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Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1904.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and they are hereby, appropriated.
For compensating the Indians of the Crow Creek Reservation for loss sustained by those Indians in receiving less land per capita in their diminished reservation than is received by the Indians occupying other diminished reservations, the amount to be added to the share of the permanent fund of the said Crow Creek Indians and to draw interest at the rate of four per centum per annum, one hundred and eighty-seven thousand and thirty-nine dollars.
That for the purpose of paying to the scouts and soldiers of the Sisseton, Wahpeton, Medawaukanton, and Wapakoota bands of Sioux Indians, who were enrolled and entered into the military service of the United States, and served in suppressing what is known as the Sioux outbreak of eighteen hundred and sixty-two, or who were enrolled and served in the armies of the United States in the war of the rebellion, and are now living and to the descendants and members of the families of such scouts and soldiers as are now dead, who were not parties to the agreement entered into between the United States and the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of Dakota and Sioux Indians on the twelfth day of December, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, for the reason that they were not residents of the said Sisseton Reservation, and did reside elsewhere, their pro rata share of the amount found due said scouts and soldiers for annuities under the provisions of the fourth article of the treaty of July twenty-third, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, which treaty was proclaimed on the twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord, eighteen hundred and fifty-three, and which annuities were to be paid to said Indians annually for the period of fifty years, commencing with the first day of July, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, and have now been paid to the said scouts and soldiers and their descendants under the provision of the Act of Congress of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, to July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, leaving to be paid to said Indians, eight installments of said annuities still unpaid, amounting in the aggregate to the Indians aforesaid and their descendants to the sum of forty-nine thousand and sixty-six dollars and sixty-four cents, for the annuities due the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, and the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, and the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, and the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, and the first day of July, nineteen hundred, and the first day of July, nineteen hundred and one, and the first day of July, nineteen hundred and two; which sum of forty-nine thousand and sixty-six dollars and sixty-four cents is hereby appropriated, out of the money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be paid in equal shares and per capita to said scouts and soldiers who are still living, who were not parties to the agreement aforesaid, and the share of any such scout or soldier should receive, if living, shall, in the event he is dead, be
divided pro rata between his wife and children, who are not parties to said agreement; and the pay rolls upon which payments have been made to said scouts and soldiers and their wives and children, under the Act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, shall be conclusive in all cases where the name of the scout or soldier, or of his widow or children appear upon said roll, except in cases where deaths have subsequently occurred, and except in cases where names have been carried upon said roll of Indians who are parties to the said agreement of the twelfth day of December, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and have received annuities thereunder, which names shall be dropped from said roll: And provided, That the names of no children shall be enrolled who are not the natural children of such scout or soldier, and the names of any adopted children heretofore placed upon said roll shall be dropped therefrom.
And the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to add the names of any scouts and soldiers of the aforesaid bands who served as such in the armies of the United States between August eighteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and January first, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, who have been by accident or otherwise previously omitted therefrom, and may add the names of the wife and children of such scout or soldier, if dead, and in extending the payments upon said rolls to individuals, make correct any errors that have heretofore been committed in the amounts paid to individual Indians whose names appear on said rolls, so that each scout or soldier enrolled, and the wife and children of each scout and soldier that is dead, who has been or shall be enrolled, shall receive an equal share of the annuities so restored and paid to said Indians in accordance with the true spirit of this Act, and the said preceding Acts of Congress, and the amount hereby appropriated shall be a full payment and settlement of all the annuities coming to said Indians upon said treaties of eighteen hundred and fifty-one, or any action of the Interior Department, or any Acts of Congress heretofore passed in relation thereto.
For continuing the work of the Puyallup Indian Commission appointed under the Act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-three (Twenty-sixth Statutes, six hundred and twelve), to select and appraise such portions of the allotted lands within the Puyallup Indian Reservation, Washington, as are not required for homes for the Indian allottees; and also that part of the agency tract exclusive of the burying ground not needed for school purposes, and for the purpose of defraying the expenses of said Commission the sum of fourteen thousand dollars to be reimbursed to the United States out of the proceeds of the sale of the agency tract and allotted lands, as provided in said Act, to be immediately available.
