Organic Act-Chapter 22-1908 OK History

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CHAPTER XXII (cont.)
ORGANIC ACT

An act to provide a temporary government for
the Territory of Oklahoma, to enlarge the jurisdiction of the
United States Court in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SEC. 1. That all that portion of the United States now known as the Indian Territory, except so much of the same as is actually occupied by the five civilized tribes, and the Indian tribes within the Quapaw Indian Agency, and except the unoccupied part of the Cherokee outlet, together with that portion of the United States known as the Public Land Strip, is hereby erected into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Oklahoma. The portion of the Indian Territory included in said Territory of Oklahoma is bounded by a line drawn as follows: Commencing at a point where the ninety-eighth meridian crosses the Red River, thence by said meridian to the point where it crosses the Canadian River, thence along said river to the west line of the Seminole country, thence along said line to the north fork of the Canadian River, thence down said river to the west line of the creek country, thence along said line to the northwest corner of the Creek country.

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thence along the north line of the Creek country, to the ninety-sixth meridian, thence northward by said meridian to the southern boundary line of Kansas, thence west along said line to the Arkansas River, thence down said river to the north line of the land occupied by the Ponca tribe of Indians from which point the line runs so as to include all the lands occupied by the Ponca, Tonkawa, Otoe and Missouria, and the Pawnee tribes of Indians until it strikes the south line of the Cherokee outlet which it follows westward to the east line of the State of Texas to the point of beginning; the Public Land Strip which is included in said Territory of Oklahoma is bounded east by the one-hundredth meridian, south by Texas, west by New Mexico, north by Colorado and Kansas. Whenever the interest of the Cherokee Indians in the land known as the Cherokee outlet shall have been extinguished and the President shall make proclamation thereof, said outlet shall thereupon and without further legislation, become a part of the Territory of Oklahoma. Any other lands within the Indian Territory not embraced within these boundaries shall hereafter become a part of the Territory of Oklahoma whenever the Indian nation or tribe owning such lands shall signify to the President of the United States in legal manner its assent that such lands shall so become a part of said Territory of Oklahoma, and the President shall thereupon make proclamation to that effect.
Congress may at any time hereafter change the boundaries of said Territory, or attach any portion of the same to any other State or Territory of the United States without the consent of the inhabitants of the Territory hereby created: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be construed to impair any right now pertaining to any Indians or Indian tribe in said Territory under the laws, agreements, and treaties of the United States, or to impair the rights of person or property pertaining to said Indians, or to affect the authority of the Government of the United States to make any regulation or to make any law respecting said Indians, their lands, property, or other rights which it would have been competent to make or enact if this act had not been passed.
SEC. 2. That the executive power of the Territory of Oklahoma shall be vested in a governor, who shall hold his office for four years, and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States. The governor shall reside within said Territory; shall be commander-in-chief of the militia thereof; he may grant pardons for offenses against the laws of the Territory, and reprieves for offenses against the laws of the United States, until the decision of the President can be made known thereon; he shall commission all officers who shall be appointed to office under the laws of said Territory, and shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
SEC. 3. That there shall be a secretary of said Territory, who shall reside therein and hold his office for four years unless sooner removed by the President of the United States; he shall record and preserve all the laws and the proceedings of the legislative assembly hereinafter constituted, and all acts and proceedings of the governor in his executive department; he shall transmit one copy of the laws and journals of the legislative assembly, within thirty days after the end of each session thereof, to the President of the United States and to the Secretary of the Interior and, at the same time, two copies of the laws and journals of the legislative assembly to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate, for the use of Congress; and in case of the death, removal, resignation, or other necessary absence of the governor from the Territory, the secretary shall execute all the powers and perform all the duties of governor during such vacancy or absence, or until another governor is appointed and qualified.
SEC. 4. That the legislative power and authority of said Territory shall be vested in the governor and legislative assembly. The legislative assembly shall consist of a council and a house of representatives. The council shall consist of thirteen members, having the qualification of voters as hereinafter prescribed, whose terms of service shall continue two years. The house of representatives shall consist of twenty-six members, possessing the same qualifications as prescribed for members of the council, and whose term of service shall continue two years, and the sessions of the legislative assembly shall be biennial and shall be limited to sixty days' duration: Provided, however, That duration of the first session of said legislative assembly may continue one hundred and twenty days.
That for the purpose of facilitating the organization of a temporary government in the Territory of Oklahoma, seven counties are hereby established therein, to be known, until after the first election in the Territory, as the First County, the Second County, the Third County, the Fourth County, the Fifth County, and the Sixth County, the boundaries of which shall be fixed by the governor of the Territory until otherwise provided by the legislative assembly thereof. The county seat of the First County shall be Guthrie. The county seat of the Second County shall be at Oklahoma City. The county seat of the Third County shall be be at Norman. The county seat of the Fourth County shall be at El Reno. The county seat of the Fifth County shall be at King-[fisher]

