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Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1904.
Be it enacted. &c., That all that portion of the United States now known as the Indian Territory,a except so much of the same as is actually occupied by the five civilized tribes, and the Indian tribes within the Quapaw Indian Agency, and except the unoccupied part of the Cherokee outlet, together with that portion of the United States known as the Public Land Strip, is hereby erected into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Oklahoma.
The portion of the Indian Territory included in said Territory of Oklahoma is bounded by a line drawn as follows: Commencing at a point where the ninety-eighth meridian crosses the Red River, thence by said meridian to the point where it crosses the Canadian River, thence along said river to the west line of the Seminole country, thence along said line to the north fork of the Canadian River, thence down said river to the west line of the Creek country, thence along said line to the northwest corner of the Creek country, thence along the north line of the Creek country, to the ninety-sixth meridian, thence northward by said meridian to the southern boundary line of Kansas, thence west along said line to the Arkansas River, thence down said river to the north line of the land occupied by the Ponca tribe of Indians from which point the line runs so as to include all the lands occupied by the Ponca, Tonkawa, Otoe and Missouria, and the Pawnee tribes of Indians until it strikes the south line of the Cherokee outlet which it follows westward to the east line of the State of Texas, thence by the boundary line of the State of Texas to the point of beginning;
The Public Land Strip which is included in said Territory of Oklahoma is bounded east by the one-hundredth meridian, south by Texas, west by New Mexico, north by Colorado and Kansas.
Whenever the interest of the Cherokee Indians in the land known as the Cherokee outlet shall have been extinguished and the President shall make proclamation thereof, said outlet shall thereupon and without further legislation, become a part of the Territory of Oklahoma.
Any other lands within the Indian Territory not embraced within these boundaries shall hereafter become a part of the Territory of Oklahoma whenever the Indian nation or tribe owning such lands shall signify to the President of the United States in legal manner its assent that such lands shall so become a part of said Territory of Oklahoma, and the President shall thereupon make proclamation to that effect.
Congress may at any time hereafter change the boundaries of said Territory, or attach any portion of the same to any other State or Territory of the United States without the consent of the inhabitants
of the Territory hereby created: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be construed to impair any right now pertaining to any Indians or Indian tribe in said Territory under the laws, agreements, and treaties of the United States, or to impair the rights of person or property pertaining to said Indians, or to affect the authority of the Government of the United States to make any regulation or to make any law respecting said Indians, their lands, property, or other rights which it would have been competent to make or enact if this act had not been passed. * * *
That jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the district courts in the Territory of Oklahoma over all controversies arising between members or citizens of one tribe or nation of Indians and the members or citizens of other tribes or nations in the Territory of Oklahoma, and any citizen or member of one tribe or nation who may commit any offense or crime in said Territory against the person or property of a citizen or member of another tribe or nation shall be subject to the same punishment in the Territory of Oklahoma as he would be if both parties were citizens of the United States: and any person residing in the Territory of Oklahoma, in whom there is Indian blood, shall have the right to invoke the aid of courts therein for the protection of his person or property, as though he were a citizen of the United States: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to give jurisdiction to the courts established in said Territory in controversies arising between Indians of the same tribe, while sustaining their tribal relations. * * *
* * * All the lands embraced in that portion of the Territory of Oklahoma heretofore known as the Public Land Strip, shall be open to settlement under the provisions of the homestead laws of the United States, except section twenty-three hundred and one of the Revised Statutes, which shall not apply; but all actual and bona fide settlers upon and occupants of the lands in said Public Land Strip at the time of the passage of this act shall be entitled to have preference to and hold the lands upon which they have settled under the homestead laws of the United States, by virtue of their settlement and occupancy of said lands, and they shall be credited with the time they have actually occupied their homesteads, respectively, not exceeding two years, on the time required under said laws to perfect title as homestead settlers.
The lands within said Territory of Oklahoma, acquired by cession of the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians, confirmed by act of Congress approved March first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and also the lands acquired in pursuance of an agreement with the Seminole Nation of Indians by re-lease and conveyance, dated March sixteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, which may hereafter be open to settlement, shall be disposed of under the provisions of sections twelve, thirteen, and fourteen of the “Act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department, and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes, for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety, and for other purposes,” approved March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and under section two of an “Act to ratify and confirm an agreement with the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes,” approved March first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine:
Provided, however, That each settler under and in accordance with the provisions of said acts shall, before receiving a patent for this homestead on the land hereafter opened to settlement as aforesaid, pay to the United States for the land so taken by him, in addition to the fees provided by law, the sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre.
