Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1907-02-20
ANCIENT HISTORY
Of NEW MEXICO
Interesting Meeting
Historical So
ciety
ELOQUENT ADDRESSES MADE
Organization Possesses In
valuable Library,.-Plea For
Return of Archives.

The first of the two public session,
of the New Mexico Historical Society
for this Legislative term, held las
evening at the Capitol in the beauti
full Hall of representatives, was o
great interest, even though the at
tendance was not what il should hav,
been. Ex-Governor l.. Bradfort
Prince, the president of the society
whose labors on its behalf can nev
er be adequately compensated, pre-
sided and introduced the first speake
Of the evening, Judge A. ]. Abbott
United States attorney for the Pneblt
Indians.
The Political Status of the Pueblo
| Indian.
Judge Abbott in his eloquent ad
dress pointed out that the politica
status of the Pueblo Indian is unlk,
that of any other Indian. Under tn,
treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which
granted the Pueblos full citizenship
this status was established and thu
Pueblo Indian looks upon this treaty
as the British look upon the Magma
Charta. He regarded the coming OF
the white man as the arrival of a
| liberator, the fulfillment Of the pro
phecy of Montezuma who foretold OF
the coming of the paleface from the
pheasant land of the sunrise. For six
years after the signing Of the treaty
| the Pueblos were permitted to vote
at all elections, they We're elected to
Office, served as petit and grand jur-
ors in what is now the county of
Bernalillo. But in 1854. the Terrific
rial legislature deprived them of the
franchise except as to ditch and their
own community elections until Con,
gress shall specifically confer the
! franchise upon the Pueblos. In 1901,
the legislature even deprived the
Pueblo of his right to vote at ditch
elections and Judge Abbott dwelt for.
chilly upon the injustice of this act,
the anomalous and oppressive condi-
tions it brought about so that the
Pueblos are unable TO elect ditch COM
missionnts even sor diithes thai are
entirely upon Indian lands. Fortu-
nately, the district court for the Sec
ond Judicial District has declared the
law so unjust that it tacitly permits
its disregard Judge Abbott then cited
from the opinions of the Territorial
Supreme Court to show that while
the Indian has been granted citizen
ship under the treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, he is nevertheless being
apart from the white man and regard
ed as such by the courts except
where he must comply with the letter
of the law. This has been hard
lesson for the Pueblo. He was accus-
toned to administer his ancient Gus
toms under his own code of proce-
dure and punishments until the courts
rounded him UP and compelled MIN
to abandon those customs where In
consistent with the Territorial law.
The law in this respect was first in
voked by an Isleta Indian who was
imprisoned by his fellow Pueblos for
breaking a Pueblo law. This Indian,
although he had voluntarily bound
himself to observe these community
regulations, brought suit for damages
and was awarded 5000 for false i'm
prsonment for four days. This taught
the Indians that Imprisonment under
their communal customs Is false i'm
prisonment and made them liable to
damages, and that corporal punish
ment administered by them is assault
and battery and is punishable with
fine and Imprisonment. This lsleta
Indian who thus taught them his
lesson indirectly has been ever since
an Ishmael, an outcast, despised and
foresaken by them. The Territorial
Supreme Court declared that the
Pueblo Indian lands can be taxed by
the Territory but Congress of Pueb
los at Santa Fe solemnly pethioned
Congress to relieve them of this great
injustice and Congress promptly re-
sponded and exempted the Pueblos
from taxation until New Mexico is ad-
mitted as a state. Another grievous
mistake from moral, though perhaps
not from the legal standpoint, is the
decision of the Territorial Supreme
Court legalizing the sale of intoxi-
cants to the Pueblo Indians. In this
connection, Judge Abbott paid a well
deserved tribute to his predecessor
as United States attorney for the
Pueblo Indians, Judge W. H. Pope,
who defended the test case on behalf
of the Indians. Judge Abbott had
with him the Governor and one of
the other dignitaries of the Pueblo OF
San Juan and exhibited an ebony
cane with silver head suitably in
scrbed, given to every pueblo exist
ent in 1863 by President Abraham
Lincoln to accompany the patents
granting each community its lands in
fee. The Indians of each pueblo ven-
crate this token, this pledge as they
regard it, and pass it on to each
new governor as an insignia of his
office. Judge Abbott spoke almost
for an hour and brought out many
interesting and not generally known
points regarding the Pueblo Indians
which justified his Introductory stric.
lures upon the correspondent and the
story writer who come to New Mexico