been enrolled and their enrollment approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

The roll of Cherokee freedmen shall include only such persons of African descent, either free colored or the slaves of Cherokee citizens and their descendants, who were actual personal bona fide residents of the Cherokee Nation August eleventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, or who actually returned and established such residence in the Cherokee Nation on or before February eleventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven; but this provision shall not prevent the enrollment of any person who has heretofore made application to the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes or its successor and has been adjudged entitled to enrollment by the Secretary of the Interior.

Lands allotted to freedmen of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes shall be considered "homesteads," and shall be subject to all the provisions of this or any other act of Congress applicable to homesteads of citizens of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes.3

§ 708. Transfers from freedmen to tribal rolls prohibited.-[4]. That no name shall be transferred from the approved freedmen, or any other approved rolls of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, or Seminole tribes, respectively, to the roll of citizens by blood, unless the records in charge of the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes show that application for enrollment as a citizen by blood was made within the time prescribed by law by or for the party seeking the transfer, and said records shall be conclusive evidence as to the fact of such application, unless it be shown by documentary evidence that the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes actually received such application within the time prescribed by law.

§ 709. Patents or deeds to vest title in heirs or assignee. -[5]. That all patents or deeds to allottees in any of the

3 United States ex rel. Lowe v. Fisher, 223 U. S. 95, 32 Sup. Ct. 196, 56 L. Ed. 364.

Five Civilized Tribes to be hereafter issued shall issue in the name of the allottee, and if any such allottee shall die before such patent or deed becomes effective, the title to the lands described therein shall inure to and vest in his heirs, and in case any allottee shall die after restrictions have been removed, his property shall descend to his heirs or his lawful assigns, as if the patent or deed had issu ed to the allottee during his life, and all patents heretofore issued, where the allottee died before the same became effective, shall be given like effect; and all patents or deeds to allottees and other conveyances affecting lands of any of said tribes shall be recorded in the office of the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes, and when so recorded shall convey legal title, and shall be delivered under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior to the party entitled to receive the same: Provided, the provisions of this section shall not affect any rights involved in contests pending before the Commissioner to the Five Civilized. Tribes or the Department of the Interior at the date of the approval of this act.

§ 710. Governor or principal chief may be removed.[6]. That if the principal chief of the Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek, or Seminole Tribe, or the governor of the Chickasaw tribe shall refuse or neglect to perform the duties devolving upon him, he may be removed from office by the President of the United States, or if any such executive become permanently disabled, the office may be declared vacant by the President of the United States, who may fill any vacancy arising from removal, disability or death of the incumbent, by appointment of a citizen by blood of the tribe.

4 Heckman v. United States, 224 U. S. 413, 32 Sup. Ct. 424, 56 L. Ed. 820; Mullen v. United States, 224 U. S. 448, 32 Sup. Ct. 494, 56 L. Ed. 834; Goat v. United States, 224 U. S. 458, 32 Sup. Ct. 544, 56 L. Ed. 841; Deming Inv. Co. v. United States, 224 U. S. 471, 32 Sup. Ct. 549, 56 L. Ed. 847; Shulthis v. McDougal, 170 Fed. 529, 95 C. C. A. 615, reversing Shulthis v. MacDougal, 162 Fed. 331; Shulthis v. McDougal, 225 U. S. 561, 32 Sup. Ct. 704, 56 L. Ed. 1205.

If any such executive shall fail, refuse or neglect, for thirty days after notice that any instrument is ready for his signature, to appear at a place to be designated by the Secretary of the Interior and execute the same, such instrument may be approved by the Secretary of the Interior without such execution, and when so approved and recorded shall convey legal title, and such approval shall be conclusive evidence that such executive or chief refused or neglected after notice to execute such instrument.

Provided, that the principal chief of the Seminole Nation is hereby authorized to execute the deeds to allottees in the Seminole Nation prior to the time when the Seminole government shall cease to exist."

§ 711. Certain reservations authorized.-[7]. That the Secretary of the Interior shall, by written order, within ninety days from the passage of this act, segregate and reserve from allotment sections one, two, three, four, five, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, the east half of section sixteen, and the northeast quarter of section six, in township nine south, range twenty-six east, and sections five, six, seven, eight, seventeen, eighteen, and the west half of section sixteen, in township nine south, range twenty-seven east, Choctaw Nation Indian Territory, except such portions of said lands upon which substantial, permanent, and valuable improvements were erected and placed prior to the passage of this act and not for speculation, but by members and freedmen of the tribes actually themselves and for themselves for allotment purposes, and where such identical members or freedmen of said tribes now desire to select same as portions of their allotments, and the action of the Secretary of the Interior in making such segregation shall be conclusive. The Secretary of the Interior shall also cause to be estimated and appraised the standing pine timber on all of said land, and the land segre

5 Goat v. United States, 224 U. S. 458, 32 Sup. Ct. 544, 56 L. Ed.

gated shall not be allotted, except as hereinbefore provided. to any member or freedman of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes. Said segregated land and the pine timber thereon shall be sold and disposed of at public auction, or by sealed bids for cash, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior.

§ 712. Records-How preserved.-[8]. That the records of each of the land offices in the Indian Territory, should such office be hereafter discontinued, shall be transferred to and kept in the office of the clerk of the United States court in whose district said records are now located. The officer having custody of any of the records pertaining to the enrollment of the members of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, or Seminole Tribes, and the disposition of the land and other property of said tribes, upon proper application and payment of such fees as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe, may make certified copies of such records, which shall be evidence equally with the originals thereof; but fees shall not be demanded for such authenticated copies as may be required by officers of any branch of the government nor for such unverified copies as such officer, in his discretion, may deem proper to furnish. Such fees shall be paid to bonded officers or employees of the government, designated by the Secretary of the Interior, and the same or so much thereof as may be necessary may be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior for the purposes of this section, and any unexpended balance shall be deposited in the treasury of the United States, as are other public moneys.

§ 713. Controversies referred to Court of Claims.—[9]. The disbursements, in the sum of one hundred and eightysix thousand dollars, to and on account of the loyal Seminole Indians, by James E. Jenkins, special agent appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, and by A. J. Brown as administrator de bonis non, under an Act of Congress approved May thirty-first, nineteen hundred, appropriating

said sum, be and the same are hereby, ratified and confirmed: Provided, that this shall not prevent any individual from bringing suit in his own behalf to recover any sum really due him.

That the Court of Claims is hereby authorized and directed to hear, consider, and adjudicate the claims against the Mississippi Choctaws of the estate of Charles F. Winton, deceased, his associates and assigns, for services rendered and expenses incurred in the matter of the claims of the Mississippi Choctaws to citizenship in the Choctaw Nation, and to render judgment thereon on the principle of quantum meruit, in such amount or amounts as may appear equitable or justly due therefor, which judgment, if any, shall be paid from any funds now or hereafter due such Choctaws by the United States. Notice of such suit shall be served on the governor of the Choctaw Nation, and the Attorney General shall appear and defend the said suit on behalf of said Choctaws.

§ 714. Secretary to take charge of tribal schools.-[10]. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed to assume control and direction of the schools in the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole Tribes, with the lands and all school property pertaining thereto, March fifth, nineteen hundred and six, and to conduct such schools under rules and regulations to be prescribed by him, retaining tribal educational officers, subject to dismissal by the Secretary of the Interior, and the present system so far as practicable, until such time as a public school system shall have been established under territorial or state government, and proper provision made thereunder for the education of the Indian children of said tribes, and he is hereby authorized and directed to set aside a sufficient amount of any funds, invested or otherwise, in the treasury of the United States, belonging to said tribes, including the royalties on coal and asphalt in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, to defray all the necessary