Whereas David H. Jerome, Alfred M. Wilson, and Warren G. Sayre, duly appointed commissioners on the part of the United States, did, on the fourth day of June, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, conclude an agreement with the Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians in Oklahoma Territory, formerly a part of the Indian Territory, which said agreement is as follows:
“Articles of agreement made and entered into at Anadarko, in the Indian Territory, on the 4th day of June, A. D. 1891, by and between David H. Jerome, Alfred M. Wilson, and Warren G. Sayre, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians in the Indian Territory.
“The said Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians in the Indian Territory hereby cede, convey, transfer, relinquish, forever and absolutely, without any reservation whatever, all their claim, title and
interest of every kind and character in and to the lands embraced in the following-described tract of country in the Indian Territory, to wit:
“Commencing at a point in the middle of the main channel of the Washita River, where the ninety-eighth meridian of west longitude crosses the same, thence up the middle of the main channel of said river to the line of 98°40' west longitude, thence on said line of 98° 40' due north to the middle of the channel of the main Canadian River, thence down the middle of said main Canadian River to where it crosses the ninety-eighth meridian, thence due south to the place of beginning.
“In consideration of the cession recited in the foregoing article, the United States agrees that out of said tract of country there shall be allotted to each and every member of said Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians in the Indian Territory, native and adopted, one hundred and sixty acres of land, in the manner and form as follows:
“Said tract of country shall be, by the United States, classified into grazing and grain-growing land, and when so classified each of said Indians shall be required to take at least one-half in area of his or her allotment in grazing land, subject to the foregoing and other restrictions hereinafter recited. Each and every member of said Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians in the Indian Territory over the age of eighteen years shall have the right to select for himself or herself one hundred and sixty acres of land, to be held and owned in severalty, but to conform to legal surveys in boundary as nearly as practicable; and that the father, or if he be dead the mother (if members of said tribe or bands of Indians), shall have the right to select a like amount of land, under the same restrictions, for each of his or her children under the age of eighteen years; and that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, or some one appointed by him for the purpose, shall select a like amount of land, under the same restrictions, for each orphan child belonging to said tribe or bands of Indians under the age of eighteen years.
“It is hereby further expressly agreed that no person shall have the right to make his or her selection of land in any part of said tract of country that is now used or occupied, or that has been or may hereafter be set apart for military, agency, school, school farm, religious, town site, or other public uses, or in sections sixteen (16) and thirty-six (36) in each Congressional township, except, in cases where any member of said Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians has heretofore made improvements upon and now occupies and uses a part of said section sixteen (16) and thirty-six (36), such Indian may make his or her selection, according to the legal subdivisions, so as to include his or her improvements. It is further agreed that wherever in said tract of country any one of said Indians has made improvements and now uses and occupies the land embracing such improvements, such Indian shall have the undisputed right to make his or her selection, to conform to legal subdivisions, however, so as to include such improvements, without reference to the classification of land hereinbefore recited.
“All allotments hereunder shall be selected within ninety days from the ratification of this agreement by Congress of the United States; provided, the Secretary of the Interior, in his discretion, may extend the time for making such selection; and should any Indian entitled to allotments hereunder fail or refuse to make his or her selection of land in such time, then the allotting agent in charge of the work of making
such allotments shall, within the next thirty (30) days after said time, make allotments to such Indians, which shall have the same force and effect as if the selections were made by the Indians themselves.
“When said allotments of land shall have been selected and taken as aforesaid, and approved by the Secretary of the Interior, the titles thereto shall be held in trust for the allottees, respectively, for a period of twenty-five (25) years, in the manner and to the extent provided for in the act of Congress entitled “An act to provide for the allotment of land in severalty to Indians on the various reservations, and to extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the Territories over the Indians, and for other purposes.” Approved February 8, 1887. And at the expiration of twenty-five (25) years the title thereto shall be conveyed in fee simple to the allottees, or their heirs, free from all incumbrances.
“In addition to the allotments above provided for, and the other benefits to be received under the preceding articles, said Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians claim and insist that further compensation, in money, should be made to them by the United States, for their possessory right in and to the lands above described in excess of so much thereof as may be required for their said allotments. Therefore it is further agreed that the question as to what sum of money, if any, shall be paid to said Indians for such surplus lands shall be submitted to the Congress of the United States, the decision of Congress thereon to be final and binding upon said Indians; provided, if any sum of money shall be allowed by Congress for surplus lands, it shall be subject to a reduction for each allotment of land that may be taken in excess of one thousand and sixty (1,060) at that price per acre, if any, that may be allowed by Congress.
