The Washington times., 1912-08-07
new INDIAN AGENT
REPLACES MAN WHO
ISFAC|NG CHARGES
Chippewa's Lawyer Tells Of
Complaints Against
Campbell.

Samuel w. Campbell, disbursing
agent and superintendent OF the In
dian school at the La Pointe, Wis,
agency, has been suspended and his
office 10 temporarily filled by T. J.
Murphy. of the Indian Office. as a re-
suit OF the charges brought against
him, first exposed In the opinion of
the, Comptroller of the Treasury re-
fusing Campbell credit for $4,000 OF
funds which he asserted had been
expended in behalf of the Indians un-
der his care.
The conditions which led to his sus-
pension have been in existence for
many years and were not discovered
by the Indian Office or the Depart
ment OF the Interior until the m
dians had employed an attorney to
look after their interests.
when I first brought these mat
ters to the attention Of the various
officials" said J. Lewis Dalby, person.
ally employed by Antoine Denomie,
Chippewa Indian, to Inquire into
tribal affairs, Il was told that Camp
I bell was honest and that there was
nothing in the charges.
worrall Criticized.
subsequently L. p. Worrall, of the
Indian Ontce. was sent to Ashland to
inquire into the matter and. from every
bit Of evidence I have been able to
examine, his activities there were d.
rected toward the protection of the
superintendent and not to the protec-
tion OF the interests Of the Indians:
have been exposed the indian office has
sugEested that the bank In which these
funds were deposited pay the interest
which the Indians have lost THIS
recommendation Is made in the face OF
q plain regulation prohibiting any bank
from paying interest on funds deposit
ed 70 Individual accounts In the In
AZ q result of Campbell treating the
funds ss II they were his own, the In.
diane have lost hundreds of dollars IN
interest every year. =.
No Proof of Profit.
Have you evidence that Campbell re-
ceiyed. this interest or that the principal
10 not intact? was asked Mr.. Lewis.
He said he had no proof that Camp
bell had prohted by the transactions.
Under the rules of the auditing divi-
sion separate vouchers are not filed on
disbursements. The check Is regarded
as a receipt. As a result Campbell,
through the use OF indorsed checks, Was
and was able to treat the funds as II
they were his own.
when an indian made requisition for
money from the sum due him, the agent,
IL the requisition were approved, would
draw up check and have the Indian
sisn II. He would also require the In
dian to indorse the check. The agent
then countersigned' the check, deposited
"a tSe n paid CHECK was then returned to
the accounting division Of the indian
Office and the account was thereby
closed.
had possession of the funds and they
actually were in possession OF the agent
in his private account, marked S w.
Campbell, Indian Agent to distinguish
1t. AS result the Indians. having no
apparent claim on the money, received
no interest on it.
Cause of Inquiry.
Although Campbell was agent for
thirteen years he finally made the
mistake of attempting to exercise too
trict supervision over the expendi.
ture of money. Clara Mayotte, a
Chippewa Indian woman. made requi-
sition for. $500 to be used in i'm
proving her, land. When 1t came time
to spend the money she found that
the agent had drawn the plans for the
mouse anu bdfHb hhu piShSo thO Soh
tractor and carpenters. and refused
to pay out the money unless she ac-
.cepted his plans. This action caused
an eruption of Indian anger with the
result that the entire case was in
vestigated.
There are about 1000 Indians in the
Bad river reservation. They are
wealthy, most of their money coming
from the sale of timber.
1t Is now the attitude of the Comp
troller of the Treasury that Campbell
must show that funds belonging to
individual Indians were either de-
posted to their account or that they
have actually been expended Tor the
use of the Indians.
In going into the tribal affairs OF
the Chippewas, Mr.. Delby found a
number of cases practically the same
as that of Clara Mayotte, and when
this was brought to the attention OF
the Indian office 1t was treated as a
typical case.
r. Numerous Other Cases.
There are numerous other cases OF
various nature and 1t appears that
Campbelfs suspension Is only the be-
ginning of a vexatious period for the
Indian office, which overlooked for SC
many years the irregularity of the
manner in which funds were handled
and which uniformly defended the
agent until his method of doing bust
ness was exposed.