Whenever any of the other lands within the Territory of Oklanoma, now occupied by any Indian tribe, shall by operation of law or proc-
lamation of the President of the United States, be open to settlement, they shall be disposed of to actual settlers only, under the provisions of the homestead law, except section twenty-three hundred and one of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which shall not apply:
Provided, however, That each settler, under and in accordance with the provisions of said homestead laws, shall before receiving a patent for his homestead pay to the United States for the land so taken by him, in addition to the fees provided by law, a sum per acre equal to the amount which has been or may be paid by the United States to obtain a relinquishment of the Indian title or interest therein, but in no case shall such payment be less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre.
The rights of honorably discharged soldiers and sailors in the late civil war, as defined and described in sections twenty-three hundred and four and twenty-three hundred and five of the Revised Statutes of the United States, shall not be abridged except as to such payment.
All tracts of land in Oklahoma Territory which have been set apart for school purposes, to educational societies, or missionary boards at work among the Indians, shall not be open for settlement, but are hereby granted to the respective educational societies or missionary boards for whose use the same has been set apart.
No part of the land embraced within the Territory hereby created shall inure to the use or benefit of any railroad corporation, except the rights of way and land for stations heretofore granted to certain railroad corporations. Nor shall any provision of this act or any act of any officer of the United States, done or performed under the provisions of this act or otherwise, invest any corporation owning or operating any railroad in the Indian Territory, or Territory created by this act, with any land or right to any land in either of said Territories, and this act shall not apply to or affect any land which, upon any condition on becoming a part of the public domain, would inure to the benefit of, or become the property of, any railroad corporation. * * *
That all that part of the United States which is bounded on the north by the State of Kansas, on the east by the States of Arkansas and Missouri, on the south by the State of Texas, and on the west and north by the Territory of Oklahoma as defined in the first section of this act, shall, for the purposes of this act, be known as the Indian Territory;
And the jurisdiction of the United States court established under and by virtue of an act entitled “An act to establish a United States court in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes,” approved March first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, is hereby limited to and shall extend only over the Indian Territory as defined in this section; that the court established by said act shall, in addition to the jurisdiction conferred thereon by said act, have and exercise within the limits of the Indian Territory jurisdiction in all civil cases in the Indian Territory, except cases over which the tribal courts have exclusive jurisdiction;
And in all cases on contracts entered into by citizens of any tribe or nations with citizens of the United States in good faith and for valuable consideration, and in accordance with the laws of such tribe or nation, and such contracts shall be deemed valid and enforced by such courts; and in all cases over which jurisdiction is conferred by this act or may hereafter be conferred by act of Congress; and the provisions of this act hereinafter set forth shall apply to said Indian Territory only.
That for the purpose of holding terms of said court, said Indian Territory is hereby divided into three divisions, to be known as the first, second, and third division.
The first division shall consist of the country occupied by the Indian tribes in the Quapaw Indian Agency and all that part of the Cherokee
country east of the ninety-sixth meridian and all of the Creek country; and the place for holding said court therein shall be at Muskogee.
The second division shall consist of the Choctaw country, and the place for holding said court shall be at South McAlister.
The third division shall consist of the Chickasaw and Seminole countries, and the place for holding said court therein shall be at Ardmore.
That the Attorney-General of the United States may, if in his judgment it shall be necessary, appoint an assistant attorney for said court
And the clerk of said court shall appoint a deputy clerk in each of said divisions in which said clerk does not himself reside at the place in such division where the terms of said court are to be held. Such deputy clerk shall keep his office and reside at the place appointed for holding said court in the division of such residence, and shall keep the records of said courts for such division, and in the absence of the clerk may exercise all the official powers of the clerk within the division for which he is appointed:
Provided, That the appointment of such deputies shall be approved by said United States court in the Indian Territory, and may be annulled by said court at its pleasure, and the clerk shall be responsible for the official acts and negligence of his respective deputies.
