The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-05-18
THE cHFyFNNF-ARAPAHOEDE DEAL.


ford. Matt G. Reynolds, John ID. Miles and
d. p. Dyer were the attorneys of the Chey-
| enne and Arapahoe Indians in the recent
| sale of their lands to the government
They have received as their fees s6' ,oOO
! The relations of these gentlemen with the
indians have been the basis of several dis
patches sent from Oklahoma. An army
officer has been investigating and taking
evidence on the charges made by the IN
| dians The charges are that no service was
| rendered and that the contract under
which the S67500 was paid was obtained
by bribery. These charges have also oeen
embodied in a petition addressed by tne
tribes to the United States senate. The
four attorneys are well known. Mr.. Craw-
| ford is an ex-governor OF Kansas ana has
been the financial agent for that state at
Washington for many years. MI Key.
nolds is "a St. LouisaD, holding the once OF
| United States attorney for the private
land claims court John D. Miles was for
twelve years, and D. P. Dyer for two
years, the United States agent for the
tribes now making the complaint Mlles
! and Dyer obtained the contract with the
Indians They consulted Mr.. Reynolds at
ST. Louis as TO the legal rights OF the In
| dians before they undertook to get the
contract, and then came to washington
and saw Governor Crawford.
II was at Medicine Lodge in 1867, said
| Governor Crawford, i'll naEatlng what he
! knew of the case, when the treaty was
made with the five wild trbes-the
Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Comanches,
Kiowas and Apaches. A part of that
treaty was al agreement with the
Cheyennes aud Alapahoes that they
should give up any claim that they might
have to the portion of Kansas over which
they had been roaming and accept reser-
| vation of coo 900 acres in the Cherokee
strip. They were also to receive eighty
acres of agricultural land apiece. This
| reservation was to be taken from the strip
and the government was to pay the Chero-
| KEGS for it. But the Indians were slow
about coming in, and the treaty was never
| carried out. In 1869, by an executive
| order of the president, the Cheyennes
and Arapahoes were temporarily placed
| upon fanoher reservation IN the western
part of the Indian Territory and south or
| the strip There they remained under the
temporary order, without any title to land
they occupied and without anything being
| done TO put the treaty into effect giving
them the land in the strip. About two
years ago the Cherokee commission was
appointed, and was about to enter into
negotiations to purchase the surplus land
of the various tribes in the territory Miles
and DYER, who had been the agents OF the
Cheyenne and Arapahoes for many years,
came to me with proposition that
should take hold of the case and see what
could be obtained for those tribes. They
got contract with the tribes authorizing
us to take up the claim and press 1t. -"
DO you know how the contract was
obtained, governor?"
Yes The Cheyennes and Arapahoes
met in council and appointed fourteen
delegates to make the contract. The con
tract was made and executed befo,e Judge
Foster of the United States circuit court.
Judge Foster explained the terms to them
and what the contract meant IN detail
The Indians understood exactly what they
were doing"
"What was the contract"
"It employed us to present their claim
to the land which was to have been given
them under the treaty of 1867. and gave us
percentage of what we might obtain for
them from the Cherokee commission"
How much was the percentage?"
''The first proposition was that we
should have 10 per cent. of all the commits
sion allowed the Cheyennes and Arapa-
hoes for their claim. This, they thought,
might prove to be too much, and changed
the terms so that we were 10 have per
cent out of the first $685. 900 we got for the
Indians, and 3 per cent. on the balance.
This contract was accepted by us and ap-
proved by the commissioner of Indian at
fairs and Secretary Noble. We went to
work on the case and were engaged Tor
two wears upon II. The Indians had no
title to the land thev were occupying, and
they had only an equity claim under the
treaty OF 1867, which had never been put
in effect We succeeded in establishing
this equity claim so we'll that the Chero
kee commissioners allowed the Cheyennes
and Arapahoes 81 $50, 900 for the land they
never occupied, and we also got for them
$3.50 900 on account of the land upon which
they had been placed by the executive
order. Our contract gave US nothing out
an nnn 3 ho 1fs rhf " nRAC
which was to have been allotted to them
under the treaty of 1867, we got l60 acres
allotted to each man, woman and child,
about 3, 400 of them altogether
The counsel fees have been pald?"
Yes, BY the terms of the treaty made
with the Indians by the Cherokee commits
sioners the Indians were to have $500, 900
in money or goods. and I, 900 was To
be held in trust for them at per cent.
They received S250,0O0 i'll money. Ont OF
the second $3.50 600 we received S61, 800,
and the remainder is 10 be distributed TO
them"
"What is the basis, then, for the state
ments sent out from Oklahoma that the
contract was obtained by bribery, and
that the lawyers were paid S67, 500 for
nothing.
Il think | understand what prompts the
statements. When the commissioners
held the council with the Indians, and
made the treaty, or agreement, to pur
chase, Reynolds and | were both present
to represent them. Dyer employed quite
a mum Der OF the young men Of the tribes,
some of whom had teen at the lu-
dian school and understood English, to
assist in explaining TO the other members
of the tribe He paid these young men
and took their receipts, for what they did
This is no doubt the whole basis for the
bribery. Afterward some of these young
men thought they should have had more,
and put in claims from 500 to Sl0, 600
George Bent, Cheyenne was one of them
So far as Reynolds aud myself are con-
cerned there Is not Ii word of truth In
these charges made In the dispatches, ana
| don't think there Is as regards Miles aud
Dyer Certainly we earned all that we
got. and the Cheyennes and Arapahoes did
a great deal better than there reason
to expect. The SCI, 500 pays in full the
percentage which the contract allowed for
counsel fees. The lndians'get for their
claim. which was shadowy one at best
S436. 800 in cash and "A 600, 900 on deposit
with the government at Per cent.
RAILWAY NOTES.
CHICAGO, May T-Now that the SUI
preme court has decided that the railroads
may make party rates without violating
the interstate law. the Chicago, ST. Paul
and Kansas City will renew its applica-
tion made some time ago, TO the Western
Passenger association for authority to es-
taOlish a rate of cents a mile for parties
OF ten or more travelling in a body There
IS no doubt that If one line adopts this
rate that the rest will follow suit, and the
privileges enjoyed by theatrical companies
r,riOr TO the AZ verse ruling OF the interstate