INDIAN SUMMER 



2971 



INDICTMENT 



INDIAN SUMMER, the name usually ap- 

 plied to a short season of fair, warm weather 

 occurring in the late fall in temperate lati- 

 tudes. In the United States and Canada the 

 weather may change during October or No- 

 vember; in place of autumnal cold, the genial 

 influences of warm, hazy, 'summery days are 

 felt for a time. The same phenomenon is ex- 

 perienced in Europe, the seasons there being 

 formerly called "Saint Martin's Summer," "Old 

 Woman's Summer," or "All Hallow Summer." 

 The term Indian summer, however, has come 

 into almost universal use. At the time of the 

 Indian summer the air is usually dry, and 

 the remaining leaves of trees and plants 

 quickly shrivel and fall off. 



The origin of the term is uncertain. Many 

 theories have been advanced, but none with 

 any degree of authority. That the Indians 

 predicted such a season to the first Europeans 

 landing in America, who gave it the name, is 

 possible, but highly improbable, as the term 

 first appeared in books and manuscripts as 

 late as 1794. 



INDIAN TERRITORY, terito'ri, formerly 

 a territory of the United States, set apart by 

 Congress as a residence for the Indian tribes 

 who .had been forced out of Georgia, Florida 

 and other Southern states. Between 1820 and 



INDIAN TERRITORY 



The former Territory, now a part of Oklahoma. 

 The homes of the nations were as follows : 



(1) Cherokee (4) Chickasaw 



(2) Creek (5) Choctaw 



(3) Seminole 



1840 the Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws, Choc- 

 taws and Seminoles gave up their eastern lands 

 and accepted their new homes on condition 

 that they be allowed to maintain their tribal 

 governments. These five tribes, later known 

 as the Five Civilized Tribes, or Nations, estab- 

 lished governments like those of the states, 

 each with a governor and a legislature; they 

 made and enforced their own laws, maintained 

 their own school systems and generally con- 

 ducted themselves as independent nations. 

 Besides the Five Civilized Tribes, reservations 



were set aside at various times for the Modocs, 

 Ottawas, Peorias, Senecas, Osages, Kawa, 

 Comanches, the Apaches and other tribes. 

 Unfortunately, the Indians were too few to 

 hold all the land thus given them, and white 

 settlers, or "squatters," encroached upon them, 

 especially in the western part of the territory. 

 In fact, after the War of Secession, many 

 white men mingled with the Indians, married 

 Indian women, and became influential in the 

 government of the tribes. 



It was finally apparent that settlers could 

 no longer be kept out of the territory. In 

 1889, therefore, the United States purchased 

 from the Indians the western part of the old 

 Indian Territory and in the next year organ- 

 ized it as Oklahoma Territory. The opening 

 of Oklahoma Territory to settlement was fol- 

 lowed by an increase in the number of white 

 settlers in what remained of the Indian Terri- 

 tory. By 1900 the whites outnumbered the 

 Indians six to one, and the tribal government 

 became totally inadequate under these condi- 

 tions. In spite of the original guaranty of 

 tribal independence, the Indians were forced 

 to yield to an act of Congress of 1897, which 

 gave the United States courts jurisdiction 

 within the Territory. In 1898 the Curtis Act, 

 which was designed to transfer property rights 

 from the tribes to the national government, 

 provided for the enrolment of the Indians as 

 citizens and for the regulation of town sites, 

 and it gave the President a veto over acts 

 of the tribal governments. By agreement with 

 the Five Tribes the allotment of land to 

 individuals was begun, and on March 4, 1906, 

 all tribal government ended. Congress then 

 passed an enabling act by which Oklahoma 

 and Indian Territory together could become a 

 state. The state of Oklahoma was admitted 

 to the Union on November 16, 1906, and the 

 Indian Territory ceased to exist. W.F.Z. 



See INDIANS, AMERICAN, for the history of the 

 red man in the United States and Canada. 



INDIA RUBBER, an earlier name for rubber, 

 but now little employed. Soon after the dis- 

 covery of America (then called India), Euro- 

 peans heard of the use of this substance. 

 They called it elastic gum until they discov- 

 ered that lead pencil marks could be erased 

 with it, when they began to call it India rub- 

 ber. The story of rubber is treated in these 

 volumes under the title RUBBER AND RUBBER 

 MANUFACTURE. 



INDICTMENT, indite' orient, in criminal 

 law, is a written accusation against one or 



