United States Ex Rel Herman Knight v. Franklin Lane

• Decision Date: 17 March 1913
• Docket Number: No. 163,163
• Citation: 228 U.S. 6,57 L.Ed. 709,33 S.Ct. 407
• Parties: UNITED STATES EX REL. HERMAN KNIGHT, Plff. in Err., v. FRANKLIN K. LANE, Secretary of the Interior
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

228 U.S. 6

33 S.Ct. 407

57 L.Ed. 709

UNITED STATES EX REL. HERMAN KNIGHT, Plff. in Err.,

v FRANKLIN K. LANE, Secretary of the Interior.

No. 163.

Argued March 5 and 6, 1913.

Decided March 17, 1913.

Retirement of Walter L. Fisher as Secretary of the Interior suggested, and Franklin K. Lane, his successor in office, substituted March 6, 1913, as the party defendant in error herein.

Messrs. Frederic D. McKenney, James M. Givens, James W. Zevely, Richard William Stoutz, John Spalding Flannery, William Hitz, and Edgar Smith for plaintiff in error.

Assistant Attorney General Cobb and Solicitor General Bullitt for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from page 7 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Van Devanter delivered the opinion of the court:

This writ of error brings up for review a judgment of the court of appeals of the District of Columbia (35 App. D. C. 429), affirming a judgment of the supreme court of the District, refusing a writ of mandamus commanding the Secretary of the Interior to deliver to the relator a patent for a tract of land claimed by the latter as a Cherokee allotment. The facts upon which the decision must turn are these:

On August 21, 1907, a parcel of allottable land containing 50 acres, in the Cherokee Nation, was selected as an allotment for Eva Waters, a minor Cherokee child belonging to the class whose rights to participate in the distribution and allotment of the tribal funds and lands were sustained in the recent decision in Gritts v. Fisher, 224 U. S. 640, 56 L. ed. 928, 32 Sup. Ct. Rep. 580. A week later William Twist and the relator Herman Knight, enrolled Cherokees, respectively selected the westerly 20 acres and the easterly 30 acres of the same tract as allotments for themselves, and in furtherance of their selections instituted contests against that of Eva Waters. A hearing on Twist's contest resulted in a decision in his favor by the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. On an appeal to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that decision was reversed, and a further appeal carried the contest before the Secretary of the Interior. Knight's contest was held in abeyance, before the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes, awaiting the outcome of Twist's. In this situation negotiations were had between representatives of Twist and Knight and the parents of Eva Waters, acting in her behalf, looking to a withdrawal of her selection, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, in order that there might be no obstacle to the allowance of the later selections of Twist and Knight. The negotiations resulted in an application to the Secretary for permission to effect such an adjustment of the two contests on the payment, for the use of the minor, of an adequate consideration for her potential interest in the land. After a hearing on this application, the Secretary, on May 10, 1909, rendered a decision approving the proposed adjustment on condition that there be paid, for the use of the minor, $10,000 for her claim to the 20 acres in Twist's contest, and $15,000 for her claim to the 30 acres in Knight's. The Secretary then sent to the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes the following telegram: 'Lands in Twist and Knight cases against Waters will be awarded to Twist and Knight, respectively, upon payment of $25,000 for use of minor Waters. Contestants given including 15th to make payment. . . . Prepare deeds to respective contestants and have them executed and forwarded here for approval. Report promptly by wire.' Within the time named the $25,000 was paid to the Commissioner, for the use of the minor, and thereupon patents to Twist and Knight were executed by the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation and were forwarded by the Commissioner to the Secretary for his approval.

Under the regulations governing the institution and disposition of contests over allotments a party was accorded thirty days after a decision by the Secretary within which to apply for a rehearing. Within this period the parents of Eva Waters, acting in her behalf, applied to the Secretary for a rehearing of the matter covered by his decision of May 10, 1909, it being asserted in that connection that her potential interest was worth much more than the sum named in the decision, and that her parents' consent to the adjustment had been grounded on inaccurate and misleading information. The application was entertained, and, after a hearing thereon in which Twist and Knight participated, the Secretary rendered a further decision vacating the former one, and disapproving the proposed adjustment, on the ground that the consideration which the minor was to receive was not at all adequate. The Secretary also ruled that both contests should be considered and disposed of on their merits and that the $25,000 should be returned. The money was not actually repaid, but this may have been because those who paid it were as yet unwilling to take it back. In consequence of his later decision the Secretary declined to approve the patent executed by the principal chief, or to permit them to be recorded or delivered.

On July 16, 1909, Knight's contest was called for hearing before the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes in pursuance of the Secretary's direction that it be considered and disposed of on its merits, and Knight then appeared and protested against any further steps therein, insisting that, in virtue of the matters here recited, he had acquired a fixed and absolute right to the patent, and that the administrative officers were without...