OCR Text |
Show 80 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS The Cherokee Nation fltrnished tho sppraisera with lists containing t l ~ cu srnea of 2,853 heads of familioa vbo were alleged h~ the n8tiona1 authorities to be intruders herein. It was estimated by the board that these 2,858 families represented no gpogato of 8,526 persons, whose remov&l was demanded by the principal chief under the provisions of the Cherokeo agreement of December 19, 1891, ratified by section 10 of the not of Maroh 3, 1893. Of the 2,838 families reported by tbe Cherokee authorities as intruders in thnt nation, 166 of them olaimed rights in the nation under the ninth article of t,ho treaty of 1866. Tlio appraisers examined the improvements of 384 of the alleged intruders whose names appeared on the lists furnished by the Cherokee Nation, and took evidence to dctermine- Fir~t. Whether the improvement8 olaimed wero the property of the party clmiming within tho meaning of the law; Second. Whether the claimant entered upon the possession or ooeupmep thereof prior to Angust 11,1886; and, Third. The value of tho improvements claimed. By these investigations the appraisers found that 117 persons were entitled to receive the value of their improvements; as to another case they were in doubt, but appmised the value of the improvements, and submitted for determination by the Depnrtmest the qllestion of tho rights of the claimant. Eizhty-eight of t,hese were parties claiming rights of citizenship in the nation by blood, and 29 wore par-ties claiming citizenship in the nation under the ninth article of the treaty of 1866, known as Cherokee freedmen. The reports of the appraisers were given administrative examination in this affioe, snrl were submitted to the Department with an exhaustive report on May 21, 1895. In thnt report reoommendatians wero made with a view to the modification of tho findings of tho appraisers to the extant of iuereasingtha award to one claimant, the reduotion df the sward to another on account of an error in their calaulat,ion, the all016ance of the award to the claimant whose right3 were subxiittetl for determins-tion of the Depmtment, asabovostated, and the disallowance of all swards to Chero-kee freedmen claimants. Tabulsted, the modifications reoomruended by this office are nn follows: Awards made by %pprai%ere.. .................................. 117 Awards rooommended by this office.. ........................... 89 -- Difference ............................................... --28 Tot21 sw~ r d e dby appraisers ................................... $74,180.56 Total recommended by this office ............................... -68-,645 .3fi Difference ............................................... 5,535.20 With reference ta the recommendation for the disallowance of all awo,rds to Cher-okee freedmen, the reasons therefor, which are aet out fully in said office report of May 27, 1895, are bbriefiy as follows, vie: Of the 166 names of porsous claiming rights i,n the nation under theninth article of the Cherokee treaty of 1886,89 are found on the roll of Cherokee freehen in this offipe, which is known us the "Wallace roll." A proviso to the article of the Chera-kec agreement of 1891, which requiren the removal of Cherokee intruders on the demand of tbe principal chief of that nation, protects the right^ of all entitled to citizenship under naid ninth artiole of the treaty. In addition to this the Court of Claims, in n, decree in tbe Cherokee Freedman Case, on Marah 18, 1895, acoepted said ''WaIl.llneerol~" ns furnishing the true number of freedmen (3,594); therefore those whose names anoenr on said roll are not intruders. and are not subiect to removal on the demand of the principal ohiof of the Cherokee Nation. In view of this, tho office recommended that theso 89 names, s, list of which was inclosed, be stricken from the Cherokee intruder lists. |