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Show 72 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. The authority above referred to was granted in Department letter of September 14, and the agenbduly notified of the same September 17. To briefly summarize the facts iu the case so far as i8 shown by the official reports that have reached this office: The Bannock and Sho-shone Indians have been in the habit for many years past of going to the Jackson Hole country to hunt game for subsistence. They have been guaranteed by treaty with the United States the right to hunt upon tl. unoccupied la1ldS of the United States so long as game may be found thereon and so long as peace subsists among the whites and Indiana on the borders of the hunting districts. The settlers of the country bordering this game region have looked upon the said huntir~g grounds as their own exclusive property, and for the past two years have been steadily complaining through official and nnofficial sources to this office to the end that the Indians might be kept out. The Indians, through their respective agents, have been repeatedly warned against the wanton killing.of game. Further, t,he settlers have claimed that the Indians hunted and killed game in violation of the game laws' of the State of Wyoming; and it would appear that they had at last organized a scheme to drive the Indians from these hunting grounds regardless of consequences. The finst serious affair occurred on or about July 15,1895, when a hunting party of nine Bannocks with their families; encamped on the banks of a stream in Uinta County, Wyo., were surrounded by an armed body of settlers, uulnbering twenty-seven, who disarmed all of the Iudians and "drove" them all day in single file closely guarded. In the evening the Indians, who' had been roughly treated during the day, became frightened, and supposing they were all to be shot, made a. dish for their liberty. The settlers without any warning fired upon them, killing one outright and badly wounding another. Two papooses were lost, one of which was afterwards ,found alive, the other no doubt having perished, or been killed. The Shoshone and Bannock Indians have the right under their treaty1 of July 3,1868 (15 Stats., 673), to hunt on unoccupied lands 1 The language used in treaties with the Indians aho~ildn ever be construed to their prejodice. * * How the words of the treaty were understood by these nnlet-tered people rather than their critical meaning should form the rule of oanstruction. (Worcester v. Georgia, 6 Peters, 515.) A treaty is the supreme law of the land, binding upon the courts as much as an act of Congrees. (United State8 v. Peggy, 5 U. S., 103; Strother v. Lnoas, 12 Peters, 410.) 1; this resport a treaty with im Indian tribe, or with two or more Indian tribes, stands with treaties with foreign countries. A treaty with an Indian tribe is the supreme law of the land. Courts ran not annul its effect or operation. (Fellows r. Blacksmith, 19 How., 366.) Every treaty made by the authority of the United States is superior to the oonati-tutian and laws of any individual State. If a law of a State ia contrary to a treaty it is void. (Wwe v. Hylton, 3 Dall., 199; Hauenstein v. Lynham, 100 U. S., 483.) |
