Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 February 1885 — THE BOOMERS. [ARTICLE]

THE BOOMERS.

The Oklahoma Settlers Hold a Convention and Adopt Resolutions. .Topeka (Kan.l dispatch ] A State convention of Oklahoma boomers has been iu session here, with about forty delegates present. Resolutions were adopted to the effect that the use of the United States army to expel the settlers from sh eir homes in Oklahoma, who had settled on lands subject to homestead under the laws of Congress, has but one parallel in histoiy, to wit: Interference with State legislation of Karovas by United States troops in 1850, in the old border ruffian days. They denounce as an. outrage the use of United S’ates troops to deprive the people of their homes and property without any warrant of 1 iw, and that there is no excuse for the recent exercise of arbitrary power in the Oklahoma country, and denounce the invasion of any territory by an aimed force under any pretense as among the greatest of crimes. They announce that they are opposed to interfering with the rights of Indians to their lands existing under the laws and treaties of the United States, and will not defend men in the violation of their rights, and demand also thnt the protection of the Government should be extended to all settlers alike on the Government lauds; that it is not a crime to settle upon Government land, but a right given to every American citizen by lavy; that the Indian title to the Okloboma lands has been extinguished, and under the laws of the United States statutes the lftnds are subjeot to settlement, pre-emption, and homestead. The stand taken by Capt. Couch and his followers was commended. The action of the President of the United States iu ordering Col. Hatch to shobt down “men, women, and children, whose only crime was a desire to occupy Government lands," was characterized as an outrage that would disgrace the worst monarchies of the old world. It also resolved that the boomers have a right to settlo upon the lands, and that they will exeroise that right. The resolutions are finished by declaring that "the dispatches sent by tho Associated Press agent at Caldwell relating to the status or settlement of the Oklahoma lands, and charging that there are now cattlemen holding large herds of stock inclosed by fence on said lauds, are willfully false, and calculated to mislead the public.”