“It is further agreed that there shall be reserved to said Indians the right to prefer against the United States any and every claim that they may believe they have the right to prefer, save and except any claim to the tract of country described in the first article of this agreement.
“It is hereby further agreed that wherever, in this reservation, any religious society or other organization is now occupying any portion of said reservation for religious or educational work among the Indians the land so occupied may be allotted and confirmed to such society or organization; not, however, to exceed one hundred and sixty (160) acres of land to any one society or organization, so long as the same shall be so occupied and used, and such land shall not be subject to homestead entry. That whenever said lands are abandoned for school purposes the same shall revert to said Indian Tribes and be disposed of for their benefit.
“This agreement shall have effect whenever it shall be ratified by the Congress of the United States.
“In witness whereof, the said commissioners on the part of the United States have hereunto set their hands, and the undersigned members of the said Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians have set their hands, the day and year first above written.”
That said agreement be, and the same hereby is, accepted, ratified, and confirmed as herein provided.
The compensation to be allowed in full for all Indian claims to these lands which may be sustained by said court in the scrip hereinafter provided for shall not exceed one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre for so much of said land as will not be required for allotment to the Indians as provided in the foregoing agreement, subject to such reduction as may be found necessary under article five of said agreement: Provided, That no part of said sum shall be paid except as hereinafter provided.
That for the purpose of making the allotments provided for in said agreement, including the pay and expenses of the necessary special agent or agents hereby authorized to be appointed by the President for the purpose and the necessary resurveys, there be, and hereby is, appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of fifteen thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary.
That whenever any of the lands acquired by this agreement shall, by operation of law or proclamation of the President of the United States, be open to settlement, they shall be disposed of under the general provisions of the homestead and town-site laws of the United States: Provided, That in addition to the land-office fees prescribed by statute for such entries the entry man shall pay one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre for the land entered at the time of submitting his final proof: And provided further, That in all homestead entries where the entry man has resided upon and improved the land entered in good faith for the period of fourteen months he may commute his entry to cash upon the payment of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre: And provided further, That the rights of honorably discharged Union soldiers and sailors of 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, shall not be abridged: And provided further, That any qualified entry man having lands adjoining the lands herein ceded, whose original entry embraced less than one hundred and sixty acres, may take sufficient land from said reservation to make his homestead entry not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres in all, said land to be taken upon the same conditions as are required of other entry men: Provided, That said lands shall be opened to settlement within one year after said allotments are made to the Indians.
That sections sixteen and thirty-six, thirteen and thirty-three, of the lands hereby acquired, in each township, shall not be subject to entry, but shall be reserved, sections sixteen and thirty-six for the use of the common schools, and sections thirteen and thirty-three for university, agricultural college, normal schools, and public buildings of the Territory and future State of Oklahoma; and in case either of said sections or parts thereof is lost to said Territory by reason of allotment under this Act or otherwise the governor thereof is hereby authorized to locate other lands not occupied in quantity equal to the loss: Provided, That the United States shall pay the Indians for said reserved sections the same price as is paid for the lands not reserved.
That as fast as the lands opened for settlement under this Act are sold, the money received from such sales shall be deposited in the Treasury subject to the judgment of the court in the suit herein provided for, less such amount, not to exceed fifteen thousand dollars, as the Secretary of the Interior may find due Luther H. Pike, deceased, late delegate of said Indians, in accordance with his agreement with said Indians, to be retained in the Treasury to the credit and subject to the drafts of the legal representative of said Luther H. Pike: Provided, That no part of said money shall be paid to said Indians until the question of title to the same is fully settled.
That as the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations claims to have some right, title, and interest in and to the lands ceded by the foregoing agreement, which claim is controverted by the United States, jurisdiction be, and is hereby, conferred upon the Court of Claims to hear and determine the said claim of the Choctaws and Chickasaws and to render judgment thereon, it being the intention of this Act to allow said Court of Claims jurisdiction, so that the rights, legal and equitable, of the United States, and the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, and the Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians in the premises, shall be fully considered and determined, and to try and determine all questions that may arise on behalf of either party in the hearing of said claim; and the Attorney-General is hereby directed to appear in behalf of the Government of the United States, and either of the parties to said action shall have the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States: Provided, That such appeal shall be taken within sixty days after the rendition of the judgment objected to, and that the said courts shall give such causes precedence: And provided further, That nothing in this Act shall be accepted or construed as a confession that the United States admit that the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations have any claim to or interest in said lands or any part thereof.
