KANSAS. 



419 



iM, and made valuable improvements with- 

 oat sufficiently considering tlic validity of tlu-ir 

 , -it her to the land or the increased value 

 \vliidi their own laboV has given to it. It has 

 Kvii di-rided by the Supremo Court that, even 

 win.' re a regular purchase was made, no valid 

 title could be given by the Indians without the 

 ut of tho Secretary of the Interior at 

 Washington. Tho operations of speculators in 

 lands have given rise to a great deal of 

 M'andal, and allegations of fraud have been 

 t'reely made against persons in office, both with- 

 in tho State and at tho national capital. Tho 

 members of Congress from Kansas have been 

 so far involved in the matter that a resolution 

 was offered and pressed with considerable 

 vigor in the Legislature, asking both the Sen- 

 ators and tho Representative to resign their 

 places. Explanations were mado and the reso- 

 lution did not pass, but very serious complaints 

 were made against the Representative of the 

 State in the Lower House of Congress, which 

 were not satisfactorily explained, and which 

 were the ground of a determined opposition 

 to his reelection during the political campaign 

 of tho year. 



The wish of the people of the State has un- 

 doubtedly been that the Federal Government 

 should take steps for the removal of all Indian 

 tribes from their borders, and the opening of 

 these reserved lands to settlers, those who 

 have already taken possession receiving a good 

 title to their farms and improvements, and 

 liberal provision being made from this fund of 

 public property for the encouragement of rail- 

 road enterprise and the building up of schools. 

 The Indians, too, have by their depredations 

 caused a great deal of trouble, especially to 

 the settlers upon lands which they look upon 

 as their own, and there has been a feeling that 

 they should be removed to the Indian Terri- 

 tory, to give place to the rapid advancement 

 of civilization in Kansas. There has been in 

 general no disposition wilfully to encroach 

 upon the rights of the Indians, but the action 

 of the Government in behalf of the settlers has 

 not kept pace with the rapid progress which 

 they have made in cultivating the unoccupied 

 wilderness, and almost insensibly they have 

 become involved in a complication of Indian 

 titles and claims on reservations where there 

 was scarcely an Indian occupant to a thousand 

 acres. The troubles which have sprung from 

 these and others causes led to several attacks 

 on the settlers and on parties of railroad work- 

 men last spring, and on one or more occasions 

 the military authorities were called on to pro- 

 tect the citizens. The judicious distribution 

 of a small force of troops, and the organization 

 of a voluntary militia, prevented any serious 

 outbreak. 



A go'od deal of disturbance appears to have 

 occurred on what were known as the "Chero- 

 kee Neutral Lands," in the early part of the 

 year, and a company of troops was sent thith- 

 er by the Governor to preserve order and en- 



force the execution of the laws. This pro- 

 voked tho iro of certain pontons intcrcHtc<l in 

 these lands, and a resolution was adopted in 

 tho Legislature at their instance, appointing 

 several commissioners to investigate the ground 

 for this proceeding. According to the report 

 of a majority of the commissioners, they state: 



As early as February, 1889, an organization existed 

 on thoHo lands known as "The Land League 5" 

 that such organization still exists there, and that its 

 name now is " The Neutral Land Home-Protecting 

 Corps ; " that it was, and still in. a secret owui mili- 

 tary organization, numbering fifteen hundred men, 

 commanded by a general, and drilled into regiments, 

 battalions ana companies, commanded by colonels, 

 lieutenant-colonels, majors, captains, and other offi- 

 cers with military designations ; that one of the ob- 

 jects of said organization was to prevent the building 

 of the Missouri Eiver, Fort Scott, and Gulf Railroad 

 through the Neutral Lands, until James F. Joy 

 should relinquish his right or claim to those lands ; 

 that, in accordance with the settled purpose of the 

 League, about two hundred of their number, being 

 fully armed, marched on Baxter Springs to break up 

 the railroad land-office at that place, and did, by 

 threats and intimidation, compel its removal there- 

 from ; that, during the spring and early summer of 

 1869, members of "The League" forcibly burned 

 about twenty-six thousand railroad ties in Cherokee 

 County, on those lands ; also, that they arrested Colo- 

 nel J. A. J. Chapman and Captain John Bunk, Jr., 

 engineers on the road, together with their party of as- 

 sistants and laborers, ana, after burning tue wagons, 

 tents, surveying-instrumentSj blankets, commissary 

 stores, etc., drove the subordinates of the surveying- 

 party from the lands, with orders never to return in 

 the employ of the railroad company, under penalty of 

 death, ana that they then marched Colonel Chapman 

 and Captain Bunk several miles south, when they 

 stripped off tho coats from their prisoners, hood- 

 winked them, and administered to each of them fif- 

 teen lashes, and then ordered them to leave, to never 

 return, and to never mention what had occurred, 

 under penalty of death; also, that they forcibly 

 drove from the line of the railroad, laborers, agents, 

 and other employe's, and from the Neutral Lands 

 many persons because of their opposition to the 

 League, and their friendship with the railroad com- 

 pany. 



After an investigation, costing the State 

 $20,000, the commissioners justified the Gov- 

 ernor in the employment of a military force in 

 suppressing these disorders, and further state: 



We find that, prior to the arrival of the troops on 

 those lands, lawlessness prevailed, and terrorism 

 reigned there ; that but for their presence the rail- 

 road could not have been built through the lands, 

 nor could persons who advocated the building of the 

 road have safely remained there. We further find that, 

 since troops have been stationed on those lands, 

 order has prevailed throughout that region, although 

 a very hostile feeling seems still to exist among the 

 people ; so intense, indeed, that, as we believe, should 

 the troops be removed, collisions, resulting in blood- 

 shed, would ensue. We therefore believe that there 

 was a necessity for United States troops on the Neu- 

 tral Lands at the time that they were stationed there ; 

 and wo further believe that that necessity exists. 



Although two minority reports were sub- 

 mitted, the Legislature adopted the views of 

 the majority in a joint resolution, declaring : 



That wo heartily indorse tho action of his Excel- 

 lency the Governor, in causing the supremacy of tho 

 laws to be maintained, by having tho troops of the 

 United States stationed upon the Neutral Lands; and 



