The following is a brief excerpt from the Congressional Record concerning the
testimony of Tams Bixby the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. Based on
charges of improper conduct on the part of William O. Beall, Chief Law Clerk of
the Choctaw-Chickasaw Enrollment Division, questions regarding Tams Bixby's
conduct also came under scrutiny.
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs dispatched an investigator to Indian Territory to conduct an official Senate Investigation into the charges and an excerpt from the hearings is presented to demonstrate the level of obstacles the "freedmen" erroneously enrolled had to endure from the Commissioner and his employees.
Bixby was under great pressure to resign his position but for some reason the Secretary of the Interior decided to let him remain in his position despite evidence he owned shares of a Real Estate syndicate within Indian Territory. When confronted with these charges and asked to liquidate his holdings, Bixby transferred the shares into his wife's name and continued working on land allotment and enrollment issues as Commissioner.