The judge of said court shall hold at least two terms of said court each year in each of the divisions aforesaid, at such regular times as said judge shall fix and determine, and shall be paid his actual traveling expenses and subsistence while attending and holding court at places other than Muscogee.
And jurors for each term of said court, in each division, shall be selected and summoned in the manner provided in said act, three jury commissioners to be selected by said court for each division, who shall possess all the qualifications and perform in said division all the duties required of the jury commissioners provided for in said act.
All prosecutions for crimes or offenses hereafter committed in said Indian Territory shall be cognizable within the division in which such crime or offense shall have been committed.
And all civil suits shall be brought in the division in which the defendant or defendants reside or may be found; but if there be two or more defendants residing in different divisions, the action may be brought in any division in which either of the defendants resides or may be found.
And all cases shall be tried in the division in which the process is returnable as herein provided, unless said judge shall direct such case to be removed to one of the other divisions:
Provided, however, That the judicial tribunals of the Indian nations shall retain exclusive jurisdiction in all civil and criminal cases arising in the country in which members of the nation by nativity or by adoption shall be the only parties; and as to all such cases the laws of the State of Arkansas extended over and put in force in said Indian Territory by this act shall not apply.
That certain general laws of the State of Arkansas in force at the close of the session of the general assembly of that State of eighteen hundred and eighty-three, as published in eighteen hundred and eighty-four in the volume known as Mansfield's Digest of the Statutes of Arkansas, which are not locally inapplicable or in conflict with this act or with any law of Congress, relating to the subjects specially mentioned in this section, are hereby extended over and put in force in the Indian Territory until Congress shall otherwise provide, that is to say, the provisions of the said general statutes of Arkansas relating to administration,
Chapter one, and the United States court in the Indian Territory herein referred to shall have and exercise the powers of courts of probate under said laws; to public administrators,
Chapter two, and the United States marshal of the Indian Territory shall perform the duties imposed by said chapter on the sheriffs in said State;
To arrest and bail, civil, chapter seven;
To assignment for benefit of creditors, chapter eight;
To attachments, chapter nine;
To attorneys at law, chapter eleven;
To bills of exchange and promissory notes, chapter fourteen;
To civil rights, chapter eighteen;
To common and statute law of England, chapter twenty;
To contempts, chapter twenty-six;
To municipal corporations, chapter twenty-nine, division one;
To costs, chapter thirty;
To descents and distributions, chapter forty-nine;
To divorce, chapter fifty-two, and said court in the Indian Territory shall exercise the powers of the circuit courts of Arkansas under this chapter;
To dower, chapter fifty-two;
To evidence, chapter fifty-nine;
To execution, chapter sixty;
To fees, chapter sixty-three;
To forcible entry and detainer, chapter sixty-seven;
To frauds, statute of, chapter sixty-eight;
To fugitives from justice, chapter sixty-nine;
To gaming contracts, chapter seventy;
To guardians, curators, and wards, chapter seventy-three, and said court in the Indian Territory shall appoint guardians and curators;
To habeas corpus, chapter seventy-four;
To injunction, chapter eighty-one;
To insane persons and drunkards, chapter eighty-two, and said court in the Indian Territory shall exercise the powers of the probate courts of Arkansas under this chapter;
To joint and several obligations and contracts, chapter eighty-seven;
To judgments and decrees, chapter eighty-eight;
To judgments summary, chapter eighty-nine;
To jury, chapter ninety;
To landlord and tenant, chapter ninety-two;
To legal notices and advertisements, chapter ninety-four;
To liens, chapter ninety-six;
To limitations, chapter ninety-seven;
To mandamus and prohibition, chapter one hundred;
To marriage contracts, chapter one hundred and two;
To marriages, chapter one hundred and three;
To married women, chapter one hundred and four;
To money and interest, chapter one hundred and nine;
To mortgages, chapter one hundred and ten;
To notaries public, chapter one hundred and eleven, and said court in the Indian Territory shall appoint notaries public under this chapter:
To partition and sale of lands, chapter one hundred and fifteen;
To pleadings and practice, chapter one hundred and nineteen;
To recorders, chapter one hundred and twenty-eight;
To venue, change of, chapter one hundred and fifty-three;
And to wills and testaments, chapter one hundred and fifty-five;
And wherever in said laws of Arkansas the courts of record of said State are mentioned the said court in the Indian Territory shall be substituted therefor;
And wherever the clerks of said courts are mentioned in said laws the clerk of said court in the Indian Territory and his deputies, respectively, shall be substituted therefor;
And wherever the sheriff of the county is mentioned in said laws the United States marshal of the Indian Territory shall be substituted therefor, for the purpose, in each of the cases mentioned, of making said laws of Arkansas applicable to the Indian Territory.
