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Show REPORT OF THE COJIJlISSlONER OF 1NI)IAS AFFAIRS. XI!: the United States will. upon proof made to tho agent and forwslded to the Commi~. sione,r of Indisn Affairs at, Washington city, proceed at ooee to o:mae tho offonder to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United state^, nncl &o re. imburse the injured person for the loss snataiued. and took the position tha,t themnrderhaving been committed withiu the Pottawatomie country, the prisoner came within the meaning of the term i'other people subject to Lhe authority of the United States," and waa excepted from the general law as expressed in section 2146, and therefore that the United States court could take Jurisdiction of the ca.sc; citing the case of Crow Dog, a Sioux Indian recently tried and convicted by the United States conrt iu Dalrota,, for the murder of Spotted Tail, an Indian of the same tribe. On the 7th November last the honorable Attorney- General replied to the effect that, vhile admitting there was some ground for the argument, he considered the question of jurisdictiou bj the United 1 States court over the case as so doubtful as to render it inexpedient to incur the expense of the prisonel's reruoval ant1 trial at Fort Smibh. The militarj anthorities at Fort Reno, having applied through the War Departnleut to be relieved of the eustodp of the prisoner, this office, in view of the opinion of the AttorneyGeneral, by letter of the 31th June last, inquired of the Depart.ment what disposition should be made of the prisoner. Attentiou vas called to the fact that the courts of the Creek Kiltion, to which nation the prisoner belonged, were with-out jurisdietio~~th, e murder having bee11 committed outside the l$nits of their country; that the Absentee Shawnees and Pottawatomies, within whose boundaries the crime was committed, had no lawsappli. cable to the case, and that neither the Chejennes and Arapahoes nor the Absentee Shawnees and Pottawatomies were parties to the reciprocity compact entered into between the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Osage and other nntiona, on the 4th June, IS'iO (see Laws of Muscogee, or Creek fition, edition 1M0, p. 8.5) ; and it was suggested that in view of the many eornplications attendant on the case the Attorney-General be requested to reconsider his decision, to the end that the qnestionof jnris-diction might be passed upon by the United States court, or that the Department be pleased to indicate what action should be taken upon the request of the War Department,,in order that full justice might be done' all garties concerned. Said letter having been duly referred to the Department of Justice, the honorable Attorney-General on the 27th June last replied at considerable length, settiug forth his views on the legal aspect of the case and adhering to his opinion already expressed that there was but little ground to hope that the United States conrt had jurisdiction of the offense. Recognizing, however, the embarrass-ments pre~ailingh, e stated that if i t occurred to the Department as a matter of impo~tmceth at theopinionof the courts should be taken in the course of a vigorous prosecution of the crime he would cheerfully execute whateversuggestion might be made, adding that such prosecution, what- .. ever its issue, might more effectually call the attention of Congress tothe |