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[King]fisher City. The county seat of the Sixth County shall be at Stillwater. The Seventh County shall embrace all that portion of the Territory lying west of the one hundredth meridian, known as the Public Land Strip, the county seat of which shall be at Beaver: Provided, That the county seats located by this act may be changed in such manner as the Territorial may provide.
At the first election for members of the legislative assembly the people of each county may vote for a name for such county, and the name which receives the greatest number of votes shall be the name of such county. If two or more counties should select the same name, the county which casts the greatest number of votes for such name shall be entitled to the same, and the names receiving the next highest number of votes in the other counties shall be the names of such counties. An apportionment shall be made by the governor as nearly equal as practicable among the several counties or districts for the election of the council and house representatives, giving to each section of the Territory representatives in the ratio of its population (excepting Indians not taxed) as nearly as may be, and the members of the council and house of representatives shall reside in and be inhabitants of the district for which they may be elected, respectively. Previous to the first election the governor shall cause a census or enumeration of the inhabitants of the several counties or districts of the Territory to be taken, unless the same shall have been taken and published by the United States, in which case such census and enumeration shall be adopted, and the first election shall be held at such times and places and be conducted in such manner, both as to the persons who superintend such election and the returns thereof, as the governor shall appoint and direct, and he shall at the same time declare the number of the members of the council and house of representatives to which each of the counties or districts shall be entitled, as shown by the census herein provided for. The number of persons authorized to be elected, having the highest number of legal votes in each of said council districts for members of the council, shall be declared by the governor to be duly elected to the council, and the person or persons authorized to be elected, having the greatest number of votes for the house of representatives equal to the number to which each county or district shall be entitled, shall be declared by the governor to be elected members of the house of representatives: Provided, That case two or more persons voted for have an equal number of votes, and in case a vacancy otherwise occurs in either branch of the legislative assembly, the governor shall order a new election, and the persons thus elected to the legislative assembly shall meet at such place an on such day as the governor shall appoint, but after such first election, however, the time, place, and manner of holding elections by the people, and the apportionment of representation, and the day of the commencement of the regular sessions of the legislative assembly shall be provided by law: Provided, however, That the governor shall have power to call the legislative assembly together by proclamation, on an extraordinary occasions at any time.
SEC. 5. That all male citizens of the United States above the age of twenty-one years, and all male persons of foreign birth over said age who shall have twelve months prior thereto declared their intention to become citizens of the United States, as now required by law, who are actual residents at the time of the passage of this act of that portion of said Territory which was declared by proclamation of the President to be open for settlement on the twenty-second day of April, anno Domini eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and of that portion of said Territory heretofore known as the Public Land Strip, shall be entitled to vote at the first election in the Territory. At every subsequent election the qualifications of voters and of holding office shall be such as may be prescribed by the legislative assembly, subject, however, to the following restrictions on the power of the legislative assembly, namely: First. The right of sufferage and of holding office shall be exercised only by citizens of the United States above the age of twenty-one years and by persons of foreign birth above that age who have declared, on oath, before a competent court of record, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States their intention to become citizens, and have taken oath to support the constitution of the United States, and who has have been residents of the United States for the term of twelve months before the election at which they offer to vote. Second. There shall be no denial of the elective franchise or of holding office to a citizen on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Third. No officer, soldier, seaman, marine, or other person in the Army or Navy, or attached to troops in the service of the United States, shall be allowed to vote in said Territory by reason of being on service therein. Fourth. No person belonging to the Army or Navy shall be elected to, or hold, any civil office or appointment in said Territory.
SEC. 6. That the legislative power of the Territory shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States, but no law shall be passed interfering with the primary disposal of the soil; no tax shall be imposed upon the property of the United States, nor shall the lands or

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other property of non-residents be taxed higher than the lands or other property of residents, nor shall any law be passed impairing the right to private property, nor shall any unequal discrimination be made in taxing different kinds of property, but all property subject to the taxation shall be taxed in proportion to its value. Provided, That nothing herein shall be held to prohibit the levying and collecting license or special taxes in the Territory from person engaged in any business therein, if the legislative power shall consider such taxes necessary. Every bill which shall have passed the council and the house of representatives of said Territory shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the governor of the Territory. If he approves he shall sign it, but if not, he shall return it with his objections to the house in which it originated, who shall enter the objections at large upon their journal and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that house it shall become law. But in all such cases the vote of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays to be entered on the journal of each house, respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the governor within five days (Sunday excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the assembly by adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.
SEC. 7. That all township, district, and county officers, not herein otherwise provided for, shall be appointed or elected, as the case may be, in such manner as shall be provided by the governor and legislative assembly of the Territory. The governor shall nominate and, by and with the advice and consent of the council, appoint all officers not herein otherwise provided for, and in the first instance the governor alone may appoint all such officers, who shall hold their offices until the end of the first session of the legislative assembly; and he shall lay off the necessary districts for members of the council and house of representatives, and all other officers, and whenever a vacancy happens from resignation or death, during the recess of the legislative council in any office which is filled by the appointment of the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the council, the governor shall fill such vacancy by granting a commission, which shall expire at the end of the next session of the legislative council. It is further provided that the legislative assembly shall not authorize the issuing of any bond, script, or evidence of debt by the Territory, or any county, city, town, or township therein for the construction of any railroad.
SEC. 8. That no member of the legislative assembly shall hold or be appointed to any office which has been created or the salary or emoluments of which have been increased while he was a member, during the term for which he was elected and for one year after the expiration of such term, but this restriction shall not be applicable to members of the first legislative assembly provided for by this act; and no person holding a commission or appointment under the United States, except postmasters, shall be a member of the legislative assembly, or shall hold any office under the government of said Territory.
SEC. 9. That the judicial power of said Territory shall be vested in a supreme court, district courts, probate courts, and justices of the peace. The supreme court shall consist of a chief justice and two associate justices, any two of whom shall constitute a quorum. They shall hold their offices for four years, and until their successors are appointed and qualified, and they shall hold a term annually at the seat of government of said Territory. The jurisdiction of the several courts herein provided for, both appellate and original, and that of the probate courts and of the justices of the peace, shall be as limited by law: Provided, That justices of the peace, who shall be elected in such manner as the legislative assembly may provide by law, shall not have jurisdiction of any matter in controversy when the title or boundaries of land may be in dispute, or where the debt or sum claimed shall exceed one hundred dollars; and the said supreme and district courts, respectively, shall possess chancery as well as common law jurisdiction and and authority for redress of all wrongs committed against the Constitution or laws of the United States or of the Territory affecting persons or property. Said Territory shall be divided into three judicial districts, and a district court shall be held in each county in said district thereof by one of the justices of the supreme court, at such time and place as may be prescribed by law, and each judge after assignment shall reside in the district to which he is assigned. The supreme court shall define said judicial districts, and shall fix the times and places at each county seat in each district where the district court shall be held and designate the judge who shall preside therein. And the territory not embraced in organized counties shall be attached for judicial purposes to such organized county or counties as the supreme court may determine. The supreme court of said Territory shall appoint its own clerk, who shall hold his office at the pleasure of the court for which he is appointed. Each district court shall appoint its