That no attachment shall issue against improvements on real estate while the title to the land is vested in any Indian nation, except where such improvements have been made by persons, companies, or corporations operating coal or other mines, railroads, or other industries under lease or permission of law of an Indian national council, or charter, or law of the United States.
That executions upon judgments obtained in any other than Indian courts shall not be valid for the sale or conveyance of title to improvements, made upon lands owned by an Indian nation, except in the cases wherein attachments are provided for.
Upon a return of nulla bona, upon an execution upon any judgment against an adopted citizen of any Indian tribe, or against any person residing in the Indian country and not a citizen thereof, if the judgment debtor shall be the owner of any improvements upon real estate within the Indian Territory in excess of one hundred and sixty acres occupied as a homestead, such improvements may be subjected to the payment of such judgment by a decree of the court in which such judgment was rendered. Proceedings to subject such property to the payment of judgment may be by petition, of which the judgment debtor shall have notice as in the original suit. If on the hearing the court shall be satisfied from the evidence that the judgment debtor is the owner of improvements on real estate, subject to the payment of said judgment, the court may order the same sold, and the proceeds, or so much thereof as may be necessary to satisfy said judgment and costs, applied to the payment of said judgment; or if the improvement is of sufficient rental value to discharge the judgment within a reasonable time the court may appoint a receiver, who shall take charge of such property and apply the rental receipts thereof to the payment of such judgment, under such regulations as the court may prescribe. If under such proceeding any improvement is sold only citizens of the tribe in which said property is situate may become the purchaser thereof.
The Constitution of the United States and all general laws of the United States which prohibit crimes and misdemeanors in any place within the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, except in the District of Columbia, and all laws relating to national banking associations shall have the same force and effect in the Indian Territory as elsewhere in the United States;
But nothing in this act shall be so construed as to deprive any of the courts of the civilized nations of exclusive jurisdiction over all cases arising wherein members of said nations, whether by treaty. blood, or adoption, are the sole parties, nor so as to interfere with the right and power of said civilized nations to punish said members for violation of the statutes and laws enacted by their national councils where such laws are not contrary to the treaties and laws of the United States.
That the word “county,” as used in any of the laws of Arkansas which are put in force in the Indian Territory by the provisions of this act, shall be construed to embrace the territory within the limits of a judicial division in said Indian Territory; and whenever in said laws of Arkansas the word “county” is used, the words “judicial division” may be substituted therefor, in said Indian Territory, for the purposes of this act.
And whenever in said laws of Arkansas the word “State,” or the words “State of Arkansas” are used, the word “Territory,” or the words “Indian Territory,” may be substituted therefor, for the purposes of this act, and for the purpose of making said laws of Arkansas applicable to the said Indian Territory;
But all prosecutions therein shall run in the name of the “United States.”
That the provisions of chapter forty-five of the said general laws of Arkansas, entitled “Criminal law,” except as to the crimes and misdemeanor mentioned in the provisos to this section, and the provisions of chapter forty-six of said general laws of Arkansas, entitled “Criminal Procedure,” as far as they are applicable, are hereby extended over and put in force in the Indian Territory, and jurisdiction to enforce said provisions is hereby conferred upon the United States court therein:
Provided, That in all cases where the laws of the United States and the said criminal laws of Arkansas have provided for the punishment of the same offenses the laws of the United States shall govern as to such offenses:
And provided further, That the United States circuit and district courts, respectively, for the western district of Arkansas and the eastern district of Texas, respectively, shall continue to exercise exclusive jurisdiction as now provided by law in the Indian Territory as defined in this act, in their respective districts as heretofore established, over all crimes and misdemeanors against the laws of the United States applicable to the said Territory, which are punishable by said laws of the United States by death or by imprisonment at hard labor, except as otherwise provided in the following sections of this act.
