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Show REPOBT OF COMMI88IONER OF INDIAN AFFDS. 79 ' . ardg reporting the result of the investigations which they had made, ,mid saying: From the testimony adduced and accompanying the report it appenrs the claims to a very large degree are unjust; that the overestimate of stock and its value is shown in some more than in others. In order that the treaty pro-visions applicable to these claims may be vindicated, I recommend the appoint-ment of a commission to examine each claim and report as to its justice. No further action was taken on the matter until September 18, 1883, when 31 of the claims were sent to the agent in charge of the Kiowa, Comanche and Wichita agencies, with instructions tomake a thorough investigation and report his findings. On July 7,1884, the agent returned them, reporting that they had been submitted sepa-rately to a general council of the Comanche Indians convened at the agency for that purpose, and that the Indians had disclaimed any knowledge of the alleged depredations On September 10, 1884, 87 more of these claims were sent to the same agent, who returned them on February 7, 1885. He reported that a general council of the Comanche Indians had been convened at the agency, to consider the claims, which- Wereench in turn presented in detail, and'as far as claimants bad stated the circumstances and extent of the depredations, they were fully explained in each case. After examining the claims of each, the chiefs and headmen were called upon to say what they knew about it, if anything, and the reply was uniformly the same in each case, that they had no knowledge whatever of the matter in question and positively denied that the Comanches had committed the alleged depredations. The act of March 3, 1885 (23 Stat. L., 362, 376), directed the Secretary of the Interior to present to the next session of the Con-gress a complete list of all claims filed in the Interior Department on behalf of citizens of the United States on account of depredations chargeable against any tribe of Indians by reason of any treaty between such tribe and the United States. The list, including the 123 Choctaw and Chickasaw claims, was submitted by the department on March 11, 1886, and printed as H. Ex. Doc. 125, Forty-ninth Congress, 1st session, but no appropriation was made for their payment. This act was construed to apply only to claims on behalf of citizens of the United States, and therefore for several 'years no more claims in favor of Indians were examined and reported to the department. Before March 3,1885, however, 18 of the 123 claims had been exam-ined and sent to the department, with a recommendation that from 50 to 75 per cent of the amounts claimed be allowed and they have since been paid, tho last one by an item in the deficiency act of May 30,1908 (35 Stat. L., 514). |