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Statement of the Case.

such facts, and no other statements need be contained in said petition or verification."

On behalf of the Pottawatomie Indians of Michigan and Indiana, John Critcher filed a petition in the Court of Claims, April 14, 1890, averring that he was the authorized attorney of the said Indians, as, he stated, would appear by an agreement between himself and the business committee of the Indians, dated September 29, 1887, and claiming certain unpaid annuities under the said treaties. The claimants exhibited a table showing by periods of five years, from 1836 to 1872, inclusive, an enumeration of the Indians in Michigan and of those west of the Mississippi, from which it appeared that the average number of the former during that time was 291, and of the latter 2812. The petition contains a statement in detail of the various annuities claimed to be due, and asks for a judgment against the United States in the sum of $223,035.46, as being in the ratio of 291 to 2812 to the entire amount alleged to have been pledged to all the Pottawatomie Indians under the various treaties, plus the amount of $38,000, the sum of the annuities for nineteen years under the treaty of 1833. The latter sum was claimed on the assumption that the claimants should receive, of the annuities arising from the cession of their lands in southern Michigan, not a just proportion, but the whole amount. The claimants averred that the main tribe of Indians moved to their reservation west of the Mississippi, and that the part of the band which was to remove to the north did so remove in obedience to the terms of the provision supplementary to the treaty of 1833; that they are the representatives of that part of the band, and, as such, are entitled to all the benefits secured by the said supplemental provision.

On November 5, 1890, another petition was filed in the name of Phineas Pam-to-pee and 1371 other Pottawatomie Indians of Michigan and Indiana, by John B. Shipman, their attorney, alleging that they were entitled to share in the annuities secured to the Pottawatomie Indians by the said treaties; that they were not represented in the petition first filed, and that the attorney named in that petition had no

Statement of the Case.

authority to act for them in the premises. This petition was filed on behalf of certain Indians, citizens of the United States, who were individually described by name and residence, alleged to be all the Pottawatomie Indians, so far as could be ascertained, resident in the said States, except not exceeding 250, from 91 of whom they alleged that the attorney named in the first petition derived his authority to act. The claimants stated, however, that their petition was intended for the benefit of all Indians included in the provisions of the act of Congress who might choose to take part in the proceedings in the said court. They averred that the Indians designated in the act, or their ancestors, were parties to all the said treaties, and entitled to share per capita in the annuities. secured thereby to the Pottawatomies, and that the conditions imposed upon them by the treaties had been complied with. The claimants alleged that they were entitled to a just proportion of all the annuities provided for by the treaties in question. They interpreted the last provision of the treaty of 1833, as did the claimants in the first petition, to be that the Indians exempted from the requirement of removal west should receive the entirety of the annuity stipulated for in that provision. Under the treaty of 1833 they, therefore, claimed the sum of $38,000, being $2000 per year for the nineteen years the same remained unpaid. They also contended that the perpetual annuities provided for should be capitalized and the amounts thereof, in the sum of $446,000, added to the sum of the past unpaid determinate and perpetual annuities, namely, $2,021,200. Under a treaty made subsequently to 1833, to wit, on June 17, 1846, with the said Indians who emigrated west, the petitioners claimed that the Indians who remained in Michigan were entitled to the sum of $446,974.80. It is averred that by that treaty the said reservation west of the Mississippi was ceded to the United States by the said Indians, who were promised therefor, in addition to a perpetual annuity of $300, the sum of $850,000, less certain deductions provided for in the treaty; that after making such deductions, the balance remaining was $643,000, which was to be held by the government as a trust fund for

Statement of the Case.

the Indians, and was to bear interest at 5 per cent, payable annually for thirty years, and until the nation should be reduced below one thousand souls; that the first instalment of interest became payable in 1849; that the total amount of interest up to and including the year 1890 was $1,350,300, and the value of the same as a capitalized annuity was $643,000, making an aggregate of $1,993,300. The petitioners averred that when the final provisions of the treaty of 1833 were executed, the number, as nearly as they could ascertain, of the Indians removing west of the Mississippi was 3840, and the number of those remaining in Michigan was 1110. They, therefore, alleged that the gross amounts stated, (with the exception of the said amount of $38,000,) should be apportioned between the Indians who removed west and those who remained in Michigan in the ratio of 3840 to 1110. They deduct from the total of the amounts ascertained as above the sum of $75,162.50, which they admit that the Indians remaining in Michigan received from the government under the treaties of July 29, 1829, and September 26, 1833, and under the act of Congress of July 28, 1866, leaving the sum of $963,058.50. This is the amount alleged to be due the Indians exempted from the requirement of removal west, upon the assumption that their number has remained the same as it was in 1833. The petitioners claimed to represent the Indians only who went north, whose number they alleged to have been the difference between 1110 and the number of those who remained in southern Michigan, and, therefore, the petitioners asked for a judgment for themselves in the sum of $804,383.80.

