Arizona silver belt., 1889-05-04
fns TRIAL or OFFENDING INDIANS.


 The opimon of the United States Supreme Court upon the petition of Gon.shay-ee the Indian murderer eff William Diohl, under sentence of death, has been received, and its text enforcing the jurisdiction npon the Territorial courts to try certain of. fences committed by Indians IS of grave interest and importance to our taxpayers,
 The ninth section of the Indian ap- propriation bull passed by Congress on March 3, 1885, reads as follows;
 "That immediately upon and after the date of the passage of thls Act, all Indians, committing against the per. son CT property of another Indian or any ethor person any of the following crimes, namely, murder, manslaugh- ter, rape, assault with intent to kill, arson, burglary, and larceny, within any Territory of the United States, and either within or without an h. dian reservation, shall be subject therefor to the laws of such Territory relating to said crimes, and shall be tried therefor in the same courts and in the same manner, and shall be sub ject to the same penalties, as are all other persons charged with the com mission of said crimes respectively; and the said courts are hereby given jurisdiction in all such cases. and all such Indians committing -aSy of the above crimes against the person or property of another Indian or ether person within the boundaries of any State of the United States, and within the limits of any Indian reservation, shall be subject to the same laws, tried in the same courts, and in the same manner, and subject to the same pen altiss, as are all other persons commit ting any of the above crimes within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States
 Shortly after the passage of this act the Supreme Court in the case of Rag anna, an Indian tried for murder com mltted on the Aoopa Valley reserya, ton, in California, construed this sec tion 10 confer upon the Federal Courts the jurisdiction of the offences enumer- ated, and that the law was consttu- tional and clearly a continuation of the policy of the Government to re- dute the Indians te individual suhiec- ton to the laws of the country and dispense with their tribal relations At the April, 1887, term of the Dis trict Court of GIla County, in the case of an Indian charged with the crime of murder committed on the San Car los Reservation. the District Judge, following the ruling in the Kagama case, held that the United States eonrts had the sole jurisdiction to try these eases under the Act of 1885, and since then all offending Indians have 4een tired in the Federal Courts in Ph@nix and Tucson. Gon-shay-eo be. ing one of the prisoners tried and con yicted of murder in the U, s. Court in Phoenix,
 New comes tho decision Of the Supreme Court reversing this ruling, and holding that there is distinction specified m the Act in the venue of these cases between a State and Ter ritory, And that the Indian charged with crme in Territory, committed either on or of a reservation, shall be judged by the laws of that Territory and tried by its courts, while the In. dian committing an ofTense within the boundaries of State of the Union is triable only in the Federal Courts.
 This construction of the law inn poses upon the several counties in the Territory the trial of the Iadian com hitting an oiIenso therein without regard to the boundaries of reserya- ton, and obviously involves annually q great expense to be berne by the taxpayers, without any perceptibe corresponding benefit for the outlay. Upon Gila Couaty this Is necessarily ,an increase of taxation and heavy bnrden upon her citizens.
 IL is needless % dwell upon tue fact of the duty the general government owes to its citizens to care for it's In. dian wards ard punish the uuruly among them. Unwlse and unjust laws exist m these matters, but the courts are now powerless 10 remedy the evil, and we must look to Congress for adequate relief and legislation on this subject.
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 The Zulck wing of Arizona Deme- craey appointed feast to be gwen, Nav l>t. in Phoenix in honor of the