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That thing was pulled off and there were about 400 people in the hall. There were 350 got up and walked out, all Chippewa Indians of Minnesota; and 40 or 50 interlopers stayed there in the middle of the hall. It was a pitiful sight to watch them sitting on the roof there bunched in front of Dickens. We went to another hall, and we were settled and got into session in the regular order of things under the constitution. The president took the chair; every man there, every officer, took his place. The committee on credentials was appointed and the credentials were turned over to them. The convention took a recess at that time, I might say, and walked over where we just left. What did I see there? A bunch sitting there on the roof yelling the school yell: "We thank you, Dickens; we thank you, Dickens.” A vote of thanks! A vote of thanks for that kind of stuff. That is on his record. He shows that in his report, and I say so.

Now, then, there are five local councils on the White Earth Reservation. What purpose are they for? These mixed bloods-when I say mixed bloods I refer to that gang of men, because there are lots of mixed bloods in Minnesota that have a right there the same as I. and those full bloods regarded them as their own certainly, but these other fellows they call mixed bloods; they do not call us mixed bloods by any means; they live around the White Earth village. There are 700 or 800 of them there. They have a local council there, and at that local council they elected 65 or 66 delegates who pretended to represent the Indians of the White Earth Reservation. They do not recognize the other delegates of the local councils. They elected their own delegates and went to their own council. They haven't got one man, an Indian, that comes from the other four local councils. That is the kind of council they have. It does not recognize the Chippewa Indians.

You need not take my statement for it. I have a sworn statement-affidavits; if you will let me submit them I would like to do it and get in the record those facts.

The CHAIRMAN. I do not want to make the record too extensive. You may put in one of them.

Mr. BALLINGER. Those are all matters of official reports in the department. Can not the official reports from the Secretary of the Interior be submitted instead of those affidavits?

Mr. COFFEY. This that I have has not been referred to the department because the department is lukewarm.

Mr. JEFFERIS. Who made the reports? Dickens?

Mr. COFFEY. Our vice president; the vice president of our general council and the president and the chiefs.

Mr. SWANK. How many of these affidavits have you? A great many?

Mr. COFFEY. Nine official reports.

Mr. SEARS. Let me suggest that you put in one of these affidavits and then say there are also eight or nine similar affidavits signed by so and so, giving the names.

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Mr. COFFEY. Yes.

Mr. SWANK. Those are full bloods who signed the affidavits?

Mr. COFFEY. They belong to the full-blood faction.

Mr. SWANK. Are there any full bloods among them?

Mr. COFFEY. Yes. Here is one by a chief, a full blood. They are all full bloods except one.

Mr. JEFFERIS. Are the affidavits to all intents and purposes to the same effect?

Mr. COFFEY. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Which one do you wish to file?

Mr. COFFEY. I would like to file these three. They give a clear aspect of the situation.

The CHAIRMAN. If there is no objection, we will print the three.

(The affidavits referred to are as follows:)

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Wah-we-yea-cumig, first being duly sworn according to law, deposes and says that he is one of the chiefs of the Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians occupying the White Earth Indian Reservation in the State of Minnesota, and the

number of persons in said Mille Lacs Band of Indians are 1,236, more or less, according to the census of said band of Indians; that the said Mille Lacs Band of Indians have an organized local council and elect delegates on the first Tuesday of June each year to represent them and to attend the meetings of the council of the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota (Inc.) at the annual meetings of said council at Cass Lake, Minn., and elsewhere; that the incorporated council represents the full-blood Indians and their mixed-blood relatives having vested rights in the property of the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota, as distinct from the council representing the John G. Morrison, jr., Benj. L. Fairbanks, and the Beaulieus and their relatives who do not represent any of the members of the said Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota; that the said incorporated council is the council of which Benjamin Caswell is the president at this time. Deponent further saith not.

Witness:

WAH-WE-YEA-CUMIG (his thumb mark).

GEO. W. EARTH.

Subscribed and sworn to before me, a notary public in and for said county and State, this 5th day of November, A. D. 1921.

HAROLD H. EMERSON, Notary Public, Mahnomen County, Minn.

