Whereas it is alleged that certain persons have within the territory and
jurisdiction of the United States begun and set on foot preparations for
an organized and forcible possession of and settlement upon the lands
of what is known as the Oklahoma lands, in the Indian Territory, which
Territory is designated, recognized, and described by the treaties and
laws of the United States and by the executive authorities as Indian
country, and as such is subject to occupation by Indian tribes only; and
Whereas the laws of the United States provide for the removal of all
persons residing or being found in said Indian Territory without express
permission of the Interior Department:
Now, therefore, for the purpose of properly protecting the interests of
the Indian nations and tribes in said Territory, and that settlers may
not be induced to go into a country, at great expense to themselves,
where they can not be allowed to remain, I, Chester A. Arthur, President
of the United States, do admonish and warn all such persons so intending
or preparing to remove upon said lands or into said Territory against
any attempt to so remove or settle upon any of the lands of said
Territory; and I do further warn and notify any and all such persons
who do so offend that they will be speedily and immediately removed
therefrom by the proper officers of the Interior Department, and, if
necessary, the aid and assistance of the military forces of the United
States will be invoked to remove all such intruders from the said Indian
Territory.
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 1st day of July, A.D. 1884, and
of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and eighth.