David L. Payne

Capt. L. D. Payne, arrested for an alleged violation of the federal laws governing intercourse with the Indian territorywest of Arkansas, arrived Thursday at Fort Smith in custody of the United Marshal and will be tried before Judge Parker, of the western district court of Arkansas, whose jurisdiction covers Oklahoma. Payne denies any intention to effect a settlement by whites of any territory now allotted to Indian tribes, but claims that 14,000,00 of acres acquired by treaty from the Cherokees, Creeks and other tribe west of the 96th meridian is public land open to settlement and purchase by any citizen under the general system of the government. This is the question involved and to be determined by Payne's trial. The people on the frontier and through Kansas, Missouri, and adjoining States, will take the liveliest interest in this case. The question to be decided in it is whether or not for the present white settlers shall be barred from that territory, which includes some of the most fertile land in the world, and that land be used only by nomadic tribes who will not cultivate and develop its resource; whether it shall be a farm or a hunting-ground; an abode of civilization or savagery; a garden or a wild.

It is announced that Oklahoma Payne's army of intrusion will make a dash into the Indian Territory in November under cover of the election excitement.

The case of Captain Payne, for alleged violation of tbe intercourse law in the Indian Territory, was argued before United States Judge Parker, at Fort Smith, last week, Col. Clayton prosecuting, and Judge Baker, of St. Louis, defending. Judge Parker defers his decision until May.

Wichita, Kan., May 3.—A private dispatch was received by Oklahoma Payne in this city yesterday, announcing an unfavorable result of his trial before the United States court at Fort Smith. The faces of a number of men who had gathered to his headquarters in response to a call for a meeting to-day visibly lengthened. The meeting was held, over which Payne presided. He made a full statement of his arrest and trial and the formal announcement of the result, but urged the settlers to stand by their organization until victory should crown their efforts. Payne denied the assertion that the effort to settle the Territory was backed by a railway corporation.
There were eighty-seven present at the meeting, many of them from a distance from other States. Several talks were made, in which the speakers urged the members to contribute to Payne's support, and the maintenance of headquarters in this city. Resolutions were reported from a committee and adopted urging Payne to renew his efforts at affecting a lodgment in territory; criticising the place of Payne's trial, and asking a change of venue. After which the great Oklahoma boom collapsed.

A decision has at last been reached on the Oklahoma business. Judge Parker has decided against Payne ordering him to pay the statutory fine of $1,000, for Invading the Indian Territory. Six other cases of the same kind were decided in favor of the government. A press dispatch thus describes the effect of the news on the crowd at Wichita:
Wichita, Kas., May 3.—A private dispatch was received by Oklahoma Payne in the city yesterday, announcing an unfavorable result of his trial before the U.S. Court at Fort Smith. The faces of a number of men who had gathered at his headquarters in response to a call for a meeting to-day, visibly lengthened. The meeting was held, over which Payne presided. He made a full statement of his arrest and trial and formal announcement of the result; but urged the settlers to stand by their organization until victory should crown their efforts.
Payne denied the assertion that the effort to settle the Territory was backed by railroad corporations'. There were eighty-seven present, many of them from a distance and several from other States. Resolutions were reported urging Payne to renew his efforts to affect a lodgement in the Territory, critleising the place of Payne's trial and asking a change of venue, after which the great Oklahoma boom collapsed.
A special to the St. Louis Republican says. Judge Parker, of the U. S. Court, at Ft, Smith, has rendered a decision in tho case of Capt. D. S. Payne, of Oklahoma notoriety, declaring that none of the lands in the Indian Territory wereo subject to white settelement the Indian's holding possession thereof absolutely and without reserve. The decision is very lengthy and embraces a review of all the laws and treaties made for and with the Indians for their first occupancy in the Territory.

Special Correspondense of the Chicago Tribune.
Wichita, Kas., Nov. 24.—Out of the active brain and adventurous spirit of Capt. Dave Payne, known in border life and drama as the Scout of the Cimaron, grew the project known as the Oklahoma colony, scheme. And that scheme is the settlement of the lands belonging to the government of the United States, a vast body of fine arable land in the Indian Territory, on the north fork of the Canadian river. The project of planting a white colony in the very heart of the Indian Nation was at first regarded with indifference and afterwards with absolute ridicule; but to those who personally know Capt. Payne, and know him as he is, this project is not the dream of a fanatic. To them Payne is fostering no wild, filibustering scheme, nor lawlessly defying the government of the United States. Capt. Payne is a man of ability and legislative experience. At one time he represented this country in the legislature.