That original jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the United States court in the Indian Territory to enforce the provisions of title twenty-eight, chapters three and four, of the Revised Statutes of the United States in said Territory, except the offenses defined and embraced in sections twenty-one hundred and forty-two and twenty-one hundred and forty-three:
Provided, That as to the violations of the provisions of section twenty-one hundred and thirty-nine of said Revised Statutes, the jurisdiction of said court in the Indian Territory shall be concurrent with the jurisdiction exercised in the enforcement of such provisions by the United States courts for the western district of Arkansas and the eastern district of Texas:
Provided, That all violations of said chapters three and four, prior to the passage of this act, shall be prosecuted in the said United States courts, respectively, the same as if this act had not been passed.
That exclusive original jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the United States court in the Indian Territory to enforce the provisions of chapter four, title seventy, of the Revised Statutes of the United States entitled “Crimes against justice,” in all cases where the crimes mentioned therein are committed in any judicial proceeding in the Indian Territory and where such crimes affect or impede the enforcement of the laws in the courts established in said Territory:
Provided, That all violations of the provisions of said chapter prior to the passage of this act shall be prosecuted in the United States courts for the western district of Arkansas and the eastern district of Texas, respectively, the same as if this act had not been passed.
That jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the United States court in the Indian Territory over all controversies arising between members or citizens of one tribe or nation of Indians and the members or citizens of other tribes or nations in the Indian Territory, and any citizen or member of one tribe or nation who may commit any offense
or crime against the person or property of a citizen or member of another tribe or nation shall be subject to the same punishment in the Indian Territory as he would be if both parties were citizens of the United States.
And any member or citizen of any Indian tribe or nation in the Indian Territory shall have the right to invoke the aid of said court therein for the protection of his person or property as against any person not a member of the same tribe or nation, as though he were a citizen of the United States.
That if any person shall, in the Indian Territory, open, carry on, promote, make or draw, publicly or privately, any lottery, or scheme of chance of any kind or description, by whatever name, style or title the same may be denominated or known, or shall, in said Territory, vend, sell, barter or dispose of any lottery ticket or tickets, order or orders, device or devices, of any kind, for, or representing any number of shares or any interest in any lottery or scheme of chance, or shall open or establish as owner or otherwise any lottery or scheme of chance in said Territory, or shall be in any wise concerned in any lottery or scheme of chance, by acting as owner or agent in said Territory for or on behalf of any lottery or scheme of chance, to be drawn, paid or carried on, either out of or within said Territory,
Every such person shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction, thereof, shall be fined for the first offense, not exceeding five hundred dollars, and for the second offense shall, on conviction, be fined not less than five hundred dollars and not exceeding five thousand, and he may be imprisoned, in the discretion of the court, not exceeding one year.
And jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of this section is hereby conferred upon the United States court in said Indian Territory, and all persons therein, including Indians and members and citizens of Indian tribes and nations, shall be subject to its provisions and penalties.
The clerk and deputy clerks of said United States court shall have the power within their respective divisions to issue marriage licenses or certificates and to solemnize marriages. They shall keep copies of all marriage licenses or certificates issued by them, and a record book in which shall be recorded all licenses or certificates after the marriage has been solemnized, and all persons authorized by law to solemnize marriages shall return the license or certificate, after executing the same, to the clerk or deputy clerk who issued it, together with his return thereon.
They shall also be ex-officio recorders within their respective divisions, and as such they shall perform such duties as are required of recorders of deeds under the said laws of Arkansas, and receive the fees and compensation therefor which are provided in said laws of Arkansas for like service.
Provided, That all marriages heretofore contracted under the laws or tribal customs of any Indian nation now located in the Indian Territory are hereby declared valid, and the issue of such marriages shall be deemed legitimate and entitled to all inheritances of property or other rights, the same as in the case of the issue of other forms of lawful marriage:
Provided further, That said chapter one hundred and three of said laws of Arkansas shall not be construed so as to interfere with the operation of the laws governing marriage enacted by any of the civilized tribes, nor to confer any authority upon any officer of said court to unite a citizen of the United States in marriage with a member of any of the civilized nations until the preliminaries to such marriage
shall have been first arranged according to the laws of the nation of which said Indian person is a member:
And provided further, That where such marriage is required by law of an Indian nation to be of record, the certificate of such marriage shall be sent for record to the proper officer, as provided in such law enacted by the Indian nation.
