The silver state. [volume] (Unionville, Nev.) 1870-1903, 1880-12-10
PYRAMID LAKE FISHERMEN.
History of Case which Ended in Heavy
Fines.

4 ~
question: yesterday was the date
fixed for sentencing the Pyramid Lake
fishermen who over year ago had been
adjudged guilty of trespassing on the
Indian Reservation. Six of the nine men
convicted appeared before Judge Hillyer
Yesterday at Carson. The six were
John Sturgeon, Isaac Evans, Jacob
Watson, Walter Ward, j.. W. Bartlett
and Silas Flynn. They were each SEN
fenced to pay fine of 81 900. Not
having $4,000 about them at the mo-
ment, the Court ordered that they be
confined i'll the Washoe county Jail until
they paid the fine or were released
tllaough legal process. A Gazette re-
! porter found them all there this after
noon, chatting under confinement and
the strict discipline maintained by Dute
Gray, but cheerful and communicative.
The prisoners expect to secure their re-
lease in thirty days, as the law provides
that such offenders shall be discharged,
if unable to pay the fine. All Of them
are poor.
The three convicted men who did not
appear for sentence yesterday are VIA.
Halbert, Chas. Hagard and Peter Hail.
! Hagard was at Jamison and Halbert
| farther north when the two were last
heard from Peter Hall came in from
Truckee Last night. He walked on
snow-shoes from Lake Tahoe to Truckee
and got his feet frozen. 1t is not known
whether ne has gone to Carson or not
In the case of the three men who failed
to appear, the Court allowed an extern
sion Of time until tomorrow. The two
up north have probably been delayed
by the storm. ..
The boundaries Of the Pyramid Res
ervation have long been matter OF dis
pute. The men above enumerated
claimed the night to fish in Pyramid
Lake, and had such well-kRown legal
adviser as Gen. K. N. Clarke in their
conflict with the Government. Their
offense was technical one, and their
conviction and Imprisonment does net
lower them in the eyes of any one in
Reno. Mr.. Watson, for instance, is an
intelligent, gentlemanly man, who has
a family, and has always stood well in
she community.
The history Of the cass-is, in brief, as
/ follows: The fishermen were removed
from the Reservation bya C.S-Marshal
in January, 1879, and notified not to
return to it, They all went back, and
on February Z, 1879, they were indict-
ed When their case came up for trial
in the following April in the Circuit
Court at Carson, General Clarke put in
plea of guilty for the prisoners, who
did not appear in person. The learned
csansel did, net dispute the facts, bat
contended that the accused had right
to fish in the lake. The matter was
decided in June, 1879, when the de-
PENDANTS were adjudged guilty. An APP
peal was taken, and the case came up
for final decision m November, 1870,
! when the first decision was affirmed.
Efforts were then made to secure the
pardon of the defendants. A petition,
for that purpose, to the President o.
the United States, Unassigned by Gov
ernor Kinkead, Lieutenant-&ov
Adams, Judge Hillyer, Judge King, all
of the Washoe county officials and
many of the principal citizens of Reno.
Nothing has ever been heard from that
petition. While waiting to Near from
it, sentence was from time to time de-
ferred, until delay was no longer posi-
BILE, the decree of the Court being given
yesterday as above stated.
Cald Weather. arf