My commission expires September 15, 1923.

AFFIDAVIT OF BENJAMIN CASWELL.

STATE OF MINNESOTA,

County of Cass, ss:

Benjamin Caswell, first being duly sworn according to law, deposes and says that he is the duly elected president of the Council of Chippewa Indians of Minnesota (Inc.); that the said council is incorporated under the provision of chapter 58 of the General Statutes of Minnesota of 1913, and acts amendatory thereof; that the incorporated council is the original General Council of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota, which was organized May 8 and 9, 1913, at Cass Lake, Minn., by the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota; that said incorporated council adopted a constitution and by-laws. and said incorporated council is composed of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota located on the White Earth Indian Reservation and other ceded reservations as follows:

The Mille Lacs Band, of the White Earth Reservation.
The Mississippi Bands, of the White Earth Reservation.
The Otter Tail Bands, of the White Earth Reservation.

The Gull Lake Band, of the Mississippi Bands, White Earth Reservation.
Mille Lacs Band of nonremovals, White Earth rolls.

The Leech Lake Pillager removals, White Earth Reservation.

The Cass Lake Bands, ceded reservation in Minnesota.

The Winnibigoshish Bands, ceded reservation in Minnesota. The Leech Lake Band, ceded reservation in Minnesota. The White Oak Point Band, ceded reservation in Minnesota. The Nett Lake Band, ceded reservation in Minnesota. That each of the said bands of Chippewa Indians named above have organized local councils as provided by the constitution of said incorporated council, which forms a constituent part of the Council of the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota (Inc.) and affiliate with the said incorporated council to represent said bands of Indians in their tribal affairs, as distinct from the council representing the John G. Morrison, jr., Benjamin L. Fairbanks, and the Beaulieus and their relatives, who do not represent any of the bands of Indians above named, further deponent saith not.

Witness:

DANA V. WARDNER.

BENJAMIN CASWELL.

Subscribed and sworn to before me, a notary public in and for said county and State, this 14th day of November, A. D. 1921.

DANA V. WARDNER, Notary Public, Cass County, Minn.

My commission expires September 29, 1925.

Mr. COFFEY. I would like to file a statement of Attorney Shearman, who investigated the situation, for the information of the committee.

The CHAIRMAN. If there is no objection, we will print it.

(The statement referred to is as follows:)

REPORT OF THOMAS G. SHEARMAN IN RE INVESTIGATION OF THE ENROLLMENT OF CERTAIN MIXED-BLOOD CHIPPEWA INDIANS ON THE WHITE EARTH RESERVATION IN MINNESOTA.

Submitted September 11, 1913. Filed January 5, 1914. Court of Claims.

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The "bands" referred to in this extract from the said treaty will be seen by reference to the preamble to said treaty quoted from, to article 2 of the treaty of May 7, 1864 (13 Stat., 693), are the Mississippi, Pillager, and Winnibigoshish Bands of Chippewa Indians, and the consideration for the provision of the treaty of 1867, by which 160 acres were to be given for cultivation to members of such bands, was the surrendering of lands in Minnesota to which these respóndents just named, being Lake Superior Chippewas, had no interest whateyer for the lands surrendered under the treaty line west of the line established by the treaty of September 30, 1854, referred to under VI, page 8. The fact that these specifically named respondents received these allotments or assignments under the treaty of 1867 in the years 1881 and 1883 as Chippewa Indians of the Mississippi" is only evidence of the fact that they were such upon the official rolls, which is not to be wondered at, since their parents were likewise enrolled. It does not alter the fact that they were and are, in fact, mixed bloods of the Lake Superior Chippewas, who have never been adopted by the Mississippi Chippewas.

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In the instructions given to me in connection with my detail of April 29, 1912, it was directed that my report to you should also contain my findings" and my 66 recommendations."

FINDINGS.

From the record of the hearings held, as above referred to, and from such other evidence as has been made a part of this record, I find as follows:

1. That the Lake Superior Tribe and the Mississippi Tribe of the Chippewa Indians were at one time a single nation, possessing, in common, lands in what is now the northern portion of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

2. That by the treaty of September 30, 1854, the complete separation of these two tribes was recognized, and the Lake Superior Chippewas ceded to the United States the eastern portion and relinquished to the Mississippi Chippewas the western portion of the lands formerly so possessed in common.

