February 20, 1896.

before trial boards.

CHAP. 25.-An Act To amend an Act entitled "An Act to punish false swearing before trial boards of the Metropolitan police force and fire department of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes," approved May eleventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-two.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United District of Columbia. States of America in Congress assembled, That an Act entitled "An Act False swearing etc., to punish false swearing before trial boards of the Metropolitan police Penalties extended force and fire department of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes, approved May eleventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

to fire department trials.

Vol. 27, p. 29.

Attendance of wit

nesses.

Punishment for false swearing.

Process to secure attendance.

Proviso.
Fees.

"That hereafter any trial board of the Metropolitan police force and of the fire department of the District of Columbia shall have power to issue subpoenas, attested in the name of the president of the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia, to compel before it the attendance of witnesses upon any trial or proceedings authorized by the rules and regulations of the police force or of the fire department. "SEC. 2. That any willful and corrupt false swearing on the part of any witness or person giving evidence before any trial board mentioned in the preceding section as to any material fact in any proceedings under the rules and regulations governing said police force and fire department shall be deemed perjury, and shall be punished in the manner prescribed by law for such offense.

SEC. 3. That if any witness, having been first personally summoned, shall neglect or refuse to appear before any trial board mentioned in the first section of this Act, then, on the fact being reported by the major and superintendent of police, or chief of the fire department, to one of the justices of the police court, it shall be the duty of that court to compel the attendance of such witness before such trial board in the same manner as witnesses are now compellable to appear before said court: Provided, That witnesses subpoenaed to appear before said trial boards, other than those employed by the District of Columbia, shall be entitled to the same fees as are now paid witnesses for attendance before the supreme court of the District of Columbia." Approved, February 20, 1896.

CHAP. 26.-An Act To amend section twenty-one of an Act entitled "An Act to divide a portion of the reservation of the Sioux Nation of Indians in Dakota into separate reservations, and to secure the relinquishment of the Indian title to the remainder, and for other purposes," approved March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section twenty-one of an Act entitled "An Act to divide a portion of the reservation of the Sioux Nation of Indians in Dakota into separate reservations, and to secure the relinquishment of the Indian title to the remainder, and for other purposes," approved March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding to said section the following:

"That the said city of Chamberlain, by and through its regular city council, shall have authority to either by itself or under a system of leases, securing a revenue to the city, to use or lease said island for public assemblies of a religious, literary, political, or scientific character; to use or lease the same for fair grounds or driving park purposes; the right to improve, use, or lease to improve and use, the springs on said island for sanitarium and bathing purposes, together with the right to erect such buildings and make such improvements as may be necessary to provide for the comfort and convenience of those connected therewith or visiting said island for any of the purposes named, the said city council at all times having authority to control and regulate all the fees or charges made by any person or association thereon for any of the

purposes herein enumerated, and full authority to construct roadways, and lay out said island into grounds, parks, or lots suitable for the uses herein allowed and provided for, said island always remaining free to the public for the ordinary uses of a public park: Provided, That such leases shall not be for a longer period than ten years, and shall not in the aggregate embrace or cover more than one-third the area of said island."

Approved, February 20, 1896.

Proviso.

Limit.

CHAP. 27.—An Act Extending the time within which the Maryland and Washington Railway Company shall be required to complete the building of the road of said company, under the provisions of an Act of Congress approved August first, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, as amended by an Act of Congress approved March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-five.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the time within which the Maryland and Washington Railway Company is required to complete and put in operation its railway in the District of Columbia, under the provisions of an Act of Congress approved August first, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, as amended by an Act approved March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, be, and the same is hereby, extended for the term of one year from the second day of March, eighteen hundred and ninety-six; and that all the franchises, rights, and powers conferred by said Acts, or either of them, upon said railway company may be enjoyed and exercised as fully and completely as if said railway had been completed and put in operation prior to March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-six. Approved, February 20, 1896.

CHAP. 28.—An Act To open forest reservations in the State of Colorado for the location of mining claims.

February 20, 1896.

Colorado.

tions.

Vol. 26, p. 1103.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the forest reservations in Forest reservations the State of Colorado, known as the Pikes Peak Forest Reserve, the opened to mining loca Plum Creek Forest Reserve, and the South Platte Forest Reserve, Vol.27, pp.1006, 1029, established by Executive proclamations dated, respectively, March 1044. eighteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, June twenty-third, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, and December ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, in the State of Colorado in accordance with section twentyfour of the act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, from and after the passage of this Act, shall be open to the location of mining claims thereon for gold, silver, and cinnabar, and that title to such mining claims may be acquired in the same manner as it may be acquired to mining claims upon the other mineral lands of the United States for such purposes: Provided, That all locations of mining claims heretofore made in good faith within said reservations, and which have been held and worked in the same manner as mining claims are held and worked under existing law upon the public domain, are validated by this Act.