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clerk, who shall be the register in chancery, and shall keep his office where the court may be held. Writs of error, bills of exception, and appeals shall be allowed in all cases from the final decisions of said district courts to the supreme court under such regulations as may be prescribed by law, but in no case removed to the supreme court shall trial by jury be allowed in said court. Writs of error and appeals from the final decisions of said supreme court shall be allowed and may be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States in the same manner and under the same regulations as from the circuit courts of the United States, where the value of the property or the amount in controversy, to be ascertained by oath or affirmation of either party or other competent witness, shall exceed five thousand dollars; and each of the said district courts shall have and exercise, exclusive of any court heretofore established, the same jurisdiction in all cases arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States as is vested in the circuit and district courts of the United States. In addition to the jurisdiction otherwise conferred by this act, said district courts shall have and exercise exclusive original jurisdiction over all offenses against the laws of the United States committed within that portion of the Cherokee Outlet not embraced within the boundaries of said Territory of Oklahoma as herein defined, and in all civil cases between citizens of the United States, or of any State or Territory, and any citizen of or person or persons residing or found therein, when the value of the thing in controversy or damages or money claimed shall exceed one hundred dollars; writs of error, bills of exceptions, and appeals shall in all such cases, civil and criminal, be allowed from the district courts to the supreme court in like manner, and be proceeded with in like manner as in cases arising within the limits of said Territory. For all judicial purposes as hereindefined such portion of the Cherokee Outlet not embraced within the boundaries of the Territory of Oklahoma shall be attached to, and be a part of, one of the judicial districts of said Territory as may be designated by the Supreme court. All acts and parts of acts heretofore enacted, conferring jurisdiction upon United States courts held beyond and outside the limits of the Territory of Oklahoma as herein defined, as to all causes of action or offenses in said Territory, and in that portion of the Cherokee Outlet heretofore referred to, are hereby repealed, and such jurisdiction is hereby given to the supreme and district courts in said Territory; but all actions commenced in such courts, and crimes committed in said Territory and in the Cherokee Outlet, prior to the passage of this act, shall be tried and prosecuted, and proceeded with until finally disposed of, in the courts now having jurisdiction thereof, as if this act had not been passed. The said supreme and district courts of said Territory, and the respective judges thereof, shall and may grant writs of mandamus and habeas corpus in all cases authorized by law; and the fist six days of every term of said courts, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, shall be appropriated to the trial of causes arising under said Constitution and laws; and writs of error and appeals in all such cases shall be made to the supreme court of said Territory, as in other cases.
SEC. 10. Persons charged with any offense or crime in the Territory of Oklahoma, and for whose arrest a warrant has been issued, may be arrested by the United States marshal or any of his deputies, wherever found in said Territory, but in all cases the accused shall be taken, for preliminary examination, before a United States commissioner, or a justice of the peace of the county, whose office is nearest to the place where the offense or crime was committed.
All offenses committed in said Territory, if committed within any organized county, shall be prosecuted and tried within said county, and if committed within territory not embraced in any organized county, shall be prosecuted and tried in the county to which such territory shall be attached for judicial purposes. And all civil actions shall be instituted in the county in which the defendant, or either of them, resides or may be found; and when such actions arise within any portion of said Territory, not organized as a county, such actions shall be instituted in the county to which said territory is attached for judicial purposes; but an case, civil or criminal, may be removed, by change of venue, to another county.
SEC. 11. That the following chapters and provisions of the Compiled Laws of the State of Nebraska, in force November first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, in so far as they are locally applicable, and not in conflict with the laws of the United States or with this act, are hereby extended to and put in force in the Territory of Oklahoma until after the adjournment of the first session of the legislative assembly of said Territory, namely: the provisions of articles two, three and four of chapter two, entitled "Agriculture," of chapter four, entitled "Animals;" of chapter six, entitled "Assignments;" of chapter seven, entitled "Attorneys;" of chapter ten, entitled "Bonds and oaths—official;" of chapter twelve, entitled "Chattel mortgages;" of chapter fourteen, entitled "Cities of the second class and villages;" of chapter fifteen, entitled "Common law;" of chapter six-[teen]

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[six]teen, entitled "Corporations;" of chapter eighteen, entitled "Counties and county officers;" of sections fifteen and sixteen of article six of the constitution of said State, and of chapter twenty of said laws, entitled "Courts—probate;" of chapter twenty-three, entitled "Decedents;" of chapter twenty-four, entitled "Deputies;" of chapter twenty-five, entitled "Divorce and alimony;" of chapter twenty-six, entitled "Elections;" of chapter twenty-eight, entitled "Fees;" of chapter thirty-two, entitled "Frauds;" of chapter thirty-four, entitled "Guardians and wards;" of chapter thirty-six, entitled "Homesteads;" of chapter forty-one, entitled "Instruments negotiable;" of chapter forty-four, entitled "Interests;" of chapter forty-six, entitled "Jails;" of chapter fifty, entitled "Liquors;" but no licenses shall be issued under this chapter; of chapter fifty-two, "entitled "Marriage;" of chapter fifty-four, entitled "Mechanics' and laborers' liens;" of chapter sixty-one, entitled "Notaries public;" of chapter Sixty-two, entitled "Oaths and affirmations;" of chapter sixty-three, entitled "Occupying claimants;" of article one of chapter seventy-two, entitled "Railroads;" of chapter seventy-three, entitled "Real Estate;" and the provisions of part two of said laws, entitled "Code of civil procedure," and of part three thereof, entitled "Criminal code."
The governor of said Territory is authorized to divide each county into election precincts and into such political sub-divisions other than school districts as may be required by the laws of the State of Nebraska; and he is hereby authorized to appoint all officers of such counties and sub-divisions thereof as he shall deem necessary, and all election officers until their election or appointment shall be proved for by the legislative assembly, but not more than two judges or inspectors of election in any election precinct shall be members of the same political party, and the candidates of each political party who may be voted for as such election may designate one person who shall be present at the counting and canvassing of the votes cast in each precinct.
The supreme and district courts of said Territory shall have the same power to enforce the laws of the State of Nebraska hereby extended to and put in force in said Territory as courts of like jurisdiction have in said State; but county courts and justices of the peace shall have and exercise the jurisdiction which is authorized by said laws of Nebraska: Provided, That the jurisdiction of justices of the peace in said Territory shall not exceed the sum of one hundred dollars, and county courts shall have jurisdiction in in all cases where the sum or matter in demand exceeds the sum of one hundred dollars.
SEC. 12. That jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the district courts in the Territory of Oklahoma over all controversies arising between members or citizens of one tribe or nation of Indians and the members or citizens of other tribes or nations in the Territory of Oklahoma, and any citizen or member of one tribe or nation who may commit any offense or crime in said Territory against the person or property of a citizen or member of another tribe or nation shall be subject to the same punishment in the Territory of Oklahoma as he would be if both parties were citizens of the United States; and any person residing in the Territory of Oklahoma, in whom there is Indian blood, shall have the right to invoke the aid of courts therein for the protection of his person or property, as though he were a citizen of the United States: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to give jurisdiction to the courts established in the Territory in controversies arising between Indians of the same tribe, while sustaining their tribal relations.
SEC. 13. That there shall be appointed for said Territory a person learned in the law, who shall act as attorney for the United States, and shall continue in office for four years, and until his successor is appointed and qualified, unless sooner removed by the President. Said attorney shall receive a salary at the rate of two hundred and fifty dollars annually. There shall be appointed a marshal for said Territory, who shall hold his office for four years, and until his successor is appointed and qualified, unless sooner removed by the President, and who shall execute all process issuing from the said courts when exercising their jurisdiction as circuit and district courts of the United States; he shall have the power and perform the duties and be subject to the same regulations and penalties imposed by law on the marshal of the United States, and be entitled to a salary at the rate of two hundred dollars a year. There shall be allowed to the attorney, marshal, clerks of the supreme and district courts the same fees as are prescribed for similar services by such persons in chapter sixteen, title Judiciary, of the Revised Statutes of the United States.
SEC. 14. That the governor, secretary, chief-justice, and associate justices, attorney, and marshal shall be nominated and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appointed by the President of the United States. The governor and secretary to be appointed as aforesaid shall, before they act as such, respectively take an oath or affirmation before the district judge, or some justice of the peace, or other officer in the limits of said Territory duly authorized to administer oaths and affirmations by the laws now in force therein, or before the Chief-Justice or some associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to support the Constitution of the United

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States and faithfully to the duties of their respective offices, which said oaths, when so taken, shall have be certified by the person by whom the same shall have been taken; and such certificates shall be received and recorded by the secretary among the executive proceedings, and the chief-justice and associate justices, and all other civil officers in said Territory, who may be duly commissioned and qualified, which said oath or affirmation shall be certified and transmitted by the person taking the same to the secretary, to be recorded by him as aforesaid, and afterwards the like oath or affirmation shall be taken, certified, and recorded in such manner and form as may be prescribed by law. The governor shall receive an annual salary of two thousand six hundred dollars as governor; the chief-justice and associate justices shall receive an annual salary of three thousand dollars, and the secretary shall receive an annual salary of one thousand eight hundred dollars. The said salaries shall be payable quarter-yearly at the Treasury of the United States. The members of the legislative assembly shall be entitled to receive four dollars each per day during their attendance at the sessions, and four dollars for each and every twenty miles traveled in going to and returning from said sessions, estimating the distance by the nearest traveled route. There shall be appropriated annually the sum of one thousand dollars, to be expended by the governor to defray the contingent expenses of the Territory. There shall also be appropriated annually a sufficient sum, to be expended by the secretary, and upon an estimate to be made by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, to defray the expenses of the legislative assembly, of the courts, the printing of laws, and other incidental expenses; and the secretary of the Territory shall annually account to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States for the manner in which the aforesaid sum shall have been expended.
SEC. 15. That the legislative assembly of the Territory of Oklahoma shall hold its first session at Guthrie, in said Territory, at such time as the governor thereof shall appoint and direct; and at said first session, or as soon thereafter as they shall deem expedient, the governor and legislative assembly shall proceed to locate and establish the seat of government for said Territory at such place as they may deem eligible, which place, however, shall thereafter be subject to be changed by the said governor and legislative assembly.
SECT. 16 That a Delegate to the House of Representatives of the United States, to serve during each Congress of the United States, may be elected by the voters qualified to elect members of the legislative assembly, who shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges as are exercised and enjoyed by the Delegates from the several other Territories of the United States in the said House of Representatives. The first election shall be held at such time and place, and be conducted in such manner as the governor shall appoint and direct, after at least sixty days' notice, to be given by proclamation, and at all subsequent elections the time, place, and manner of holding elections shall be prescribed by law. The person having the greatest number of votes of the qualified electors, as hereinbefore provided, shall be declared by the governor elected, and a certificate thereof shall be accordingly given.
SEC. 17. That the provisions of title sixty-two of the Revised Statutes of the United States relating to national banks, and all amendments thereto, shall have the same force and effect in the Territory of Oklahoma as elsewhere in the United States: Provided, That persons otherwise qualified to act as directors shall not be required to have resided in said Territory for more than three months immediately preceding their election as such.
SEC. 18. That sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in each township in said Territory shall be, and the same are hereby, reserved for the purpose of being applied to public schools in the State or States hereafter erected out of the same. In all cases where sections sixteen and thirty-six, or either of them, are occupied by actual settlers prior to survey thereof, the county commissioners of the counties in which such sections are so occupied are authorized to locate other lands, to an equal amount, in sections or fractional sections, as the case may be, within their respective counties, in lieu of the section occupied.
All the lands embraced in that portion of the Territory of Oklahoma heretofore known as the Public Land Strip, shall be open to settlement under the provisions of the homestead laws of the United States, except section twenty-three hundred and one of the Revised Statutes, which shall not apply; but all actual and bona fide settlers upon the occupants of the lands in said Public Land Strip at the time of the passage of this act shall be entitled to have preference to and hold the lands upon which they have settled under the homestead laws of the United States, by virtue of their settlement and occupancy of said lands, and they shall be credited with the time they have actually occupied their homesteads, respectively, not exceeding two years, on the time required under said laws to perfect title as homestead settlers.
The land within said Territory of Oklahoma

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acquired by cession of the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians, confirmed by act of Congress approved March first, eighteen hundred and eight-nine, and also the lands acquired in pursuance of an agreement with the Seminole Nation of Indians by re-lease and conveyance, dated March sixteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, which may hereafter be open to settlement, shall be disposed of under the provisions of sections twelve, thirteen and fourteen of the "Act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department, and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes, for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety, and for other purposes," approved March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and under section two of an "Act to ratify and confirm an agreement with the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes," approved March first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine: Provided, however, That each settler under and in accordance with the provisions of said acts shall, before receiving a patent for his homestead on the land hereafter opened to settlement as aforesaid, pay to the United States for the land so taken by him, in addition to the fees provided by law the sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre.
Whenever any of the other lands within the Territory of Oklahoma, now occupied by any Indian tribe, shall by operation of law or proclamation of the President of the United States, be open to settlement, they shall be disposed of to actual settlers only, under the provisions of the homestead law, except section twenty-three hundred and one of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which shall not apply: Provided, however, That each settler, under and in accordance with the provisions of said homestead laws, shall before receiving a patent for his homestead pay to the United States for the land so taken by him, in addition to the fees provided by law, a sum per acre equal to the amount which has been or may be paid by the United States to obtain a relinquishment of the Indian title or interest therein, but in no case shall such payment be less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. The rights of honorably discharged soldiers and sailor in the late civil war, as defined and described in sections twenty-three hundred and four and twenty-three hundred and five of the Revised Statutes of the United States, shall not be abridged except as to such payment. All tracts of land in Oklahoma Territory which have been set apart for school purposes, to educational societies, or missionary boards at work among the Indians, shall not be open for settlement, but are hereby granted to the respective educational societies or missionary boards for whose use the same has been set apart. No part of the land embraced within the Territory hereby created shall inure to the use or benefit of any railroad corporation, except the rights of way and land for stations heretofore granted to certain railroad corporations. Nor shall any provision of this act or any act of any officer of the United States, done or performed under the provisions of this act or otherwise, invest any corporation owning or operating any railroad in the Indian Territory, or Territory created by this act, with any land or right to any land in either of said Territories, and this act shall not apply to or affect any land which , upon any condition on becoming a part of the public domain, would inure to the benefit of, or become the property of, any railroad corporation.
SEC. 19. That portion of the Territory of Oklahoma heretofore known as the Public Land Strip is hereby declared a public land district, and the President of the United States is hereby empowered to locate a land office in said district, at such place as he shall select, and to appoint in conformity with existing law a register and receiver of said land office. He may also, whenever he shall deem necessary, establish another additional land district within said Territory, locate a land office therein, and in like manner appoint a register and receiver thereof. And the Commissioner of the General Land Office shall, when directed by the President, cause the lands within the Territory to be properly surveyed and subdivided where the same has not already been done.
SEC. 20. That the procedure in applications, entries, contests, and adjudications in the Territory of Oklahoma shall be in form and manner prescribed under the homestead laws of the United States, and the general principles and provisions of the homestead laws, except as modified by the provisions of this act and the acts of Congress approved March first and second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, heretofore mentioned, shall be applicable to all entries made in said Territory, but no patent shall be issued to any person who is not a citizen of the United States at the time of making proof.
All persons who shall settle on land in said Territory, under the provisions of the homestead laws of the United States, and of this act, shall be required to select the same in square form as nearly as may be; and no person who shall at the time be seized in fee simple of a hundred and sixty acres of land in any State or Territory, shall hereafter be entitled to enter land in said Territory of Oklahoma. The provisions of sections twenty-three hundred and four and twenty-three hundred and five of the Revised Statutes of

