Arizona citizen., 1872-02-10
RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE.
Supreme Court Decision in What IS POpuIarly Known as the Blchard COnfisCatiOn Case.


 Popularly Known as the Richard
 Confiscation Case.
 The United States, plaintiff and ap7 pellant vs. Certain Property. Will liam Richard & Co.,, respondent.
 This proceeding was instituted July 29, 1871, by petition and information, in the District Court of the First Ju- dicial District of Arizona, for the con- demnation of certain merchandise therein described, alleged to have been forfeitaDle and seized as such June 20, 1o71, near the reservation of the Pima and Maricopa Indians, by Capt. Fred erick E. Grossman, Special Indian Agent, on charge. of illegal traffic with the sad Indians.
 On the 21st of October last, Will
 liam Richard & Co. were, on their pe- tition and claim as sole owners, ad- mitted to defend the said property against the decree of condemnation thus prayed for; and having filed their bond, with sufficient sureties, ill the sum of seven thousand dollars (S7,- OOO) which was the value of the prop erty in controversy, as found upon appraisement, the case proceeded upon that.
 The property in contest, including a barrel of whisky, was alleged ill the information, to have been seized on the Indian reservation above described. This allegation, however, has since been found to have been erroneous, and been abandoned. as appears by the stipulations filed of record in the present case, which admit the con- clusions of fact on which the judg- ment of the Court below was prayed 1; for it is therein stated and agreed, by the attorney for the United States, as well as by the attorney for the claim ants, "that the place of business of William Richard & Co.,, wherein the goods against which this action was brought were seized, was and is off the limits of the described Indian reservation, very close to the southern boundary of the said reserve-in fact, within a few feet of said line; and that the lands outside of the said Pima and Maricopa reservation are open to survey and pre-emption, including the place of seizure.''
 The deposition of the said Captain Grossman, referred to in the stipula- tions filed. was agreed in open Court, on the hearing below, to be dispensed with as containing nothing but what was and is of judicial notoriety, tex cept that the articles " alleged in the information and in the said deposi- tion mentioned 'as on storage shall be for the purposes of this trial con- sidered as intrunsitu only.''
 It may be added as of public noto- riety here, that the lands thus describ- ed in the record as "outside of the Pima and Maricopa Reservation and " including the place of seizure" have been partially surveyed, and are now occupied, cultivated and improved, under the authority of the United States by American and Mexican resi- dents, either citizens or seeking and awaiting citizenship under our laws, that the lands recently proposed to be annexed to the said reservation, alone contain, as appears from authoritative reports made by Congress, twenty-five of these American and Mexican resi- dents, and that the whole valley of the Gila River, including the place of round 1t and outside of the is better settled with per- residents, excluding indians, than any other rural portion of Ari- zona. The store of the claimants where the merchandise in controversy was seized, Is near the principal high way from Tucson to Fort Yuma and it is also matter of public notoriety here, that the claimants carry on an active trade, not only with the resi- dents on the Gila river, but also with travellers by the same road.
 On the part of the United States, it was alleged upon the hearing of this case, in the Court below-First That all the Territory of the United | States west of the Mississippi River, with little if any exception, is Indian ,Oaatry-Second: That no one can lawfully trade therein with an Indian or Indians, without a license from some Indian Superintendent or agent and, Third: That the claimants, William Richard $ Co.,, having traded with the Pima and Maricopa Indians