Page images
PDF
EPUB

belonging to said tribe in the United States Treasury or deposited in any bank or held by any official under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, $300 per capita: Provided, That said payment shall be made under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe: Provided further, That in cases where such enrolled members or their heirs are Indians who belong to the restricted class, the Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion, withhold such payments and use the same for the benefit of such restricted Indians: Provided further, That the money paid to the enrolled members or their heirs as provided herein shall be exempt from any lien for attorneys' fees or other debt contracted prior to the passage of this

act.

*

*

*

1. Payments hereunder shall be made under the supervision of the Superintendent for the Five Civilized Tribes or such other officers as may be designated by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and by such special disbursing agent as the Commissioner of Indian Affairs may designate.

2. The payments shall be based upon the final rolls of the citizens of the Seminole Nation, as approved by the Secretary of the Interior and corrected to date of payment. Such payments shall be in the aggregate sum of $300 per capita to the members of said tribe entitled to participate in the tribal funds of said nation.

3. The term "restricted" as used in these regulations shall be held to apply to members of said tribes enrolled as of one-half or more Indian blood, from whose allotment of land the restrictions as to alienation have not been unconditionally removed as to every part thereof, and the term "unrestricted" shall be held to apply to all others entitled to participate in this payment. The term "minor" or "minors" as used in these regulations shall include all males under the age of 21 years and all females under the age of 18 years.

4. Payments due unrestricted adults, in their own right, shall be made to them by official check to their order, except where they are under legal disability.

5. Payments due unrestricted minors and unrestricted adults under legal disability, in their own right, where such persons have legal guardians or curators, shall be made to said guardians or curators upon satisfactory evidence being furnished the officers in charge of the payment of the appointment, sufficient bond and good standing of said guardians or curators.

6. Upon a showing satisfactory to the officers in charge of the payment that no legal guardian has been appointed for any unrestricted minor to whom a payment is due, in his own right, such payment may be made to the father, mother, or other person having the care and custody of such minor: Provided, That in case any male or female is married or in case of an unmarried male over 18 years of age, payment may be made to said person by official check to his or her order, if, in the discretion of the officers in charge of the payment it will be for his or her best interest so to do: Provided further, That all applications for a payment due an unrestricted minor, having no legal guardian bear the approval of a United States probate attorney or field clerk, if, in the discretion of the officers in charge of the payment, such approval appears to be for the best interest of such minor. The officer in charge of the payment may, in his discretion, and if he believes it to be for the best interests of such unrestricted minor, decline to pay the money due in such case to any other than a legal guardian, and pending the appointment of such legal guardian by the court

having jurisdiction, he may temporarily withhold such payment wholly or in part.

7. Payments due restricted adults in their own right shall be made to them by official check to their order, except where they are under legal disability and except in those cases where, in the discretion of the officer in charge of the payment, the amounts due should be withheld, wholly or in part. The amounts withheld shall be placed to the credit of the individual Indians entitled thereto and shall be disbursed for the benefit of such Indians under supervision, as provided in department regulations concerning the handling of individual Indian money.

8. Amounts due restricted minors and restricted adults under legal disability in their own right shall be placed to their individual credit and shall be disbursed for the benefit of such restricted Indians under supervision, as provided for in department regulations governing the handling of individual Indian money: Provided, however, That where such restricted minors or restricted adults under legal disability have legal guardians or curators payment may, in the discretion of the officer in charge of the payment, be made to such legal guardians or curators upon satisfactory evidence being furnished the officer in charge of the payment of the appointment, sufficient bond, and good standing of said guardians or curators, and provided such payment will, in the opinion of the United States probate attorney or field clerk, be for the best interests of such restricted minors or such restricted adults under legal disability.

9. The Superintendent for the Five Civilized Tribes shall ascertain from the proper county records the amounts of all delinquent taxes and penalties properly assessed against surplus lands of each member of the Seminole Tribe who is enrolled as having one-half or more Indian blood and less than three-quarters Indian blood. Upon the determination of the amounts of delinquent taxes and penalties, as above directed, the several amounts due shall be paid by the disbursing agent by official check to the county treasurer of the county in which the land is situated, and the payments so made shall be charged to the distributive shares of the several allottees in the per capita payment due under the above-mentioned act of Congress, and such balances as may be due said allottees, either adult or minor, shall be paid to them or placed to their credit as individual Indian funds in the same manner as provided for in sections 7 and 8 hereof.