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the United States shall, except so far as modified by this act, apply to all homestead settlements in said Territory.
SEC. 21. That any person, entitled by law to take a homestead in said Territory of Oklahoma, who has already located and filed upon, or shall hereafter locate and file upon, a homestead within the limits described in the President's proclamation of April first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and under and in pursuance of the laws applicable to the settlement of the lands opened for settlement by such proclamation, and who has complied with all the laws relating to such homestead settlement, may receive a paten therefor at the expiration of twelvemonths from date of locating upon said homestead upon payment to the United States of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre for land embraced in homestead.
SEC. 22. That the provisions of title thirty-two, chapter eight of the Revised Statutes of the United States relating to "reservation and sale of townsites on the public lands" shall apply to the lands open, or to be opened to settlement in the Territory of Oklahoma, except those opened to settlement by the proclamation of the President on the twenty-second day of April, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine: Provided, That hereafter all surveys for townsites in said Territory shall contain reservations for parks (of substantially equal area if more than one park) and for schools and other public purposes, embracing in the aggregate not less than ten nor more than twenty acres; and patents for such reservations, to be maintained for such purposes, shall be issued to the towns respectively when organized as municipalities: Provide further, That in case any lands in said Territory of Oklahoma, which may be occupied and filed upon as a homestead, under the provisions of law applicable to said Territory, by a person who is entitled to perfect his title thereto under such laws, are required for town site purposes, it shall be lawful for such person to apply to the Secretary of the Interior to purchase the lands embraced in said homestead or any part thereof for town-site purposes. He shall file with the application a plat of such proposed town-site, and if such plat shall be approved by the Secretary of the Interior, he shall issue a patent to such person for land embraced in said town site, upon the payment of the sum of ten dollars per acre for all the lands embraced in such town site, except the lands to be donated and maintained for public purposes as provided in this section. And the sums so received by the Secretary of the Interior shall be paid over to the proper authorities of the municipalities when organized, to be used by them for school purposes only.
SEC. 23. That there shall be reserved public highways four rods wide between each section of land in said Territory, the section lines being the center of said highways; but no deduction shall be made, where cash payments are provided for, in the amount to be paid for each quarter section of land by reason of such reservation. But if the said highway shall be vacated by and competent authority, the title to the respective strips shall inure the then owner of the tract of which it formed a part by the original survey.
SEC. 24. That it shall be unlawful for any person, for himself or any company, association, or corporation, to directly or indirectly procure any person to settle upon any lands open to settlement in the Territory of Oklahoma, with intent thereafter of acquiring title thereto; and any title thus acquired shall be void; and the parties to such fraudulent settlement shall severally be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished upon indictment, by imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.
SEC. 25. That inasmuch as there is a controversy between the United States and the State of Texas as to the ownership of what is known as Greer County, it is hereby expressly provided that this act shall not be construed to apply to said Greer County until the title to the same has been adjudicated and determined to be in the Untied States; and in order to provide for a speedy and final judicial determination of the controversy aforesaid the Attorney-General of the United States is hereby authorized and directed to commence in the name and on the behalf of the United States, and prosecute to a final determination, a proper suit in equity in the Supreme Court of the United States against the State of Texas, setting forth the title and claim of the United States to the tract of land lying between the North and South Forks of the Red River where the Indian Territory and the State of Texas adjoin, east of the one hundredth degree of longitude, and claimed by the State of Texas as within its boundary and a part of its land, and designated on its map as Greer County, in order that the rightful title to said land may be finally determined, and the court, on the trial of the case may, in its discretion, so far as the ends of justice will warrant, consider any evidence heretofore taken and received by the Joint Boundary Commission under the act of Congress approved January thirty-first, eighteen hundred and eighty-five; and said case shall be advanced on the docket of said court, and proceeded with to its conclusion as rapidly as the nature and circumstances of the case permit.
SEC. 26. That the following sums, or so much thereof as may be necessary, are hereby appro-[priated]

