OCR Text |
Show PAYMENTS FOR OTOE AND MISSOURIA LANDS IN EANSAS AND NEBRASKA. The controversy that has existed since May, 1883, between the Otoe and Missouria Indians and the settlers on their former reservations in Kansas and Nebraska as to the purchase price of those lands remains unsettled. On April 20,1899, the Department transmitted to this office a. proposition of settlement formulated by Mr. J. A. Van Orsdel, an attorney for the settlers, which provided for revision and readjust ment of sales, in accordance with the act of March 3,1893 (27 Stat., 568). The proposition was as follows: 1. That the sotnsl market velne of the landa at the time of said sale shall be ascertaned by sworn testimony taken in the form of depositions before an offioer legally anthordd to take depositions, at which the sattlera, the Government, and the Indian8 may be represented by counsel. Exoept as herein apeoidly provided, such evidence shall be taken under snoh mlea snd regnlations aa may be presoribed by the Seoretsrj. of the Interior. 2. From the evidenoe 80 taken, the Seoretsry of the Interior shall sasoertain Bnd deolare the aotual market value of said land at the date of said sale; pro~dedh,o w-ever, that in no w e shsll the valae so asoertained be dsclsred st lesa than the orig-ins1 appraised value of said land. 3. The bssia of settlement between the parties in intereat shall be the value so dsolsred by the Seoretary of the Interior, together with simple interest st the rate of 5 per oent per rsnnnm from date of aale, with due credit and allowance for any paymenta made by settlers from the date of sooh payments. 4. That any and 811 belanoes found to be due from said settler8 to the Government for the use of said Indians shall be paid and fully satisfied within ninety days after notioe shall be given to said nettlam of the amount doe in each imtmoe. 5. That where lands have been fully paid for at the original pnrchsae prioe, any amount paid in exems of the value of snoh lmds ss ascertained and declared by the Secretary of the Interior, as hereinbefore provided, together with simple interest on such exoesa amoant st the rate of 5 per oent per snnum, shall be rebated to said settlers ont of any moneys held by the Government to the oredit of the said Indians within the period of ninety days after the values are asoertsined md deolmred as af0roreaEid. By direction of the Department, Inspector James McLaughlin, on June 16,1809, was instructed to hold a conference with the Indians and lay the proposition before them. Angust 17 he reported that after a full discussion of the matter they emphatically expressed themselves as against the conditions of Mr. Van Orsdel's plan of settlement. HOSTILITIES AMONG PILLAGER CHIPPEWAS IN MWNESOTA. In the latter part of September, 1898, it was reported to the Depart-ment that a conflict was feared at Leech Lake, Minnesota, between the Pillager Chippewas and the white people. The United State6 Indian agent of the White Earth Agency, John H. Sutherland, and d6o |