Case Summary

Columbia George was convicted of murdering Anna Edna, a Cayuse woman living on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. First, he was sent to the Oregon State Penitentiary at Salem, Oregon. Then, he was transferred to the custody of C. B. Hopkins at the Federal Penitentiary on McNeil's Island in Puget Sound, Washington. George appealed the decision, and George argued that because he had faced injustice by the hands of the judge. The case initially went to the Supreme Court of Oregon. The judge denied his writ of Habeas Corpus and ruled that a state court did not have the authority to rule in the case. The case was then sent to a US circuit court. George argued that the Supreme Court jurists had judged him as an Indian ward, and not a U.S. citizen who subject to both federal and state law (whereas an Indian ward would have been strictly subject to federal statute), and therefore should have granted his petition and heard the case. This was due to his receipt of an allotment of land by the U.S. government under the Dawes Act, which when accepted, changed his legal status to a U.S. citizen, an no longer an Indian Ward of the United States government. The case went to the United States District Court where the jury convicted him guilty of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. George appealed, and was reportedly tried again, and was once more convicted of murder. The archives lack these documents, but the case is referenced in this case, no. 1390, in Judge Hanford’s denial and dismissal of George’s petition for wrongful imprisonment by Charles E. Hopkins at the US Penitentiary at McNeil Island. George appealed a fourth time and was dismissed.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

• Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

• Wrongful imprisonment

Sites of significance

• Umatilla Indian Reservation (Umatilla Reservation, Oregon)
• McNeil Island Penitentiary (Steilacoom, Washington)
• Oregon State Penitentiary (Salem, Oregon)

Outcome

Writ denied

Fate of bound party

Remained in custody

Case Citation

RG21 US District Courts, Western District of Washington, Seattle, Records of the Northern Division, Case Files, 1890-1972, No. 1390

Source material(s)

Case File

Length of case file

Between 51 and 75 pages

Repository(s)

• National Archives and Records Administration, Seattle Branch, Washington (Seattle, WA) (Seattle, Washington)

State

• Washington

Point(s) of law cited

Act of March 3, 1885|Act of Jan 15, 1897|State v. Columbia George|In Re Heff|The Dawes Act (1887)

Tag(s)

• Native american

People

• Hopkins, Charles. B. (respondent)
• George, Columbia (Pa-no-tal-Kan-it) (petitioner)
• George, Columbia (Pa-no-tal-Kan-it) (bound party)
• Slater, R.J. (petitioner attorney)
• Hanford, Cornelius Holgate (judge)
• Fyre, Jesse A. (Frye) (respondent attorney)

• Additional parties

  McCafferty, James (notary public)

  Moore, A. N. (deputy clerk)

  Ayres, A. Reeves (Clerk)

  McKinley, William (President)

  McKean, F. M.(Secretary of President)

  Brush, C. H. (Recorder of the General Land Office)

  Edna, Annie (allegedly murdered by petitioner 2699)

  R.C. Hinton (witness 2699)

  Woodward, A. P. (witness 2699)

  McElroy, James (witness 2699)

  McElroy, B. F. (witness 2699)

  Cole, W. G. (witness 2699)

  Slate, Ula (witness 2699)

  Brisbo, Edward (witness 2699)

  Ladd, Charles E. (foreman of U.S. Grand Jury 2699)

  Steel, James (foreman of jury 2699)

  Sladen, J. A. (clerk 2699)

  Raley, J. H. (attorney 2699)

  Hall, John H. (attorney 2699)

  Parsons, William (attorney 2699)

  Craig, Joseph (witness 2699)

  Flemming, M. A. (stenographer 2699)

  Walthew, Am (deputy)

  Toy Toy (petitioner 2699)