APRIL 30, 1907 — In the Indian Appropriation bill appears the name Marion Butler (former Senator from North Carolina) of the firm of Butler and Vale, in connection with a claim of $1,500,000 due the tribe of Indians residing on the Colville Reservation in the state of Washington; and for attorney’s fees, to be proved up in the court of claims, for securing this legislation. This case grew out of a little joke which the government perpetrated on the Colville aborigines. It seems that their reservation lands looked good to settlers, and it was decided that they ought to be opened up. This was in 1891. So a commission was appointed to negotiate with the Colville Tribe for the sale of $1,500,00 acres of their lands. The Indians were willing. Congress was willing, and passed an act providing for the cession of the lands and their opening to settlement. But, with singular humor, Congress neglected to appropriate the $1,500,000 which the commission had agreed should be paid to the Indians. So the formality of payment was omitted, and the lands were just ceded and opened and settled. Fourteen years later the firm of Butler and Vale secured the appropriation of the money due to these Indians; and, naturally, there is a host of lawyers deserving heavy compensation for helping to bring about the surprising denouement.
This report was featured in newspapers across the country in late April, 1907.
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