HE IS A MAN OF EDUCATION

and business capacity, and has an acquaintance bounded only by State lines. He is thoroughly conversant with Indian customs, manners, and warfare, skilled in woodcraft, and the peer of any marksman on the border with the rifle. His courage never was questioned. He is a giant in stature and a marvel in strength. Such, then, is a pen-picture of Capt. Dave Payne—"Oklahoma" Payne as he is now called who for years has nursed his pet project of opening these lands for settlement, and given to the enterprise all of his time, attention, and skill. During the war the Choctaws, Creeks , Seminoles, and Chicasaw Indian tribes went into the rebellion to destroy the Union. In the months of April and July, 1866, the Government of the United States treated with these indian tribes. In the treaties then made the government intimated that it desired lands for the freedmen and the wild tribes on the plains. Thereupon

THE GOVERNMENT PURCHASED

for that purpose what are now known as the Oklahoma lands in the Indian Territory, and paid therefor from 15 to 60 cents per acre, and thereby extinguished the Indian title. There are now no freedmen, all being alike citizens of the United States. Since the treaties by the government and said tribes the congress of the United States, acting upon the protest of the states of Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Texas, in connection with the civilized and half civilized tribes residing in the Indian Territory , has constantly legislated against the introduction and settlement of said wild Indians on the Oklahoma lands. These lands are not within any reservation by proclamation, law, or treaty, and are therefore government lands, subject to pre-emption and homestead under the act of congress of September, 1811, and the homesstead laws of 1862.
In the month of March, 1879, the Oklahoma Colony and Oklahoma town company were formed in this city, with Capt. Payne as president of both companies.

IN JUNE, 1880,

Payne, with several companions, attempted a settlement on the Oklahoma lands, having, in the meantime, surveyed and laid out the city of Oklahoma, but was prevented by United States troops, and Payne with his five companions were taken prisoners to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and there confined by the United States authorities for the period of thirty days, and afterwards, with out any trial or punishment, all released. In the fall of the same year Capt. Payne made a second effort to settle on the ceded lands; but was again ejected by the Federal troops, and confined at Fort Smith for twenty-six days. At this time Payne was indicted by the United States District Court of the Western District of Arkansas , The indictment was found under Sec. 2,148, of the general laws of the United States, which is us follows: "If any person who has been removed from the Indian country shall thereafter at any time return or be found within the Indian country, he shall be liable to a penalty of $1,000." Upon the presentment of this indictment Payne by his counsel demurred on the ground that these lands were Government lands, and no part of the Indian country. The court, however, overruled the demurer, but Payne never was brought to trial, nor was anything further done in the matter. During all this time

PAYNE WAS AT LARGE

and actively engaged in his colony scheme. In the late fall of 1880 Payne, with several hundred families composing his colony, assembled near Caldwell, upon the southern border of Kansas, and attempted to cross the intervening fifty-mile strip of Indian country in the Indan Territory between Kansas and the ceded lands, but was restrained by Federal troops. After a delay of several weeks the colonists dispersed to their homes, and Payne returned to Wichita. But in the face of all obstacles Payne persevered, and left this city about Nov. 1, and, contrary to all expectations, has now planted his colony on the town-site of Oklahoma City, meeting no opposition from any source. Without doubt the law of the land is with Capt. Payne—at least so say eminent lawyers of St. Louis and New York City who have been consulted and have carefully examined this question in all of its bearings.

OKLAHOMA

is an Indian name, and means beautiful land. And if this new country in all the colonists picture it, it must be a beautiful land indued, it is unoccupied by any human being save roving bands of Indian hunters and Payne and his companions. It is a country diversified with dale and hillside, well watered, with an abundance of timber, and abounds with game. Mineral specimens brought here by Payne during the present summer display coal, lead, copper, and even silver. Millions of acres of the fine agricultural, grazing, and mineral lands in the Oklahoma ceded lands will soon be brought into market. The St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company, one of the most vigorous and pushing corporations of the west, are extending their road from Vanita, I. T., to Albuquerque, N. M., crossing the Indian Tertitory from east to west, and passing through the ceded lands of Oklahoma. It is, therefore only a question of time when Oklahoma will be opened to settlement, and it requires no prophetic eye to see the Territory of Oklahoma take her place in the sisterhood of states and territory of the union.——O. H. Bentley

Oklahoma Payne and his crowd of squatters expect to reach their objective point in the Indian territory by Sunday. They entered the coveted land near the mouth of the Little Wichita river. It is to be hoped there are enough troops on hand to send them out of the country.

There exists in Philadelphia an organization known as the "Indian Treaty Keeping Association," Mrs. Amelia S. Quinton, secretary. The Examiner received yesterday a circular from the association setting forth the objects of the body, which are, in brief, that all existing treaties with the Indians be observed and that Indians be treated as though they were human beings and not brutes. The Examiner has always favored such a policy, especially with reference to the tribes domiciled just north of Texas. Oklahoma Payne is up there now trying to gobble up lands to which he has no earthly right. We trust the association may be able to accomplish some good but feel it is a difficult task they have undertaken. The lands in the Indian territory are rich and fertile the country is one of the fairest spots on the globe, and the white men want it. But persevere, Mrs Quinton—ding-dong President Arthur and congress to stand by the treaties and mayhap you will succeed.

United States Attorney Hallowell has received instructions from the Attorney General to defend Gen. Pope in suit for damages, brought by "Oklahoma" Payne for preventing him from entering the Indian Territory last fall. Deputy United States Attorney C.B.Smith went to Fort Leavenworth yesterday to confer with Gen. Pope in regard to the case.

Wichita, Kan., May 8.—Capt. Payne left this evening for Hunnewell. About thirty teams are reported by Payne as collected at that point, loaded with supplies for the settlement, and ready to start for Oklahoma. Payne received a letter a few days ago from Parson, Kansas, which says that a train of fifty wagons, loaded with lumber, provisions and a printing office had left that place on Wedneadey for the promised land.

A Leavenworth Times representative called on General Pope to see whether he had received any notification of the arrest of Oklahoma Boomer Payne. mentioned in the Times of the day before. The general stated that he had received no notification of the arrest, but he had no doubt it was true, as the troops had been scouring the country for him for some time, and he has expected his arrest daily for some time. A telegram could not have reached him this soon, as Major Randall would have taken his prisoners with him to Fort Reno, distant seventy or eighty miles from where the arrest was probably made, and notify him from there. The general said that he pitied tho crowd or thirty or forty men, women and children who were with Payne, as he looked upon them as ignorant people blindly following the leadership of Payne without really knowing what they were doing. As to what would he done with Payne he knew nothing; the Government said the Oklahoma settlers would not be allowed to go in there, not if it takes all the troops they can raise. While Payne is making money out or his moves it is probable that he wants to bring the matter to a point and have a dicision rendered as to the settlement of the Oklahoma country. That is probably what his suit against General Pope means. He could have very easily secured this, however, by taking his case to the supreme court, when, on his former arrest, he was fined $1,000. He is strangely persistent in his efforts to settle the Oklahoma district, and the military authorities are determined that he shall be made to obey the commands and wishes of the Government in this respect.
The Kansas City Journal says: "if Payne and his followers would display one-half the energy and perseverance in tilling a few acres of Kansas soil as they do in getting a foothold in the Indian Territory, they would have no cause to complain of impecuniosity. It is a too common fault of the Indolent and shiftless that they nurse their idleness by dreams of something just beyond their reach. The farmer who by poor management finds it impossible to accumulate even a small store of money for a rainy day, is often round making elaborate calculations for selling out and removing to the Pacific coast; whereas, if he would devote as much money to the comfort of himself and family or to the improvement of his farm or stock, as it would cost him to remove his family to Oregon or Washington Territory, he would be much the wiser."

Washington, August 31st.—The War Department is informed by General Pope that Oklahoma Payne and six of his followers are under arrest at Fort Reno.
As Payne refused to go out of the Territory peacefully, he and his party were disarmed and taken to Fort Reno as prisoners. The Interior Department officials say that as this is Payne's second offence, he should be tried by the civil authorities. Under the law he is liable to a fine of $1,000.