SEC. 2. That owners of valid mining locations made and held in good faith under the terms of this Act, shall be, and are hereby, authorized and permitted to fell and remove from such mining claims any timber growing thereon, for actual mining purposes in connection with the particular claim from which the timber is felled or removed, but no other timber shall be felled or removed from any other portions of said reservations by private parties for any purpose whatever. Approved, February 20, 1896.

Proviso.
Prior locations.

Use of timber mitted.

per

February 24, 1896.

Brainerd and North

ern Minnesota Rail

way Company granted right of way, Indian reservations, Minne

sota.

vation.

tion.

CHAP. 29.-An Act Granting to the Brainerd and Northern Minnesota Railway Company a right of way through the Leech Lake Indian Reservation and Chippewa Indian Reservation, in Minnesota.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby granted to the Brainerd and Northern Minnesota Railway Company, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Minnesota, and to its assigns, the right of way for the extension of its railroad, with necessary side tracks and switch tracks, and for a telegraph and teleLeech Lake Reser phone line, through the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, commencing at a point in the south line of said Indian reservation and extending northwesterly through section eleven, of township one hundred and forty-one, range thirty-one, to a point in the west line of said reservaChippewa Reserva- tion in section two; also through the Chippewa Indian Reservation, in said State, commencing at a point in the south line of said Indian reservation, in township one hundred and forty-two north, of range thirty-one west, and extending in a northwesterly direction from the terminus of the line as now constructed along the most feasible and practicable route, through townships one hundred and forty-three north, of ranges thirty-one and thirty-two west, to a point in the west line of said reservation, with the right to load logs on said railroad at the points in said reservation where the same may run adjacent or contiguous to the waters of Leech Lake. Such right of way shall be fifty feet in width on each side of the central line of said railroad, and said company shall also have the right to take from the lands adjacent to the line of said road material, stone, and earth necessary for the construction of said railroad; also grounds adjacent to such right of way for station buildings, not to exceed in amount two hundred feet in width and three thousand feet in length for each station, and to an extent not exceeding one station within the limits of said Chippewa Reservation: Provided, That no part of such lands herein granted shall be used except in such manner and for such purposes only as are necessary for the construction and convenient operation of said railroad line, and when any portion thereof shall cease to be used such portion shall revert to the nation or tribe of Indians from which the same shall be taken.

Width, etc.

Stations, etc.

Proviso.
Reversion, etc.

Compensation.

SEC. 2. That before said railroad shall be constructed through any land, claim, or improvement held by individual occupants according to any treaties or laws of the United States, compensation shall be made such occupant or claimant for all property to be taken or damage done by reason of the construction of such railroad. In case of failure to make satisfactory settlement with any such claimant, the United States district court at Saint Paul or Duluth, Minnesota, shall have jurisdiction, upon petition of either party, to determine such just compensation in accordance with the laws of Minnesota provided for determining Damages to tribes. the damage when property is taken for railroad purposes; and the amount of damages resulting to the tribe or tribes of Indians pertaining to said reservation in their tribal capacity, by reason of the construction of said railroad through such lands of the reservation as are not occupied in severalty, shall be ascertained and determined in such manner as the Secretary of the Interior may direct, and be subject to his final approval: Provided, however, That said railroad company may file with the Secretary of the Interior a bond, in such amount and with such sureties as the Secretary shall approve, conditioned for the payment of just compensation for said right of way to said individual occupants and to said tribe or tribes, as hereinbefore provided, and said company may thereupon proceed to construct and operate its railroad across said reservation.

Proviso.

Construction to begin on tiling bond.

Maps.

Surveys.

SEC. 3. That said company shall cause maps, showing the route of its line through said reservation, and including the grounds for station buildings, depots, machine shops, side tracks, turn-outs, and water stations, to be filed in the office of the Secretary of the Interior before constructing any portion of said railroad.

SEC. 4. That said company is hereby authorized to enter upon said

reservation for the purpose of surveying and locating its line of railroad: Provided, That said railroad shall be located and constructed with due regard to the rights of the Indians, and under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior shall prescribe.

SEC. 5. That the right herein granted shall be forfeited by said company unless the road shall be constructed through the said reservation within three years after the passage of this Act.

Proviso.
Location.

Completion.

SEC. 6. That Congress reserves the right to alter, amend, or repeal Amendment, etc. this Act, or any part thereof.

Received by the President, February 12, 1896.

[NOTE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE.-The foregoing act having. been presented to the President of the United States for his approval, and not having been returned by him to the house of Congress in which it originated within the time prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, has become a law without his approval.]

CHAP. 30.-An Act To authorize the Arkansas and Choctaw Railway Company to construct and operate a railway through the Choctaw Nation, in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes.

February 24, 1896.

Arkansas and Choctaw Railway Company

Location.

