United States v. State Bank

60 F. Supp. 335, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1561
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 23, 1944
DocketNo. 509
StatusPublished

This text of 60 F. Supp. 335 (United States v. State Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. State Bank, 60 F. Supp. 335, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1561 (E.D. Okla. 1944).

Opinion

WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge.

This is an action by the United States of America for the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations against the City of McAlester, a municipal corporation, James Troy McAlester, J. J. McAlester Mercantile Company, a corporation, Otto Sites, A. F. & A. M. Lodge No. 9 of McAlester, Oklahoma, and other defendants, for the possession of property which prior to October 25, 1904, was a part of the east side of the right-of-way and station grounds of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company, a Kansas corporation, at McAlester, Choctaw Nation, under, approval by the Secretary of the Interior Department of the United States on January 19, 1880, of a grant for right-of-way and station grounds to the said Railway Company, a certified copy of which was introduced in evidence on the hearing of this case (Exhibit A). Said part of the said right-of-way and station grounds on October 25, 1904, was quit-claimed by said railway company to defendants and others and platted into blocks 118A and 85A containing lots (1 to 25, inclusive) by the City of McAlester and by it quitclaimed'to the several defendants, as disclosed by the evidence introduced on the trial, except the north 25 feet of lot [336]*3369 in block 85A upon which part of said tract or lot the City of McAlester retained and thereon caused to be constructed and maintained and has now located thereon a fire station.

Among the questions involved is whether the said lands granted to the said railway company under Act of Congress of the United States of July 25, 1866, 14 Stat. 236, for right-of-way and station purposes, etc., was in accordance with articles 6 and 8 of the Treaty of April 28, 1866, 14 Stat. 771, 772, proclaimed on July, 10, 1866, and other Acts of Congress and the Constitution of the United States. On account of the approval of the grant to the railway company by the said Secretary of the Interior on January 19, 1880, such right-of-way and station grounds became vested in the said railway company and has not reverted to the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations.

Under Section 3, Article 4, of the Constitution of the United States, the Congress of the United States may dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States. Irvine v. Marshall & Barton, 20 How. 558, 61 U.S. 994, 15 L.Ed. 994 and Shively v. Bowlby, 152 U.S. 1, 14 S.Ct. 548, 38 L.Ed. 331, Muskogee Nat. Telephone Co. v. Hall, 8 Cir., 1902, 116 F. 382.

The tract consisting of said 85A and 118A (Exhibit A) about 1730 feet in length and 130 feet in width, divided into lots 1-25, inclusive, formerly part of the said granted and approved right-of-way and station grounds of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, a Kansas corporation, was about October 25, 1904, by quitclaim by said railway company, a Kansas corporation, granted to a number of parties, defendants hereto, and question is further suggested that said tract subsequently under receivership proceedings was acquired by the said Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, as a Missouri corporation, at a receivership sale at a date subsequent to April 26, 1906.

In 1907 the City of McAlester, Oklahoma, after the passage of Section 14 of Act of April 26, 1906, 34 Stat. 142, quit-claimed the land as divided into lots with the exception of a part of said lot in block 85A, to the said several defendants. The improvements upon the said land or lots were valued in appraisement by J. D. Fulton, acting under direction of the Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes by direction of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, between August, 1927, and January, 1930, the appraisement of the improvements thereon approximating $75,000 and the value of the lots being separately approved and being appraised by him at $3,910.

The said quitclaimed conveyances by the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company were executed on October 25, 1904, about 18 months prior to the Act of April 26, 1906, 34 Stat. L. 137.

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the United States caused said survey to be made of said blocks 85A and 118A and the several lots thereof as aforesaid as shown by said survey and were appraised and the said valuation made by the said J. D. Fulton, acting under the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, with the valuation placed on such lots with regard to such values as were made in 1904 by the Choctaw Town-site Commission when the original townsite surveys and appraisements were made and completed for the McAlester Townsite (Exhibit B). Under said plan such person or persons entitled to such lots after appraisements were to be notified and given a preferential right to receive deed to the same as was done as to similar lots by and under said Townsite Commission and holders of said lots after appraisement were to be notified and given a preferential right to receive deed to the same as was done as to similar lots by said Townsite Commission, and if such rights were not exercised under said appraisement within 60 days from the date of notice all lots not paid for were to be offered at public auction to the highest and best bidder, in accordance with the rules and practice of the original Choctaw Townsite Commission (see paper from Commissioner of Indian Affairs dated Jan. 11, 1927, approved by Assistant Secretary of the Interior with provision that title be quiet before any sale [Exhibits D and E]).

Under the direction of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, J. D. Fulton, an appropriate employee under the Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes, appraised the lots on said land.

I find that said deeds were without any consideration under conditions as to the quitclaims in favor of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations and delivery to J. D. Fulton, the representative of the United States Interior Department in contemplation of settlement of the matter in contro[337]*337versy as set out in said Exhibits D and E, and are void and of no effect, same being as follows:

“Exhibit ‘D’

“Refer in reply 5 — 1100 Address only the to the following Commissioner of

Indian Affairs

“United States

“Department of the Interior

“Office of Indian Affairs

“Washington

“Jan. 11, 1927

“To Honorable The Secretary of the Interior.

“My dear Mr. Secretary:—

“There is transmitted herewith certain data relative to the sale of real estate in the city of McAlester, Oklahoma. The record shows that two tracts of land are involved, about 1730 feet long and 130 feet wide. The land was formerly part of the right-of-way and station grounds of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway, a Kansas Corporation, which corporation, about October 25, 1904, attempted, by quit claim deeds, to convey the land to a number of individuals who had erected improvements thereon. Subsequent to this alleged sale the properties of the Kansas Corporation, under receivership proceedings, were acquired by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway, a Missouri corporation.

“In 1907 the City of McAlester, Oklahoma, divided the land in question into blocks and lots, numbered the blocks 85A and 118A containing lots from 1 to 25, inclusive. The improvements upon the land are valued at approximately $75,000. It appears that the city of McAlester and the state of Oklahoma refuse to assess taxes on the land in question because they assert that it is tribal property.

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Related

Wilcox v. Jackson
38 U.S. 498 (Supreme Court, 1839)
Irvine v. Marshall
61 U.S. 558 (Supreme Court, 1858)
Shively v. Bowlby
152 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1894)
Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Co. v. Roberts
152 U.S. 114 (Supreme Court, 1894)
Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Co. v. Oklahoma
271 U.S. 303 (Supreme Court, 1926)
Muskogee Nat. Tel. Co. v. Hall
118 F. 382 (Eighth Circuit, 1902)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 F. Supp. 335, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1561, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-state-bank-oked-1944.