Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-02-01
HOUSE PROCEEDINGS.

HOUSE PROCEEDINGS.
WASHINGTON, January 3l.-In the House
number of bills were introduced under
the call of States.
Mr. Cox gave notice that he would cal
up the apportionment bill to morrow.
The House adopted an order making the
hour for the meeting of the House at II
O'Clock.
Mr.. Springer, by request, introduced q
bill relative to postal telegraph company
1t is similar to the one introduced in the
Senate by Mr.. Kirkwood Referred. Also,
bill to provide for the appraisement OF
telegraph lines, property and effects Of com
psnies acting under the provisions of the
act of July Oath, 1855, and to procure In
formation concerning the postal telegraphs
OF other countries. Referred.
The House, at 1:30, went into committee
OF the whole ON the District of Columbia
appropriation bill. 1t recommends the
appropriation OF IS, ,272, ,994, being $152, ,00O
less than last year.
When the committee rose, Mr. Covert,
Chairman OF the Committee on Agriculture,
reported the agricultural bill, which was
ordered printed and recommitted. II
recommends the appropriation of $2S8, 800
The House, at 4:50, adjourned.
SENATE PROCEEDINGS.
In the Senate, Mr.. Mcpherson introduced
bill appropriating 100000 for an expedi
tion to go to the relief of the Jeanette.
In the Senate Judiciary Committee the
nomination of Stanley Matthews was not dis
|, posed Of, but special meeting will be held
in few days to consider it.
The contested case of Forster was MOI
taken up be cause Conkling had left the
city for New York.
Mr. Dawes, pursuant to notice, addressed
the Senate upon the killing of Big Snake
the POnea chief, by the United States sol
diers In the Office OF the agent OF the Poncas
in Indian Territory. He criticised with
some severity the course pursued by SecTe-
| tary Schurz in regard to these Indians.
Mr.. Dawes, after commenting upon the
ten months delay IN the answer OF the
| Secretary of the Interior to the Senate reso.
luton directing him to furnish all informa-
ton in his department concerning the kill
| ing, the date of the resolution being March
| IL, 1880, and that of the response January
5. 1881, and upon the fact that the depart
ment, while excusing the delay on the
ground of inadvertence, did not even at the
latter date deem it worth while to express
an opinion on the murder, said the Secretary
had stated that an answer had already been
! given to the Ponca Committee, and bis
I Commissioner of Indian Affairs has asserted
| it had been given nine months before the
response, and had more than intimated that
! the papers containing it had been purposely
| lost by that committee while 1t was ostensi-
| bly, still seeking for information. Dawes
asserted that these statements had no foun.
! dation In fact. No answer had been made
| to the committee, though its members had
! repeatedly reminded the Indian Bureau OF
| the facts upon the subject matter. Dawes
said that Big Snake, with his brother Stand
ing Bear, had proven a serious obstacle tC
! eXtorting from the Poncas at the point
| of the bayonet their consent tC
| leave the home of their fathers, and
that as the influence of these two
! Indians with their associates was great, and
they could not be corrupted by promises
nor moved by threats, the heavy hand oi
the government had been laid upon them
and had never been taken off, one of them
having fallen in conflict and the other being
! now an exile whom the government was at
tempting to starve into submission.
He gave a detailed account OF the Danish
ment and repeated arrests of the two
chiefs, as also Of the unparalleled espionage
to which they had been subjected, cul-
minatiDg in murder. The agent in whose
hands the maltTeatment had occurred, upon
| the pretext that he feared bodily harm, sp
pealed to the Interior Department for soldiers
to arrest and imprison Big Snake for life
| and this atrocious request was complied
with without Inquiry. The cOwardly agent
then beguiled the chief into his office upon
the promise of payment of money, and ther
ordered the soldiers to carry him off.
j struggle to chain the Indian ensued, and
after being struck with great violence, he
was shot by a soldier. The inslnuatior
that the killing was in self defense had
been disproved by positive testimony oi
the Indians themselves. AS to the peacea
BILE character of their chief, and the opinion
of the agent, who subsequently made
an investigation, that it was "cow.
ardly, willful murder" the Interior De
partment, at whose request the work
was undertaken which resulted In this
cowardly willful murder, had not even taken
any notice of it. The agent was not even
censured for his part in 1t, though after
wards discharged because 1t was found that
he had been inaccurate in his accounts.
After denouncing this treatment OF the
Indian as inhuman and un-American, Mr..
Dawes concluded by presenting as an
offset to the Ponca Indian petition from the
Interior Department for the sale Of the old
] reservation, a protest from Standing Bear
and thirty one others against the sale, they
claiming the lands as their own; that they
cannot be disposed OF without their consent
that their desire is to live on the land; and
asking to be reimbursed for their portion OF
annuities, etc.
Mr.. Logan, replying to what he thought
might be construed as a reflection upon the
+ Interior Department in the remarks just
made, eulogiZed the course of that depart
ment and its general management of late
! years as having been as honest, capable, fail
and just as that of any other department oi
! the government.
The Senate then resumed consideration
Of the Indian land in severalty bill, the
| question being on Mr.. Morgan's amend
ment TO dispense with the requirement fol
the assent OF two-thirds Of the tribe before
the lands can be taken in severalty. Aftel
remarks by Messrs. Morgan and Saunders
the amendment was rejected. The bill wal
finally laid over, and the Senate, at 4:30
adjourned.
CAUCUS OF DEMOCRATIC SENATOR'S.
The Democratic Senators held caucus
this afternoon for the purpose OF determin
ing what course should be pursued in re
gard TO making arrangements for the count
OF the electoral votes next week. After
| some discussion it was unanimously de
cided In the first place that the dominant
msiority ID the Senate will not consent to
the establishment OF the precedent proposed
by Mr.. Ingalls, resolution, or any similar
regulations deviating from the long es
tablished practice of counting the
electoral votes in joint conven
ton of the two branches oi
Congress in the hall OF the House oi
Representatives. Secondly, that the reso-
/ luton now on the table of the Senate, de-
claring that the Vice President has no cons
titutional authority TO count the electoral
votes, should be called up at an early day
(probably tomorrow, and pushed to its pas
sage at a continuous session, running
through the night If necessary. Thirdly, that
the eelect committee On the subject
shall report and the majority In the
Senate pass as soon as practicable (as sub
stitute for Mr.. Ingalls, resolution) concur.
rent resolution providing in substance
that the two houses shall assemble in the
hall of the House of Representatives on tha
9th proximo; that the list of electoral
votes shall be made by two or more tellers
on the part of the House and one
or more on the part OF the Senate;
I that the totals for each Presidential and
Vice Presidential candidate (excepting the
votes cast for the State of Georgia seven
days after the time prescribed by the Fed
] eral law shall be handed to the President
of the Senate, and that he, as presiding
officer of the joint convention, shall an.
nounce the results in the same way In
| which the results were announced under
similar circumstances in 1919. 1857 and 1869
| when the electoral votes OF Mis-
| souri,, Wisconsin and Michigan
were found tn have been cast on
days other than those fixed by the general
law. The announcement, according to this
\ proposed arrangement, would be q hYpo
thetical declaration as to what would be the
total for each candidate, the vetes OF Geor
gia to be counted, and II the votes OF Geor
gia be not counted, but it is to be provided