On January 8, 1891, the United States moved the Court of Claims to consolidate the cases, and on January 19, 1891, made a motion to dismiss the case presented by the last-named petition. The motions were reserved to be decided on the trial, and the court ordered that the cases be tried together. Upon the trial the motion to consolidate the cases was allowed, and the motion to dismiss the second case overruled. The court was of opinion that the purpose of the act of March 19, 1890, was to have all questions of difference arising from the

Statement of the Case.

claims of the Pottawatomie Indians of Michigan and Indiana settled in an authoritative and judicial form, and that any proceeding which would accomplish that purpose, irrespective of technical rules of pleading, was proper under the act of Congress. It was further observed by the court that in each case it appeared that by special appointment the attorneys named in the petitions represented some of the Pottawatomie Indians who remained in the States of Michigan and Indiana, and that the essential requirements of the statute were thus fulfilled.

After due proceedings were had in the consolidated case, the Court of Claims, on March 28, 1892, 27 C. Cl. 403, found, in substance, the following facts: In obedience to the last provision of the article supplementary to the treaty of September 26, 1833, a few of the Pottawatomie Indians of Michigan and Indiana removed to the northern part of the peninsula of Michigan, but the great body of them remained in southern Michigan. To this failure to remove the government did not object, and did not force them to remove. Within the period from 1843 to 1866, inclusive, the Indians remaining in southern Michigan were there paid, by government agents, an aggregate amount of $75,162.50, $39,000 of which was the amount provided for by the joint resolution of Congress referred to in the act giving the Court of Claims jurisdiction in this case. The remaining amount, $36,162.50, was paid to the Indians as their proportion of annuities secured to them by the treaties of July 29, 1829, and the supplemental provision of the treaty of 1833. During the said period, as shown by a table in the office of the Second Auditor of the Treasury, the average number of Indians in southern Michigan was 253, and of those west of the Mississippi, 2834, and payments were made to the Indians in Michigan in this ratio. None of the Indians so paid permanently removed to the northern part of Michigan. During the period from 1836 to 1872, the average number of Indians in Michigan who remained under the treaty of 1833 was 291, and the average number west of the Mississippi was 2812. A number of other Indians residing on the reservation in Michigan in 1833 remained in the State of Michigan. Those Indians, and the 291

Statement of the Case.

who stayed on account of their religious creed, numbered in all 1100. Many of the Indians who were in Michigan at the time the treaty of 1833 was made were dissatisfied with the requirement that they should emigrate west with the main tribe, and refused to go. It was necessary for the government to use force to compel them to leave, and in the struggle caused by this attempt to enforce the treaty many of the Indians, in evading the officers and agents of the government, scattered into different portions of the State, and many went to the northern portion. Those Indians did not come within the supplemental provisions of the said treaty, as construed by the agents of the United States. What their number was cannot be ascertained, but they outnumbered the Indians who remained by consent of the government as coming within the final provision of the treaty of 1833. The United States never made any tender to any Indians at l'Arbre Croche, nor in the northern part of Michigan. The agents of the government did not insist upon the removal of the Indians as a condition of their right of payment at any time.

Since 1835 the Pottawatomie Indians of Michigan and Indiana have received no payments of annuities provided for by the treaties of the following dates: August 3, 1795, 7 Stat. 49, Art. 4; September 30, 1809, 7 Stat. 113, Art. 3; October 2, 1818, 7 Stat. 185, Art. 3; August 29, 1821, 7 Stat. 218, Art. 4; September 20, 1828, 7 Stat. 317, Art. 2; October 20, 1832, 7 Stat. 378, Art. 3; October 26, 1832, 7 Stat. 394, Art. 3. Of the annuities promised by the treaties of October 16, 1826, 7 Stat. 295, Art. 3, and June 17, 1846, 9 Stat. 853, they have received no payments. The court also finds, specifically, that the said ians have not been paid any money of an annuity of $2000der the treaty of October 16, 1826, for the year 1848; nor of an annuity of $1000 under the treaty of September 20, 1828, for the year 1848; nor of an annuity of $15,000 under the treaty of October 20, 1832, for the years from 1843 to 1852, inclusive; nor of an annuity of $20,000 under the treaty of October 26, 1832, for the year 1852; nor of an annuity of $15,000 under the treaty of October 27, 1832, for the year 1844.

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