for this place, and he being in the house of Field Marshal Baninguas Mendoza, he was overtaken by the said Indian, and being brought into my presence I ordered that under oath he declare what is his name and whether he is disposed to confess the truth in so far as he might know and might be interrogated.

Questioned what is his name, where he is a native of, what is his age and his occupation, and whether he knows how Zuni is, he stated that his name is Bartolome de Ojeda and that he is a native of the Province of New Mexico, at the pueblo of Zia, and must be twenty-one or twenty-two years of age, a little more or less, and that he has not had any other occupation than the practice of agriculture, and that he knows how Zuni is because he was an apostate in that kingdom, and this he

answers.

Questioned what are the boundaries which Zuni is known to have on account of the crops it has on the Rio Teguello, and whether the pueblo recognizes as its own, because of having crops or because of choice, and whether the Indians will again commit another infamy (torn) other priests, like the one they committed upon the custodian priest (torn), the other priest whom they killed by shooting, and the deponent answers no, that although it was true that all the pueblos had committed violence (torn) priests of the church and that when the war was in Zia all the Indians were there, but that with what had happened to them last year he judged it was impossible that they fail to give obedience; wherefore there were granted by his excellency the governor and captain-general, Don Domingo Jironza Petroz de Cruzate, the boundaries that I here state, on the north one league on the east one league and on the west one league and on the south one league, and these being measured from the four corners of the pueblo. And this his excellency provided, ordered, and signed before me, the present secretary of state and war, to which I certify. DOMINGO JIRONZA PETROZ DE CRUZATE.

Before me,

PEDRO LADRON DE GUITARA,
Secretary of State and War.

SURVEYOR-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Santa Fe, N. Mex., December 31, 1878.

The foregoing is a correct translation made by me from the original grant in Spanish on file in this office, in Private Land Claim V, in the name of the Indian pueblo of Zuni.

Before the United States surveyor-general for the district of New Mexico, in the matter of the investigation of the claim of the Indians of the pueblo of Zuni to a tract of land in Valencia County, in the Territory of New Mexico, had under the authority of the eighth section of the act of Congress approved July 22, 1854, and the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

The original title papers, consisting of the grant made September 25, 1689, by Domingo Jironza Petroz de Cruzate, governor and captain-general of the province of New Mexico, to the Indians of the pueblo of Zuni, was filed in this office July 3, 1875, for them, by B. M. Thomas, United States agent for the Pueblo Indians.

These Indians claim the land given them under the said grant of 1689, and it is said still continue to cultivate portions of the tract, though the pueblo or town referred to in the concession was abandoned many years ago, the inhabitants removing to their present residence, known as Zuni Nuevo or New Zuni, situate between 3 and 4 miles to the northwest. The pueblo of Zuni is referred to in the report of James S. Calhoun, then Indian agent, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, under date of October 4, 1849, and which is referred to in letter of August 21, 1854, of instructions to the surveyor-general of New Mexico from the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

The grant document is believed to be valid, and it evidently bears the genuine signature of Governor de Cruzate, who was at that date governor and captain-general of the province. The approval of the grant would be in pursuance of the policy of the Spanish Government, from which it was obtained, and, under the conditions of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, it is obligatory upon the Government of the United States to recognize the rights of the pueblos in the premises. The grant is therefore approved to the inhabitants of the pueblo Zuni to the extent of 1 league of 5,000 varas in each direction from the four corners of the pueblo proper.

A transcript of all the papers in the case in triplicate will be transmitted for the action of Congress in the premises.

Surveyor-general's office, Santa Fe, N. Mex., September 25, 1879.

HENRY M. ATKINSON,

Surveyor-General.

SURVEYOR-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Santa Fe, N. Mex., September 25, 1880.

The foregoing is a correct transcript of all the papers on file in this office in Pueblo Claim V, the Indian pueblo of Zuni.

HENRY M. ATKINSON,
Surveyor-General.

April 30, 1897, the acting Indian agent for the Pueblos, Capt. C. E. Nordstrom, furnished this office a copy of such correspondence on file in the surveyor-general's office as related to the Zuñi pueblo grant, as follows:

On this 19th day of April, 1880, before me, Walter G. Marmon, a notary public in and for the county of Valencia, Territory of New Mexico, personally appeared Frank H. Cushing, of lawful age, and who, having been by me first duly sworn, deposeth and saith in answer to the following interrogatories:

Question. State your name, age, and place of residence.

