Buck—The Settlement of Oklahoma. 
339 
tween Caldwell and Arkansas City, and would have entered the 
territory but for the presence of the troops. They encamped near 
Caldwell December 11th, determined to wait until the troops 
were removed, but were forced to disperse about January 6th 
by the extreme cold. 1 In the year 1882 Payne was twice cap¬ 
tured in Indian Territory, once in May with twenty-nine men, 
when the party was merely conducted across the border and 
released, and again in August with seven men and two women, 
when Payne and six of the men were taken to Fort Reno as 
prisoners and, in the latter part of September, turned over again 
to the civil authorities at Fort Smith, where the previous per¬ 
formance was repeated. 2 
There is no need of going into the details of the subsequent 
raids, for they are but variations of these. About twice each year 
Payne and a party of “boomers” would be arrested in the ter¬ 
ritory by the military, the old offenders turned over to the mar¬ 
shal at Fort Smith, and then released to repeat the farce. It 
Was evident that the United States laws were entirely inade¬ 
quate to deal with the situation, and the Secretary of the In¬ 
terior and Commissioner of Indian Affairs were continually 
urging upon Congressi, but without success, the advisability of 
passing a more stringent law to cover the offence. 3 The mili¬ 
tary officers also soon tired of the farce they were compelled to 
play in periodically ejecting the intruders. The commanding 
general of the Missouri district reported in 1882 that these 
raids were entailing a heavy expense upon the government 
and subjecting the troops to long and severe marches to no pur¬ 
pose. He suggested that Payne be shut up in the guardhouse 
and made to work for his living until some remedy for the sit¬ 
uation be found. Such action, of course, could not be counte¬ 
nanced by the Secretary of War, and so the continuous vaude¬ 
ville performance went on. 4 
The most noteworthy of all raids was that which in 1884 
effected a settlement at Pock Falls and at other places a few 
1 Sen. Ex. Doc., 50, 48 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 4, 10. 
2 Ibid., p. 4; Sec. Int. Rept., 1881, vol. 2, p. 54. 
3 Sec. Int. Rept., 1882, vol. 2, p. 13. 
4 Sen. Ex. Doc., 50, 48 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 4, 11. 
