OCR Text |
Show Q. These children are the children of your white wife?-A. Yes, sir. Q. They have no Indian blood in them?-A. No, sir. Q. They are white children?-A. Yes, sir. Commissioner MCKENNOTNh. eir enrollment will be refused. This record, in the opinion of the commission, embraced every material fact in the petition sought to be filed. Office report of Novem-ber 13,1899, stated that from the statements of the acting chairman and the evidence furnished by h i it apphred that the commission had inquired into the facts in the case to an extent sufficient to make a record therein, and that under the law and the instructions any affidavit or other properly executed papers having any bearing on the subject tendered the commission by Skaggs should be received and filed as a part of the record in the case. The Department, by letter of December 26,1899, addressed to the acting chairman of the commission, held that-- A fair interpretation of the opinion of March 17,1899, by the Assistant Attorney- General is Fat the question of citizenship can not be reopened by new applications, and that only citizens speoifically provided for in the act of June 28, 1898, can be enrolled. All applicants for enrollment must, under the regulations approved August 8,1899, present themselves in person, and whenever it appears to the commission that it is without jurisdiction it should deny the application and should file and retain such papers as have been presented in support of the application and should make a complete record of the matter, explicitly stating therein the grounds upon which the application is denied, and should advise the partiea in interest, in writing, of the decision, in order that they may understand fully the cause of rejection, and in order that the matter may be considered by the Secretary of the Interior when the rolls a= presented for approval. By a provision in the act of June 7,1897 (30 SW., 62,84), the com-mission was reqnired to investigate and report whether the "Missis-sippi Choctaws under their treaties are not entitled to all the rights of Choctaw citizenship except an interest in the annuities." By the act of June 28, 1898 (30 Stats., 495), the commission was required to identify the Mississippi Choctaws. Early in October, 1898, Messrs. Howe & Hudson fled in this office applications on behalf of Isaac Morgan and others and Sarah A. McDonongh and others for identscation by the commission as Missis-sippi Choctaw Indians, who claimed the right to enrollment as citizens of the Choctaw Nation under the fourteenth article of the treaty of 1830. These applications were submitted to the Department October 13,1899, with the statement that it was shown that the applicants had moved to the Choctaw Nation, and it seemed that the commission had made no investigation relative to ascertaining whether or not they were descend-ants of Mississippi Choctaws, and the question was raised whether the commission was carrying out the iustrnctions previously given by the Department. The papers were, October 17, 1899, transmitted by the Department to the commission with the statement that the Department had universally advised parties desiring information rela- |