A correspondent in Sedgwick county, Kansas, sends us a circular which he has received from Capt. PAYNE, generally known as Oklahoma PAYNE and asks what we think of the man and his projects.
PAYNE announces that he intends to invade the Indian Territory again next month and he calls upon all who wish to accompany him to the promised land to join him at Arkansas City on or before Feb. 1.
The language of PAYNES circular glows with adjectives and promises. The beautiful land of Oklahoma is "the garden spot, the Eden of modern times." "Come," says PAYNE, "and go with us to this beautiful land and secure for yourself and children homes in the richest most beautiful and best country that the Great Creator in His Goodness, has made for man." But the circular fails to convey with sufficient clearness the information that this garden spot is no more open to settlement by PAYNE and his colonists than are the Contrel Park and Boston Common. The Territory belongs to the Indians and is secured to them by treaties. PAYNE has been taken by the nape of the neck once already and pitched out of the Territory. If he carries out his announced intention and the Government does its duty he will L pitched out again and the foolish citizens who allow themselves to be inveigled into an unlawful enterprise by his fine promises will get into serious trouble.
This braggart adventurer is one of the best men in the Southwest for sensible and law respecting people to have nothing to do with.

Chicago, June 21st.—The Times has the following trom Topeka, Kansas: A bill of complaint has been prepared, ready to file in the Circuit Court of the United Slates, on behalf of David Payne, complainant, against Secretary of War Lincoln and General John Pope, commanding this district, asking that they be enjoined from interfering with, or preventing him, and others with him, from entering upon, remaining, settling up and improving the portion of lands desired in Indian Territory.

Wichita (Kas.), September 12.—David L. Payne, President, J. B. Cooper, Treasurer, C. B Calvert, Secretary, and A. W. Harris, Assintant-Secretary—officers of the Oklahoma Company, an organisation for the purpose of reaching and entering Indian Territory, were arrested here today, upon a warrant issued by United States Commissioner J. F. Sherman, on complaint of United States Attorney J. R. Hallowell, charging them with conspiracy to violate the laws of the United States, and commit certain offenses against the laws of the United States by settling on Indian lands in Indian Territory; that Payne and his colonists have three times been excelled by order of the President of the United States. Payne, known as " Oklahoma Payne," was brought before the Commissioner. Charles Hatton, Assistant-Attorney, appears for the Government, and the case was continued until tomorrow for witnesses to appear; but it is not expected that it will be heard until the 24th. Payne has been costing the Government many thousand dollars annually for three years, annoying its officers in the face of repeated warning, and it seems that Attorney Howell has become tired of so much foolishness, and is determined on more radical measures and efficacious remedies.

Leavenworth, Kas., Oct., 18.—The federal grand jury yesterday found a true bill against D. L. Payne, better known as Oklahoma Payne, for conspiracy to violate the laws of the United States. Payne says he desires a speedy trial and declares there is no case against him, as everything in the way of preparation for entering the Indian territory and marching to Oklahoma had been heralded in in many ways, and that he invariably notified the United States attorney and asked him to interfere if he proposed when they reached the state line and not wait until arriving at Oklahoma.

Washington, Feb. 13.—"Oklahoma" Payne is in Washington. His attempts to invade the Indian Territory and take forcible possession of lands there, his suit-sequent encounter with United States troops and inglorious arrest, his arraignment before the Grand Jury of Wichta. Kansas, and their refusal to indict him, all are occurrences of too recent a date to deserve extended attention at this time. He has had an extended interview, however, with a reporter, in which, after reciting the trials which he underwent subsequent to his removal by troops, he asserts that he is going to ask Mr. O'Neill, of Missourr, to introduce a resolution appointing a committee of the House to investigate his grievance. He proposes to prove that Senator Plumb has 40,000 head of cattle in the Indian Territory now, with fifty men under the direction of Henry Hibbon, formerly County Surveyor of Lyons County, Kansas, and that he is today fencing in the cabins that the Payne colony built.
"I propose to prove," he says, "that the cattlmen have raised what they call a corruption fond of $500,000 to keep me out. The firm of Barbour, Campbell A Co.. in Wichita, Kansas, have paid $5O.OOO for this purpose, and another firm has paid $60,000. I can prove that Senator Plumb is on the bond of Agent Miles, of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Agency, and on that of the agent of the Sacs and Foxes, and that he went down there last fall and told them that he would withdraw their bonds unless they gave him the land he wanted. Mr. Halts, of Leavenworth, who used to be a contractor for supplying tho Indians with beef, had been on this land for ten or fifteen years, but they made him move off to make room for Senator Plumb, and Baltz lost at least $100,000."
"All this reads very nicely," remarked Senator Plnmb when his attention was called to the matter. " In fact it would be important if true. I wish it was, as far at least, as the ownership of the 20,000 head of cattle is concerned. The fact is, I don't own a dollar's worth of property, real, personal or otherwise down there. Captain Payne, I'm afraid, is a liar. That's all there is about it."

