moneys belonging to the nation, except the annuities paid by the government of the United States or by the government of this State, which shall be paid as heretofore to the chiefs in council, or to a special committee appointed by them, to be by them distributed, according to the customs of the said Indians: the treasurer may retain such per cent of the moneys received by him as the chiefs in council shall determine to be a reasonable compensation for his services: at least five days before the expiration of his office, he shall make an account to the peace makers of all moneys received and expended by him, with the vouchers for such expenditures; which account shall be settled by the peace makers, and shall be publicly read or stated by them at the next annual election for officers. CH. XXVI. power and $7. The clerk shall have the custody of all the books, Clerk's papers, and records belonging to the nation: he shall be fur- duties. nished by the chiefs with a book of records at the expense of the nation, in which he shall enter all the proceedings and elections of any annual or special meeting of said Indians, and all orders, rules, regulations and certificates made or granted by the chiefs in council, and for that purpose shall attend the meetings of the said Indians, and the councils of the chiefs, and shall be their secretary: all orders of the chiefs for the payment of any money, shall be certified by the clerk to have been duly made, before the same shall be paid by the treasurer, and shall be retained by the treasurer as his vouchers. Every order, certificate, or other matter, certified by the clerk to be true extracts from his minutes, shall be competent evidence thereof: the clerk shall receive such compensation for his services, as shall be allowed by the chiefs in council, not exceeding fifty dollars in any one year. and con how deter $8. The peace makers of each reservation shall have au- Disputes thority to hear and determine all matters, disputes and con- troversies troversies between any Indians residing on said reservations, mined. whether arising upon contract or for wrongs, and particularly for any encroachment or trespass upon any land cultivated or occupied by any one of them, and which shall have been entered and described in the clerk's book of records. When the controversy is between Indians residing on different reservations, the peace makers of either reservation may take cognizance of the same: but they shall not take cognizance of any claim founded upon any debt or demand originally contracted with a white man. They shall cause the defendant to be brought before them by the marshal, at such times and places as they shall appoint, and shall publicly hear the allegations and proofs of the parties, and make known their determination to them. They may issue orders or notice for the appearance of witnesses, and may compel their appearance by attachment, and by fine for not appearing, in the same manner as provided by law in relation to justices of the peace: they may administer oaths to witnesses, and may examine any party on oath to be administered by them in PART I Saving clause. Right of appeal. any case where the opposite party shall require such examination. In case any party shall fail to comply with the determination of the peace makers, within the time prescribed by them, they shall cause the same to be entered in a book to be provided by the chiefs for that purpose, and the party in whose favor such determination may be made, shall be entitled to recover the sum awarded in an action before any justice of the peace of the county in which a copy of such determination, certified by the peace makers, shall be conclusive evidence of the right of recovery, and the same proceedings shall be had therein, and executions shall be awarded in the same cases as in suits between white persons. But the peace makers shall in no case award more than one hundred dollars, exclusive of costs, in favor of any party, in any one complaint or suit. Any two peace makers shall be competent to perform any duties and exercise any powers herein assigned to the peace makers of any reservation. S9. No peace maker shall act in any case in which he is related to either of the parties, or have any interest in the controversy, and when such relationship or interest in any two peacemakers is established to the satisfaction of the other, he shall associate with him any two chiefs residing on the reservation not related to the parties, and not having any interest in the controversy, for the hearing and determination of the suit, and such peace makers and the chiefs so appointed, or the majority of them, shall have all the powers and authority herein conferred upon the peace makers, in relation to such suit. $ 10. Any party dissatisfied with the determination of any tribunal so constituted, or of the peace makers in any suit, may appeal therefrom to a jury of six chiefs, to be selected as follows: Upon giving security to be approved by a peace maker to pay the amount that shall be awarded by such jury; the tribunal whose decision is appealed from, shall direct the marshal to summon twelve chiefs to be designated by such tribunal, to appear at a time and place to be specified not more than ten days thereafter, to determine such appeal: on the appearance of the chiefs so summoned, six of their number shall be drawn by lot to hear such appeal; if it be established to the satisfaction of the tribunal which summoned the said chiefs, that any of them are related to either of the parties, or are interested in the controversy, they shall be set aside, and other chiefs shall be drawn instead of them. The jury thus constituted, shall hear the appeal, examine the witnesses and parties on oath, if required, in the same cases and in like manner as herein provided, in respect to the peace makers, and the determination made by them, or a majority of them shall be conclusive, and shall be entered in the book kept by the peace makers, and may be enforced in like manner, and upon the like evidence as in the case of a determination by the peace makers. The chiefs hearing such appeal, shall each be entitled to receive twenty-five cents for their services, to be paid in the first instance by the party appealing: in their final determination, they shall direct which party shall pay the costs and expenses of the suit and of the appeal. CH. XXVI. paid to $ 11. The peace makers shall not receive any fees for Fees to be their services to their own use, but all such fees shall be paid treasurer. to the treasurer of the nation for its use: and in every controversy before them, they shall award the costs to be paid by the party against whom their determination shall be made; which costs shall consist of the fees of the marshal as herein provided, and fifty cents for the attendance of the peace makers at any hearing of the parties, and if the same shall be adjourned, twenty-five cents for their attendance on the first appearance of the parties: the costs allowed shall be ascertained and specified by them in their determination. $12. There shall be allowed to each of the peace makers by the chiefs in council, an annual compensation not exceed- makers. ing fifty dollars in any one year, to be paid semi-annually by