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248 INDIAN TERRITORY INDICTMENT tants liave thus at various periods been re- moved from different parts of the Union, but some are indigenous to the territory. Some tribes, as the Kiowas and Oomanches, are still in a wild state, while others, as the Cherokees, Choctaws, and Creeks, are well advanced in civilization. The capital of the Cherokee na- tion is Tahleqnah ; of the Chickasaws, Tishe- mingo ; of the Choctaws, Armstrong Academy ; of the Creeks, Okmulkee; of the Seminoles, We-wo-ka. The following table from the re- port of the commissioner of Indian affairs gives the population, value of property, num- ber of schools, &c., for 1873 : TRIBES. Popula- tion. Value of Individual property. No. of school!. Ttachers. t I 17,217 j.i.imo.ono 68 68 1,684 Chickasaws 6,000 16,000 2,(KIO.OOO 4,746.000* 18 60 18 52 480 1,129 18000 8,118,200* 84 43 700 Qttapaws, &c 1,219 2,438 219,241 400,500 4 4 4 4 208 167 Other tribes 16,594 1,548,598 8 80 266 Entire territory. . 72,468 $17,022,589 176 216 4,769 The second column does not include the value of land, which is held in common, nor of stocks and funds held in trust by the United States under treaties with various tribes, the interest on which is annually paid to such tribes for the support of schools or for general purposes. Most of the schools are supported by the tribal funds, but some are carried on by the mis- sionaries. In 1872 (no returns from the Chick- asaws and Choctaws) there were 598 frame and 8,823 log houses, viz. : Cherokees, 500 frame and 3,500 log ; Creeks, 35 frame and 4,200 log; Seminoles, 500 log houses; other tribes, the rest. The Cherokees have an or- phan asylum with 90 inmates. Three weekly newspapers are published in the territory, one (English and Cherokee) at Tahlequah, the oth- er two in the Choctaw country, one (Eng- lish and Choctaw) at New Boggy, and one (English) at Caddo. On March 1," 1873, there were 28 post offices, viz. : Cherokee country, 6; Chickasaw, 4; Choctaw, 12; Creek, 4; Seminole, 1; Kiowa, .&c., 1. Under the ex- isting regulations of the Indian bureau, the agents of the Cherokees and Creeks are nom- inated by the Baptists; of the Choctaws and Chickasaws, and the Seminoles, by the Pres- byterians; of the other tribes, by the Ortho- dox Friends. The Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists have each several missions, and one or more are maintained by the Friends, Moravians, and Roman Catholics. According to the report of the board of Indian commis- sioners for 1872, there were 7,170 church members, viz.: Cherokees, 2,450; Choctaws and Chickasaws, 2,500; Creeks, 2,050; Semi- noles, 90; other tribes, 80. The act of June 30, 1834, regulating trade and intercourse with

  • Report of the board of Indian commissioners for 1S72.

the Indians, declares that "all that part of the United States AV. of the Mississippi, and not within the states of Missouri and Lou- isiana, or the territory of Arkansas," shall for the purposes of that act be considered the In- dian country. The vast region thus defined, identical with the then territory of Missouri, formed part of the Louisiana purchase from France in 1803. Reduced by the successive formation of states and territories, the re- mainder now constitutes the whole of the dis- trict described at the beginning of this article except the narrow strip W. of the 100th merid- ian, which was ceded by Texas to the United States, and is classed geographically with the Indian territory for convenience. (For fur- ther information, see the articles on the dif- ferent tribes.) INDIAN TOBACCO. See LOBELIA. INDIA RUBBER. See CAOUTCHOUC. INDICTMENT (said to be derived, through the French enditement, enditer, from the Latin in- dicare, to point out, or, as some suppose, from indicere and indictw), a written accusation of an offence, preferred to, and presented upon oath as true by, a grand jury. Indictments are to be preferred in criminal matters only, and they lie for all treasons and felonies, for all misprisions (that is, concealments) of trea- sons and felonies, and for all misdemeanors of a public nature. The course of procedure is this : Upon information by parties who are cognizant of the criminal acts alleged, an in- dictment is framed by the proper prosecuting officers, and laid before the grand jury. If the jurors, after hearing the evidence, do not find " a true bill," the party, if in custody, is entitled to be discharged without further an- swer. If the bill, on the contrary, be found to be a true bill, it is returned into court, and the party stands indicted and may be required to answer to the charges made against him. (See JURY.) In respect to its form, the in- dictment is intended to be a plain and certain narrative of the offence charged, and of the necessary circumstances that concur to ascer- tain and define the fact and its nature. It can perhaps be no longer made a reproach to the law that it demands, in the words of Chief Justice Hale, " unseemly niceties " in the fra- ming of indictments, and yet the reason for and requirement of singular exactness still remain. In the first place, it is the plain right of the accused to know that he has been legally in- dicted. To this intent, the bill must show with reasonable certainty that it was present- ed to and proceeds from a court of compe- tent jurisdiction in the case; that the place where it was found was within its jurisdic- tion; and lastly, that it was found upon the oaths of at least 12 jurors, who must further appear to have been of the county or other limits of the court's jurisdiction. The inser- tion of the jurors' names is not necessary. The indictment must be certain as to the name of the accused, and should repeat it with every