The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1909-05-06

CnoctaW governors VINO strongly
recommended the payment of the
enormous fee TO Mansfield. McMur
ry & Cornish, and the members oi
the court were entertained at the
McCurtin hotel. The answer was
permitted by Judge Long.
Witness stated that he had nc
such intention in the political mat.
ters and knew nor cared anything
about 1t. Asked IL he did not hear
Judge Adams, at the time the troops
finally turned out, say, They ought
to turn the last one of the d-n ras-
Gals out?" Judge Weaver replied
with emphasis, NO, sir, not a word
of that kind"
Witness replied to questions, that
recommendations of Governors Nc
| Curtin and Johnson that Mansfield,
McMurray & Cornish were dictated
| by this law firm the beneficiaries of
| the enormous fee Of over a million
and a half dollars, 1t would have de-
cided to give the $750,OO0. Judge
| Weaver replied:
Every day in the year lawyers die
! tate letters for their clients to sign.
| In this case the law firm represented
the two tribes Of Indians, and their
| two governors or chiefs, were the
representatives of these tribes and
they were directly the clients of this
law firm.
He said the fee was not extortion-
ate. These lawyers had undertaken
a desperate case for the Indians and
| had succeeded in ferreting out bo-
gus claimants and beneficiaries of
the Indian fund and saved to the
honest claimants over twenty million
dollars. He gave an interesting ac-
count of how negroes, many bands
and persons not entitled to claims
had been falsely and fraudulently
getting benefits as Indians. He cited
several of these cases, as samples of
which came before the court, and
constituted the 1000 who were finally
stricken from the rolls. The special
Indian claims cannot become neces-
sary because the regular courts had
become "swamped" with these cases,
that could not be heard. Asked if he
knew the contract between the In
dian tribes had not been counter
signed by the Secretary of the In
terror and the Indian Commissioner,
Judge Weaver said certainly the
froa af
and it never was treated as con-
tract; We simply knew it was offered
in evidence. We were fully inform
cd that this contract to pay the law
firm per cent had never been COM
pleted.
| did not know the Secretary of
the Interior had not agreed to this
contract at 9 per cent, but had
agreed to countersign 1t at II per
cent, provided it should not exceed
$25, ZOO.
The act of Congress fixing the fee
was passed in March, 1908, but
knew nothing of it. I had no knowl-
edge of it's passage soon after the
refusal of the Secretary of the In
terror to endorse the contract be-
tween the Indians and the law firm.
By this act, authority was given
our court to pass upon and deter
mine the compensation of these at
torneys. | did not recall that this
authority was placed in the Indian
appropriate bill, and was not sep
arate act. [ do know that shortly
after it was passed and the act was
sent to me by the attorney general,
| examined it with great care to see
if it was made mandatory on the
court to fix this compensation, be-
cause l seriously objected to having
this responsibility placed upon the
| court.
Judge Robinson here handed
Judge Weaver the act of Congress,
showing that the authority for the
court to fix the fee was an amend
ment attached to the regular Indian
appropriation bill. Witness read the
act, but said he could not tell wheth-
ported as an original bill from the
committee.
| do not know how long it was af-
| ter the Secretary of the Interior re-
| fused to endorse the per cent con-
tract before this act authorizing the
court to fix the fee independent of
the Secretary of the Interior was
passed.
| The decree of the court in the case
Of allowance of attorneys fee was
here handed witness and identified
by him.
Another decree striking of a num-
ber of claimants was also identified
as a decree of the Citizenship Court.
| This concluded the direct cross-ex-
animation.
| Redirect Examination.
Judge Strudwick conducted the
redirect examination.
Judge Strudwick read the para
graph in the Caucasian, stating that
one or other members of the court
were corruptly Influenced and asked
what he had to say. Judge Weaver
said that he never was offered and
never received a penny from the at
torneys or any one else in the case
and he never expected and never in
tended to receive a penny, and what
he had to say for himself he could
say for every other member of the
court. (The latter part of this an.
swer was ordered stricken out by