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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 57 A copy of the above act was sent by the office to each Indian agenc, school superintendent, and special ageut on Febiiary 10 last. Xuch good is expected to result from the passage of this law, especially to the Indian allottees of the far Northwest where the courts have held that the laws on the subject did not prohibit the sale of liquor to allottees. Dnring the year but two cases of violations of the intercourse laws in regard to sale of liquors to Indians have arisen to which I deem it necessary to invite attention. One of these was st the Osage Agency, Okla., where an Indian by the name of Wah-moh.kah-wah-she bought whisky from one Wallace Beree, at Ralston, Okla. When he had traveled a short distance he was stopped by Deputy Marshal John Wisby and Nelson Webb, who searched him, and finding the whisky, took it from him. Afterwards the deputy marshal told the Indian and his companions that if they wanted a drink they could bive the whisky for $10, which, after some bargaining, they paid him, and he gave them the whisky, remarking, 16 We will keep this thing to ourselves." After they had drunk it the Indians were told to go home. Some time after this occurrence Wah-moh- kah-wah-she was arrested on the charge of iutroduciug intoxicat-ing liquors, tried,a~ld convicted on two counts. He was sentenced March 26,1897, on the first count to five months imprisonment and costs ($7.45), and on the second to sixty days, to take effect .at the expiratio11 of tliefirst sentence. Aftern,ards,April2,1897, the sentence of sixty days was changed to a fine of $60 and costs, and to stand committed until paid. This case was called to the attention of this Office by a letter dated April 19,1897, from Mr. W. L. Eagleton, of Pawnee, Okla., applying for the pardon of the Indian. It was indorsed by Acting Agent Freeman, who recommended favorable consideratio11 for two reasons: First, that he was informed that the Indian bought the whisky of a deputy United States marshal an4 was then arrested by that marshal; and second, that the prisoner was an old man and very fleshy, and fears were entertained that he would not survive close confinement during hot weather. The matter was submitted to the Departmeut May I, 1897, with the recommendation that the Department of Justice be requested to send a special agent to the Osage Agency for the purpose of investi-gating this case and the liquor traffic generally at that agency. Pnrsnant to this request, the Department of Justice sent Special Agent R. J. W. Brewster to make the investigations desired, and it is from the report made by him (of which a copy was furnished this Office with letter of June 5, 1897, from the Attorney-General) that the details of the case above set forth were obtained. On the general question of the liquor traffic at the Osage Agency, Mr. Brewster stated that he was reliably informed that-it baabeen thepracticeof the deputp marshals to hunt np thesewhiskpoaaeasgain8t the Indians to make easy fees-no seeming attempt on the part of the deputies to resoh the root of the evil, whioh is the white mau who sells the liqnor, not the |