Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1892-10-22
THE LAWYERS INDIGNANT
indian Attorneys Ready for an In
vestigatlon.
General Miles Report Charging n
Exorbitant Fees Were Collected
In the Cheyenne and Arapa-
hoe Treaty Case.

WASHINGTON, Oct 15.-Tho commits
sioner of Indian affairs will demand
an investigation OF the charges con-
tanned in the report OF General Miles
relative to exorbitant attorneys fees
in the Cheyenne and Arapahoe land
sreaty. The attorneys in the case were
,x-Governor Crawford, of Kansas;
Matt REYNOLDS, OF 81. Louis; Colonel
d. NJ Dyer, o OF Georgia, and Major
Moore, of Lawrence, Kas. The men
are, Of course as much interested as
the commissioner. Ex-Governor Craw-
that if Captain Lee should fail
to substantiate the charges of fraud
before a congressional Investigation
committee the courts would be given
IN opportunity to fix the amount of
damages TO which the attorneys would
be- entitled.
The CheyeDnes and Arrapahoes oc-
cupied certain lands, between 5000. 900
and 1900, 900 acres, in the Cherokee
strip as long as twenty years ago.
They were removed bv executive order,
and at their own request, to lands adj
joining Oklahoma on the west. In
Novemb Der, 1883, the Indians held n
council and appointed fourteen dele
) gates to fix AZ agreement with their
attorneys for the rate of commission
on the sale to the government of their
treaty rights lands in the Cherokee
strip. The delegates met in Oklahoma,
and both parties signed an agreement
that was acknowledged before Judge
Foster, of the United States court
The agreement provided for q commits
sion OF 10 per cent on ali moneys.
This agreement failed to get the ap.
prevail of Secretary Noble, who re-
inanded 1t for n lower rate of commits
sion. Another council was held at
Arkansas City, attended by fourteen
new delegates from the Cheyenne and
Arrapahoe tribes. Here the rate of
commission was revised, and In agree
ment effected of s per cent on $500, 900,
4 per cent on the next $500, 900, and 3
per cent on all above 81, 900 600. This
was approved by Commissioner of In
dian Affairs Morgan and by Secretary
Noble.
The attorneys next appeared before
the Cherokee commission in Washing
ton to open negotiations for the sale Of
the Cheyenne and Arapahoe lands in
the Cherokee strip. The commission
spent three weeks in the summer of
1889 in fruitless negotiations with the
Indians and their attorneys, but that
autumn an agreement was reached fix
ing the purchase price Of the Cherokee
strip lands at 81, $50, 600 and of the
lands the Indians were then settled
upon, a adjoining oklahoma, at $3.50, 600,
together with an allotment to each
Indian man, woman md chilli of 100
acres. This agreement was finally
signed by the Indians, by the commits
sion, and ratified by congress and the
money paid.
And there the matter was supposed
to end. The transaction had the APP
prevail of the interior department and
was ratified by congress. Early dur
ing last spring rumors began to circu-
late of n widespread discomfort among
the Indians over the amount of COM
mission deducted for the attor-
neys. 1t is alleged that the
dissatisfaction was caused by
several civilized Indians who, acting
rs interpreters to the transaction,
were paid as such, but who expected IL
part of the commission, and in resent
ment made misrepresentation to the
Cheyennes and Arapahoes rejecting
rather seriously upon their own in
--egritv as Interpreters.
II is also alleged that certain mill
tary officers, with no great love for the
officials of the interior department,
took a hand in the case, and, listening
only to one side of the story, fastened
to lay this before the war depart
ment, This course has drawn the war
department into the quarrel upon a
subject belonging strictly to the in
terror department, and has created u
rather interesting situation-officials
OF the war department appearing as
critics of the official conduct of the in
terror department This explains the
interest of tho commissioner of Indian
affairs in demanding a congressional
investigation Of the charges made by
Captain Lee in his report to General
Miles. The total of tho fees COL
lected by the attorneys aggregated
SCI, 500.