Fort Reno, I. T., May 3.—A history of all the Oklahoma"booms' which have been inaugurated by Capt. D. L. Payne and others would fill a book and afford but little profitable reading. But the persistency with which they have been kept up has been surprising and has half persuaded many honest readers that the movement must have some basis in equity or justice. A short review of the situation will probably be of interest, first, then, where is Oklahoma? It is bounded on the north by a line as near 35 deg. 10 min. north latitude as can well be expressed on the map, being the southern line of the famous Cherokee Strip, west of the Arkansas River, its eastern boundary since the recent Iowa and Kickapoo reservations were taken from it, is about 97 deg. and 20 mm. west longitude, its southern boundary is the Canadian River. Its western boundary is practically the 98th degree of west longitude from the Canadian River to the Cimmaron, and thence up that stream north-west to the line of the Cherokee Strip. Oklahoma, at present, is about fifty miles in width from east to west, and eighty in length north to south. It originally belonged to the Creeks and was secured to them by the treaty of February 14, 1833 in pursuance of act of Congress of May 28, 1830, by which the President was authorized to set apart the country now known as the Indian Territory for the use of Indians to be removed thereto from east of the Mississippi River. By the treaty made August 7, 1856, Between the Creeks and the United States, Oklahoma was conveyed to the Seminole Indians, on the express condition that none of the land so conveyed should be sold or other wise disposed of in the future with out the consent of both tribes. At the end of the late war the Seminoles and Creeks were declared to have forfeited many of their treaty rights by having joined the Southern Confederacy ,and new treaties were made with them, as with the other civilized tribes. Thes treaty, dated March 21, 1866, says: "In compliance with a desire of the United States to locate other Indians and freedmen thereon the Seminoles cede and convey to the United States their entire domain, being the tract of land ceded to the Seminole Indians by the Creek Nation under provisions of article 1, treaty of the United States with the Creeks and Scminoles, made Augut 7, 1856, in view of the urgent necessity of the United Slates for more land in the Indian Territory". It will be remembered that these Indian tribes all owned slaves before the war. The emancipation proclamation set them free. The United States Government, not feeling confident that the freedmen would be treated fairly by their former Indian masters, or be assimilated, or accorded tribal rights, provided by this treaty for a section of country upon which they could be located by themselves, precisely as the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Iowas, Comanches, Wichitas, Pawnees, Sac and Fox, Nez Perces, Poncas, Modocs, Kansas(or Kaws), Osages, Pottowatamies, Absentee Shawnees, and perhaps some others, were afterwards settled. The title vested in the United States Government beyond question, but for a specific purpose.

PAYNE'S GROUND OF ACTION.

