Township of Garfield v. Riley. Township of Garfield, Finney County, .1019 .1024 ...1022 Trustees of Columbia Tp., Ohio, Loeb v. (177 U. S. 695)... Trustees of Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Tullis v. Lake Erie & W. R. Co. .1029 170)... 573 .1020 (175 U. .1019 United States, Keim v. (177 U. S. 290).. 574 Turner, Waples Platter Co. v. Underwood, Patrick v. (175 U. S. 726)....1022 Union Steamboat Co., Ex parte (178 U. S. 904 136 .1019 ..1031 .1027 United States, Sherman v. (178 U. S. 150) 779 United States, Spencer v. .1026 17 United States, Rider v. (178 U. S. 251)... 838 United States, Roberts v. (176 U. S. 221).. 376 United States, Sandoval v. 631 Union Steamboat Co., Erie & W. Transp. United States, Town of Real de Dolores .1023 .1031 .1026 United States v. Conway (175 U. S. 60). United States v. Elder (177 U. S. 104). 13 13 537 228 67 United States Nat. Bank, Cunningham v..1021 United States. Benedict v. (176 U. S. 357) 458 United States, Butler v. (175 U. S. 728)..1023 United States, Coudert v. (175 U. S. 178) United States, Dewey v. (178 U. S. 510).. 981 Washington County, Bristol v. 746 .1028 Waterloo, The, Roy v.. .1030 Waters-Pierce Oil Co. v. State of Texas (177 U. S. 28). 518 CASES ARGUED AND DETERMINED IN THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. (175 U. S. 1) OCTOBER TERM, 1899. RAY W. JONES, Appt., บ. PATRICK MEEHAN and James Meehan. Suit to quiet title-lands derived from Indian chief-effect of treaty as grant. 1. A good title to parts of the lands of an Indlan tribe may be granted to individuals by a treaty between the United States and the tribe, without any act of Congress or any patent from the executive authority of the United States, if such is the intention of the treaty. 2. A treaty with Indians must be construed, not according to the technical meaning of its words to learned lawyers, but in the sense in which they would naturally be understood by the Indians. & The omission of the words "any Indian" from the prohibition of purchases and leases "from any nation or tribe of Indians," as contained in the act of Congress of June 30, 1834, chap. 161, § 12, while the former statutes had extended the prohibition to purchases or leases from "any Indian," shows an intention of Congress to remove the general restriction upon the alienation by Individual Indians of sections of land reserved to them respectively by a treaty with the United States. 4. A reservation to a chief or other member of a tribe of Indians, of a specified number of sections of land, whether already identified or to be surveyed and located in the future, when made by the United States in a treaty with the tribe and as part of the consideration for a cession by the tribe of a tract of country to the United States, converts the reserved sections into individual property, and, if unaccompanied by words limiting its effect, is equivalent to a present grant of a complete title in fee simple, which is alienable at the of Congress, has expressly or impliedly prohibited or restricted its allenation. 5. A reservation of lands "set apart" by the treaty of October 2, 1863, art. 9, between the United States and the Chippewa Indians, made "upon the urgent request of the Indians," for their chief, constituted a present grant to the chief of an alienable title in fee, subject only to the selection of the land in due form and to the definition of its boundaries by survey and patent. 6. An amendment of the pleadings may be allowed even on appeal, if justice appears to require It. 7. 8. 9. The right of inheritance in land of a member of an Indian tribe whose tribal organization is still recognized by the government is controlled by the laws, usages, and customs of the tribe, and not by the law of the state in which the land is situated, nor by any ac tion of the Secretary of the Interior. An affidavit by an Indian, signed by mark, in which he states that others besides himself are heirs of his father and entitled to share with him in the estate, is not conclusive against his right to be the sole heir, when the affidavit was procured from him by the Indian agent, under direction of the Secretary of the Interior, to show who were entitled to the distribution of certain rents, and was evidently considered by him when he made it as a mere matter of form, with which he was obliged to comply in order to get any part of the rent. The rights of lessees of the heir of an Indlan to whom title to land was granted by an Indian treaty cannot be devested by any subsequent action of the lessor or of Congress or of the Executive Departments. [No. 7.] pleasure of the grantee, unless the United Argued April 27, 28, 1898. Decided Octo States, by provision of the treaty or of an act 20 S. C.