OCR Text |
Show REPORT OF TEE COMMISBIONER OF INDIAN PFFAIRS. 85 The Cherokee Nation furnished the appraisers with lists containing the names of 2,858 heads of families who were alleged by the national authorities to be intruders therein. It was estimated by the board that these 2,858 families represented an aggregate of 8,526 persons, whose removal was demanded by the principal chief under the pro-visions of the Cherokee agreement of December'19,1891, ratified by section 10 of the act of March 3,1893. Of the 2,858 families reported by the Cherokee authorities as intrud. ers in that nation, 1.66 of them claimed rights in the nation under the ninth article of the treaty of 1866. The appraisers examined the improvements of 384 of the alleged intruders whose names appeared on the lists furnished by theCherokee Nation, and took evidence to determine: First. Whether the improvements claimed mere tlie property of the party claiming within the meaning of the law; Second. Whether the claimant entered upon the possession or occn-pancy thereof prior to August 11,1886; and Third. The value of the imp r o ~ e ~ e nctlasi med. By these investigations the appraisers found that 117 persons mere entitled to receive the value of their improvements, and as to another case t,hey were in doubt, but appraised the value of the improvements and submitted for determination by the Department the question of the rights of the claimant. Eighty-eight of these were parties claiming rights of citizenship ill the nation by blood, and twenty-nine were parties claiming citizenship in the nation under the ninth article of the treaty of 1866, known as Cherokee Freedmen. . . The repofts of the appraisers were given administrative examination in this office, and were submitted to the Department wit11 an exhaust-ive report on May 27, 1895. In that report recommendations were made with a view to the modification of the findings of the appraisers to the extent of increasing the award to one claimant; the reduction of the a ~ a r dto another on account of an error in their calculation; the allowance of the award to the claimant mhose rights were sub-mitted for determination of the.Department as above stated; and the disallowance of all awards to Cherokee Freedmen claimants. Tabu-lated, the modifications recommended by this offlce are as follows: Awarda made by a praisers ............................................ t; 117 Awards reoommen ed by this office .................................... 89 Differenoo ....................................................... --28 Total swarded by appraisers.. ......................................... $74; 180.56 Total rooomn~ended by this of6ce.. ................ ... ...........-...... 68,645.36 Difference ....................................................... 5,535.20 With reference to tlie recommendation for the disallowance of all awards to Cherokee Freedmen the reasons therefor, which are set olrt fully in said offlce report of May 27, 1895, are briefly as follows, viz: Of the 166 na,mes of persons claiming rights in the nation under the |