Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1825-03-08


also adduces the copy OF an instru ment,
purportiDg to have been executed at Lac
Traver, on the 18th day of February,
1921, by four Indians, who called them
selves Chiefs and Warriors of the Maui
dowissie tribe. BY this writing, they
declare grant was made by their fathers
10 Captain Carver, for tract oil land ST.
tuated at the Falls of St. Anthony, and
that they have traditional record there
Of. These Chiefs acknowledge II &
willingness that the claimants under { ar
yer should be confirmed in their title.
DR.. Peters himself has made oat that
he was in London in the year IVA, and
was present when Carver solicited o! the
King ratification OF his title; that, ltsr
much inquiry and deliberalion, he king
gave him, as a gratul,y, II SIS 68. 81,
and ordered him TO prepare 10 sal or
NewOrieans IN the ensuing June, with
one hundred and fifty men, TO take pos
session Of bis grant: that, when things
were in state of preparation, the news
OF the battle of Bunker's Hill was receiv-
ed, which entirely prohibited the pro-
jected voyage. These facts, with many
others, not supposed by the committee
Necessary to be detailed, were sworn to
by DR.. Peters, in the year 1906, at which
time the heirs Of Carver petitioned Con-
gress, and also again on the 25lh day of
September, 1924.
1t is stated 10 the committee that the
original deed, which had been left with
DR.. Leusom, of London. was supposed
to have been stolen, and is lost, and that
the copy which appeared in the first edi-
lions of Carver's Journal is correct.
DR.. Peters submits sundry letters,
which he has, a, different times, received
from gentlemen in the Upper Mississip-
pI country. One appears to have been
written from the Falls oil Black river, on
the 10th day Of November, 1919, by
Constant A. Andrews, who states that,
few days before, he had put in operation
sew mill, thirty or forty miles from
Lake Pepin, in an eastwardly direction;
that seven Chiefs of the Sioux ns''on
gave him permission to settle aud remain
there for FIVE years, which tern. lie
Chief Lefei extended forever. He in.
forms DR.. Peters, that it is CERTAIN -
Chiefs Lefei, Petit Corbeau, and Red
Wing, ADM, the validity Of the grant to
Carver. Another correspondent, Of the
,ame of Keys, writes TO DR.. Petets,
from Prairie du CHEN, on the ~ OF
June, 1913, that he had seen Red Wing,
who had distinct recollection Of Car
yer; that this Chief informed him the
Snake and Tortoise, who signed Car
ver's deed, were his uncles, and that he
was willing to sanction their stss, al
though be could not do SO without con-
suting Lefei and the Little Raven, Pc
III Corbeau,) who outranked him.
DIR. Peters himself makes oath that he
had seen Lefei and Red Wing, the heirs
and Successors Of the two Chiefs who
gave Carver the deed; that they declar-
ed, through an interpreter, tina, i, was
good and valid, and the land covered by
it the property Of Carver, his heirs and
assigns, who were al liberty TO take pos
session thereof in peace and quietness.
The foregoing statements arc the strong
est proof with which The Committee has
been favored by DIR. Peters. He had
not examined the deed of conveyance TO
himself, though it is believed he has one.
This case presents two questions tor
consideration. First, Did the Indians,
represented to the Chiefs of the Naudo-
wissie tribe, execute the deed under
which the pelitioner!claims ! Second, AS
Stunning the fact that they did, is the Co
vernment Of the United States bound to
ra,iiy the claim ?
it appears to the Committee, the proof
submitted is of too weak and dubious a
character TO justify an affirmative answer
TO the first question. To the convey
apce, there were no subscribing witness
SEES, nor is it known that Carver himself
ever made oath to its genuineness. AL
though he may have peIitiened the King
for relief in the recognition OF his title,
there is no evidence that his application
was successful. Had it been, it is pre-
sumabIe the exhibition OF testimony to
lha, effect would not be difficult the re.
cords Of England would not be silent.
D. Peters states that the Committee, APP
pointed on the par, of the Senate in 1906.
to investigate this case, informed him,
that, if the successors OF the Snake and
Tortoise Chiefs would recognize the
claim Of Carver, there would be nothing
farther needed to sustain the petition;
and that, in consequence of this info'na-
ton, he spared no pains to obvia:e the
difficulty. AS that committee consisted
of gentlemen highly respectable for IA