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May secure patents in

twelve months

Townsites

may be se

cured when and how.

and eighty-nine, heretofore mentioned, shall be applicab'e to all entries made in said Territory, but no patent shal! be issued to any person who is not a citizen of the United States at the time of making final 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 Cklahoma. The provisions of sections 2304 and 2305 of the revised statutes of 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, [March 23] 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 patent therefor at the expiration of twelve months 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 such homestead.

SEC. 22. That the provisions of title 32, chapter 8, 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, [March 23] eighteen hundred and eighty-nine: Provided, That hereafter all surveys for town sites 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 or 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: Provided further, That in case any land 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, is required for townsite 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 townsite 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 townsite, upon the payment of the sum of ten dollars per acre for all the lands embraced in such townsite, 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 elating to public highfour rods wide between each section of land in said terri- ways. tory, 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 any competent authority, the title to the respective strips shall inure to the then owner of the tract of which it formed a part of the original survey.

settlement of

how punished.

SEC. 24. That it shall be unlawful for any person, for Fraudulent himself or any company, association, or corporation, to di- public lands, rectly 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

This act does

not apply to

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 beGreer county tween the United States and the state of Texas, as to the

only on cer

tain conditions

Appropriations.

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 United 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 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 appropriated, out of the money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be disbursed 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 ma shal, 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.

d

To pay 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 per diem of jurors and witnesses; to provide books, records, and stationery for 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 inhab. itants of said Territory, as required by law, the sun 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 shall have been established by the legislative assembly, the sum of fifty thousand dollars.

SEC. 27. That the provisions of this act shall not be Legal rights acquired not so construed as to invalidate or impair any legal claims or invalidated. 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' 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 1850 of the revised statutes of

Boundaries of
Indian Terri-
try proper.
Establishing a
Court.

Organization of Courts, how, when and where.

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 state of Arkansas and Missouri, 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 Terri tory 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 any tribe or nation with 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 contracts 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 divisions. 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

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