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[appro]priated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be distributed under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, in the same manner that similar appropriations are disbursed in the other Territories of the United States, namely:
To pay the expenses of the first legislative assembly of said Territory, including the printing of the session laws thereof, the sum of forty thousand dollars.
To pay the salaries of the governor, the judges of the supreme court, the secretary of the Territory, the marshal, the attorney, and other officers whose appointment is provided for in this act, for the remainder of the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety, the sum of twenty thousand dollars.
To pay for the rent of buildings for the legislative and executive offices, and for the supreme and district courts; to provide jails, and support prisoners; to pay mileage and per diem of jurors and witnesses; to provide books, records, and stationery for the executive and judicial offices for the remainder of the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety, the sum of fifteen thousand dollars.
To enable the governor to take a census of the inhabitants of said Territory, as required by law, the sum of five thousand dollars.
To be expended by the governor in temporary support and aid of common school education in said Territory, as soon as a system of public schools have been established by the legislative assembly, the sum of fifty thousand dollars.
SEC. 27. That the provisions of this act shall not be so construed as to invalidate or impair any legal claims or rights of persons occupying any portion of said Territory, under the laws of the United States, but such claims shall be adjudicated by the Land Department, or the courts, in accordance with their respective jurisdictions.
SEC. 28. That the Constitution and all the laws of the United States not locally inapplicable shall, except so far as modified by this act, have the same force and effect as elsewhere within the United States; and all acts and parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this act are as to their effect in said Territory of Oklahoma hereby repealed: Provided, That section eighteen hundred and fifty of the Revised Statutes of the United States shall not apply to the Territory of Oklahoma.
SEC. 29. That all that part of the United States which is bounded on the north by the State of Kansas, on the east by the States of Arkansas and Missouri, and on the south by the State of Texas, and on the west and north by the Territory of Oklahoma as defined in the first section of this act, shall, for the purposes of this act, be known as the Indian Territory; and the jurisdiction of the United States court established under and by virtue of an act entitled "An act to establish a United States court in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes," approved March first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, is hereby limited to and shall extend only over the Indian Territory as defined in this section; that the court established by said act shall, in addition to the jurisdiction conferred thereon by said act, have and exercise within the limits of the Indian Territory jurisdiction in all civil cases in the Indian Territory, except cases over which the tribal courts have exclusive jurisdiction; and in all cases on contracts entered into by citizens of the United States in good faith and for valuable consideration, and in accordance with the laws of such tribe or nation, and such contacts shall be deemed valid and enforced by such courts; and in all cases over which jurisdiction is conferred by this act or may hereafter be conferred by act of Congress; and the provisions of this act hereinafter set forth shall apply to said Indian Territory only.
SEC. 30. That for the purpose of holding terms of said court, said Indian Territory is hereby divided into three divisions, to be known as the first, second and third division. The first division shall consist of the country occupied by the Indian tribes in the Quapaw Indian Agency and all that part of the Cherokee country east of the ninety-sixth meridian and all of the Creek country; and the place for holding said court therein shall be at Muskogee. The second division shall consist of the Choctaw country, and the place for holding said court therein shall be at South McAlester. The third division shall consist of the Chickasaw and Seminole countries, and the place for holding said court therein shall be at Ardmore. That the Attorney-General of the United States may, if in his judgment it shall be necessary, appoint an assistant attorney for said court. And the clerk of said court shall appoint a deputy clerk in each of said divisions in which said clerk does not himself reside at the place in such division where the terms of said court are to be held. Such deputy clerk shall keep his office and reside at the place appointed for holding said court in the division of such residence, and shall keep the records of said court for such division, and in the absence of the clerk may exercise all the official powers of the clerk within the division for which he is appointed: Provided, That the appointment of such deputies shall be approved by said United States court in the Indian Territory, and may be annulled by said court at its pleasure, and the clerk shall be responsible for the official acts and negligence of his respective deputies. The judge of said court shall hold at least two

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terms of said court each year in each of the divisions aforesaid, at such regular times as said judge shall fix and determine, and shall be paid his actual traveling expenses and subsistence while attending and holding court at places other than Muskogee. And jurors for each term of said court, in each division, shall be selected and summoned in the manner provided in said act, three jury commissioners to be selected by said court for each division,who shall possess all the qualifications and perform in said division all the duties required of the jury commissioners provided for in said act. All prosecutions for crimes or offenses hereafter committed in said Indian Territory shall be cognizable within the division in which said crime or offense shall have been committed. An all civil suits shall be brought in the division in which the defendant or defendants reside or may be found; but if there be two or more defendants residing in different divisions, the action may be brought in any division in which either of the defendants resides or may be found. And all cases shall be tried in the division in which the process is returnable as herein provided, unless said judge shall direct such case to be removed to one of the other divisions: Provided, however, That the judicial tribunals of the Indian nations shall retain exclusive jurisdiction in all civil and criminal cases arising in the country in which members of the nation by nativity or by adoption shall be the only parties; and as to all such cases the laws of the State of Arkansas extended over and put in force in said Indian Territory by this act shall not apply.
SEC. 31. That certain general laws of the State of Arkansas in force at the close of the session of the general assembly of that State of eighteen hundred and eighty-three, as published in eighteen hundred and eighty-four in the volume known as Mansfield's Digest of the Statutes of Arkansas, which are not locally in applicable or in conflict with this act or with any law of Congress, relating to the subjects specially mentioned in this section, are hereby extended over and put in force in the Indian Territory until Congress shall otherwise provide, that is to say, the provisions of the said general statutes of Arkansas relating to administration, chapter one, and the United States Court in the Indian Territory herein referred to shall have and exercise the powers of courts of probate under said laws; to public administrators, chapter two, and the United States marshal of the Indian Territory shall perform the duties imposed by said chapter on the sheriffs in said State; to arrest and bail, civil, chapter seven; to assignment for benefit of creditors, chapter eight; to attachments, chapter nine; to attorneys at law, chapter eleven; to bills of exchange and promissory notes, chapter fourteen; to civil rights, chapter eighteen; to common and statute law of England, chapter twenty; to contempts, chapter twenty-six; to municipal corporations, chapter twenty-nine, division one; to costs, chapter thirty; to descents and distributions, chapter forty-nine; to divorce, chapter fifty-two; and said court in the Indian Territory shall exercise the powers of the circuit courts of Arkansas under this chapter; to dower, chapter fifty-two; to evidence, chapter fifty-nine; to execution, chapter sixty; to fees, chapter sixty-three; to forcible entry and detainer, chapter sixty-seven; to frauds, statute of , chapter sixty-eight; to fugitives from justice, chapter sixty-nine; to gaming contracts, chapter seventy; to guardians, curators, and wards, chapter seventy-three, and said court in the Indian Territory shall appoint guardians and curators; to habeas corpus, chapter seventy-four; to injunction, chapter eighty-one; to insane persons and drunkards, chapter eighty-two; and said court in the Indian Territory shall exercise the powers of the probate courts of Arkansas under this chapter; to joint and several obligations and contracts, chapter eighty-seven; to judgments and decrees, chapter eighty-eight; to judgments summary, chapter eighty-nine; to jury, chapter ninety; to landlord and tenant, chapter ninety-two; to legal notices and advertisements, chapter ninety-four; to liens, chapter ninety-six; to limitations, chapter ninety-seven; to mandamus and prohibition, chapter one hundred; to marriage contracts, chapter one hundred and two; to marriages, chapter one hundred and three; to married women, chapter one hundred and four; to money and interest, chapter one hundred and nine; to mortgages, chapter one hundred and ten; to notaries public, chapter one hundred and eleven, and said court in the Indian Territory shall appoint notaries public under this chapter; to partition and sale of lands, chapter one hundred and fifteen; to pleadings and practice, chapter one hundred and nineteen; to recorders, chapter one hundred and twenty-six; to replevin, chapter one hundred and twenty-eight; to venue, change of , chapter one hundred and fifty-three; and to wills and testaments, chapter one hundred and fifty-five; and wherever in said laws of Arkansas the courts of record of said State are mentioned the said court in the Indian Territory and his deputies, respectively, shall be substituted therefor; and wherever the sheriff of the county is mentioned in said laws the United States marshal of the Indian Territory shall be substituted therefor, for the purpose, in each of the cases mentioned, of making said laws of Arkansas applicable to the Indian Territory.
That no attachment shall issue against improvements on real estate while the title to the land is

