Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1880-02-17
CAs 4siiy zress ssl (sissstss
vAMkToM !. DAKOTA
Primo THE poscs,.
10 New the Chir4 Diversion IL wsshl~s
asn-Dslgha Eyels Csptwsss the CrewA.

---
IL New the chirf Dlvsrsssa 10 wsshins.
a.n-srishs Eyst'Csps.r.s The CrswA.
Washington, Feb. l3.-Bright Eyes. the
Ponca Indian girl, addressed the COMMITTEES
Of the senate to-day, aud inside the same
speech that she has been making TO the pub
lie for several months. She 10 an exceed
insly Interesting M about 81 years Of
aae, we'll educa,ed, good looking, and unu-
sually intelligent, and che made . percepti.
BILE impression on the committee. II vas
noticed that the. two. bachelor members of
the senate, Saulsburry and Ferry, we're pres-
ent, and regarded the Indian maiden with
favor. She was dressed in black satin, with
scarlet ribbons II her neck, and . Derby
hat, With . scarlet bird in il. Her
attire was quite nobby, and the only indi.
cation Of savage association was 4 curious
sort OF necklace she wore. She gave her
evidence In q bright. spirited manner; was
modest. yet assuring. Few white ladies
could have conducted themselves moro
gracefully or womsnly. Her appeals for
redress tOr the wrongs of her people gave
the bearing a tinxe Of romance at times.
She was as interesting ss the heroines of
Choppers novels The committee has re-
ceived from Secretary Scburz the papers 10
The Poncs case, and among others was .
document signed by . large plumber of the
tribe, conse0ting to their removal to tie
Indian territory. This Wal shown Bright
Eyes, who glanced ut the signatures and
exclaimed indignantly: This 10 INDUSTRIOUS!
This 10 Q forgery! White Eagle, the leading
cnief, has told me . dozen times he never
aligned such q paper Is this" The docu-
ment was shown TO Standing Bear, who IL
father OF Bright Eyes, aud the head chic
of the Poncas.- He can speak no
English, and 10 one of the traditional In.
dians. The matter was explained to him,
when he repudisted HE signature and com.
plainingly said: "The white man reads
US something and We sign it. After We
sign our name, it reads different than it did
before" He then said that the only paper
he had ever signed of this sort was one thst
expressed his satisfaction with his old
reservation. The comnlittee propose to
search this apparent deception to the bot.
tom.
The Ponca case as presented to the com.
mittee is as follows: In March, 1873, the
Ponca tribe coded to the United States all
the land owned by them, except a tract il
Dakota on the Niobrara river, neal
the mouth of the Ponca river, abou'
twenty-five miles square. In 1856
another treaty was made by which
their land was reduced L
about . hundred thousand acrss. In 1876!
all their land, including some valuable i'm
provements in houses and other buildings
was coded without their consent to lh
Sioux, and the government made arrange
ments to move them to the Indian territory
In 1877 the removal was made without lhei
consent, and they we're compelled to leav
all their improvements, for which they hav
received no compensation. The tribe is no,
located in Indian territory, and desire to bu
land of the Cherokees, but have no money
: The circumstances Of the habeas corpus cas-
of Standing Bear, the chief in the Unite
States courts at Omaha, have been widel
published, and he and his daughter, Brigt
Eyes, are now trying to raise money to tax
The case to the supreme court in ord r to z,
q decision ss TO whether an Indian has an
rights the government is bound to respec
Representative Deering, of Iowa, who b.
taken q great interest 10 the subject, has in
PRODUCED q bill directing that the Poncas |
permanently located on the tract Of Ian
they o occupy, and that $40. 900 be j,
vested for them, and the interest expende
for their benefit in lieu Of all claims again
a the government.