Winton v. Amos Bounds v. Same London v. Same Field v. Same Beckham v. Same Vernon v. Same Howe v. Same 14 15, 1919
| Decision Date | 05 January 1920 |
| Docket Number | No. 8,No. 9,No. 6,No. 10,No. 7,No. 12,No. 11,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 |
| Citation | 65 L.Ed. 684,41 S.Ct. 342,255 U.S. 373 |
| Parties | WINTON et al. v. AMOS et al. BOUNDS v. SAME. LONDON v. SAME. FIELD et al. v. SAME. BECKHAM v. SAME. VERNON v. SAME. HOWE v. SAME. Argued Jan. 14 and 15, 1919. Restored to Docket for Reargument |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
[Syllabus from pages 373-375 intentionally omitted] Mr. William W. Scott, of Washington, D. C., for appellants Winton and others.
Mr. Guion Miller, of Baltimore, Md., for other appellants.
Mr. Assistant Attorney General Davis, for the United States.
These are appeals from a judgment of the Court of Claims rejecting claims for alleged services rendered and expenses incurred in the matter of the claims of the Mississippi Choctaws to citizenship in the Choctaw Nation. The decision of the Court of Claims is reported in 51 Ct. Cl. 284. In the Winton Case (No. 6), a request for additional findings, equivalent to an application for rehearing, was denied, 52 Ct. Cl. 90. The appeals were taken under section 182, Jud. Code (Comp. St. § 1173).
The jurisdiction of the court below arose under an Act of April 26, 1906 (chapter 1876, § 9, 34 Stat. 137, 140), and an amendatory provision in the Act of May 29, 1908 (chapter 216, § 27, 35 Stat. 444, 457). The former provided:
The original petition was filed October 11, 1906, by Wirt K. Winton, one of the heirs at law of Charles F. Winton, in behalf of himself and the other heirs and also in behalf of the associates and assigns of Charles F. Winton. Thereafter it was provided by the amendatory act that the court be authorized and directed to hear, consider, and adjudicate claims of like character on the part of William N. Vernon, J. S. Bounds, and Chester Howe, their associates or assigns, and render judgment on the same principle of quantum meruit; the judgment, if any, to be paid from 'any funds now or hereafter due such Choctaws as individuals by the United States'; Vernon, Bounds, and Howe were authorized to intervene in the pending suit of the estate of Winton, and it was
Thereafter a second amended petition was filed by Wirt K. Winton, as administrator of the estate of Charles F. Winton, deceased, in behalf of the estate of Winton and also of Winton's associates and assigns. In this petition James K. Jones, administrator of James K. Jones, deceased, and Robert L. Owen in his own behalf, joined. Intervening petitions were filed by William N. Vernon; Chester Howe, who died pending suit and in whose place his administratrix, Katie A. Howe, was substituted; and several others.
As shown by the findings the claim of Winton and associates arose as follows: By article 3 of the treaty of September 27, 1830 (7 Stat. 333), known as the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the Choctaw Nation of Indians ceded to the United States the entire country possessed by them east of the Mississippi river, and agreed to remove beyond the Mississippi during the three years next succeeding. But, in view of the fact that some of the Choctaws preferred not to move, it was provided in article 14 that each head of a family who desired to remain and become a citizen of the states should be permitted to do so, and should thereupon be entitled to a reservation of one section of land, with an additional half section for each unmarried child living with him over ten years of age, and a quarter section for each child under ten. If they resided upon said lands intending to become citizens of the states for five years after the ratification of the treaty, a grant in fee simple should issue; and it was further provided:
'Persons who claim under this article shall not lose the privilege of a Choctaw citizen, but if they ever remove are not to be entitled to any portion of the Choctaw annuity.'
By another article (19) reservations were provided for certain prominent Choctaws by name and for limited numbers of heads of families and captains.
The mixed-blood Choctaws who elected to remain in Mississippi were provided for under article 19, while the full bloods who remained and elected to become citizens of the state were provided for under article 14; hence full-blood Mississippi Choctaws have always been called 'Fourteenth Article claimants.' Choctaws who remained in Mississippi under that article adopted the dress, habits, customs, and manner of living of the white citizens of the state. They had no tribal or band organization or laws of their own, but were subject to the laws of the state. They did not live upon any reservation, nor did the government exercise supervision or control over them. No funds were appropriated for their support, though much land was given to them. Neither the Indian Office nor the Department of the Interior assumed or exercised jurisdiction over them, and they never recognized them either individually or as bands, but regarded them as citizens of the state of Mississippi, and the Department held it had no authority to approve contracts made with them.
Pending the negotiation of the treaty, the Legislature of the state of Mississippi passed an act, January 19, 1830, abolishing the tribal customs of Indians not recognized by the common law or the law of the state, making them citizens of the state, with the same rights, immunities, and privileges as free white persons, extending over them the laws of the state, validating tribal marriages, and abolishing the tribal offices and posts of power. Recognition of their citizenship was afterwards embodied in the state Constitution.
The right of the Fourteenth Article Mississippi Choctaws to citizenship in the parent tribe appears to have been recognized at one time by the Choctaw Nation west, which had removed to Indian Territory pursuant to the treaty. On December 24, 1889, the Nation, through its Legislature, memorialized Congress, reciting that there were 'large numbers of Choctaws yet in the states of Mississippi and Louisiana who are entitled to all the rights and privileges of citizenship in the Choctaw Nation,' and requesting the United States government to make provision for the emigration of these Choctaws from said states to the Choctaw Nation. In 1891 a commission was provided for and funds appropriated by the Choctaw Council for the removal and subsistence of Mississippi Choctaws to the Nation, and during that year 181 were removed and admitted to citizenship.
By Act of March 3, 1893 (chapter 209, § 16, 27 Stat. 612, 645), Congress created the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, familiarly known as the Dawes Commission, with the object of procuring through negotiation the extinguishment of the national or tribal title to the lands of those tribes in the Indian Territory, either by their cession to the United States or allotment in severalty among the Indians, with a view to the ultimate creation of a state. By act of June 10, 1896 (chapter 398, 29 Stat. 321, 339, 340), the Commission was directed to make a complete roll of citizenship of each of the Five Civilized Tribes, and applicants for enrollment were to make application to the Commission within three months from the passage of the act and have the right of appeal from its decision to the 'United States District Court' (construed by this court, in Stephens v. Cherokee Nation, 174 U. S. 445, 476, 477, 19 Sup. Ct. 722, 43 L. Ed. 1041, to mean the United States Court in the Indian Territory).
At this time the full-blood Mississippi Choctaws were extremely poor, living in insanitary conditions and working at manual labor for daily wages. Their children were not permitted to attend schools provided for the whites, and they were denied all social and political privileges. As already appears, they were receiving neither care nor attention from the Indian Office or the Department of the Interior; and they were so far overlooked by the Dawes Commission that the time limited by the act just mentioned expired without their being included in the enrollment.
The activities of Winton and associates for which recovery is asked date from this point. Soon after the passage of the Act of June 10, 1896, Messrs. Owen and Winton entered into an agreement under which the latter was to proceed to Mississippi and procure contracts with such Indians as might be entitled to participate in any distribution of lands or moneys of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, arranging to secure evidence, powers of attorney, and contracts, as prescribed by Mr. Owen; Owen was to prepare the necessary forms and represent the claims of the Indians before the proper officers of the United States or Indian governments, with the assistance and co-operation of...
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