance with Department instructions of January 24, 1898, Dew M. Wisdom, United States Indian agent of the Union Agency, Indian Territory, was directed by this office, January 27, to make the investigation, and was instructed as follows:

In accordance with the above instructions, you will at once make the desired investigation in the premises. Of course, you will take sufficient time in this work to make it thorough and complete; and, so far as possible, all the evidence obtained should be supported by proper and sufficient proof in the form of affidavits, etc. It is presumed in this case that many claims will be made for damages, and great care should therefore be taken in investigating the same, to the end that none but those justly entitled thereto shall be reported to this Department.

The method of procedure in making this investigation will be left largely to your own judgment and discretion; but it is desired that all parties to this unfortunate affair should be given a full hearing, and should be allowed to submit such evidence in relation thereto as they may have or wish to offer.

The agent's reply of March 29, 1898, was transmitted to the Department in office letter of April 4 last. In this report the agent stated in effect that Thomas S. McGeisy and Mrs. Sukey Sampson were the only parties who suffered any loss of property or damage to property at the hands of said mob, and that the following parties, Peter Ossanna, Kenda Palmer, Billy Coker, Chippie Coker, Cobley (or Copley) Wolf, George P. Harjo, Samuel P. Harjo, Duffy P. Harjo, Johnson McKaye, Sever Parnoka, John Washington, George Kernells, Thomas Thompson, Johnny Palmer, Sam Ela, Sepa Palmer, Shawnee Barnett, and Billy 537709 A

Thlocco, and Moses and Peter Tiger, were arrested and otherwise maltreated in their persons by said mob of United States citizens; that he was unable to obtain affidavits or statements from the two last named, for the reason that they were in prison at Fort Smith, Ark.; that Palmer Sampson, son of the said Mrs. Sukey Sampson, and Lincoln McGeisey, son of said Thomas F. McGeisey, were the two Seminoles who were chained to a tree and burned to a crisp in the most fiendish manner by the mob; that Mrs. Sukey Sampson lost a horse, bridle, and blanket valued at $80; that Mr. McGeisey lost two houses, a barn, some sheds and other outhouses, a well, some fencing, corn, lot of books, trunks, clothing, and house and kitchen furnishings, all of which he values at $2,515.65, and that with the exception of the valuation of $1,250 placed upon the "frame and hewed log house" by Thomas McGeisey, which he, the agent, thinks is fully double what it is really worth, the valuations are approved.

The act of Congress approved July 1, 1898, making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the current fiscal year, contained the following provision:

To enable the Secretary of the Interior to cause an examination and investigation to be made of outrages and injuries alleged to have been perpetrated on individual Indians belonging to the Seminole tribe by an armed mob or band of lawless persons who invaded the Seminole country during the months of December, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, and January, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and if, upon such examination and investigation, it shall appear that outrages and injuries have been so perpetrated and that the United States is under treaty obligations to pay for such outrages and injuries, he shall ascertain the amount which should be properly paid said Indian or Indians, or their legal heirs or representatives, and pay such sum or sums as he may deem just and reasonable, and for such purpose a sum not exceeding twenty thousand dollars is hereby appropriated.

As all the facts in the case are now before the Department, it is thought that indemnity will soon be paid by the Government to members of the Seminole Nation injured by the mob of lawless whites in this disgraceful occurrence. Further, the whites guilty of the outrages are now being prosecuted by the Department of Justice.

SALE OF CITIZEN POTTAWATOMIE AND ABSENTEE SHAWNEE LANDS, OKLAHOMA.

Up to the 2d of August, 1897, there had been approved by the Department (under the act of August 15, 1894, authorizing these Indians to dispose of their patented lands) 258 conveyances, aggregating in area 29,438.05 acres, valued at $174,782.09. Between August 2, 1897, and August 5, 1898, there have been approved by the Department 95 conveyances by the Citizen Pottawatomie Indians, at an average of $4.71 per acre, viz, 88 in Pottawatomie County, aggregating 7,903.06 acres, for $37,142.50, and 6 in Cleveland County, aggregating 740.43 acres, for $2,763.15, and 1 in Oklahoma County, 80 acres, for $1,281.25. During the same period there have also been approved by

the Department 25 conveyances by the Absentee Shawnee Indians, at an average of $6.98 per acre, viz, 22 in Pottawatomie County, aggregating 1,611.97 acres, for $11,142.80, and 3 in Cleveland County, aggregating 320 acres, for $2,350. The total is 120 conveyances, covering 10,655.46 acres of land, for $54,679.68, or an average of $5.13 per acre. The total sales of lands by these two tribes of Indians since the passage of the act of August 15, 1894, are 378, aggregating 40,093.51 acres of land, for $229,461.77.

This office and the Department have given much thought to the adoption of some regulation which would not entail unreasonable expense upon the purchaser and yet would secure to the Indian the payment of the consideration money for the land transferred. Since Congress authorized these Indians to dispose of their lands many deeds have been filed in this office which have borne strong evidence of bad faith on the part of purchasers, and, in some instances, the Indians, through ignorance or duress, have been in collusion with the purchasers in endeavoring to secure the approval of the deed of conveyance by the Department. Notwithstanding all the precautions that have been adopted, in requiring a deposit with the United States Indian agent, or in some reliable national bank, of the whole of the purchase money for the land conveyed, complaints arise that the Indians do not always obtain from the bank the whole amount named in the certificate of deposit, especially in cases where it is impracticable for the agent to accompany the Indian when his certificate of deposit is paid to him.

To forestall schemes between the vendee and the bank of deposit for discounting the certificate of deposit some have adopted the method of collecting through their local banks, but attempts are made to evade this and to overreach the Indian by making the certificate of deposit payable to the Indian rather than to the order of the Indian. I am satisfied that, with the safeguards that have been thrown around these transactions, frauds upon the Indians in making payment for their lands are becoming less frequent, and it is hoped that they may finally be eliminated.

Requests have been made from time to time for legislation allowing those members of the Pottawatomie tribe of Indians who took allotments in severalty under the act of May 23, 1872 (17 Stats., 159), the same privilege of selling any portion of their land in excess of 80 acres as was accorded those Pottawatomie Indians who took land under the general allotment act of February 8, 1887 (24 Stats., 388). The act of 1872 provides that the lands allotted thereunder

shall be alienable in fee, or leased or otherwise disposed of only to the United States, or to persons of Indian blood lawfully residing within said Territory with permission of the President, and under such regulations as the Secretary of the Interior shall prescribe.

Whenever it shall appear for the best interests of these Indians who took allotments under the act of 1872 that they should dispose of any