And here the trouble begins. Payne and his followers claim that, having been purchased from the Indians, it ceased to be Indian territory and was released from the operation of all laws enacted for that territory, and became part of the public domain of the United States. But this certainly does not follow. The United States acquires title forts, military reservations, post office and custom house sites, navy yards, etc., but no one supposes such tracts to be part of th epublic domain. But, as if to set this beyond dispute, section 2258 of the Revised Statutes says "that lands included in any reservation by any treaty, law, or proclamation of the President, for any purpose, shall not be subject to the rights of pre-emption unless otherwise specially provided for by law." Pre-emption laws only extend to unappropriated lands, and these lands were appropriated to a certain use by the treaty under which they were acquired—vis: the use freedmen and friendly Indians whom the Government might wish to locate there. It does not follow that those lands must all be given to such tribes immediately. They are held in trust for exigencies." By the treaty of 1866 many tribes have been so settled, and presumably many others will be. Payne's party claim also that the recent act of Congress prohibiting the settlement of other tribes in the Indian Territory threw all unoccupied land at that date into the public domain. But the act does not say so. The land was originally obtained for a particular purpose. If no other friendly tribes are allowed to be settled in the Indian Territory, this land should be divided among those already there. Besides, this act may be repealed by any subsequent Congress, and the work of transferring other friendly Indians to that country go on as before.
Driven from those positions, the Payne "boomers" claim that the Oklahoma lands were thrown open to settlement by the sixth section of an act of Congress approved July 27, 1866 granting lands to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the States of Missouri and Arkansas, which reads as follows: "That the President of the United States shall cause the lands to be surveyed for forty miles in width on both sides of the entire line of said road after the general route shall be fixed and as fast as may be required by the construction of said railroad, and the odd sections of land hereby granted shall not be liable to sale or entry or pre-emption, before or after they are surveyed, except by said company, as provided in this act: but the provisions of the act of September, 1841, granting pre-emption rights and the acts amendatory thereof and the act entitled an act to secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public domain, approved May 20, 1862, shall be and the same is hereby extended to all other lands on the line of said road when surveved, excepting those hereby granted to said company." The Government has continuously asserted that these provisions of this act did not apply to the lands in the Indian Territory. The railroad company did not claim that the language quoted applied to land in the Inian Territory. The United States might be pardoned for granting a necessary right of way through the Indian Territory against the protests of all the Indians concerned, but none but a Pavne bummer has ever before claimed that enough additional land could be taken to pay for building the railroad. The treaty by which the United States gained title to the land provided that it should not be used for any other purpose than the one named without the consent of both Creeks and Seminolos. This has not and can not be obtained.

THE LAW DEFEATED.

In addition to this, the decisions of United States Courts in similar cases are numerous and uniform to the effect that whenever a tract of land has been once appropriated to public use it is severed from the public domain, and that applies specially to the Indinn reservations. Capt. Payne has been repeatedly ejected from the Indian Territory as an intruder. The law provides a penalty of $1,000 for each offense excepting the first. Two judgments have been obtained against him in the United States Districts but no property has been found from which to collect the fine. The law is defective in not providing some other punishment for impecunious intruders. An amendatory act has lately passed the Senate adding imprisonment, but has not been acted upon by the House. In the meantime the boom goes on. Payne sells certificate of membership at from $2 to $5 each, and the writer of this saw one numbered 10,095. The surveyor of the "colony" charged two of the men now at this post under arrest $35 each for locating their claims, which fees they declared they paid. The opinion of the Attorney General, the declarations of the Interior Department and the orders of the Secretary of War are counted as nothing by these men, as against the opinion of Capt. Payne.

Capt. D. L. Payne and about seventy-five of his boomers are at Arkansas City holding nightly meetings and resolving to do and die, die and do, or something of that sort. The Captain has received his $2.50 per head from them, and of course he will stay with them while it lasts; but when that is gone he will hunt up another crowd of gullable people, and work the same game on them. The party that were taken to Wichita were released on $25,000 bonds to answer to two charges, one of which, if convicted under, will fine them $1,000 each, and the other, two years imprisonment and $10,000 fine. The Arkansas City Republican gives Payne as authority for the statement concerning fines, etc.—— Caldwell Journal.

Hunnewell, Kas., May 29. Captain D. L. Payne, with two hundred men, is at work laying out a town four miles from here and three and a half miles down in the Indian Territory. They organized yesterday morning and elected a regular set of town company officers. Captain T. N. Ecachelberger, President; T. R Kresler Treasurer, and Mr. Cochran Secretary. The surveyors are busy at work laying off the town site and streets. Captain Payne says he is determined to remain. They expect to have over five hundred people there before Saturday. The town is on the Chicaskia, at what is known as the falls. The new town has been named Rock Falls. It is a beautiful spot for a town. Payne leaves for Leavenworth to-morrow to attend his trial.

The Gazette has been favored with copy of the Oklahoma Chief, a paper owned nnd edited by Mr. J. B. Cooper for the purpose of voicing the claims of the colonists who, under "Oklahoma Payne," are endeavoring to locate a colony on the "Cherokee Strip." The paper is well gotten up and ably edited, and if the case is as stated that the opposition to the settlement of the coveted territory comes from the large stockmen and not the Indians, there is more than a probable triumph in store for the colonists. Buckwheat cakes and garden truck will feed more people to the acre than will beef steers.

Oklahoma Payne has begun his annual monkeying around in the Indian territory. He and his associate squatters have been ordered by the government to vacate the lands of the Bherokees which they have taken possession of. The military will enforce the order, and arrest all the trespassers. The government has been fooling with these cranks long enough, and they should be taught a severe lesson this time.