Answer. My name is Frank H. Cushing; my age is 23 years, and I reside at Zuñi, in Valencia County, Territory of New Mexico.

Question. Are you acquainted with the Zuñi pueblo grant; and if so, how long have you known it?

Answer. I am; by reputation and through reference to it in contemporaneous docu ments now in possession of the "Cazique of the House of Zuñi.”

Question. Do you know the location of the old pueblo of Zuñi; and if so, where is it situated?

Answer. I do; it is situated on a high table-land in a southeasterly direction from the present village of Zuñi, and distant about 3 miles therefrom.

Question. How do you know of its location?

Answer. From a personal knowledge and general reputation.
Question. Have you any interest in said grant?

Answer. I have not.

(Signed.)

F. H. CUSHING.

Subscribed in my presence and sworn to before me this 19th day of April, 1880. [SEAL.] WALTER G. MARMON,

Notary Public.

On this 19th day of April, 1880, before me, Walter G. Marmon, a notary public in and for the county of Valencia, Territory of New Mexico, personally appeared Pedro Pino, of lawful age, and who, having been by me first duly sworn, deposeth and saith in answer to the following interrogatories:

Question. State your name, age, and place of residence.

Answer. My name is Pedro Pino, my age is 75 years. and I reside at Zuñi, in Valencia County, Territory of New Mexico.

Question. Are you acquainted with the Zuñi pueblo grant; and if so, how long have you known it, and where is it ("the old pueblo of Zuñi") located?

Answer. I am since I can remember-on a high mesa southeast of the present Indian town of Zuñi, and distant about 3 miles.

Question. Have you any interest in said grant; and if so, what interest have you? Answer. I have, as one of the heirs.

PEDRO (his x mark) PINO..

Subscribed in my presence and sworn to before me this 19th day of April, 1880. [SEAL.] WALTER G. MARMON,

Notary Public.

Other papers furnished were the same as those furnished by the General Land Office.

Witch Hanging in Zuñi Pueblo.-In my last report reference was made to the arrest of a number of the Zuñi Pueblo Indians for "witch hang. ing." February 25 last the acting Indian agent for the Pueblo Agency forwarded to this office a copy of a letter dated February 24, from the United States attorney for New Mexico, stating that the five principal men engaged in the witch hanging had been indicted; that four were then in jail in Los Lunas, and a warrant had been issued for the other one; that the petit jury was discharged on the second day of the term and, as the indictment was not returned until the third, there would be no chance for a trial until the last of September, 1898. The acting agent had reported February 3 that there was no further need for the presence of the troops which had been detailed to make the arrests and to preserve the peace afterwards.

Counsel for Pueblos.-July 12 last the Department authorized the employment of Mr. George Hill Howard, of Santa Fe, as counsel for the several pueblos in their land and other matters, under an item in the Indian appropriation act for the current year.

PYRAMID LAKE INDIANS, NEVADA.

The Indian appropriation act, approved July 1, 1898 (30 Stats., p. 594), contains the following clause relating to the Pyramid Lake Reservation, and the inhabitants of the town of Wadsworth located thereon:

That the inhabitants of the town of Wadsworth, in the county of Washoe, State of Nevada, be, and they are hereby, authorized to proceed and acquire title to the town site of such town under the provisions of section twenty-three hundred and eighty-two of chapter eight of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to the reservation and sale of town sites on the public lands, and on compliance with the provisions of such town-site laws the inhabitants of said town of Wadsworth shall acquire title in manner and form as provided by the statutes aforesaid: Provided, That the proceeds of the sale of the land in such town site shall be paid into the Treasury, and be used by the Secretary of the Interior for the Piute Indians of the Pyramid Lake Reservation: Provided further, That if there are any Indians residing in said town and in possession of lots of ground with improvements, they shall have the same rights of purchase under the town-site laws as white citizens: And provided further, That the tract of land situated near to and north of the town of Wadsworth, and upon which is located the Pyramid Lake Indian schoolhouse, containing one hundred and ten acres, more or less, shall be, and hereby is, reserved from the town site hereby established, unless it shall be determined by the Secretary of the Interior that said tract is not needed for Indian school purposes.

It will be observed that it is provided that any Indian residing in said town site and in possession of lots of ground with improvements shall have the same right to purchase under the town-site laws as white citizens; also that the tract of land situated near to and north of the town of Wadsworth, upon which is located the Pyramid Lake Indian school, containing about 110 acres, is reserved from the town site established, unless it shall be determined by the Department that the tract is not needed for Indian school purposes.