That said action shall be presented by a single petition making the United States and the Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians parties defendant and shall set forth all the facts on which the said Choctaw and Chickasaw nations claim title to said land; and said petition may be verified by the authorized delegates, agents, or attorney of said nations upon information and belief as to the existence of such facts, and no other statement or verification shall be necessary: Provided, That if said Choctaw and Chickasaw nations do not bring their action within ninety days from the approval of this Act their claim shall be forever barred: And provided further, That it shall be the duty of the Attorney-General of the United States, within ten days after the filing of said petition, to give notice to said Wichitas and affiliated bands through the agents, delegates, attorneys, or other representatives of said bands that said bands are made defendants in said suit, of the purpose of said suit, that they are required to make answer to said petition, and that Congress has, in accordance with article five of said agreement adopted this method of determining their compensation, if any. And the answer of the Wichitas and affiliated bands shall state the facts on which they rely for compensation, and may be verified by their agents, delegates, attorneys, or other representatives upon their information and belief as to the existence of such facts, and no other statement or verification shall be necessary: And provided also, That said Wichitas and affiliated bands shall file their answer in said suit within sixty days after they shall receive from the Attorney-General of the United States the notice herein provided for unless further time is granted by the court, and in the event of failure to answer they may be barred from all claim in the premises aforesaid.
The said Court of Claims shall receive and consider as evidence in the suit everything which shall be deemed by said court necessary to aid it in determining the questions presented, and tending to shed light on the claim, rights, and equities of the parties litigant, and issue rules on any department of the Government therefor if necessary.
It is hereby further provided that said Choctaw and Chickasaw nations may, at any time before the rendition of final judgment in said case by the Court of Claims, negotiate with the Commissioners appointed under section sixteen of the Act of Congress approved the third day of March, eighteen hundred and ninety-three (Twenth-seventh Statutes, page six hundred and forty-five), or with any successor or successors in said Commission for the settlement of the said matters involved in said suit, and move the suspension of such action until such negotiations shall
be accepted or rejected by Congress; such settlement, however, to be made with the concurrence of the Secretary of the Interior and Attorney-General of the United States.
That the laws relating to the mineral lands of the United States are hereby extended over the lands ceded by the foregoing agreement.
That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed to reimburse, out of any unexpended balance of the appropriation of three thousand dollars for reimbursing certain settlers on the Crow Creek and Winnebago Indian reservations in South Dakota whose claims “were held for further proof,” and so forth, made by the Indian appropriation Act approved August fifteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, and out of the further sum of three thousand dollars which is hereby appropriated for the purpose, those settlers upon said reservations between the dates indicated in said Act whose claims have not heretofore been investigated under the provisions of the Act of Congress approved October first, eighteen hundred and ninety, authorizing the ascertainment of the losses of such settlers, for the actual and necessary losses which he finds upon investigation they have sustained as a result of such settlement: Provided, That the claims of such settlers, with accompanying proofs, shall be filed in the Department of the Interior within six months from the date of the approval of this Act: Provided, That any claimant whose claim has heretofore been wholly disallowed by the Interior Department may within six months after the passage of this Act, bring suit upon the same in the Court of Claims, and the time of removal from the reservation by said claimant shall be no bar to said suit.
The Interior Department shall transfer all the papers filed in any such claim to the Court of Claims to be used as evidence therein, and the rights and equities of such claimant to damages sustained by reason of removal from such lands shall be by the Court fully considered and determined: Provided, however, That if the Court shall find that any such claimant arbitrarily disobeyed, or neglected without good reason to obey, the order of removal, his claim shall be disallowed.
That jurisdiction upon the principles of law and equity be, and it is hereby, conferred upon the Court of Claims to hear and determine a suit that may be instituted therein by Yvon Pike, Lilian Pike, and the legal representatives of Luther H. Pike, children and heirs at law of Albert Pike, deceased, late a citizen of the State of Arkansas, against the Choctaw Nation of Indians for just compensation to them for and on account of services as attorney at law and otherwise rendered to and for said nation by the said Albert Pike in his lifetime, in and about the prosecution of the so-called “net proceeds” claim of said nation against the United States and in other business, and to render such judgment or decree in said suit, upon the merits thereof, as the facts will warrant, and as shall be just and equitable, with right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States from said judgment or decree to either party to said suit.
