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Show LIV REPORT OF TBE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. am of'the opinion that some arrangement should be made with the State of Florida for the purchase of lands on which they are already located, and that Congre~sh ould be asked to make the necessary ap-propriation. UNITED STATES COURT IN INDIAN TERRITORY. The urgent necessity for the establishment of a United States court in the Indian Territory was discussed at considerable length in my last annual report. At the first session of the Forty-ninth Congress bills (5. 102, H. R. 745) to establish such court were introduced in both houses, but beyond reference to the respective Judiciary Committeesit does not appear that they were acted upon. I do not know that I can add anything to what I have already said on this subject, but I feel it my duty to repeat, with added emphasis4 that the necessity for Congressional legislation for the better protection of life and property and the preservation of order among the five civil-ized tribes increases from year to year, in fact hourly grows in urgency. The reckles? destrnctiop of human life, particularly in the Cherokee and Creek Nations, is appalling to contemplate. Officer after officer has been brutally murdered in attempting to discharge his sworu dut,y. Murderers escape pnnishment and even trial. One who was arrested mas allowed to escape by inexcusable negligence. If all the parties are Indians they are not emenable to the United States courts 1 the local tribal courts are ineffective. A member of the Delaware tribe, which is incorporated in the Cherokee Nation, writes this office: We have been murdered, slmdered, and abused, our houses shot into by druukeu Cherokees, and no recourse to their courts, aadwsys the jury would be Chemkee8. Bvidence on file in thisBureau abundantly shows that these people hare little opportuuity for obtaining justice from a Cherokee tribunal, and their case is probably no exraption to that of many others. Until a United States court with civil and criminal jurisdiotion over both Indians and whites is established in the Indian Territory, as was provided for in each of the treaties of 1866 with the five cihzed tribes, the condition of these people in respect to judicial matters will grow worse instead of better. Agent Owen calls attention to this in his report, from which the following extracts @re taken: Many civil oases arise between United States citizens and Indian citizens, in some instances involving large soms. There is no oonrt having civil jurisdiction to settle theae cases, which necessarily must increase in number and importance, andfm which provision should be made. If the Feaereral court is clothed with power to try an Xu-dian'a right to life itself, or for an assault on his life, I see no reason why it may not be empowered to protect his right to property or deny his right of defrauding a citi-zen of the United States. The United States district court for the weatern district of Arkansas has more bosinws thanit can possibly sttend to, and many oases I would otherwise have pre-sented for the protect,ion of the Indians of this agency have been paned by boca~~se of their minor ohsracter when compared to more important criminal mhtters and |