the treasurer. Allowance to peace marshal. $ 13. The marshal shall execute all orders, summons and Duty of the process issued or given to him by the peace makers or by any tribunal created according to the provisions of this act, and shall be entitled to receive for his services the same fees as are allowed by law to constables in courts held by justices of the peace. how to be $14. For any demand or right of action which any Indian Demands, of the said nation may have against any other Indian, and recovered. which, according to the provisions of this act, exceeds the amount which may be awarded by the peace makers, actions may be maintained and prosecuted in the courts of this State in the same manner and with the like effect as between white citizens. chiefs be entered. S15. Any chiefs whose names have not been entered in Names of the book kept by the clerk for that purpose, shall be enti- omitted to tled to have the same so entered: and if the fact of their being chiefs shall be disputed by any other chief, such fact shall be determined by the chiefs in council; but this provision shall not be construed to authorise them to depose any such chief, or to determine upon the propriety or expediency of entering his name. false swear $ 16. Any wilful false swearing by any person to whom Penalty for any oaths may be administered according to the provisions ing. of this act, shall be deemed perjury, and punished as such in the manner provided by law. And any person who shall unlawfully and corruptly procure such false swearing, shall be deemed guilty of subornation of perjury, and shall be punished as provided by law. as to unim $17. No land within the said reservations not already Provisions cultivated and improved, or under fence, shall hereafter be proved appropriated by any Indian to his own use, without the con lands. PART I. Lands appropriated for the use of families. Provisions as to shingles or staves. General provision relative to the sale of trees. Actions how to be sent of the chiefs in council; whose duty, however, it shall be, on application, to allot and set apart for any Indian or any Indian family, so much wild land as the chiefs shall deem reasonable and an equitable proportion, in reference to the whole number of Indians not possessing land. $ 18. Lands in the said reservations which are appropriated by any Indian or family to their own use, and cultivated and improved by them, shall, within two years after this act takes effect, be described by the person or persons claiming the same, with convenient certainty, and be entered in the books of record kept by the clerk of the said nation, and if not so entered, the claimant thereof shall not be entitled to maintain any suit for encroaching or trespassing thereon. [Section 19 repealed by Laws of 1859, ch. 294.] $20. Any Indian residing on the said reservations, may, without the aid or assistance of any white man, manufacture shingles or staves from any timber being, or any trees growing, upon any wild land therein, not allotted to, or entered by any other Indian, or being or growing upon any land allotted to, or entered by him, and may sell and dispose of the same for his own benefit. But no white person shall, under the pretence of being hired by any Indian, or any other pretence, be employed in any such manufacture, or in removing any timber, or cutting down any trees for that purpose. S21. No timber being on any part of the said reservation, no trees growing thereon, nor any manufacture thereof, shall be sold or disposed of by any individual Indian or Indians, except as herein before provided; and every such sale or disposition shall be absolutely void. Any sale or disposition of such timber or trees, being or growing upon any wild land, in the said reservations, made by the chiefs in council, shall be for the benefit of the nation, and the proceeds of any such sale or disposition, shall belong to, and be paid into its treasury. And the attorney for the said Indians shall be authorized to prosecute for the same, and for the price of any timber or trees unlawfully sold, in the name of the nation, and to recover the amount thereof from any person who shall have received the same. S22. The proper action in the name of the said nation, Drosecuted. may be prosecuted and maintained by the attorney for the said Indians, for any timber or trees, or the manufacture thereof, sold, taken or carried from the said reservations, in any other case than as herein provided and allowed, and shall recover, in such action, double the value of the timber, trees or article manufactured from them so sold, or taken, or carried from either of the said reservations. Buits brought by S23. If any suit shall be brought by the said attorney for the Indian the said Indians, without the assent of the chiefs in council, or of six of the said chiefs, when no council is held, he shall not be entitled to demand of the said nation, the costs of attorney. such suit, in the event of his failure to recover, or of his inability to collect the same of the defendants. CH. XXVL be elected $24. The officers of the said nation, who shall be elected officers to at the annual election in May next, shall hold their offices in May. only until others shall be elected in their places on the first Tuesday of January next. $25. Section five of the "Act for the protection and im- Repeal. provement of the Seneca Indians, residing on the Cattaraugus and Allegany reservations," passed May 8, 1845, and so much of sections two and seven, of the said act, as is inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed. CHAP. 486. AN ACT in relation to the Oneida Indians. PASSED December 15, 1847; "three-fifths being present." The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: ces to be § 1. All conveyances of real estate hereafter executed by Conveyan any Oneida Indian or Indians may be acknowledged before made deany justice of the peace, or other officer authorized to take valid. acknowledgments of deeds. clared torney abo superinten form the S2. The office of attorney for the Oneida Indians is here- Office of atby abolished, and the superintendent of said Indians in addi- lished and tion to his present duties is hereby authorized and required dent to per to perform the duties heretofore required of such attorney, duties. and shall be entitled to receive an annual salary of twentyfive dollars, and no more, for all services he may perform for said Indians. lowed him vices. S 3. Twenty-five dollars a year for two years are hereby Salary al appropriated to pay said salary out of any moneys in the for his ser state treasury not otherwise appropriated; but said office of superintendent shall not continue beyond two years from the passage of this act; and thereafter said Indians shall have power to sell and convey their real estate the same as if they were natural born citizens of this state. CHAP. 208. AN ACT appropriating money to the Stockbridge Indians. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: $10,000 to $1. The sum of ten thousand dollars is hereby set apart The sum of and appropriated out of any moneys in the treasury not be set otherwise appropriated to the use and benefit of the Stock- apart bridge tribe of Indians, now residing in Calmut county, Wis |