Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1897 — SEMINOLES SIGN IT. [ARTICLE]

SEMINOLES SIGN IT.

TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND INQIANS. of the Negotiations Be* tween the Governnientand the Dawes and Seminole Commissions Fire Causes a $1,000,000 Loss. Treaty with Semi notes. A treaty between the United States tint! the Seminole nation has l>een concluded and signed by the Dawes and Seminole commissioners at Muskogee, I. T. It provides for the allotment of the lands for the Seminole nation and a division of its moneys among the citizens after the tribal governments are extinguished. Five hundred thousand dollars of the funds of the nation is set apart for a permanent school fund for the education of the children of members of the tribe. All funds of the nation are to be disbursed by a person appointed by the Secretary of the Interior. Liberal provision is made for lands to be used for church and school purposes by non-citizens. No coal or mineral leases are to be valid unless made with the tribal government, and with the consent of the allottee and the Secretary of the Interior. United States courts are given additional jurisdiction over the members of the tribe, and the United States is to prohibit the introduction or handling in any way of intoxicating liquors in the nation, and is to make an effort to purchase 200,000 acres of land from the Creek nation for the Seminoles. The treaty is to be binding on the United States when ratified by Congress and on the Seminole nation when ratified by its general council.

Attacked by In Van Buren County, six miles from Clinton, Ark., on what is known as Culpepper mountain, the family of Farmer Patterson was at the supper table when (two men heavily masked threw open the front door of the house, presented rifles and commanded those at the table to remain perfectly quiet under pain of death. One of the robbers fired point blank at the head of the family, the ball entering his mouth. Patterson and his three sons returned the fire. The robbers kept up a fusillade until their ammunition was gone, when ,they drew bowie knives, cutting the old man’s throat from ear to ear, knocking senseless two of his sons and mortally wounding the third son and his wife. Patterson had acted as an informer on several occasions, giving the authorities information that led to the arrest and destruction of numerous illicit distilleries in the county. Grand Forks’ Great Fire. A special from Grand Forks, N. D., says that a loss of nearly $1,000,000 was caused there by fire. The Hotel Dakotah, a large five-story structure that cost $250,000, was completely ruined, as were the two large wholesale stores adjoining, Nash Bros, and the Grand Forks Mercantile Company. Both concerns occupied brick buildings about 100 feet square and four or five stories high.