OCR Text |
Show REPORT OF THE OOXMISSIONER OF INDIAR AFFAEB. 137 September 27, 1899, the inspector reported that one F. M. Smith, a resident of Vinita, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, was shipping hay from within the limits of that nation upon which the royalty had not been paid and the o5ce, with the approval of the Department, telegraphed the United States Indian agent for the Union Agency October 21 as follows: It being my judgment that the continued presence of F. M. Smith in the trihnl reservation known as the Cherokee Nation is detrimental to the peace md welfare of the Indians, I hereby dire$ with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, that you remove a i d Smith h m t he Cherokee Nation, in accordance with the pro-visions of section 2149 of the Revised Statutes of the United Statas. Accordingly the Indian agent caused Mr. Smith to be removed beyond the limits of the Cherokee Nation and Indian Territory. Subsequently he returned to the Cherokee Nation and was arrested under section 2148 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which is as follows: If any person who has been removed from the Indian country shall thereafter at any time return or be found within the Indian country he shall be liable to a pen-alty of one thowand dollars. The case came on for hearing before the court, Judge William Springer presiding, on October 2, 1899, and the defenditnt, by his counsel, filed a motion to vacate the order of the court under which he was arrested on the ground that said order of arrast was not "predicated upon a sworn complaint and for the further reason that the complaint as made" did "not charge a criminal offense." The court held that- The order for the arrest of the defendmt was properly made, and the motion to vacate that order is overruled, and the defendant is ordered to plead to the informa-tion. The text of the opinion of the court will be found on page 565. Mr. Smith was tried before a jury, and the o5ce has informal information that the court instructed the jury that the only question for it to determine was whether or not he had been removed and had returned. The jury were unable to agree upon a verdict. The case against h i was subsequently dismissed, and he was again removed from the Cherokee Nation, but was afterwards permitted to return temporarily because of the illness of certain members of his family. He recently asked to be allowed to return and remain, promising to comply in the future with Department regulations, and the Depart-ment recently directed the inspector to permit him to return to his home. Tribal taxes, Choctsw and Chickasaw Nations.-The laws of the Choc-taw Nation provide that noncitizens shall pay a tax of of+ per cent on the value of goods introduced by them for sale in that nation, and the Chickasaw laws require that noncitizens engaged in business in the |