3. That by the said treaty of 1854 certain reservations were set aside for the Lake Superior Chippewas in the said eastern portion ceded to the United States, and of these there were three, the Fond du Lac, the Grand Portage, and the Bois Fort Reservations, located in the territory which afterwards formed the extreme northeasterly portion of Minnesota:

4. That the act of January 14, 1889, providing for an agreement between the United States and certain bands of Chippewa Indians in Minnesota with reference to removals to the White Earth Reservation, contemplated that only Indians belonging to such bands or tribe of Chippewa Indians as had title in and to reservations in Minnesota should enter into the agreement.

5. That the respondents named in the list VI (p. 10) (Sophia Bellefeuille, Benjamin L. Fairbanks, Julia E. Beaulieu, Clement H. Beaulieu, and others) belong to no such band or tribe of Chippewa Indians as was mentioned in the said act of January 14, 1889, neither (a) to the White Earth band where they or their immediate ancestors were residing and improperly drawing annuities as Mississippi Chippewas. While, in fact, they were Lake Superior mixed bloods who had never been made members of the Mississippi tribe either by adoption or intermarriage, nor (b) to the Fond-du-Lac, Grand Portage, or Bois Fort Band, in whose reservations, at the time of said act, they had no title or interest in whatever.

6. That the connection with these respondents (Sophia Bellefeuille, Benjamin L. Fairbanks, Julia E. Beaulieu, Clement H. Beaulieu, and others) with the Mississippi Chippewas at Crow Wing and subsequently at White Earth, through which they were enabled to receive payments or allotments designed for the Mississippi Chippewas, was unauthorized and a fraud upon said Mississippi Chippewas, to whom such money and such property rightfully belonged and still belongs.

7. That the respondents named in said list (Sophia Bellefeuille, Banjamin L. Fairbanks, Julia E. Beaulieu, Clement H. Beaulieu, and others) under VI above (p. 10) are mixed bloods belonging to the Chippewas of Lake Superior; that they are intruders upon the White Earth Reservation; and that they are and always have been without any right to share in the benefits and advantages incident to membership in the Chippewa Indian bands belonging to the said reservation.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

In view of the foregoing I have the honor to make the following recommendations:

1. That the persons named in the list VI above (p. 10) (Sophia Bellefeuille, Benjamin L. Fairbanks, Julia E. Beaulieu, Clement H. Beaulieu, and others) be at once stricken from the rolls at the Indian agency at White Earth and be held to have no further interest or right to share in the Chippewa tribal funds or in any of the benefits and advantages incident to membership in the White Earth Reservation.

3. That the persons so named be required to remove from said reservation within such period of time as you shall deem to be reasonable.

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Formerly Assistant Attorney, Department of the Interior.

Mr. COFFEY. Mr. Shearman investigated the matter and found a number of Indians had no right to be on the rolls and recommended their names be stricken from the rolls. The fact is these people were removed from office because of their attempts to defraud, and had introduced bills.

The CHAIRMAN. I do not want to be arbitrary, but you time has expired and we have other witnesses.

Mr. JEFFERIS. Who were removed from office?

Mr. COFFEY. Those men we are, contending against, those interlopers. We had elected them to office, and after they had attempted to defraud us they called a general council if the Chippewa Indians. They were asked to be there and they refused to come. They would not come.

The CHAIRMAN. All of this conversation that he has given here now will be found in the testimony before this committee on the Chippewa matter in this committee print dated January 21 to March 22, 1920, Sixty-sixth Congress, second session, entitled "Chippewas of Minnesota."

Now, Mr. Ballinger ought to have a few moments to say something in rebuttal of testimony that has been given here. If there is no objection he may have 20 minutes.

ADDITIONAL STATEMENT OF MR. WEBSTER BALLINGER.

Mr. BALLINGER. Mr. Chairman, it is physically impossible, in view of the stuff that has been injected into this record, to conclude in 29 minutes.

