Tully v. United States

32 Ct. Cl. 1, 1896 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 11, 1800 WL 2053
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedDecember 7, 1896
DocketIndian Depredations, 1514
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 32 Ct. Cl. 1 (Tully v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tully v. United States, 32 Ct. Cl. 1, 1896 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 11, 1800 WL 2053 (cc 1896).

Opinion

Peelle, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court :

Judgment was rendered in this case against the United States and the Apache Indians December 5, 1892, for $15,215 on an agreed stipulation under the provisions of section 4, Indian depredation act March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. L., 851).

On December 4,1894, the defendants filed their motion for a new trial under the provisions of Eevised Statutes, section 1088, setting forth that “ in the award of said judgment wrong and injustice was doné the United States in this, that—

u (1)' The record does not show and the evidence does not prove that Esteban Ochoa, the deceased partner of the claimant, was a citizen of the United States at the time of the alleged depredation.
“ (2) Suit may not be maintained against the Apache Indians generally.
“ (3) The depredations alleged were not committed by the Apache Indians.
“(4) At the time of the alleged depredations the Gila Apaches, who committed the depredations, were not in amity with the United States.
(5) The Secretary of the Interior had therefore no authority to allow the claim in any sum.
[3]*3(6) Tbe Assistant Attorney-General was therefore not authorized to stipulate for judgment in any sum.
“ (7) The Court of Claims was without jurisdiction to render judgment on the stipulation filed.”

On the argument of the case the citizenship of Esteban Ochoa, the deceased partner, was conceded by the defendants’ counsel, and we think rightly, as the admitted evidence sufficiently establishes that fact, as well as the citizenship of Tully.

As to the second ground assigned for a new trial, i. e., that “suit may not be maintained against the Apache Indians generally,” that question was settled in the Graham Case (30 C. Cls. R., 318) as to the Sioux Indians, which decision was rendered since the filing of the defendants’ motion herein.

That case differs, however, from the one at bar in this, that the bands of the Sioux Indians who united in the last treaty with the Sioux as a nation (15 Stat. L., 635) were also under separate treaty relations, while in the case at bar the different bauds of the Apache Indians were never under separate treaty relations. But we will discuss this difference further along.

The depredations were committed, as alleged in the petitions, on the following dates, viz: September 1,1867, in New Mexico, near the Mimbres, a rivulet about 200 miles east of Tucson, Arizona Territory, and July 22,1868, at Ciénega de los Pinos, 35 miles southeast of Tucson; May 11, 1869, at Canyon del Oro, 30 miles northeast of Tucson, and December 18, 1870, about 40 miles east of Tucson, in Arizona Territory.

The total loss claimed was $21,520, while the total allowance by the Secretary of the Interior Department was $15,215, as follows:

Eor the depredation of September 1, 1867. $3,150
Eor the depredation of July 22,1868 . 3,170
Eor the depredation of May 11, 1869. 7,225
Eor the depredation of December 18, 1870. 1, 670
Making in the aggregate, as above stated. 15,215

The dates of tbe several depredations stated in the stipulation upon which the judgment was rendered are July 22,1868, May 11,1865, and December 18, 1870; but inasmuch as the judgment was rendered for the sum of $15,215, which included the allowance of $3,150 for the depredation of September 1, 1867, we conclude that the omission of that date from the stipulation, as well as stating one of the depredations as May [4]*411,1865, when it should have been 1869, were clerical errors. Such was doubtless the view of counsel on both sides, as they treat the depredations as having been committed on the several dates first stated.

So that the amity of the Indians on each of the dates — in 1867, 1868,1869, and 1870 — is essential to the validity of judgment.

It was conceded in the argument that if the band or tribe to which the depredating Indians belonged was at the time of the several depredations in amity with the United States, then the judgment rendered should not be disturbed.

Fully concurring in this view of the defendants’ counsel, we will proceed to consider the questions (1) as to what particular Indians committed the depredations; (2) what was their political status in relation to the United States, and (3) was the band or tribe to which such Indians belonged in amity with the United States at the time of the several depredations set forth in the claimant’s petition and for which judgment was rendered.

The defendants contend that the several depredations were committed by the Gila (Gileno) tribe of Apache Indians, and that as this tribe constitutes but a small portion of the Apache nation, it was an error to render judgment against the Apache Indians generally.

The contention of the claimant is that although the depredations were committed by particular bands of Apache Indians, still the Apache nation as such is alone responsible therefor, because it is the only political or tribal body recognized by the United States by treaty, no separate treaties having been entered into with the different tribes or bands comprising the nation.

We think the evidence in this case clearly establishes the facts, as conceded by the claimant’s counsel, that the first depredation was committed by the Mimbres (Mímbrenos) band of Gila Apache Indians in the vicinity of their home near the Mimbres, a rivulet in New Mexico some 200 miles east of Tucson, Ariz., and that the three other depredations were committed within 40 miles southeast, northeast, and east of Tucson, Ariz., by the Arivaipa band of Apache Indians, which band the defendants say was perhaps also a part of the Gila tribe.

So that while the claimant concedes that the depredations were committed by a less subdivision of the Apache nation [5]*5than the defendants do, still both parties practically concede that the Indians committing the depredations belonged to the Gila tribe of Apache Indians.

In speaking of the subdivisions of the Apache nation, the defendants in their brief say, “The Apaches are a race or people having many separate and distinct tribes, themselves independent organizations, located at different agencies or reservations, and enjoying annuities and receiving rations to suit their various wants.”

That statement is in harmony with the report of the Director of the Bureau of Ethnology for 1885-86 (pp. 55, 56), wherein it is shown that the Apache Indians belong to the Southern Group of the Athapaskan family, numbering 23,409, making their homes in Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico, and being subdivided into the following principal tribes: Arivaipa, Chi-ricahua, Coyotero, Faraone, Gileño, Jicarilla, Lipan, Llanero, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Mogollon, Naisha, Navajo, Pinal Coyo-tero, Tchíkún, Tchishi.

At the time of that report, as therein stated, the tribes were grouped together on reservations and separately numbered as follows:

Southern Group, consisting- of Apache, Lipan, and Navajo:
Apache children at Carlisle, Pa. 142

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Bluebook (online)
32 Ct. Cl. 1, 1896 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 11, 1800 WL 2053, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tully-v-united-states-cc-1896.