That the United States court in the Indian Territory shall have all the powers of the United States circuit courts or circuit court judges to appoint commissioners within said Indian Territory, who shall be learned in the law, and shall be known as United States commissioners; but not exceeding three commissioners shall be appointed for any one division, and such commissioners when appointed shall have, within the district to be designated in the order appointing them, all the powers of commissioners of circuit courts of the United States.
They shall be ex officio notaries public, and shall have power to solemnize marriages.
The provisions of chapter ninety-one of the said laws of Arkansas, regulating the jurisdiction and procedure before justices of the peace, are hereby extended over the Indian Territory;
And said commissioners shall exercise all the powers conferred by the laws of Arkansas upon justices of the peace within their districts; but they shall have no jurisdiction to try any cause where the value of the thing or the amount in controversy exceeds one hundred dollars.
Appeals may be taken from the final judgment of said commissioners to the United States court in said Indian Territory in all cases and in the same manner that appeals may be taken from the final judgments of justices of the peace under the provisions of said chapter ninety-one.
The said court may appoint a constable for each of the commissioner's districts designated by the court, and the constable so appointed shall perform all the duties required of constables under the provisions of chapter twenty-four and other laws of the State of Arkansas.
Each commissioner and constable shall execute to the United States, for the security of the public, a good and sufficent bond, in the sum of five thousand dollars, to be approved by the judge appointing him, conditioned that he will faithfully discharge the duties of his office and account for all moneys coming into his hands, and he shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and to faithfully perform the duties required of him.
The appointments of United States commissioners by said court held at Muskogee, in the Indian Territory, heretofore made, and all acts in pursuance of law and in good faith performed by them, are hereby ratified and validated.
That persons charged with any offense or crime in the Indian Territory and for whose arrest a warrant has been issued, may be arrested by the United States marshal or any of his deputies, wherever found in said Territory, but in all cases the accused shall be taken, for preliminary examination, before the commissioner in the judicial division whose office or place of business is nearest by the route usually traveled to the place where the offense or crime was committed; but this section shall apply only to crimes or offenses over which the courts located in the Indian Territory have jurisdiction:
Provided, That in all cases where persons have been brought before a United States commissioner in the Indian Territory for preliminary examination, charged with the commission of any crime therein, and where it appears from the evidence that a crime has been committed, and that there is probable cause to believe the accused guilty thereof, but that the crime is one over which the courts in the Indian Territory have no jurisdiction, the accused shall not, on that account, be dis-
charged, but the case shall be proceeded with as provided in section ten hundred and fourteen of the Revised Statutes of the United States.
That the judge of the United States court in the Indian Territory shall have the same power to extradite persons who have taken refuge in the Indian Territory, charged with crimes in the States or other Territories of the United States, that may now be exercised by the governor of Arkansas in that State, and he may issue requisitions upon governors of States and other Territories for persons who have committed offenses in the Indian Territory, and who have taken refuge in such States or Territories.
That appeals and writs of error may be taken and prosecuted from the decisions of the United States court in the Indian Territory to the Supreme Court of the United States in the same manner and under the same regulations as from the circuit courts of the United States, except as otherwise provided in this act.
That any member of any Indian tribe or nation residing in the Indian Territory may apply to the United States court therein to become a citizen of the United States, and such court shall have jurisdiction thereof and shall hear and determine such application as provided in the statutes of the United States;
And the Confederated Peoria Indians residing in the Quapaw Indian Agency, who have heretofore or who may hereafter accept their land in severalty under any of the allotment laws of the United States, shall be deemed to be, and are hereby, declared to be citizens of the United States from and after the selection of their allotments, and entitled to all the rights, privileges, and benefits as such, and parents are hereby declared from that time to have been and to be the legal guardians of their minor children without process of court:
Provided, That the Indians who become citizens of the United States under the provisions of this act do not forfeit or lose any rights or privileges they enjoy or are entitled to as members of the tribe or nation to which they belong.
[Makes appropriation.] [May 2, 1890.]
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