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Show 120 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN A F F D S . Perrier, Fronkier, Herridge, Holloway, Labadie, Omaha, Lyman, Lombard, Brown, and Appleby. These cases were heard by the com-mission, the evidence and record in each one being submitted to this Office. Later the Osage council, by resolution, admitted that it was unable to obtain newly discovered evidence against 70 of the persons objected to, and that 7 others had been objected to by inadvertence. The Javine, Perrier, Holloway, Labadie, Lombard and Brown cases have been decided in favor of the contestees. The others are pending decision by the Assistant Attorney-General for the Department. First selections.-Each member of the Osage tribe has a right to make three selections of 160 acres each and to designate which one. shall constitute his "homestead." Prior to the passa,ge of the act 1,350 " first selections " or " homestead selections " had been made by the Indians under instructions from this Office to the United States Indian agent, and these were confirmed by the act. Between .June 28 and September 28, 1906, 500 additional first selections were filed, and since then the agent has filed 380 more, thus completing first selections by all persons on the roll up to July 6, 1907. Second selections, "The wheel plan.'iThe chairman of the Osage allotting commission reported, on September 4, 1906, that there was likely to be much difficulty in determining the order of the second and third selections, and afterwards suggested that all the names be placed in a wheel and drawn out singly, each member to make his selection in the order in which his name was drawn; that is, the person whose name was drawn out first to have the right to make the first selection, and so on. I t was finally determined to adopt this plan, with some modifications. It was approved by the Department on November 7, and two days later the allotting commission was given definite instructions as to carrying it into execution. As the first selections were not then completed, and as many contests were pending, the Indians had ample opportunity to discuss the plan before .its enforcement. Some opposition to it developed, especially among the full bloods, but March 11,1907, was set by the commission as the date for the drawing to take place. In the meantime, on Feb-ruary 11, Harry Kohpay, interpreter for the Osage Indians, sub-mitted to the Office a number of reasons why the " wheel plan," as it came to be designated by the Indians, should not be employed in mak-ing the second selections; he accompanied his letter with six peti-tions signed by members of the trihe, indorsing the method used in making the. first selections and protesting against the wheel plan. These papers were submitted to the Department for decision, partic-ularly as to whether the plan proposed was clearly within the pro-visions of the Osage allotment act. The question was referred to the Assistant Attorney-General, who on March 2 rendered an opinion, concurred in by the Department on the same date, that the so-called wheel plan, to be employed in making the second and third selections, |