United States v. Myers

206 F. 387, 124 C.C.A. 269, 1913 U.S. App. LEXIS 1551
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMay 3, 1913
DocketNo. 3,825
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 206 F. 387 (United States v. Myers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Myers, 206 F. 387, 124 C.C.A. 269, 1913 U.S. App. LEXIS 1551 (8th Cir. 1913).

Opinion

VAN VALKENBURGH, District Judge.

[1] Plaintiff in error instituted this action in the district court of Caddo county, in the then territory of Oklahoma. November 16, 1905, it filed an amended petition, the following paragraphs of which are especially pertinent to the questions here to be considered:

“That on the 5th day of June, 1901. the following described tract of land, to wit, the northeast quarter of section thirteen, township six north, range sixteen west of the Indian meridian, in Kiowa county, Oklahoma Territory, was duly set apart by order of the Secretary of the Interior from the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache reservations for the use of the Rainy Mountain Boarding School commonly know as the Rainy Mountain Indian Training School, a school established by the government of the United States for the education and civilization of Indians; that said tract of land was at all of the times hereinafter stated and now is exclusively used for the use of the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache Indians and is and was at all the times hereinafter mentioned Indian country within the meaning of section 2148 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and was and is under the control of Col. James IP. Randlett as United States Indian agent for the Kiowa agency.
“Plaintiff further avers that the defendant, L. W. Myers, has for the past four years been in the business of loaning money for himself and others at usurious 'rates of interest to Kiowa, Comanche and Apache Indians, wards of the government and under the charge and control of said James P. Rand-lett, as United States Indian agent, and which said Indians received allotment of land during the year 1900 and 1901 under the act of Congress of June 6, 1900.”

It is then further averred that the defendant in error unlawfully trespassed upon the land in question for the purpose of collecting usurious interest from the Indians; that his presence and purpose were detrimental to the welfare of the Indians; that he was ej ected from said tract by order of the Indian agent in charge, and notified that he must not return thereon under penalty of law; that thereafter, in defiance of such order, defendant in error returned and twice repeated the trespass. The petition in two counts prays judgment against the defendant in error in the sum of $2,000, under section 2148 of the Revised Statutes, which reads as follows:

“If any person who has been removed from the Indian country shall thereafter at any time return or be found within the Indian country, he shall be liable to a penalty of one thousand dollars.”

To this petition the defendant in error interposed a general demurrer, which was sustained, and judgment was entered dismissing the cause; thereafter plaintiff in error perfected its appeal, which, after [389]*389the admission of Oklahoma as a state passed to the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, by which the judgment was affirmed. The affirmance of this judgment, sustaining the demurrer of defendant in error and dismissing the cause, is the only error assigned. The court below based its action upon the ground that the land in question had ceased to be Indian country at the time of the alleged violation, and therefore that section 2148 of the Revised Statutes was inapplicable.

The act of June 6, 1900, c. 813, 31 Stat. 676, was passed in ratification of an agreement between the United States and the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache tribes of Indians in Oklahoma entered into October 21, 1892, whereby, in return for the allotment of land in sever-alty to the individual members of these tribes, and other good and valuable considerations specified, all these tribal lands, including that in question, were relinquished to the United States. The comprehensiveness of the grant made is disclosed by the following quotations from the act:

“Subject to the allotment of land, In severalty to the individual members of the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache tribes of Indians in the Indian Territory, as hereinafter provided for, and subject to the setting apart as grazing lands for said Indians, 1'our hundred and eighty thousand acres of land as hereinafter provided for, and subject to the conditions hereinafter imposed, and for the considerations hereinafter mentioned, the said Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache Indians hereby cede, convey, transfer, relinquish, and surrender, forever and absolutely, without any reservation whatever, express or implied, all their claim, title., and interest, of every kind and character, in and to the lands embraced in the following described tract of country in the Indian Territory, to wit: [Here follows the specific description.] * * *
“As a further and only additional consideration for the cession of territory and relinquishment of title, claim, and interest in and to the lands as aforesaid. the United States agrees to pay to the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache tribes of Indians, in the Indian Territory, the sum of two million (2,000,000) dollars. * * *

The only reference made to the sections of land of which the tract here involved forms a part is the following:

"'That sections sixteen and thirty-six. thirteen and thirty-three, of the lands hereby acquired in each township shall not he subject to entry, but shall be reserved, sections sixteen and thirty-six for the use of the common schools, and sections thirteen and thirty-three for university, agricultural colleges, normal schools, and public buildings of the territory and future state of Oklahoma; and in case either of said sections, or parts thereof, is lost to said territory by reason of allotment under this act or otherwise, the governor thereof is hereby authorized to locate other lands not occupied in quantity equal to the loss.”

June 20, 1901, the Secretary of the Interior issued an order reserving from the public domain, thus ceded, certain lands for agency, school, religious, and other public uses. That order, in so far as it pertains to the subject-matter of this controversy, is in the following terms:

Schedule of land reserved for agency, school, religions, and other public uses in the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache reservation in Oklahoma, in accordance with the sixth section of the act of Congress approved June 6, 1900 [390]*390(Public No. 185) and under instruction of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, dated June 11, 1900, and approved by the Secretary of the Interior.
Permanent Name 'ubdivision Sec. Tn. R. A.
Rainy Mountain Boarding School All 18 6 N 16 W 640
All 14 6 N 16 W 640
All 23 6 N 16 W 640
All 24 6 N 16 W 640.

i The government claims that this school tract, now occupied as a boarding or training school, either remained Indian country by virtue of some provision or reservation contained in the treaty and act of cession, or was made such by the executive order aforesaid.

. It must be and is conceded that if this land is not Indian country, as spoken of in section 2148 of the Revised Statutes, upon which the petition is founded, then no cause of action is stated against the defendant. Indian country was first defined in the Act of June 30, 1834, c. 161, 4 Stat. 729. It was there declared:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Steven B.
2013 NMCA 078 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 2013)
State v. Steven B.
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2013
United States v. M.C.
311 F. Supp. 2d 1281 (D. New Mexico, 2004)
CMG v. State
594 P.2d 798 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1979)
C. M. G. v. State
1979 OK CR 39 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1979)
U. S. Ex Rel. Cook v. Parkinson
396 F. Supp. 473 (D. South Dakota, 1975)
Tooisgah v. United States
186 F.2d 93 (Tenth Circuit, 1950)
United States v. One Chevrolet Automobile
16 F. Supp. 453 (D. Nevada, 1936)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
206 F. 387, 124 C.C.A. 269, 1913 U.S. App. LEXIS 1551, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-myers-ca8-1913.