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vested in any Indian nation, except where such improvements have been made by persons, companies, or corporations operating coal or other mines, railroads, or other industries under lease or permission of law of an Indian national council, or charter, or law of the United States.
That executions upon judgments obtained in any other than Indian courts shall not be valid for the sale or conveyance of title to improvements made upon lands owned by an Indian nation, except in the cases wherein attachments are provided for. Upon a return of nulla bona, upon an execution upon any judgment against an adopted citizen of any Indian tribe, or against any person residing in the Indian country and not a citizen thereof, if the judgment debtor shall be the owner of any improvements upon real estate within the Indian Territory in excess of one hundred and sixty acres occupied as a homestead, such improvements may be subjected to the payment of the judgment by a decree of the court in which such judgment was rendered. Proceedings to subject such property to the payment of judgments may be by petition, of which the judgment debtor shall have notice as in the original suit. If on the hearing the court shall be satisfied from the evidence that the judgment debtor is the owner of improvements on real estate subject to the payment of said judgment, the court may order the same sold, and the proceeds, or so much thereof as may be necessary to satisfy said judgment and costs, applied to the payment of such judgment, under such regulations as the court may prescribe. If under such proceeding any improvement is sold only citizens of the tribe in which said property is situate may become the purchaser thereof.
The Constitution of the United States and all general laws of the United States which prohibit crimes and misdemeanors in any place within the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, except in the District of Columbia, and all laws relating to national banking associations shall have the same force and effect in the Indian Territory as elsewhere in the United States; but nothing in this act shall be so construed as to deprive any of the courts of the civilized nations of exclusive jurisdiction over all cases arising wherein members of said nations, whether by treaty, blood, or adoption, are the sole parties, nor so as to interfere with the right and power of said civilized nations to punish said members for violation of the statutes and laws enacted by their national councils where such laws are not contrary to the treaties and laws of the United States.
SEC. 32. That the word "county," as used in any of the laws of Arkansas which are put in force in the Indian Territory by the provisions of this act, shall be construed to embrace the territory within the limits of a judicial division in said Indian Territory; and whenever in said laws of Arkansas the word "county" is used, the words "judicial division" may be substituted therefor, in said Indian Territory, for the purposes of this act. And whenever in said laws of Arkansas the word "State" or the words "State of Arkansas" are used, the word "Territory," or the words 'Indian Territory," may be substituted therefor, for the purposes of this act, and for the purpose of making said laws of Arkansas applicable to the said Indian Territory; but all prosecutions therein shall run in the name of the "United States."
SEC. 33. That the provisions of chapter forty-five of the said general laws of Arkansas, entitled "Criminal law," except as to the crimes and misdemeanors mentioned in the provisos to this section, and the provisions of chapter forty-six of said general laws of Arkansas, entitled "Criminal Procedure," as far as they are applicable, are hereby extended over and put in force in the Indian Territory, and jurisdiction to enforce said provisions is hereby conferred upon the United States court therein: Provided, That in all cases where the laws of the United States and the said criminal laws of Arkansas have provided for the punishment of the same offenses the laws of the United States shall govern as to such offenses: And provided further, That the United States circuit and district courts, respectively, for the western district of Arkansas and the eastern district of Texas, respectively, shall continue to exercise exclusive jurisdiction as now provided by law in the Indian Territory as defined in this act, in their respective districts as heretofore established, over all crimes and misdemeanors against the laws of the United States applicable to the said Territory, which are punishable by said laws of the United States by death or by imprisonment at hard labor, except as otherwise provided in the following sections of this act.
SEC. 34. That original jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the United States court in the Indian Territory to enforce the provisions of title twenty-eight, chapters three and four in said Territory, except the offenses define an embraced in sections twenty-one hundred and forty-two and twenty-one hundred and forty-three: Provided, That as to the violations of the provisions of section twenty-one hundred and thirty-nine of said Revised Statutes, the jurisdiction of said court in the Indian Territory shall be concurrent with the