The Provideace, R. I., Journal says: "The United States government does not present a very dignified attitude being continually and impudently defied by the pestilent "Oklahoma." Payne and his ??pes, who make a regular invasion of the Indian Territory every season. Its action is precisely that of a policeman, who should find a burglar in a house under his protection, and politely escort him to the door with a mild reprimand. It is high time that some more stingent measures were used."

Caldwell, Kas., August 7.—General Hatch in company with Adjutant-General Finley and inspector Greene from the interior department, visited Payne's camp at Rock Fall, Indian territory, yesterday. After reading the president's proclamation to him and his assmebled followers, he advised them to leave the territory before morning or be ejected.
This occured in a small road shanty occupied by the Oklahoma Chief newspaper, the form of which were being made up at the time. Payne attempted to discuss the legal aspects of the case, but soon became angry and a busive, and Editor Cooper chimed in with the vituperation and threats.
Failing to provoke the officers into a quarrel, Payne said he had a valise full of money and would give a thousand dollars to be tried by the United States court, and in order to assure the officers of a case against him would then and there sell them liquor or cigars the ????? permits. He urged the officers to dine with him, and offered them plenty of liquor if they would.
By this time a large crowd had assmebled from the tents and shanties along the river, and the officers again admonished them to leave and not return. The only reply was a torrent af abusive epithets. The officers returned to camp, ten miles distant.
Early this morning two squadrons of the Ninth United States Cavalry, commanded by Captain Moore appeared in the Boomer's camp, and under the direction of Indian agen Rogers, arrested the whole community and took charge of the printing office. All the women, children and men who were new offenders were escorted to the Kansas line, together with their personal property. Six old offenders named D. L. Payne, J. B. Cooper, D. G. Greathouse, T. W. Ecklebarger, John McGrew, and S. L. Moseley, were loaded on a six mule wagon, and started, under escort of Lieut. Jackson and fifteen men, for Fort Smith, Ark., 300 miles distant. the newspaper was ready to take to press, and a number of soldiers, ex-printers in the command, soon printed an edition of a hundred copies. he press was then carefully packed and sent under escort to Muskogee. The printing office and other buildings, including two boarding houses, a drug store, a cigar and restaurant and some cheap dwellings where then burned to the ground.
Payne threatened to cut the throat of the first man who attempted to arrest him, but one colored soldier marched him about the camp for an hour. Payne has lost whatever prestige he may have had heretofore witht he thinking class community. He has been on a debauch for a week and last night was unable to attend the conference of squatters after General Hatch left Rock Falls. The poor deluded squatters now realize they have paid him many thousands without any equivalent. The number of the ejected is about 250 people.
A large crowd of citizens was present from Hunnewell as spectators and hastily approved of teh course adopted to rid the territory of the intruders. It is believed this will cure the "boomers" of trying to force the settlement of Indain lands.
Other detachments of troopers have been sent to the remaining settlements who will in like manner arrest the ring leaders, and take them to Fort Smith.

For persistence Oklahoma Payne is entitled to the premium. For the fifth time it has become necessary for the army of the United States to be called upon to expel him and his fanatical gang from the Indian Territory. But recently he was lecturing in the East on his right to rob the Indians of lands guaranteed them by the solemn compacts of the Government; now we hear of his gang being driven from the Indian country at the point of the bayonet, while he himself has been locked up at Fort Smith, while Payne's newspaper and printing office have been confiscated. Some 250 people were ejected from Oklahoma who have been swindled by Payne and Casper out of their all, being induced by them to pay for lands to which no one but the Indians have any earthly right. True to bis ruffianly nature, Payne cursed the United States officers and troops in language the dispatches refuse to repeat. It is to be hoped that this is the last to be heard of this land pirate, who has disgraced the country that gave him birth, by the boldest of thieving speculations masked under an assumption of right.

Fort Smith (Ark.), August 26th.—Captain Payne, the Oklahoma boomer, and seven of his associates, who were arrested at Rock Falls, Indian Territory, by General Hatch some days ago, arrived here yesterday in charge of Lieutenant Jackson and a detachment of the Ninth United States Cavalry. They were not delivered to the authorities at Fort Smith, as was the original intention, but by directions from Caldwell, Ks., Lieutenant Jackson will take them to Fort Scott, where they will be placed in charge of the United States officer.

