The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-03-25
KEEP HIM Dry
Judge Pollock Renders Decision
in Indian Whisky Case.
Made Unlawful to Carry Liquors
on Any Reservation.
EOUALPOLICEPOWERS
State and N tiOnal Government
May Exercise Authority.
Opinion OF Court Important One
From All StandpOintS.
EOUALPOLICEPOWERS

In a decision which became public
today. Judge John c. Pollock, of the
United States circuit court, upheld the
right of congress to keep liquor out
of Indian reservations, even if the res
ervation were made up of allotted lands
and that taking whisky into Indian
country, as sucn is termed by the gov
eminent, is an offense and punishable
by Jaw Addison Ship Y-Tuck. a Pot
tsiwatomie. must accordingly be brought
into court during the April term, and
sentenced for having taken three quarts
of whisky into the Pottawatomie res
ervation near Holton.
The decision is of far reaching i'm
portance in that had it been the other
way liquor could have been sent and
taken into every reservation which had
been allotted Whisky is a bad thing
for the Indian. so much so that Uncle
sam has surrounded him with every
possible barrier in an effort to keep the
whisky men out
state or national government had po-
lice Jurisdiction over allotted indian
lands. The state has and exercises
certain police duties over such reserva-
tons. 1t was contended by the de-
tense that the state having police jur-
isdiction the federal government could
not have as there could not be two
powers exercising such jurisdiction.
The ruling allows both, the state and
federal government to exercise certain
police power.
State After Liquor Men.
Had the decision gone against the
government the task of the man who
might introduce whisky on the jack
son county reservation would not have
been as easy as might be imagined, be-
90 he a "a an MO ~
been after him, but the work of coun-
ty officers would have been doubled,
perhaps tripled- In states where there
is no prohibitory law it would have
been easy. Bootleggers, however, have
a sort of holy horror of Uncle Sam s
displeasure, and thus it is easy to keep
whisky off Indian reservations with the
assistance of the federal officers.
According to the statement of
agreed facts. Ship -Tuck, Potta-
watomie Indian. took three quarts of
whisky into the Jackson county reser-
walton, on the farm of Wish-No, an
other Indian. Hearing of the case was
waived, and the charges of the govern
ment acknowledged for the sake of
getting the matter before the court.
The defense claimed that even if Ship
Y-Tuck did take the whisky to the
farm of Wish-No, no offense had been
committed. according to the statute
and that If an offense had been COM
mitted the act making it an offense
was unconstitutional.
For years there was a law against
selling liquor to an Indian and many
men were prosecuted and convicted on
this charge. Recently, the law was
made imperative insofar as it ap-
piled to an Indian who was not on the
reservation at the time the sale was
made. The action to knock out the
act which made it unlawful to take
liquor into an allotted Indian reserva-
ton was but another step toward
opening up the reservations to LIQUOR
business The decision will prevent
S1ch action.