That the homestead settlers on the Absentee Shawnee, Pottawatomie, and Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indian lands in Oklahoma Territory be, and they are hereby, granted an extension of one year within which to make the first payment provided for in section sixteen of the Act of Congress approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, entitled “An 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-two, and for other purposes,” and such payment may be made at any time within five years from the date of the entry
of such lands. And that the like extension of one year on the first payment required to be made, when payable in installments, is hereby granted to all homestead settlers on and purchasers of all ceded Indian reservations in the States of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, and Idaho.
That the Secretary of the Interior be, and hereby is, authorized and directed to negotiate with the Otoe and Missouria tribe of Indians, located in the Territory of Oklahoma, and, if practicable, to purchase from the said tribe a sufficient quantity of their surplus lands to allot to members of the Iowa tribe of Indians, in Kansas and Nebraska, as hereinafter set forth: Provided, That in case the Secretary of the Interior deems best for the interests of the said Iowa tribe he is hereby authorized to allot to the Iowa Indians lands that have been, or may hereafter be, ceded to the United States by the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache, or the Wichita tribes of Indians, located in the Territory of Oklahoma.
The lands so secured to be allotted in tracts of eighty acres of farming land to each person who has not already received an allotment of land who was recognized as a member on May first, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, of the Iowa tribe of Indians, in Kansas and Nebraska, and to children born to members of the tribe since the former allotment, and to such other persons of Iowa blood who may be admitted to membership by authority of the said Iowa tribe, with the approval of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, previous to the completion of the allotments hereinbefore provided for; said allotments to be made under the provisions of the Act of Congress providing for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations, approved February eighth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven.
The cost of the land hereby authorized to be purchased from the Otoe and Missouria tribe of Indians, or the lands owned by the United States that are allotted as aforesaid, shall be paid to the said Otoe and Missouria tribe or reimbursed to the United States from funds due the said Iowa tribe of Indians now held in trust by the United States, payment of said sum to be under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior: Provided, That a majority of the male adult members of the said Iowa tribe of Indians shall first agree to the provisions hereof.
That with the consent of the Otoe and Missouria tribe of Indians, to be obtained in such a manner as the Secretary of the Interior may direct, said Secretary is authorized to expend any of the principal sum derived from the sale of their lands in Kansas and Nebraska, not to exceed thirty thousand dollars, the same to be expended per capita, in his discretion, in the erection of houses and other necessary farm buildings on their individual allotments, in the purchase of seed, farm implements, and domestic animals, and in settling them upon their lands, and in preparing them to begin agricultural life: Provided, That the Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion, pay to any of said Indians, whom he may consider capable of judiciously expending their money, their per capita share of such sum in cash: Provided further, That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed to pay the five Indian delegates of said tribes now in Washington two hundred and fifty dollars each out of this appropriation to cover their board and traveling expenses in coming to and returning from Washington, to be immediately available.
That the allotments of land made to the Quapaw Indians, in the Indian Territory, in pursuance of an act of the Quapaw National Council, approved March twenty-third, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, be and the same are hereby ratified and confirmed, subject to revision, correction and approval by the Secretary of the Interior: Provided, however, That any allottee who may be dissatisfied with his allotment shall have all the rights to contest the same provided for in
said Act of the Quapaw National Council subject to revision, correction, and approval by the Secretary of the Interior. And the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to issue patents to said allottees in accordance therewith: Provided, That said allotments shall be inalienable for a period of twenty-five years from and after the date of said patents: And provided further, That the surplus lands on said reservation, if any, may be allotted from time to time, by said tribe to its members, under the above entitled act.
That the sum of six thousand dollars is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, or so much thereof as may be necessary, said amount to be an additional sum to that appropriated by Act of Congress approved August fifteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, made for the purpose of purchasing lands for the absentee Wyandotte Indians and said Act of Congress is hereby amended to provide that should such lands be purchased of either of the civilized tribes of Indians the lands so purchased shall not be taken in severalty until such time as the lands belonging to the Indians from which the purchase is made shall be taken in severalty, and no person shall be deprived of the benefits of this Act and the Act of August fifteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, above referred to, by reason of having been born of an Indian woman who has married a white man: Provided, That said absent Wyandotte Indians accept the above amount in full payment of all demands against the Government. The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to employ R. B. Armstrong, of Wyandotte County, Kansas, the attorney of the absentee Wyandotte Indians, as a special agent for the purchase of the lands as provided for in the Act of Congress above referred to, and for other work necessary in the premises, and to pay the said attorney what may be deemed fair and equitable, not exceeding the sum of six hundred dollars.