July 27, 1898, the Indian agent of the Nevada Agency was furnished with a copy of the act, and directed to notify the Indians of its provisions, and to assist any who might be residing within the town site and be in possession of lots of ground and improvements to obtain title thereto under the town-site laws. Steps have been taken, also, to ascertain whether the school tract is still needed for school purposes.

INDIANS IN NEW YORK.

No change has been made in the condition or political status of the Indians in the State of New York during the past year. The chief obstacle to the betterment of their condition, namely, the claim of the Ogden Land Company, still exists, with no apparent prospect of its being soon removed.

Mention was made in my last annual report of the difficulties that were continually growing out of individual property rights, and that effort would be made to have the New York legislature amend the laws so as to give litigants in property matters the right to appeal from the Peacemakers to the State courts. A petition for such amendment, numerously signed by the Indians, was transmitted to the Department January 8 last, and was, I am informally advised, transmitted to the governor of New York January 13.

A matter of considerable interest to the Indians is the collection of the moneys due from the leasing of town lots in the six villages of the Allegany Reservation. Under existing law these moneys are paid to the treasurer of the Seneca Nation, to be expended for the benefit of the whole people. But it is alleged by many prominent members of the nation that the money is not properly expended, and that when funds are distributed many Indians do not get their share. To remedy this wrong a faction of the Seneca Nation had a bill introduced at the last session of Congress, the purpose of which was to have all lease moneys collected by the United States Indian agent. This bill (S. 2888) was favorably reported on in office letter to the Department, March 10, 1898, and passed the Senate and is now pending in the House.

On April 11 last the Supreme Court of the United States rendered a decision in the case of the New York Indians against the United States. The Indians had sued the United States to recover the value of lands in Kansas which had been set apart as a reservation for them by their treaty of 1838. These lands had never been occupied by the Indians and had been sold by the Government and the proceeds placed

in the United States Treasury. Suit was first brought in the Court of Claims in which judgment was rendered against the Indians. The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the Court of Claims and remanded the case to that court with instructions to enter a new judg ment in favor of the Indians for the net amount actually received by the Government for the Kansas lands less the amount to which the Tonawanda Senecas would have been entitled and less other just deductions. By their treaty of November 5, 1857, the Tonawanda Senecas surrendered their interest in the Kansas lands and their pro rata share of the fund provided for removal to Kansas. In anticipation of a call by the Court of Claims this office on May 5 last submitted to the Department a statement showing the basis upon which the settlement with the Tonawandas was made.

TURTLE MOUNTAIN CHIPPEWAS, NORTH DAKOTA.

Ratification of the agreement concluded with the Turtle Mountain Chippewas October 22, 1892, is still delayed, and the Indians therefore continue to be in an unsettled condition, not knowing what to do or to expect. The ratification of this agreement has been repeatedly urged. A bill (House 9282) was introduced during the last session of Congress referring to the Court of Claims the claim of these Indians for payment for about 9,000,000 acres in North Dakota which they declare have never been ceded by them. It was favorably reported by the House Committee on Indian Affairs (House Report 820), and is still pending.

TORTURING AND BURNING OF SEMINOLES IN OKLAHOMA.

Early in January, 1898, alarming reports appeared in the newspapers of an impending outbreak by the Indians of the Seminole Nation along the borders of Oklahoma on account of outrages perpetrated in that vicinity. After a searching investigation it was found that the threatened disturbance was due to the burning of two Seminole Indian boys at the stake by a mob of white men from Oklahoma in revenge for the killing of one Mrs. Leard, a white woman living in the Seminole Nation. The facts as to the murder of this woman and the burning of the Indians are briefly stated by Leo E. Bennett, United States marshal, in his report to the Attorney-General, as follows:

On the evening of December 30, 1897, Mrs. Leard, or Laird, a white woman, residing on the "McGeisy farm," 20 miles west of Wewoka, Seminole Nation, and probably 5 or 6 miles east of the post-office of Maud, Okla., was visited by an Indian, who asked to borrow a saddle. This was refused him. He tarried a while, and Mrs. L. became uneasy at his presence and ordered him away. He left, but very soon after returned, and entering the house unannounced picked up a gun and attempted to shoot the woman. The gun failed to fire, and Mrs. L. started to run, whereupon he struck her with the gun, breaking the