INVESTIGATION OF THE CLAIMS OF CERTAIN PERSONS AND THEIR ENROLLMENT, IF ENTITLED, AS MEMBERS OF THE OMAHA TRIBE OF INDIANS IN NEBRASKA

MAY 23, 1935.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. ROGERS of Oklahoma, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 7202]

The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 7202) to investigate the claims of and to enroll certain persons, if entitled, with the Omaha Tribe of Indians, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass without amendment.

This legislation has been considered by the committee of previous Congresses and ordered favorably reported. Extensive hearings were held and are a matter of record. An identical bill was favorably reported by the Seventy-third Congress.

The history of this case begins at a time just previous to the French Revolution when Count Barada, a gay French blade, glimpsed in Paris the face of a pretty maid with dusky cheeks and deep brown eyes, known as "Ta-ing-the-hae", or "Laughing Buffalo." The count was enamoured at first sight and at once sought to meet the young and charming Indian maid. Before he could do so he was distressed to learn that she had sailed for her home in the New World. So intense was his interest in the dusky maiden that he lost no time in abandoning the gay life of the French capital to set sail for the New World in pursuit of "Laughing Buffalo." Due to a misunderstanding he embarked upon a vessel for Montreal while "Laughing Buffalo" was en route to New Orleans. After his arrival in Montreal the count, ever pursuing his quest, engaged in trading and trapping and eventually reached the Missouri River in Nebraska. There he finally met and married the maid he long had sought, petite "Laughing Buffalo", a full-blood member of the Omaha Tribe of Indians.

Count (Michael) Barada and "Laughing Buffalo" had 3 children, 2 daughters, Margaret Barada Sloan and Mary Jane Barada Cabney Paul; also a son, Antoine Barada, one of the parties named in this bill, now deceased. The other parties are the children or the grandchildren of Margaret Barada Sloan, or the children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren of Antoine Barada. Many other descendants of Antoine Barada and Margaret Barada Sloan are not included in this bill for the reason that, although some of them were of a lesser degree of Indian blood than the parties named, they nevertheless were accorded all the rights to which members of the Omaha Tribe of Indians were entitled.

The situation with reference to the descendants named in the bill is rather complex. Some appear to have been granted very few of their rights as Omaha Indians, while others appear to have been accorded most of the rights to which they were entitled, save that of an allotment of land upon the Omaha Reservation in Thurston County, Nebr. In some cases the failure or refusal to accord the full rights of an Omaha Indian appears to have been based upon some minor technicality, a matter always somewhat of a mystery to the Indian.

In other cases such failure or refusal appears to have been wholly arbitrary and discriminatory. In some instances there is evidence before the committee to the effect that parties who refused to pay tribute were denied their rights. It seems to be a sad story of delay and arbitrary action by Indian officials and even alteration of documents on the part of unscurpulous persons. Neither time nor reason, justice nor equity seem to have governed the determination of such

matters.

Persons of a lesser degree of Indian blood and with less qualification as members of the Omaha Tribe seem to have been accorded all rights to which members of the tribe were entitled, while others of a greater degree of blood and with greater qualification as members of the tribe, seem to have been denied them.

The matter of allotments upon the Omaha Reservation in Thurston County, Nebr., is a typical illustration of this condition. Some of the persons named in this bill reported to the alloting agent when the allotments were to be made in 1862. They were told to select their land from that not selected and were instructed as to the improvements necessary to be placed thereon. They were told that the formalities in connection with their allotment papers would be arranged in due course of time. They occupied their respective selections of land, improved and cultivated the same. The Indian agent was fully advised of all these facts. The parties repeatedly sought to have their allotment papers completed, but were put off by the allotting agent with one excuse and another. Beginning, some in the eighties and some in the nineties, they occupied the land for a period of years, generally from 6 to 19, without molestation from the other Indians or the Indian agent, seemingly accepted as members of the Omaha Tribe of Indians, exercising their rights as such. They built homes and barns, made other improvements upon the lands so occupied, and fenced and cultivated them. In 1903 they were ejected. from the homes they had thus established, losing not only the land which they had believed to be theirs but many of them all the improvements placed thereon. Some were permitted to remove such improve

ments as were movable. It is worthy of note that many of these people who have thus been dealt with in the matter of allotments, have otherwise been recognized as Omaha Indians and, to this date, have been treated as such in other respects; that is, payment by the Government for the education of their children, medical attention, and hospital service for themselves and their children, etc.

