Case Summary

Charles Rainbow, James Fisher, and Peter Decora were Native police officers on the Winnebago Reservation in Thurston County, Nebraska. The three men were charged with enforcing a Department of the Interior regulation prohibiting anyone from conducting business on the Reservation on days that federal officers were distributing lease payments. On October 18, 1906, an attorney and member of the Omaha Nation named Thomas Sloan tried collecting fees on a payment distribution day, and so Rainbow, Fisher, and Decora escorted him off of the Reservation. Sloan sued the officers for assault in the Thurston County District Court. Once jailed, the trio refused to pay bail, petitioning instead for a writ of habeas corpus, which was granted. After hearing the evidence, the judge concluded that Rainbow, Fisher, and Decora had no right to enforce the Department of the Interior regulation without congressional authorization and remanded them to the custody of their jailer. The officers appealed the decision to the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in St. Louis, Missouri, which overturned the circuit court decision and ordered the release of the three men.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

• Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

• Assault
• Refusal to pay bail

Sites of significance

• Winnebago Reservation (Winnebago Reservation, Nebraska)
• Thurston County Jail (Pender, Nebraska)

Outcome

Writ allowed

Fate of bound party

Released from custody

Case Citation

Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 - 2009, U.S. Circuit Court for the Omaha Division of the District of Nebraska , Series: Appearance Dockets, 1867 - 1915, Vol. 25, p. 123; Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 - 2009, U.S. Circuit Court for the Omaha Division of the District of Nebraska. (1867-1/1/1912), Series: Chancery, Criminal, Equity and Law Cases, 3/30/1867-12/26/1911, No. X-123

Source material(s)

Docket | Case File

Length of case file

Between 76 and 100 pages

Repository(s)

• National Archives and Records Administration, Kansas City (Kansas City, Kansas)

State

• Nebraska

Point(s) of law cited

Act of Congress, February 8, 1887|Act of Congress, May 27, 1902|Regulations of the Indian Office, April 1, 1904|United States v. Thurston County, 143 Fed. 289|Dawes Act|Wilcox v. Jackson, 13 Peters 498|In re Hirsch, 74 Fed. 931|In re Hultman, 70 Fed. 699|In re Neagle, 135 U.S. 1|Boske v. Comingore, 177 U.S. 276|In re Lewis, 83 Fed. 159|Van Lear v. Eisele, 126 Fed. 823|U.S. v. Sandefuhr, 145 Fed. 49

Tag(s)

• Appeal

People

• Rainbow, Charles Green (petitioner)
• Fisher, James (petitioner)
• Decora, Peter (petitioner)
• Young, Sidney M. (respondent)
• Goss, Charles A. (petitioner attorney)
• Lane, A. W. (petitioner attorney)
• Sloan, Thomas L. (respondent attorney)
• King, John (authority ordering detention)
• Trieber, Jacob (judge)
• Munger, William H. (judge)
• Rainbow, Charles Green (bound party)
• Fisher, James (bound party)
• Decora, Peter (bound party)
• Young, Sidney M. (responding party)
• Young, Sidney M. (holding party)

• Additional parties

  Thummel, George H. (clerk)

  McFatridge, A. E. (Superintendent of the Winnebago Reservation)

  Dickinson, David W. (notary public)

  Hitchcock, E. A. (U.S. Secretary of the Interior)

  St. Cyr, David (resident of Winnebago Reservation)

  Little Chief, Julia (resident of Winnebago Reservation)

  Coons, Susan (resident of Winnebago Reservation)

  Coons, John B. (resident of Winnebago Reservation)

  Swallow, Thomas (resident of Winnebago Reservation);Thompson, Clark (resident of Winnebago Reservation)

  Haymaker, Franklin (resident of Winnebago Reservation)

  Walker, Ms. Edward (resident of Winnebago Reservation)

  Payer, Alexander (resident of Winnebago Reservation)

  Jefferson, (resident of Winnebago Reservation)

  Garrison, John B. (witness)

  St. Cyr, Julia (witness)

  Herman, Louis (witness)

  Smith, Ernest J. (witness)

  Jordan, John D. (clerk)

  Warner, William P. (U.S. marshal)

  Sides, John F. (deputy U.S. marshal)

  Decora, Charles A. (witness)

  Twin, Rufus (witness)

  Sammons, Logan (deputy U.S. marshal)