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Show Uncompahgre Commission.-May 26, 1898, Erastus R. Harper was appointed commissioner in the place of James Jeffreys. The work of the co~nmission in making allotments to Uncompahgre Utcs is referred to on page 42. It is anticipated that the commission will complete its work during this month. Uintah Commission.-July 14, 1898, Messrs. Erastus R. Harper, Ross Guffiu, and Howell P. Nytou, members of the Uncompahgre Commis-sion, were appointed com~uissioners to allot lands to Indians upon the Uintah Reservation in Utah, and to negotiate for the cession of the Lands remaining unallotted under the provisions of the act of June 4, 1898 (30 Stats., p. 429). Instructions for their guidance in making allotments were submitted to the Department August 6,1898, and approved August 10,1898. It is not expected that they will enter upon duty as members of the Uintah Oommission until they shall have completed their duties on the Uncom-pahgre Reservation. I SALE OF LIQUOR TO INDIANS. My last annual report mentioned several investigation8 made by Special Agent R. J. W. Brewster, of the Department of Justice, into the sale of intoxicating liquors to Indians in Oklahoma aud Nevada. Similar investigations have since been made by him at the Round Val-ley Agency, Cal.; Nee Per06 Agency, Idaho; and in the Indian Terri-tory, where it was found that parties were engaged in the wholesale debauchery of Indians by the introduction and sale of intoxicating beverages. At Round Valley, Agent Brewster found an exceptionally bad state of affairs, and through his efforts seven persons were arrested and held to trial on the charges of introducing liquor into the Indian country and furnishing it to Indians. Five of them have been convicted and sentenced. It was also found that the school superintendent, who acts as agent, had to contend not only with liquor traffic among the Indians, but also with other forms of iniquity, so that, owing to his activity in endeavoring to suppress them and to protect his Indians from the demoralizing influence of their white neighbors, his life was continually in jeopardy, several attempts having been made to assassinate him. Special Agent Brewster was no less successful in his investigation at the Nez Per06 Agency. Several arrests were made there of persons charged with introducing liquors within the prohibited territory and selling it to Indians, and many against whom warrants had been issued fled the country in order to avoid the punishment that was sure to follow. This office has not been informed of the results of trials of the parties arrested, but it is believed that the cases made out were so elear that the parties must have been convicted and punished. |