That with the consent of a majority of the chiefs, headmen, and male adults of the Pottawatomie tribe of Indians and the Kickapoo tribe of Indians in the State of Kansas, expressed in open council by each tribe, the Secretary of the Interior be, and he hereby is, authorized to cause to be sold, in trust for said Indians, the surplus or unalotted lands of the reservations of the Pottawatomie tribe of Indians of Jackson County, Kansas, and the Kickapoo tribe of Indians in Brown County, Kansas. The said lands shall be appraised, in tracts of eighty acres each, by three competent commissioners, one of whom shall be selected by the Indians, and the other two shall be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior: Provided, That either tribe may consent to the sale of its own lands and select a commissioner without the consent of the other, and when one tribe does consent to such sale the Secretary of the Interior shall proceed to sell the surplus lands of such tribe.
That after the appraisement of said lands the Secretary of the Interior shall be, and hereby is, authorized to offer the same, through the United States public land office at Topeka, Kansas, at public sale to the highest bidder: Provided, That no portion of such land shall be sold at less than the appraised value thereof, and in no case for less than six dollars per acre, and to none except persons over twenty-one years of age and to such as purchase the same for actual occupation and settlement, and who have made and subscribed on oath, before the register of said land office, and filed the same with said officer of the land office, at Topeka, Kansas, that it is his good-faith intention to settle upon and occupy the land which he seeks to purchase, and improve the same for a home; and, excepted in case of death of the purchaser, unless said party shall have executed his declared intention by making improvements and being in actual occupation of said land, by actual residence thereon, at the time for making the second payment, he shall forfeit the pay-
ment already made, and the land shall be subject to resale as hereinafter provided. Each purchaser of said lands at such sale shall be entitled to purchase one hundred and sixty acres of land, and no more, except in cases where a tract contains a fractional excess over one hundred and sixty acres: Provided, That any Indian twenty-one years of age may purchase not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres without the requirements as to settlement upon the lands. All purchasers shall pay one-fourth of the purchase price at the time said land is bid off, one-fourth in one year, one-fourth in two years, and one-fourth in three years, with interest on the deferred payments at the rate of six per centum per annum, and such sums when paid shall be placed in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the respective tribes of Indians, and draw interest at the rate of five per centum per annum, which interest shall be paid annually to said tribes, respectively, per capita, in cash. No patents shall issue until all payments shall have been made; and on failure of any purchaser to make payment as required by this section he shall forfeit the lands purchased, and the same shall be subject to entry and sale, at the appraised value thereof, or shall be again offered at public sale, as the Secretary of the Interior may determine.
That there shall be exempted from the provisions of this section the lands upon which the two boarding, or industrial, schools are located on these reservations, not exceeding six hundred and forty acres for each school, the amount to be determined and designated, after the tribe shall have assented, by the Secretary of the Interior.
That for the purpose of carrying this section into effect the sum of one thousand five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same hereby is, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, which sum shall be reimbursed to the United States out of the proceeds of the first sales of lands made under the provisions hereof, each tribe to be charged only with the expenses attending the sale of its own lands.
That before any of the surplus lands belonging to the Kickapoo tribe of Indians shall be sold under the provisions of this section there shall be allotted by the Secretary of the Interior eighty acres to each of the children of said tribe residing on or adjacent to said reservation who have not heretofore received any lands: Provided, That this section may be adopted or rejected separate and apart from the other provisions of this Act, by the said Kickapoo tribe.
That in all payments or disbursements of money to Indians individually the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to detail an officer from his Department or appoint a special agent to make or to superintend and inspect such payments; and when made by special agent the Secretary shall fix a reasonable compensation for the services of such special agent and pay it out of the money to be disbursed. In all cases the agent making such payment shall give bond to the United States in double the amount to be disbursed, with good and sufficient security, to be approved by the Secretary, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties. All such payments to be made under such rules and regulations as the Secretary may prescribe.
Approved, March 2, 1895.
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