10. Where a payment is made to a legal guardian, original letters of guardianship will not be required, but a certificate of the probate court, bearing the approval of a United States probate attorney, showing the person executing the guardian's certificate to be the duly appointed, qualified, and acting guardian of the minor to whom said payment is due, and that he has furnished good and sufficient bond, will be accepted and filed with the account.

11. The act of Congress, above quoted, provides for payments to "lawful heirs" of deceased members, and no payments will be made to administrators or executors; but where payments are due any person or persons as the heir or heirs of a deceased member of said tribe, such payments shall be made to the heirs by official check to their order, or withheld for their benefit, wholly or in part, according to the respective classes to which they belong, subject to the same regu

lations as are prescribed above relative to payments due persons in their own right.

12. Before payment is made to the heirs of any deceased person, proof of death and heirship, satisfactory to the officers in charge of the payment, must be made, and the finding of such officers upon such proof shall be final and conclusive for all purposes of these payments.

13. The heirs of enrolled deceased persons entitled to payments hereunder shall be determined in all cases in accordance with the provisions contained in the agreements with the Seminole Indian Tribe concerning the distribution of tribal funds to the heirs of deceased enrolled citizens who died prior to the receipt of their allotment or share of said tribal funds.

14. All suspended or withheld payments, or parts thereof, shall be held in the Treasury of the United States, subject to proper requisition, or in the hands of the special disbursing agent, or such other officer as the Secretary of the Interior may designate to have the custody of the same, such suspended or withheld payments, wholly or in part, to be disbursed at such times and in such amounts as the best interest of the persons to whom such suspended or withheld payments are due may demand, and in accordance with these regulations.

15. The Superintendent for the Five Civilized Tribes will prepare a schedule showing all persons entitled to share in this per capita distribution, two copies of which schedule shall be forwarded to the Indian Office for use in examining and auditing the accounts of the special disbursing agent, showing claims paid thereunder. It will not be necessary for the special disbursing agent to submit a complete roll of all entitled to share in these payments with his accounts at the end of each quarter. The special disbursing agent will, at the end of each quarter, submit a schedule or voucher, covering only the claims actually paid during the quarter, and will continue said disbursements under these regulations until all claims are paid or until further orders of the department.

16. No arrangement shall be recognized or information furnished in the interest of any merchant, trader, or other creditor, nor shall their representative or collector be allowed in the offices where the payments are being made.

17. Powers of attorney will not be recognized, not will any order given by an Indian to another person for his share of the payment be honored.

18. These payments shall be made by check and forwarded by registered mail to the person entitled to receive the same, and there shall be noted on envelopes containing checks a notice to postmasters requesting delivery only to the party addressed, and return receipt shall be required, except that checks not exceeding the sum of $20 may be forwarded by mail without registering; provided, however, that checks may be delivered in person by probate attorneys or other employees of the Indian Service when deemed advisable by the officers in charge of the payment.

19. All things necessary to making the payments referred to above, not otherwise specifically provided for in these regulations, shall be done under the authority and supervision of the Superintendent for

the Five Civilized Tribes, or such other officer as may be designated by the Secretary of the Interior.

20. For the purpose of these payments, these regulations shall be held to supersede all other existing rules and regulations.

E. B. MERITT,

Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

Approved June 23, 1916.

Bo SWEENEY,
Assistant Secretary.

REGULATIONS GOVERNING PER CAPITA PAYMENTS TO ENROLLED CITIZENS AND MEMBERS OF THE CHOCTAW AND CHICKASAW TRIBES OF INDIANS IN THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

The following regulations are hereby prescribed under the Indian appropriation act approved May 18, 1916, which reads, in section 19 thereof, in part, as follows:

That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to pay to the enrolled members of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes of Indians of Oklahoma entitled under existing law to share in the funds of said tribes, or to their lawful heirs, out of any moneys belonging to said tribes in the United States Treasury or deposited in any bank or held by any official under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, not to exceed $300 per capita in the case of the Choctaws and $200 per capita in the case of the Chickasaws, said payment to be made under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe: Provided, That in cases where such enrolled members, or their heirs, are Indians who by reason of their degree of Indian blood belong to the restricted class, the Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion, withhold such payments and use the same for the benefit of such restricted Indians: Provided further, That the money paid to the enrolled members as provided herein shall be exempt from any lien for attorneys' fees or other debt contracted prior to the passage of this act, except that the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized within thirty days after the passage of this act to investigate claims not to exceed $1,950 growing out of contracts alleged to be in existence between John Calvin Gray, William T. Lancaster, Arthur Jennings, and Clyde Jennings, as enrolled members of the Choctaw or Chickasaw Nations, and Henry W. Blair, Kappler and Merillat, James K. Jones, Charles M. Fechheimer, and Eugene Hamilton, as attorneys, and in case such claims are found to be valid and the contracts approved in accordance with the existing law, the said Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion, apply any amounts that may be found due under this paragraph to the aforesaid enrolled members of the Choctaw or Chickasaw Nations to the payment of such fee, but the amounts due hereunder to other enrolled members of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations shall not be held in abeyance to this claim but shall be paid promptly without reference to same.

1. Payments hereunder shall be made under the supervision of the Superintendent for the Five Civilized Tribes or such other officers as may be designated by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and by such special disbursing agent as the Commissioner of Indian Affairs may designate.

2. The payments shall be based upon the final rolls of the citizens of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations as approved by the Secretary of the Interior and corrected to date of payment. Such payments shall be in the aggregate sum of $300 per capita to the members of the Choctaw Tribe, exclusive of freedmen, and $200 per capita to members of the Chickasaw Tribe, exclusive of freedmen. No payment shall be made, however, under these regulations of the amounts due in the cases of John Calvin Gray, William T. Lancaster, Arthur Jennings, and Clyde Jennings, enrolled members of the Choctaw or

Chickasaw Nations, as the matter of the settlement of certain attorneys' claims against said named Indians and of the payment of any money due them under the above quoted provisions of law will be the subject of further and special instructions.

3. The term "restricted" as used in these regulations shall be held to apply to members of said tribes enrolled as of one-half or more Indian blood, from whose allotment of land the restrictions as to alienation have not been unconditionally removed as to every part thereof, and the term "unrestricted" shall be held to apply to all others entitled to participate in this payment. The term "minor" or "minors" as used in these regulations shall include all males under the age of 21 years and all females under the age of 18 years.

4. Payments due unrestricted adults, in their own right, shall be made to them by official check to their order, except where they are under legal disability.

5. Payments due unrestricted minors and unrestricted adults under legal disability, in their own right, where such persons have legal guardians or curators, shall be made to said guardians or curators upon satisfactory evidence being furnished the officers in charge of the payment of the appointment, sufficient bond, and good standing of said guardians or curators.

6. Upon a showing satisfactory to the officers in charge of the payment that no legal guardian has been appointed for any unrestricted minor to whom a payment is due, in his own right, such payment may be made to the father, mother, or other person having the care and custody of such minor: Provided, That in case any male or female is married or in case of an unmarried male over 18 years of age, payment may be made to said person by official check to his or her order, if, in the discretion of the officers in charge of the payment, it will be for his or her best interest so to do: Provided further, That all applications for a payment due an unrestricted minor having no legal guardian bear the approval of a United States probate attorney or field clerk, if, in the discretion of the officers in charge of the payment, such approval appears to be for the best interest of such minor. The officer in charge of the payment may, in his discretion, and if he believes it to be for the best interests of such unrestricted minor, decline to pay the money due in such case to any other than a legal guardian, and pending the appointment of such legal guardian by the court having jurisdiction, he may temporarily withhold such payment wholly or in part.

7. Payments due restricted adults, in their own right, shall be made to them by official check to their order except where they are under legal disability, and except in those cases where, in the discretion of the officer in charge of the payment, the amounts due should be withheld wholly or in part. The amounts withheld shall be placed to the credit of the individual Indians entitled thereto, and shall be disbursed for the benefit of such Indians under supervision as provided in department regulations concerning the handling of individual Indian

money.

8. Amounts due restricted minors, and restricted adults under legal disability, in their own right, shall be placed to their individual credit and shall be disbursed for the benefit of such restricted Indians under supervision as provided for in department regulations governing the handling of individual Indian money: Provided, however, That where

« PreviousContinue »