Width.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Arkansas and Choctaw Railway Company, a corporation created under and by virtue of the granted right of way, laws of the State of Arkansas, be, and the same is hereby, invested Indian Territory. and empowered with the right of locating, constructing, owning, equipping, operating, using, and maintaining a railway and telegraph and telephone line through the Choctaw Nation, in the Indian Territory, beginning at the point on the boundary line between the said Choctaw Nation and the county of Little River, in the State of Arkansas, where the said railway may run, when constructed in the State of Arkansas, thence running, by the most feasible and practicable route, in a northwesterly direction through the said Choctaw Nation, to such point at or near the town of Atoka, in said nation, as said corporation may select, with the right to construct, use, and maintain such tracks, turn-outs, and sidings as said company may deem it to their interest to construct along and upon the right of way and depot grounds herein provided for. SEC. 2. That said corporation is authorized to take and use for all purposes of a railway and telegraph and telephone line, and for no other purpose, a right of way one hundred feet in width through the said Choctaw Nation, for the said Arkansas and Choctaw Railway Company, the same to be fifty feet on either side of the track of said railway from the center thereof, and, in addition to the above right of way, to take and use a strip of land one hundred feet in width, with a length of two thousand feet, for stations at such points as the said railway company may deem to their interest to erect, with the right to use such additional grounds, where there are heavy cuts or fills, as may be necessary for the construction and maintenance of the roadbed and track, not exceeding fifty feet in width on each side of the said right of way, or as much thereof as may be included in said cut or fill: Provided, That no more than said addition of land shall be taken for any one station: Provided further, That no part of the lands herein authorized to be taken shall be leased or sold by the company, and they shall not be used except in such manner and for such purposes only as shall be necessary for the construction and convenient operation of said railroad, telegraph, and telephone lines; and when any portion thereof shall cease to be so used, such portion shall revert to the Choctaw Nation.

Stations, etc.

Provisos.

Limit.

Reversion, etc.

SEC. 3. That before said railway and telegraph and telephone line Damages. shall be constructed through any lands held by individual occupants, according to the laws, usages, and custom of the Choctaw Nation, full compensation shall be made to such occupants for all property to be

Appraisal.
Referees.

Oath.

Vacancies, etc.

taken or damage done by reason of the construction of such railway and telegraph and telephone line. In case of failure to make amicable settlement with any occupant, such compensation shall be determined by the appraisement of disinterested referees, to be appointed, one (who shall act as chairman) by the President, one by the principal chief of the Choctaw Nation, and one by said railway company, who, before entering upon the duties of their appointment, shall take and subscribe, before a judge or clerk of a United States court, or United States commissioner, an oath that they will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of their appointment, which oath, duly certified, shall be returned with their award to and filed with, the Secretary of the Interior within sixty days from the completion thereof; and upon the failure of either party to make such appointment within thirty days after the appointment made by the President, the vacancy shall be filled by the judge of the United States court for the central district of the Indian Territory upon the application of the other party. A majority of said referees shall be competent to act in case of the absence of a member, after due notice. The chairman of such board shall appoint the time and place for all hearings: Provided, That the hearings shall be within the county where the property is situated for which compensation is being assessed for the taking thereof or damage thereto, and at a place as convenient as may be for said occupant, unless the said occupant and said railway company agree to have the hearing at another place. Each of said Compensation, etc. referees shall receive for his services the sum of four dollars per day for each day he is engaged in assessing compensation, with mileage of five cents per mile for each mile necessarily traveled in the discharge of his duties. Said board of referees shall have power to call for and examine witnesses under oath, and said witnesses shall receive the usual fees allowed witnesses by the laws of the Choctaw Nation. Costs, including compensation of the referees, shall be made a part of the award and be paid by the said railway company. In case the referees can not agree, then any two of them are authorized to make the award.

Proviso.
Hearings.

Costs, etc.

Appeal to district court.

Determination.

Costs on appeal.

Work to begin on paying double award.

Crossings, etc.

SEC. 4. That either party being dissatisfied with the findings and award of the referees shall have the right, within sixty days after the filing of the award, as hereinbefore provided, and notice of the same, to appeal by original petition to the United States district court for the central district of the Indian Territory sitting at the place nearest and most convenient to the land and property which is sought to be condemned; and said suit shall then proceed for determining the damage done to the property in the same and like manner as other civil actions in the said court. The said court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine the subject-matter of said petition, and the same shall be heard and determined by said court in accordance with the laws now in force or hereafter enacted for the government of said court; and the measure of damages in condemning property authorized by this Act shall be that prescribed by the laws of the State of Arkansas, in so far as the same are not inconsistent with the laws now in force or hereafter enacted for the government of the United States courts in said Choctaw Nation in such cases. If the judgment of the court shall be for a larger sum than the award of the referees, the costs of the litigation shall be adjudged against the railway company, and if the judgment of the court shall be for the same as the award of the referees, then the costs shall be adjudged against the appellant. If the judgment of the court shall be for a smaller sum than the award of the referees, then the costs shall be adjudged against the party claiming damages. When proceedings shall have been commenced in court the railway company shall pay double the amount of the award into court to abide the judgment thereof, and then shall have the right to enter upon the property sought to be condemned and proceed with the construction of the railroad and telegraph and telephone line. If such appeal is not taken as herein before set forth, the award shall be conclusive and final, and shall have the same force and effect as a judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction.

SEC. 5. That said railway company is authorized and hereby given