The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-11-25
THE REDSKINS Of
NORTH CARO-. INA
Commissioner Indian fairs
Defines Their Status.
BREAKING TRIBAL WALLS
And Fitting the Indian to Take Place as q
Ciiz n Beside His White Brother, Thus
Solving the Indian
Problem.


Problem.
Washington, Nov. 24-The Commits
sioner of Indian Affairs in his annual
report to the Secretary of the Interior
for the fiscal year ending June 80, 1908,
made public today, devotes ten pages to
the eastern band of Cherokees IN North
Carolina.
Discussing the relation of these Indians
to the Federal government and their
status as held by the courts, the Com
missioner says:
The Supreme Court Of the United States
in its decision of March 1st. 1886, in
an appeal from the Court of Claims hell
that the Cherokees in North Carolina dis
solved their connection with the Cher
okec nation when they refused to &C
company the main body of that nation
on its removal west of the Mississippi,
and that they have since had no separate
| political organizations and though fos-
tered and encouraged, they have not been
recognized by the United States as q
nation in whole or in part, and as now
organized are not the successor of any
! organization recognized by any treaty
| or law of the United States.
THE claim of the Cherokees of North
Carolina to a share of the commutei
annuity fund of s214,v.v, and of the fund
created by sales of lands west of Mis-
sissippi ceded by the Cherokee Nation,
has no substantial foundations; those
| funds and that property being dedicate
| by the constitution of the Cherokees
and intended by their treaties with the
United States for the benefit of tho
United Nation, and not in any respect
for those who had separated from it and
become aliens to their nation. If In
dams in that State, or IN any other
state east of the Mississippi, with 10
enjoy the benefits of the common prop
erty of the Cherokee Nation. in what
ever form it may exist, they must. a.
held by the Court of Claims comply with
the constitution and laws of the Cherokee
Nation and be re-admitted to citizenship
as there provided. They cannot live out
of its territory, evade the obligations and
burdens of citizenship, and at the same
| time enjoy the benefits OF the funds and
common property OF the nation
In a suit brought in the Circuit Court,
1
against D. T. Boyd and others, to set
aside a contract made by the Indian
council decided June II. 1895. (6S Fed
Rep. 500 it was held that the Indians
belonging to the eastern band of Cher
okees in the State of North Carolina
have never become citizens of the United
States. and the Federal courts have
| jurisdiction to entertain suit brought
! bn INIT fatn rDsIf rNf
such Indians, for the protection of Their
interests. The opinion in this case
written by Judge Simonton. circuit judge
presiding, is quoted at length. also that
of Judge Dick, concurring, and the opln-
ion of Judge Golf in 1897 when the case
was taken to the Circuit Court of APP
peals. II this latter it is held that the
eastern band of Cherokees is a tribe,
and neither the constitution OF a state
nor an act of its legislature can prevent
the application of an act of Congress
to the Indian tribes residing in the state,
but subject to the control of the general
government; that refusal of the Interior
Department to sanction the sale of their
standing timber is conclusive of the mat
ter and that it is both the right and
duty Of the United States to institute
interest and property rights OF its IN
dian wards
II 1889 the General Assembly Of North
Carolina incorporated the eastern band
of Cherokees. with power to sue and be
sued, and under the above decisions and
this legislature, the Interior Department
holds that this band of Cherokees, hold
ing their land in fee. can ALLEVIATE the
b,,+ = III.
the government for one purpose only to
protect them from fraud and wrong
The report reviews at length the
agreement entered into between these In
dams and zone William H. Thomas, q
prominent merchant and Indian philan-
thropist in southwestern North Carolina
to purchase as home for them and
the band a general boundary of land in
that locality out of the savings from
proceeds of their personal labor and of
their annuity money, which they, from
time to time, placed in his hands for that
purpose"
Mr.. Thomas proceeded to carry out
this agreement in good faith. and did
purchase the lands for the Indians as
they placed the money in his hands, but
took deeds for it in his own name. in
tending when the purchase was completed
to convey ii a. a whole to the Indians
as a tribe. The civil war came on, Mr..
Thomas was financially involved and his
creditors took possession of the lands pur-
chased for the Indians and the title 10
them thereby became involved Wh'e
affairs were in this condition, Congress
passed an act empowering the Indians.
as a tribe to bring suit in the Federal
courts for settlement of all matters con-
nected with their funds and lands n
North Carolina. This was done and in
consequence Rufus Barringer, John H.
billiard and Thomas Ruffin were appointed