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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. LV the &sent embar~mssment of the court in the xnoltit,& of important cases to hear. One serions defeat in the administration of instioo hv this oourt is that the over- ~ o r nkea essarjly prevents the citizen from enjoying the guarantee of the Conatitn-tian, a sn. ced-v trial. M~e o v e ro, win-a to the a-r eat di.&noraand necessity of travel-ing horseback, andthe fact t h i t witnesses have to attend the oourtproh~hlyth ree or four times before a, case ia disposed of, making, may ha, m journey in a11 of from 800 to 1.200 miles. thusonnishine them eeverelv in hardshin and lose of monev and time, uunyraacd aro noreportrd or all knowlrtlge of them denied. Recently x man oulnrd Hill cut Ilia wife's throat and Kaveller mother a terrible ellt in rha head. Ir wuaimpnar~bla tn get a duetor to dress her aoonds, rhough pagmer!t wasgnaranteed, for fear of heing snn~moontlo rbio court as u witness. I t is certnin thatstealing and whiaky peddling are permitted to go unreportedin the majority of oases, rather than incnr the expenses of reporting them. I t would save thousands of dollars in milea-g e if there were looated n court more near the center Of the Five Natwna at Fort Gibson or Mnscogee, and would secure a better administration of the laws of the United States as well na aave great expense to sod be far more satisfactory to the people of this ;Igency. ' To the statement that in the Indian Territary United States courts haveno jurisdiction in criminal oases to which both parties are Indians there is but a single, and that a very recent, exception. The wanton murder in Deccmber last, by two Oher&ees+f SamcmlSixkiller, a brave and efficient captain of Indian police7w ho w a a~t that time walking un-armed in the main street of Muscogee, called special attention to the necessity that some legal be given such officers while in the discharge of their lawful duty. This necessity was emphasized by the fact that three mouths previous some young Cherokees who bad been arrested for shooting at deputy marshals are reported to have ex-plaiuea that they thought they were L1 only shooting at Indian police.', At its last session, Congress passed slaw providing that any Indian guilty of. the crimes of murder, manslaughter, or &sault with intent to kill, against the person of any Indian policeman appointed under the laws of theunited States, or any Indian U11ited States marshal, while lawfully engaged in the executionof any United States process or other . duty imposed upon him by law, 'lshall be subject to the laws of the United States relating to such crimes, and shall be tried by the district court of the United States exercising criminal jnrisdictiou mhere said offense was committed, and shall be subject to the same penalties as are all other persons charged with the commission of said crimes, respeet-ively; and the said courts are hereby given jurisdictiou in all such cases.77 ' This law, however, as shown by recent events, does not go far enough. The Indian oficial should be guaranteed a fair trial in cdse he him, self should be charged with being guilty of assault or murder while dis-charging his official duty. For example, iu one case reported by Agent Omen, an Indian posse and accessory in a killing in the perforinance of duty mas condemned by an Indian jury to die for murder, while the priucipal, the deputy marshal, a United Sta,tes citheu, was acquitted - . by the United Sta.tescourt at Fort Smith.' |