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Show . 66 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIOh'ER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. erty wonld be apersonalintereat which at her death would revert to the benefit of the tribe, and her children would be entitled to receive the benefit of the common property of the tribe, there being nothing for them to inherit from their deceased parent, tfe tribe being the uni-versal heir of such member and the childreu being heirs of the tribe. The Department by letter of May 8,1894, concurred in the views of this office as above expressed, and decided that the children of Indian women the offspring of marriages entered into since the act of August 9, 1888, are not entitled to share in the property of the tribe, except as they may take the same by represelltation of their mother, and directed . this office to give such iustructions as might be proper under this con-struction of the law. Accordingly. the office advised Agent Penney of the ruling of the Department, and instructed him to beguided thereby in the future, and subsequently, June 20,1894, the same instructions were given to each Indian agent and special allotting agent in the sewice. DESTRUCTION OF GAME BY INDIANS. Dnring the early part of 1894, many complaints reached this ofice that Iudians of the Shoshone Reservation, Wyo., were wantonly slaughtering elk and deer that had been dr~vend own from the Rocky Monntajns by the deep snows md severe weather. The agent of Sho-shone Agency was at once instructed to report the facts to this office, and to take such action as would entirely stop any wanton killing of game by those Indians in the future. The agent replied that to his knowledge no elk or deer had been aimlessly slaughtered on the Shoshone Reservation by Indians belonging thereon; but that it was reported that roving parties of other Indians had killed game outside the reservation; also that tho Indians reported that white men were continually going on hunting expeditious through the country adjacent to their reservation, and killing game merely for the pleasure of hunt-ing. Reportsfkom other Indian agents in that territory sustained this charge, the whites claiming they had as good right as the Indians to kill game; and the State officers in some instances stating that they did not feel justified in prosecuting white men for violating gamelaws, while the Indians were allowed to hunt. Subsequently more complaints were received from Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, that parties of Indians were cantinnally leaving their reservations with passes from their agents to make social and friendly visits to other reservations; that ell route they slaughtered game in large quantities merely for the sake of killing and for the hides, par-ticularly in the country adjacent to the Yellowvtone National Park end the Shoshone Reservation, Wyo., and that if such depredations were allowed to continue, it would probably result in a serious conflict between the white settlers and the Indians. In view of the above complaints, the office addressed a letter to the Indian agents in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and the Dako- |