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jurisdiction exercised in the enforcement of such provisions by the United States courts for the western district of Arkansas and the eastern district of Texas:Provided, That all violations of said chapters three and four, prior to the passage of this act, shall be prosecuted in the said United States courts, respectively, the same as if this act had not been passed.
SEC. 35. That exclusive original jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the United States court in the Indian Territory to enforce the provisions of chapter four, title seventy, of the Revised Statutes of the United States entitled "Crimes against justice," in all cases where the crimes mentioned therein are committed in any judicial proceeding in the Indian Territory and where such crimes affect or impede the enforcement of the laws in the courts established in said Territory: Provided, That all violations of the provisions of said chapter prior to the passage of this act shall be prosecuted in the United States courts for the western district of Arkansas and the eastern district of Texas, respectively, the same as if this act had not been passed.
SEC. 36. That jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the United States court in the Indian Territory over all controversies arising between members or citizens of one tribe or nation of Indians and the members or citizens of other tribes or nations in the Indian Territory, and any citizen or member of one tribe or nation who may commit any offense or crime against the person or property of a citizen or member of another tribe or nation shall be subject to the same punishment in the Indian Territory as he would be if both parties were citizens of the United States. And any member or citizen of any Indian tribe or nation in the Indian Territory shall have the right to invoke the aid of said court therein for the protection of his person or property as against any person not a member of the same tribe or nation, as though he were a citizen of the United States.
SEC. 37. That if any person shall, in the Indian Territory, open, carry on, promote, make or draw, publicly or privately, any lottery, or scheme of chance of any kind or description, by whatever name, style or title the same may be denominated or known, or shall, in said Territory, vend, sell, barter, or dispose of any lottery ticket or tickets, order or orders, device or devices, of any kind, for, or representing any number of shares or any interest in any lottery or scheme of chance or shall open or establish as owner or otherwise any lottery or scheme of chance in said Territory, or shall be in any wise concerned in any lottery or scheme of chance, by acting as owner or agent in said Territory, or shall be in any wise concerned in any lottery or scheme of chance, by acting as owner or agent in said Territory, for or on behalf of any lottery or scheme of chance, to be drawn, paid or carried on, either out of or within said Territory, every such person shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be fined for the first offense, not exceeding five hundred dollars, and for the second offense shall, on conviction, be fined not less than five hundred dollars and not exceeding five thousand, and he may be imprisoned, in the discretion of the court, not exceeding one year. And jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of this section is hereby conferred upon the United States court in said Indian Territory, and all persons therein, including Indians and members and citizens of Indian tribes and nations, shall be subject to its provisions and penalties.
SEC. 38. The clerk and deputy clerks of said United States court shall have the power within their respective divisions to issue marriage licenses or certificates and to solemnize marriages. They shall keep copies of all marriage licenses or certificates issued by them, and a record book in which shall be recorded all licenses or certificates after the marriage has been solemnized, and all persons authorized by law to solemnize marriages shall return the license or certificate, after executing the same, to the clerk or deputy clerk who issued it, together with his return thereon. They shall also be ex-officio recorders within their respective divisions, and as such they shall perform such duties as are required of recorders of deeds under the said laws of Arkansas, and receive the fees and compensation therefore which are provided in said laws of Arkansas for like service: Provided, That all marriages heretofore contracted under the laws or tribal customs of any Indian nation now located in the Indian Territory are hereby declared valid, and the issue of such marriages shall be deemed legitimate and entitled to all inheritances of property or other rights, the same as in the case of the issue of other forms of lawful marriages: Provided further, That said chapter one hundred and three of said laws of Arkansas shall not be construed so as to interfere with the operation of the laws governing marriage enacted by any of the civilized tribes, nor to confer any authority upon any officer of said court to unite a citizen of the United States in marriage with a member of any of the civilized nations until the preliminaries to such marriage shall have first been arranged according to the laws of the nation of which said Indian person is member: And provided further, That where such marriage is required by law of an Indian nation to be of record, the certificate of such marriage shall be sent for record to the proper officer as provided in such law enacted by the Indian nation.
SEC. 39. That the United States court in the Indian Territory shall have all the powers of the United States circuit courts or circuit court judges

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to appoint commissioners within said Indian Territory, who shall be learned in the law, and shall be known as United States commissioners; but not exceeding three commissioners shall be appointed for any one division, and such commissioners when appointed shall have, within the district to be designated in the order appointing them, all the powers of commissioners, of circuit courts of the United States. They shall be ex-officio notaries public, and shall have power to solemnize marriages. The provisions of chapter ninety-one of the said laws of Arkansas, regulating the jurisdiction and procedure before justices of the peace, are hereby extended over the Indian Territory; and said commissioners shall exercise all the powers conferred by the laws of Arkansas upon justices of the peace within their districts; but they shall have no jurisdiction to try any cause where the value of the thing or the amount in controversy exceeds one hundred dollars.
Appeals may be taken from the final judgment of said commissioners to the United States court in said Indian Territory in all cases and in the same manner that appeals may be taken from the final judgments of justices of the peace under the provisions of said chapter ninety-one. The said court may appoint a constable for each of the commissioner's districts designated by the court, and the constable so appointed shall perform all the duties required of constables under the provision of chapter twenty-four and other laws of the State of Arkansas. Each commissioner and constable shall execute to the United States, for the security of the public, a good and sufficient bond, in the sum of five thousand dollars, to be approved by the judge appointing him, conditioned that he will faithfully discharge the duties of his office and account for all moneys coming into this hands, and he shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and to faithfully perform the duties required of him.
The appointments of United States commissioners by said court held at Muscogee, in the Indian Territory, heretofore made, and all acts in pursuance of law and in good faith performed by them, are hereby ratified and validated.
SEC. 40. That persons charged with any offense or crime in the Indian Territory, and for whose arrest a warrant has been issued, may be arrested by the United States marshal or any of his deputies, wherever found in said Territory, but in all cases the accused shall be taken, for preliminary examination, before the commissioner in the judicial division whose office or place of business is nearest by the route usually traveled to the place where the offense or crime was committed; but this section shall apply only to crimes or offenses over which the courts located in the Indian Territory have jurisdiction: Provided, That in all cases where persons have been brought before a United States commissioner in the Indian Territory for preliminary examination, charged with the commission of any crime therein and where it appears from the evidence that a crime has been committed, and that there is probable cause to believe the accused guilty thereof, but that the crime is one over which the courts in the Indian Territory have no jurisdiction, the accused shall not, on that account, be discharged, but the case shall be proceeded with as provided in section ten hundred and fourteen of the Revised Statutes of the United States.
SEC. 41. That the judge of the United States court in the Indian Territory shall have the same power to extradite persons who have taken refuge in the Indian Territory, charged with crimes in the States or other Territories of the United States, that may now be exercised by the governor of Arkansas in that State, and he may issue requisitions upon governors of States and other Territories for persons who have committed offenses in the Indian Territory, and who have taken refuge in such States or Territories.
SEC. 42. That appeals and writs of error may be taken and prosecuted from the decisions of the United States court in the Indian Territory to the Supreme Court of the United States in the same manner and under the same regulations as from the circuit courts of the United States, except as otherwise provided in this act.
SEC. 43. That any member of any Indian tribe or nation residing in the Indian Territory may apply to the United States court therein to become a citizen of the United States, and such court shall have jurisdiction thereof and shall hear and determine such applications as provided in the statutes of the United States; and the Confederated Peoria Indians residing in the Quapaw Indian Agency, who have heretofore or who may hereafter, accept their land in severalty under any of the allotment laws of the United States, shall be deemed to be, and are hereby, declared to be citizens of the United States from and after the selection of their allotments, and entitled to all the rights and privileges, and benefits as such, and parents are hereby declared from that time to have been and to be the legal guardians of their minor children without process of court: Provided, That the Indians who become citizens of the United States under the provisions of this act do not forfeit or lose any rights or privileges they enjoy or are entitled to as members of the tribe or nation to which they belong.
SEC. 44. That the following sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be disbursed under the direction of the Attorney-General of the United States, in

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the same manner that similar appropriations are disbursed in the other Territories of the United States, namely:
To pay the actual traveling and other expenses of the judge of the United States court holding court in said Indian Territory other than at Muscogee; to pay for the rent of buildings for the court; to provide jails and support prisoners; to pay mileage and per diem of jurors and witnesses; to provide books, records, and stationery for the judicial offices for the remainder of the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety, the sum of ten thousand dollars.
Approved, May 2, 1890