OCR Text |
Show the land of Inrliam owned under patents issued to them in conseq~~encofe treaties made with their respective tribes. The aourt held that the poner of the State to tax was expressly csoluded by the enabling act. The aecond case (that of the New York Indians) involxwl the right of the State to tax lantl embraced in en Indian reservation whiah existed prior to the adoption of tho Con~titntiono f the IJnitcd States. Thus theae two cases involved the authority of the State to exert its taxing power ou lands embraced within an Indian reaervatian, that iis to say, the authority of the Stete to extend its powera to lands not within the scope of its jurisdiction, whilst this case involves ;r, question whether, where no reservation exists, n. State can ha stripped by implication and deduction of an essentiai attribute of its govern-mental existence. Doubtless the rule that treaties should be so conatrued as to uphold the sanctity of the public faith ought not to be departed from. But that salutary rule should not be made an instrument for violating the pnblic faith by distortin-g the words of a treaty... in order to i m. .~ tbha t it oonvoved rig- hts wholly inoonaistent with its language and in aonEiot with an sct of Congress, and also deahotive of the right8 of one of the States. To refer to the limitation contained in the Territorial actand disregard the terms of the enabling act would be to destroy and obliterste the express will of Congress. For these reasons the judgment below was erroneous, and must therefore be reversed, and the case must he rnmsnded to the court below with directions to die-charge the writ and remand the prisoner to tho oustody of the heri iff. And it is so ordered. Mr. Jnstias Brewel., not having heard the argument, tskw no part in this deoision. June 17,1896, the Attorney-General advised the Department that he had received a letter from the United States attorney for Wyoming, saying that Judge Riner desired that Race Horse, the Bannock Indian from Fort Hall Agency, who stood for the rights of his t,ribe in the test case, be brought before him on July 14, to be turned over to the State . sheriff. As this was an agreed case to test the law, the Attorney- General said that it seemed to him that this poor Indian should not be further punished; and that as this Department made the arrange-ment with t,he State authorities for making this test case he would be glad if it mould arrange with them to let the Indian go without further molestation. Upon this communication from the Attorney-General this office re-ported to the Department June 22,1896, as follows: I am in receipt, by Department referenae, of a, letter of June 17, 1896, from the Attorney-General, sta.ting that he had received a letter from the United States attorney for Wyoming, saying that Judge Rinerdesirea that Race Horse, the Indian whose case was recently deoided, be brought before him on Jnly 14, to be turned over to the State sheriff. The Attorueg-General says that as this wns an agreed owe to test the law. it seems to him this Door Indian should not be further ~uniaheda,n d as this Department made tho arrangement with the Ststte aathorities for lnnking this test oase he wishes you would see if you can not arrange withthem to let the Indian eo without further molestation, and if you can not get them to do so he requests that rou see that the Indian is produced before ~ u d g e ~ i naetr t he date named. The Department d l 1 remember thrat Race Home is the Bannock Indian whose arrest was secured through the Indian agent by arrangement made with the author-ities of the State of Wyoming, through Inspector MoCormick, for.the purpose of testing the right of the Indians of the Shoshone Agency to hunt on the unoccupied lands of the United States within the State of Wyoming, under the fourth article of their treaty of February 24,1869 (15 Stat. L., 673), on writ of habesacorpus which was sued out in the district aoort of the United States for Wyoming. |