The CHAIRMAN. You have had already a great deal of time, and I think you ought to hit the high spots.

Mr. BALLINGER. There is so much that has gone into the record here that reflects upon work that I have done that I would like to have an opportunity to deal with it in detail. If I do not present a clean bill of health to this committee I do not want one penny. I only ask the privilege of presenting it, and I will show as rapidly as I can the true situation with reference to the matters that have been dragged in here, and I intend to speak from the official records, not from hearsay.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you made a memorandum as we went along from time to time so that you could take up the matters in sequence to some extent? Mr. BALLINGER. Yes, sir; I have. I want now to present a certified copy of the constitution and by-laws of the General Council of the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota to go into the record:

CONSTITUTION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF ALL THE CHIPPEWAS IN MINNESOTA.

We, the members of the several bands of the Chippewa Indian tribes of the State of Minnesota, in general council assembled, in order to form a more perfect union and have a central body which shall be the means of securing for

ourselves and our posterity the fullest measure of justice, do ordain and establish the following constitution:

ARTICLE 1. The name of this organization shall be the General Council of all the Chippewas of Minnesota, and its principal place of business shall be Cass Lake, Minn.

ART. 2. The officers of this organization shall be the president, a vice president, a secretary, a treasurer, an interpreter and an assistant interpreter, and an executive committee. Said executive committee shall consist of one member of each reservation or ceded reservation of the Chippewas in Minnesota, and the president of the organization shall be a member of the said committee ex officio. These officers shall be elected at this general council meeting and hereafter at the annual general council in such manner as the general council shall direct, and shall hold their respective positions until the next annual meeting of such general council, except that the president shall be elected for a term of two years, commencing with the election of the year 1917. Vacancies between such annual meetings may be filled by the executive committee for the unexpired term. That only one position shall be held in this council by a member thereof commencing with the year 1917.

ART. 3. The proceedings of the general council shall be conducted in the English language, but all proceedings shall be interpreted in Chippewa, and vice versa, as the occasion requires, by such interpreters as the general council shall select.

ART. 4. The president shall preside at all meetings of the general council during his term of office, as well as all the meetings of the executive committee, and shall perform such other duties as he may be directed to perform by the general council or the executive committee.

SEC. 2. The vice president shall perform the duties of the president in his absence.

SEC. 3. The secretary shall keep a full and accurate account of all proceedings of the general council or the executive committee in a suitable book to be provided for that purpose. He shall also conduct such correspondence as he may be directed to conduct by the general council or the executive committee or such other duties as they may direct him to perform.

SEC. 4. The treasurer shall receive and credit for all funds of the association and keep an accurate account of the same and pay them out only on the order of the president and secretary, who in turn shall not issue any orders upon the treasury except when directed to do so by the general council or the executive committee. He shall provide a suitable bond, to be approved by the executive committee, before assuming the duties of the office.

SEC. 5. The executive committee shall meet on the call of the president, or three members thereof, and transact such business of the association as may require attention between meetings of the general council. They may, by the majority vote, call special meetings of the general council.

ART. 5. Hereafter there shall be an annual meeting of the general council held at such place as the previous general council shall direct, on the second Tuesday of July of each year, beginning in the year 1914 A. D. In the event that the general council fails to designate the place for the next annual meeting the executive committee shall do so.

ART. 6. The basis of representation to the councils of this organization shall be one delegate for each 100 members or fraction thereof of the White Earth and Red Lake Reservations and reservations ceded under the provisions of the act of Congress of January 14, 1889 (25 U. S. Stats., 642). Such delegates shall be elected on the first Tuesday in June of each year by the local councils of the said reservations or ceded reservations, by posting notices consisting of not less than 20 days, specifying the time and place of the election of such delegates. Such notices shall be posted and given by the proper officers of the said local councils and said notice shall be given and potsed in each and every settlement and burg within said reservation or ceded reservation.

ART. 7. The executive committee of this organization shall provide for the organizations of the local councils among the Indians of the reservations and ceded reservations where such councils have not been organized.

ART. 8. By-laws may be provided for by any regular or special session of the general council by majority vote.

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