Huntsville gazette., 1894-06-16
SENATOR kYLE'S WORK
He Will Spring a Big Sensation
Pretty Soon.
MADE MONEY BY THE MILLIONS.

1t Was Obtained from the Government
Upon Fraudulent Representations OF
Damages Sustained at the Hands of
A Marauding Red Men Who Were Wards
of the Nation.
WASHINGTON, June 15.-The result of
Senator Kyle's investigation of Indian
depreciation claims. has been the discov-
cry of series of the most gigantic frauds
ever attempted to be perpetrated upon
the government. They involve in the
aggregate nearly s44,000,0 900 of Indian
depreciation claims. representing more
than II 900 cases, not more than 25 per
cent of which are believed to be legiti-
mate. These claims have been put
through the court of claims in large
numbers upon meagre ex parte evidence,
it is charged, and with the connivance,
it is believed of several government Off
cials.
Whether this connivance has been
criminal, or merely due to an overzeal-
Gus attempt to make record, only the
most thorough investigation will dis
close. The Indian depreciation claims
now on file in the department of Justice
are supposed to have their origin in the
unlawful acts of friendly Indian tribes
living upon reservations and under laws
and regulations prescribed by the gov
ernment The depredations are of the
nature of stock and crops stolen, houses
and barns pillaged and destroyed, and
in some cases are based upon injuries
received in defense of property. All
the claims are supposed to be made by
citizens of the United States.
For many years these claims were
filed with the secretary of the interior,
but three years ago congress enacted a
law under which they We're tranferred
to the court of claims. Suddenly these
claims. which had languished under the
rigid investigation of the interior de-
partment, began to pour through the
court of claims and appear on the
docket in the form of judgments against
the United States. Judgments for over
$500, 900 were rendered in 1899, and in
the following year judgments were rem
dered and certified to congress for $452,-
227.S3. Congress appropriated the
money to pay the judgments rendered
in 1899, but the suspicious Of the mem
bers of the appropriations committees of
both houses were aroused by the certifi-
cation of the second batch, and the SEN
ate committee on Indian depredations
undertook to ascertain the methods by
which these claims were put through.
For more than year this inquiry has
been in progress, the sessions of the
committee being held in secret, and but
little of the information secured has got
into the papers. La February, 1898, the
senate committee examined Attorney
General Miller and Assistant Attorney
general Colby as to the processes by
which the judgments had been secured.
The extravagance of the claims, and the
fact that many duplicates and tripli
Gates were found in the files, taken in
connection with the unprecedented ac-
tion of the department in compromising
many claims, caused big stir in the
little circle Of the committee. But it
remained for Senator Kyle, as chair nan
of subcommittee of the senate con-
mittee on Indian depredations, to obtain
in an investigation on the frontier evi-
dence of the fraudulent character of a
large percentage of the claims, and of
the methods by which they were put
through the court of claims. Senator
Kyle is now preparing his report. which
will be presented to the senate in day
or two.