Jan. 27, 1917: Deny claim to boy dead 3 years

-Seventeen descendants of Susette demand allotments in Colville Reservation

-Hearing at Inchelium

-Aged Indians prove interesting among 55 witnesses before federal investigator

One claimant for an allotment on the Colville Indian Reservation for whom suit was filed in the federal court last September has been dead about three years, it was disclosed at a hearing at Inchelium this week. The claimant was Frederick Charbonneau, a minor.

When the allotments were being made his claim was presented, together with those of other members of his family, and they were denied by the interior department. The suit was brought to compel the secretary of the interior to grant allotments to the plaintiffs, of whom there are 18, all descended from a common ancestor.

STRIKE OUT DEAD BOY'S NAME

Had the allotment been made by the interior department, the government would have had no recourse in the opinion of Thomas A. Scott, deputy United States attorney, and the boy's heirs would have succeeded to the property. When the testimony at Inchelium disclosed that the boy was dead, his name was stricken from the list of plaintiffs, leaving 17 asking for allotments. By stipulation between the attorneys the 17 claims have been consolidated in one case. 

Sydney A. Scott, special examiner to take the testimony; Thomas A. Scott, representing the government, and Oscar Cain, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, returned at noon yesterday from Inchelium. They left Spokane Saturday afternoon and were accompanied from Colville by L.C. Joseph and W. Lon Johnson, attorneys for some of the plaintiffs.

ARE DESCENDANTS OF SUSETTE

The hearings of Inchelium began early Monday and continued until Thursday afternoon, during which time 55 witnesses were examined, Attorney Scott stated yesterday. The testimony was taken down in shorthand and will be submitted to the federal courts. Fifteen of the witnesses called by the government and 40 by the plaintiffs. Fully two-thirds of the testimony was given in English, said Mr. Scott, and the rest was given through Octave Gendron, interpreter.

The 17 claimants include Lucy Scherette Hardin and Emmiline Whitney Lehman, sisters, and their children and grandchildren. They trace their ancestry to Susette, a full-blood Okanogan Indian, and Joseph Gengro, a Frenchman, passing through from four to six generations.

The oldest person to testify at the hearing, Mr. Scott stated, was Mrs. Julia Stensgar, age 89, three-fourths Indian. She was born in Montana and has an allotment there, but all here children have allotments on the Colville Reserve. Other old Indians who were on the stand: Joseph LaFleur, age 83; Joe Grand Louis, whose indian name is Woodpecker, age 74; Alex Quill, age 72, and Narcisse Peone, age 63.

The testimony taken also developed that there were few white men in the Colville valley previous to 1870. After that time, they rapidly crowded the Indians back onto the reservation as now fixed.