Fort Smith, Ark., Aug. 27.—An associated press reporter, to-day visited Capt D. L. Payne and his Oklahoma boomers, where they are held prisoners at the camp of Lieut. Jackson, and a detachment of the Ninth cavalry, in the Cherokee nation opposite Ft. Smith. Payne said: "I first went to Oklahoma five years ago, when informed by able lawyers that these lands were open to white settlement, and located a colony. Since then I have been removed seven or eight times by the military. I spent last winter in Washington City and learned that the Cherokee outlet was open to settlement, and that the title was not in the Cherokees but in the United States. I organized a colony of five hundred and settled at Rock Falls, four miles south of Hunnewell, Kansas. General Hatch, on August 6th ordered us out. I told him not to bring his soldiers; we were willing to go into court to have the question settled. I asked him to lay the matter before the secretary of war and he refused. The next morning six companies of the Ninth cavalry arrived, accompanied by Indian Agent Tufts' clerk, a Cherokee Indian, who arrested J. B. Cooper, editor of the Oklahoma Chief. Most of the men were absent at the time. The cattlemen and cowboys were against us and threatened assassination. The cowboys tore down our flag and made a saddle blanket of it, but Capt. Moore recovered it, and a little girl came to us with a flag wrapped around her and a pistol in hand. We were taken to General Hatch's camp and Rock Falls was burned. We were allowed to get our furniture and clothing, but Mr. Cooper lost some valuable papers and his clothes. While at Hatch's camp I agreed to go to Ft. Smith or any place designated for trial, if released, and offered to put up $50,000 as security for keeping my word ; but Gen. Hatch said his orders were to take me to Ft. Smith, and he intended doing so. Deputy Marshal Williams served writs on us and wanted to take us to Wichita. Kan., for trial, but Lieut. Gardner, who was in command, refused to turn us over or recognize the civil authority. About sixty soldiers guarded us as far as the Cimarron river. The officers seemed to fear that the cowboys would attempt to assassinate us. Half of the soldiers returned and the rest are with us. We want to get our matter before the courts of the country, for we believe we have the right to locate home steads on these lands, and intend to keep on trying until the matter is properly adjusted."

The following unintelligent Associated Press dispatch from Fort Smith was published yesterday morning: Oklahoma Payne and seven of his followers, in charge of Lieutenant Jackson and a detachment of the Ninth cavalry, crossed the Arkansas river Monday evening, en route to Fort Smith, where the prisoners were to be turned over to the civil authorities for trial. Before crossing the Indian line, Lieutenant Jackson received a telegram, ordering him to take the prisoners to Fort Scott, Kansas. Thereupon he recrossed the river with his command and camped in the Cherokee nation, opposite the city, where an associated press correspondent and Payne's attorney visited them, but were refused an interview with, the prisoners. Payne begged hard to be allowed to converse with the reporter and his attorney, but Lieutenant Jackson emphatically refused. The party are now in camp awaiting further orders.

TAHLEQUAH, I. T. Sept. 8, 1884.
Oklahoma Payne, and his party, are still held at Fort Gibson by the U. S. soldiers, waiting to see which court will take jurisdiction, the court at Fort Smith, Ark., or the one in Kansas. We hope that Judge Parker will get hold of him, and believe the court at Fort Smith to be the proper tribunal to try him. He will be stuck on a whiskey case if nothing else, for he openly violated the intercourse law by introducing whisky into the Indian Territory in great quantities, as lots of witnesses stand ready to testify. Since writing the above, a squad of soldiers passed through Tahlequah last Friday with Payne and his accomplices, on their way to Fort Smith. We were Informed by the lieutenant in charge, that orders from headquarters were to turn Payne over to the court at Fort Smith. So we guess Judge Parker will get to adminster justice to him after all.

Wichita, Kan., Sept. 11.—The grand jury of the United States district court, now in session in this city, returned this evening indictments against D. S. Payne and the conspirators. The indictments cover both attempted settlements on th eOklahoma lands and the Cherokee strip and all questions at issue between the boomers and the general government. Wade McDonald of Wellington will appear for Payne et al. and United States Attorney J. R. Hollowell for the government, and the hearing is set for the 11th of November in Topeka before Judge Foster at chambers.

Continued

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