Whereas it is alleged that certain individuals, associations of persons,
and corporations are in the unauthorized possession of portions of the
territory known as the Oklahoma lands, within the Indian Territory,
which are designated, described, and recognized by the treaties and laws
of the United States and by the executive authority thereof as Indian
lands; and
Whereas it is further alleged that certain other persons or associations
within the territory and jurisdiction of the United States have begun
and set on foot preparations for an organized and forcible entry and
settlement upon the aforesaid lands and are now threatening such entry
and occupation; and
Whereas the laws of the United States provide for the removal of all
persons residing or being found upon such Indian lands and territory
without permission expressly and legally obtained of the Interior
Department:
Now, therefore, for the purpose of protecting the public interests, as
well as the interests of the Indian nations and tribes, and to the end
that no person or persons may be induced to enter upon said territory,
where they will not be allowed to remain without the permission of the
authority aforesaid, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United
States, do hereby warn and admonish all and every person or persons now
in the occupation of such lands, and all such person or persons as are
intending, preparing, or threatening to enter and settle upon the same,
that they will neither be permitted to enter upon said territory nor, if
already there, to remain thereon, and that in case a due regard for and
voluntary obedience to the laws and treaties of the United States and
if this admonition and warning be not sufficient to effect the purposes
and intentions of the Government as herein declared, the military power
of the United States will be invoked to abate all such unauthorized
possession, to prevent such threatened entry and occupation, and to
remove all such intruders from the said Indian lands.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 13th day of March, 1885, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninth.