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Show ELECTION TROUBLES IN TEE CHOCTAW NATION. The Department is amare of the existence in tlte Choctaw Nation of a serious condition of domestic strife, more serious perhaps than would otherwise be regarded on account of the advanced position occnpied by the lqation vith relation to civilization, alrd in viem of the reputation it has for a 101ig time ei~joyed of being one of the most conservative aud rlniet of all the 111dia11 tribes and itations .r?itliin our borders. My purpose here is sim1)ly to give a brief statement of the situation in the Natt3n and of the causes leading to it as shown by the records and files of this office, alld not to discnss tlte matter, believing that the Dep:~.rtme.nwt hich has assumed full direction of it, will, in its wisdom, reach wch a solntioii of t,he difllculty as mill be for the best interest of the Choctaw people and of the United States. The present coriditiou of what might be t,ermed suppressed civil war existing in the Choctaw Nation to-day is dne to the bitterness engen-dered durii~gth e campaign which c~ilminatedi n the election held in Aug.net, 1892, for principal chief. The partisans of each candidate for the office-Wilson N. Jones and J. B. Jaclrsou--claimed that their can. dida-te had been elected. The Jackson party, so called, claimed that Mr. .Jackson had received a majority of the votes cast, which seemed to be trne; but the votcwas so close and the reports received in the office so uncertain that it was difficult to form any decided opinion in regard to the matter. Mr. Jones' friends denied the claim, alleging that the apparent majority for Jackson would disappear and a majority for J-ones would be shown by an official canvas of the vote by the naticn~alc ouncil, which by law is charged with the duty of colulting the vote and declaring the election. The friends of Mr. Jones were said to be largely in the majority in the co~~ncialn, d Mr. Jackson's friends claimed that the intention of the council was to count Jackson out and dealare Jones elected, and the feeling between the parties which, as I have said, was already very bitter, became intensified. Pe.nding the assembling of the co~lncil certain persous, citizens of the i?ation, and alleged to be members of the Jones party, were assassi-nated. It was claimed by Jones.and his party friends that the crimes were committed by partisans of Jackson. The efforts of the Choctaw goveniment (Mr. Jones was governor at the time) to a~prehend and pnuish the parties suspected of the killing, dl of whom were members of the Jackson party and the methods adopted to accomplish those ends, so excited the party friends of the suspected persons that civil war seemed altogether probable. Th.e governor found that the resistance to his authority was so great and so threatening that September 12,1892, he requested the United States Indian agent for the Union Agency, to send Indian police and soldiers to assist the authorities of the Nation to prevent further |
