The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-08-01
Official Exposure of Indian Frauds.

Washington special says:
The report of the Investigations of the Indian
committee of the last House of Representatives
into the extensive and fraudulent private con-
tracts with various Indian tribes for the collec
ton of annu titles, negotiation OF treaties and
other services in Washington, has just been pub
lished by the government printing Office. The
investigations extended over considerably more
than year, being incomplete at the expiration
of Congress, and the report, with portions of
the testimony, makes volume of nearly eight
hundred pages. The most wholesale and I'M
precedented frauds ON several tribes are proved,
and recommendations made that the contracts
be annuled, suits for the recovery OF the money
instituted, and important general legislation for
the better protection of the Indians Inaugural
ted.
The committee announce in large capitals on
the titlepage of their report that they hope to
do something to rid the Indians and the Indian
service of those heartless scoundrels who in
fest it and who do so much damage to the In
dams, the settler and the government. The
report proper occupies over two hundred pages
| and concludes with a statement of nineteen
distinct measures upon which legislative and
executive action is advised. Among the spe-
cific recommendations are the following:
To cause John HI. Is. Latrobe and his accom-
plices Douglas HI. Cooper, John T. Cochrane
and others, to return to the Treasury of the
United States for the use of the Choctaw peo-
pie 100000 with interest from 1866 being the
and also to return to the Treasury 1916 606 fraud
ulently obtained through collision on contract
between Latrobe and the Chickasaw dele
gates; to cause j. b. Luce to deposit in the treas
ury of the United States thirty-four thousand
and eight hundred dollars collected of the Creeks
in 1866, the fee having been divided with the
delegates who made an allowance to him; to
compel the heirs of Perry Fuller to return fly
thousand dollars received for protested services
in making treaty in 1866, between the Creeks
audi i'm Init fafa 10 aaIry In
and his accomplices to return hundred and
twenty-six thousand and one hundred dollars,
received by him out of the payments to the
Chickasaws and Quapos, literally plundered
from those people, whose complaints are many
and severe against this wholesale fraud and
greed; and to cause D. III. Cooper, Indian agent
for the ChOcktaws and Chickasaws, to return
one hundred and forty thousand nine hundred
and thirty one dollars, with the interest, the
amount in his hands when he joined the rebel
army in 1861.
Samuel s. Smoot, now member Of the dis
trict legislature, having surrendered to the COM
mittee his very exorbitant contract with the
Cherokees, there is no necessity for further rec
ommendation in his case. The Smoot contract,
the fees under which, had it been valid, would
have been over five hundred thousand dollars,
was burned on the 26th of last March in the
presence of Generals ShaukS and Cowen and
Solicitor Smith of the interior department. The
committee state that the contract was most
fllldIOuS one anu neDu6u DurUl1S. Lie whole
report is comprehensive and exhaustive, and by
far the most thorough exposure ever made of
the frauds OF Indian attorneys and claim agents.
THE Rocky POINT RE-UNIoN.-The five
Oldest military organizations in America held
reunion at Rocky Point, r. l., Wednesday.
The companies are as follows: Ancient and
Honorable Artillery of Boston, Newburyport
Artillery, Putnam Phalanx, First Infantry
Veteran Association of r. L., and the Amos
keag Veterans. The Governors of Massachus-
etts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine and
New Hampshire were present with many other
prominent gentlemen of the country. Gen.
Burnside presided at the dinner Speeches
were made by all theIGovernors, Gems. Hawley,
Banks and Others After the toast to the
President of the United States, Gen. Van
Zandt announced as the next regular toast
"Maine, the Pine Stree State. Although she
pines she continues spruce, plain and above
board. She takes the beam out of her own eye
and jabs it into her brothers." HH
Gov. Perham was called upen to respond and
was greeted with applause, and made brief,
pleasant speech, although he declared it among
the many things which he reluctantly found
out that he could not do, make an after-dinner
speech. He brought with him, however, and
IelI DOuHu W uellNeF 1t, Tue hearty greeting OF
the Old Pine Tree State to her sister States of
New England. He was glad tomeet and to
greet them on such glorious occasion. Al
though they in Maine Were perhaps ON the ex-
IRENE border of the Union, they still felt that
they were quite near the centre of creation af-
ter all.
He alluded to his State with pride, and said
that his people felt that the time was coming
when the water power of the rest of New Eng
land would be occupied and the attention of
manufacturers would be turned toward the ex-
tensive water power of Maine to which he now
invited them. Not only could they furnish
them with water power but ice enough at any
time to cool whole clam bake. tLaughter.)
He was glad to see the military organizations
present and that SO many of them preserved
the ancient uniforms in which the fathers
fought to preserve the life of the nation, thus
keeping green continually their memory. He
was glad of the military spirit which such
gatherings fostered and preserved and felt that
it was the safeguard and the defence of the
country. He again returned his thanks for his
kind reception, and took his seat amid load APP
plause.