It is the purpose of this legislation to remedy the injustices perpetrated under these chaotic conditions. It would take nothing from the Omaha Tribe of Indians, nor any member now officially enrolled as such, since a committee amendment has been adopted which specifically provides that it shall not be permitted to affect or disturb the Omaha tribal land, nor the proceeds from the sale of the same, nor permit the parties named in the bill to share in the distribution of any money in the Treasury to the credit of the Omaha Tribe.

The attitude of the Omaha Indians themselves toward those of their blood and this legislation is in nowise unfavorable. In writing to the chairman of the subcommittee of the previous Congress which had this legislation under consideration, the president of the Omaha Tribal Council states the position of the tribe as follows:

Mr. DENNIS CHAVEZ,

Congressman, Washington, D. C.

WALTHILL, NEBR., March 30, 1932.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN: We, the undersigned, do hereby state that we have no objection to the present bill, H. R. 2319, in the seventy-second session of the United States Congress assembled.

Provided that the following amendment is added to said bill, to wit:

"Provided, however, That enrollment of the persons named in this bill shall not be permitted to disturb or affect the Omaha tribal land, nor the proceeds of the sale of the Omaha tribal land, nor share in the distribution of any money now in the United States Treasury to the credit of said Omaha Tribe of Indians in Nebraska."

Or provided that an amendment is added to said bill that will have the same effect as the above-proposed amendment. ELWOOD HARLAN,

President of the Omaha Tribal Council of the Omaha Indians of Nebraska. Witnesses:

ALFRED D. RAUN.

C. L. ROSSITER

In view of the fact that the parties named in this bill are without question of Omaha Indian blood and have been and are generally regarded by the Omaha Indians themselves as belonging to the tribe and, save for certain discriminations, often arbitrary ones, likewise so regarded by the Indian officials, this legislation would seem to meet the ends of a belated but substantial justice.

Members of the Indian Department appearing before the committee offered no strenuous objection to this bill.

INVESTIGATION OF THE CLAIMS OF CERTAIN PERSONS AND THEIR ENROLLMENT, IF ENTITLED, AS MEMBERS OF THE OMAHA TRIBE OF INDIANS IN NEBRASKA

MAY 23, 1935.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. ROGERS of Oklahoma, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 7202]

The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 7202) to investigate the claims of and to enroll certain persons, if entitled, with the Omaha Tribe of Indians, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass without amendment.

This legislation has been considered by the committee of previous Congresses and ordered favorably reported. Extensive hearings were held and are a matter of record. An identical bill was favorably reported by the Seventy-third Congress.

The history of this case begins at a time just previous to the French Revolution when Count Barada, a gay French blade, glimpsed in Paris the face of a pretty maid with dusky cheeks and deep brown eyes, known as "Ta-ing-the-hae", or "Laughing Buffalo." The count was enamoured at first sight and at once sought to meet the young and charming Indian maid. Before he could do so he was distressed to learn that she had sailed for her home in the New World. So intense was his interest in the dusky maiden that he lost no time in abandoning the gay life of the French capital to set sail for the New World in pursuit of "Laughing Buffalo." Due to a misunderstanding he embarked upon a vessel for Montreal while "Laughing Buffalo" was en route to New Orleans. After his arrival in Montreal the count, ever pursuing his quest, engaged in trading and trapping and eventually reached the Missouri River in Nebraska. There he finally met and married the maid he long had sought, petite "Laughing Buffalo", a full-blood member of the Omaha Tribe of Indians.