Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Indian Affairs: House of Representatives, Sixty-Fourth Congress, First Session on H. R. 3680 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Indian Affairs: House of Representatives, Sixty-Fourth Congress, First Session on H. R. 3680

Present: Representatives Church (presiding), Tillman, and Dempsey.

Mr. Church. Now, you gentlemen wish to be heard on H. R. 3680, I believe. I would say that unless you prefer to appear, a brief probably would be just as helpful to the committee. Of course, if you prefer to make a short statement in regard to it, we will be glad to listen to you. But I believe a brief would answer all the purposes probably better than a verbal statement.

Statement Of Mr. Wilson L. Townsend, Of Washington, D. C, Representing Eastern Cherokee Indians.

Mr. Smith. I think in that case we would like to take advantage of both opportunities, make a short statement of not over half an hour, and then submit briefs in addition.

Mr. Church. Very well; that is satisfactory. Mr. Townsend. This bill seeks to remedy an error in the distribution of a fund that was due the heirs of the Eastern Cherokee Indians. It was appropriated by Congress for them and the Supreme Court ordered it paid to them, but by an error in the mandate of the Supreme Court, through an order of the Court of Claims changing that mandate, the fund was distributed to other Eastern Cherokee Indians largely, and these people only got a small share of what they were entitled to. The facts leading up to that are as follows

Mr. Church. Now, excuse me there - the Indians that the fund was authorized to be distributed to only received a part of it, and some other Indians that had nothing to do with it, were not the distributees of the fund, received part of it?

Mr. Townsend. The mandate was changed. The order was that the heirs of these Eastern or Emigrant Cherokees should be paid this fund, and the Court of Claims changed the mandate somewhat, and the fund was paid to the Eastern Cherokees per capita - the descendants of these people - and of course these heirs got some of it, as coming in under the general class, but instead of being paid to them directly and exclusively, it was distributed among them and these others.

Mr. Church. In order to get this straight, who were the Eastern Cherokees?

Mr. Townsend. They were Cherokees living east of the Mississippi up to 1835, in Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina, and Tennessee, 16,000 of them.

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