-1 ber 30, 1899. A PPEAL from a decree of the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Minnesota in favor of the plaintiffs in a suit to quiet title to lands claimed under conflicting leases from an Indian chief. Affirmed. See same case below, 70 Fed. Rep. 453. there shall be paid to each of the said chiefs annually, out of the annuities of the said bands, a sum not exceeding one hundred and fifty dollars, to be determined by their agents according to their respective merits. And for the better promotion of the above objects, a further sum of five hundred dollars shall be paid at the first payment to each of the said chiefs to enable him to build for himself a house." By article 8: "In further consideration of the foregoing cession, it is hereby agreed Mr. Justice Gray delivered the opinion of that the United States shall grant to each the court: male adult half-breed or mixed blood who is This was a bill in equity, filed in the cir-related by blood to the said Chippewas of cuit court of the United States for the dis- the said Red Lake or Pembina bands, who trict of Minnesota by Patrick Meehan and has adopted the habits and customs of civJames Meehan, citizens of Wisconsin, ilized life, and who is a citizen of the United against Ray W. Jones, a citizen of Minne- States, a homestead of one hundred and sota, to quiet title in a strip of land sixty acres of land, to be selected at his op10 feet wide along the westerly shore tion, within the limits of the tract of counof the Red Lake river, in the country hereby ceded to the United States, on ty of Polk and state of Minnesota, any land not previously occupied by actual extending from the northeasterly inter- settlers or covered by prior grants, the section of the plat of the village of Thief River Falls with the shore at a point near the junction of the two rivers, and being a part of lot 1 in section 34, township 154, and range 43. For convenience the parties will be designated, throughout this opinion, according to their position in the court below; the Mee hans, now appellees, as the plaintiffs; and Jones, now appellant, as the defendant. boundaries thereof to be adjusted in conformity with the lines of the official surveys when the same shall be made, and with the laws and regulations of the United States affecting the location and entry of the same." By one of the amendments made by the Senate, with the assent of the Indians, there was inserted at the end of article 8 the following: "Provided, that no scrip shall be isEach party derived title under the "res- sued under the provisions of this article, and ervation of six hundred and forty acres near no assignments shall be made of any right, the mouth of the Thief river for the chief title, or interest at law or in equity until a Moose Dung," in article 9 of the treaty made patent shall issue, and no patent shall be isat the Old Crossing of Red Lake river in the sued until due proof of five years' actual resstate of Minnesota, on October 2, 1863, be-idence and cultivation, as required by the tween the United States, by their commis-act entitled 'An Act to Secure Homesteads sioners, Alexander Ramsey, a senator of the on the Public Domain.'" United States for the state of Minnesota, By article 9 of the treaty: "Upon the and Ashley C. Morrill, agent for the Chippe- urgent request of the Indians, parties to this wa Indians, of the one part, and the Red treaty, there shall be set apart from the Lake and Pembina bands of Chippewa In-tract hereby ceded a reservation of six hundians, by their chiefs, headmen, and war- dred and forty acres near the mouth of Thief riors, of the other part, and afterwards rat-river for the chief Moose Dung, and a like ified by the Senate, with amendments as reservation of six hundred and forty acres sented to by the Indians. 13 Stat. at L. for the chief Red Bear on the north side of 667-671. The material provisions of that Pembina river." treaty were as follows: By article 2 those bands of Chippewas ceded to the United States all their right, title, and interest in a large tract of country to the west of Thief river in the state of Minnesota, including all the American valley of the Red River of the North. By article 3: "In consideration of the foregoing cession, the United States agree to pay to the said Red Lake and Pembina bands of Chippewa Indians the following sums, to wit: Twenty thousand dollars per annum for twenty years; the said sum to be distributed among the Chippewa Indians of the said bands in equal amounts per capita." By article 5: "To encourage and aid the chiefs of said bands in preserving order and inducing, by their example and advice, the members of their respective bands to adopt the habits and pursuits of civilized life, Moose Dung or Monsimoh was one of the principal chiefs of the Red Lake band of Chippewa Indians, and his name was the first of the Indian signatures to the treaty, all of which were by marks only. The plaintiffs, against the defendant's objection, introduced in evidence certified copies of extracts from the journal of the proceedings at the negotiation of the treaty, annexed to the report made by Mr. Ramsey to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in October, 1863. That journal stated that "Moose Dung, who was really the most influential of all the chiefs, stood at the head of a party embracing the large majority of all the bands who were favorable to and, even anxious for a treaty." It also showed that part of the discussion was as follows: Moose Dung said: "I have taken the mouth of Thieving river as my inheritance. I do |