The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1908-08-20
BIG INDIAN
LAW SUIT
FRAUD AND BRIBERY
OF JUDGES CHARGED

~ oa~ of she Ssaxs- Allegro 60
Have B~ca nrsAcd Ia Hob In. Ia
alHas-Tas Right. sf rt-~< ta-
dian. Had Alr~~ay n-~a co.f.ss~a
By the a. =. sspr~me Cszrx--
Adams and Hls isdlaa Cesrx IT,
s~r~~d the D~et~ssa os The sa-
pr~mr Quart In fs.oT 90 ihs Az
tern-ys-
Guthrie. Gaia. Aug. i7.--A pssi-
ton in equity hsk eeea hled In tas
United States Circuit Court. Eighth
Circuit Court. Eastsra District Of
Oklahoma. by four thousand lHdlan.
of the Choctaw and ChleaaAw tribes.
TO atteaapt TO recover their property
claimed Ia the funds and lands Of
these tribes. of which they wcre de-
prived by the Indian Citizenship
Court
The rights of these 1900 Indians
had already been iudiciaily investi-
gated and determined by the Unised
States Courts and had been confrm-
ed on an appeal by the Supreme
Court OF the United States. In the
face of this fnai decision OF the su-
pTeme Court In favor OF these In
dian claims. q Arm of attorneys
known as Mansfield. McMurray Il
Cornish. who represented the other
faction Of the Indian tribes. entered
into a contract TO 60 to Washington
and try TO get legislation from Con
gress TO set aside n decision OF the
Supreme Court. They made q con
tract to receive. In addition TO their
regular 5000 annual fee. q certain
per cent OF the property OF these
1000 Indians. which had been con-
firmed to them by the decision of
the Supreme Court. IL they could sue
ceed In depriving all or n part OF
them of such property.
The amount of property which
would have been given to each In
dian under tn decision Of the Su-
preme Court vas $500. So IL will
be seen that for every Indian Who
could be kept on the rolls and de-
MED his property rights there was
the large sum of s%.s00 for division
between these attorneys and the 9th
er faction of Indians.
In some way these attorneys sue
ceeded in getting Congress to pass
a law creating "A new court known
as the Choctaw and Chickaaaw In
dian Court, authorized To review the
action OF the Supreme Court In these
cases. and. strange to say. no appeal
was allowed from the decision of this
legislative court.
The result In known TO everybody.
This specially created court proceed
ed to reverse the decision OF the Su-
preme Court OF the United States
and rendered a decision which took
from each one of these 1000 Indians
his property. amounting 70 $500
for each one. This. OF course, re-
suited In giving the attorneys a very
large fee.
The suit that is now brought mp
by these 1000 Indians. II TO ask
the Federal Courts TO review the de-
cision Of that Indian Citizenship
Court on the following grounds:
1st. That these Indians had q
vested right In their property which
Congress did not have the right to
take from them directly and, there
fore did not have the power TO Gre
ate a special court TO pass upon thsix
rights, which had already been ad-.
Indicated by q regular and constitu-
tionaI court.
End. On the ground that the
whole proceedings was based on
fraud.
3rd. On the ground that the court
that deprived them OF their rights
was bribed by the attorneys.
IL Ii understood that the first
question that tbs Federal Court will
pass upon in considering this peti-
tion, is as TO whether or not IL has
jurisdiction. IL the court should de-
eide that 1t did not have jurisdiction.
then, of course. the case would be
dismissed and the questions Of fraud
and bribery could not be taken up.
But IL the court should take juris-
duction, then, those questions would
be thoroughly ventilated.
The twelfth specification Of this
petition now on file In the Federal
court Is as follows:
Specification Kill
That by the Act approved June
10. 1896, appeals were provided for
from the decision Of the said Com
missioner in all citizenship" cases
coming from the said Commissioner
under said Act. to the United States
District Court I'm the then Indian
Territory; that appeals were taken
under the provisions Of the said Act,
in cases involving the rights Of about
Eve thousand persons to-" citizen
ship" In the said Choctaw and Chick
asaw Nations; that said cases were
heard and determined by the said
United States District Court and
Judgments were rendered In favor
of about four thousand claimants en-
titling them to have their names
placed upon the citizenship" rolls
OF the said Nations; that said judg-