TA-TA-PI-CHA, AND)
LELAH-PUC-KA-CHEE, )
PLAINTIFFS)
)
VS)
W, G MALIN AND )
G, W, NELLIS, )
DEFENDANTS,)
PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS-CORPUS
TO the HON- O, P, SHIRAS, FEDERAL JUDGE, OF THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF the STATE OF IOWA,-
Your, Petitioners, the above named, respectfully, show and state;- That, LELAH-PUC-KA-CHEE wife of your petitioner, TA-TA-PI-CHA, is restrained of her liberty by the defendants, W, G, Malin and G,N, Nellis, in a certain building, known as the Indian-School-Building, in the township of Toledo in the Tama County Iowa; That the cause or pretense of such restraint, according to the best information of your petitioners is that the said defendant, W, G, Malin,claims to be the guardian of the said LELAH-PUC-KA-CHEE, by virtue of an alleged appointment as such guardian by the District Court of Tama County Iowa alleged to have been made by said Court about DEC- 1898 and the said G,N, NELLIS; who is the superintendent of the said Indian-School, acting under the verbal orders and directions of the said Malin, pretended guardian as aforesaid, and is now depriving the said LELAH-PUC-KA-CHEE, of her liberty, confining her in one of the rooms of the said Indian-School-Building and forcibly restraining her from going to or with her said husband. Your Petitioners further state; That the said restraint is illegal, Because That on the 29th day of october A, D, 1899 your petitioners were and ever since have been husband and wife That they were lawfully and legally married according to the laws and customs and domestic relations of the SAC and FOX Indians
That your petitioners have all their lives been and are still Tribal Indians, belonging to said Tribe and have always resided on and still
reside on their reservation with the other SAC and FOX Indians in Tama County Iowa. That said Sac and Fox Indians have always been and are still Tribal Indians and a community entirely dependent on the United States Government. That by the laws of the Federal Government the said Tribal Indians retain and control all their moral, social, and domestic relations under their tribal laws and costumes, independent of the laws of the State of Iowa. That the defendant, W,G, Malin was on the first of march 1899 and is still the United States Indian agent of said Indians, and that the defendant G,N, NELLIS on the first day of September 1898 was and still is the superintendent of the United States Indian School at Toledo Iowa. That the defendants wilfully, n unlawfully, and maliciously conspiring together for the unlawful prupose of depriving your petitioners of each other,s society, and for the further unlawful purpose of depriving your petitioner, LELAH-PUC-KA-CHEE, of her liberty and marital rights, did on about november the first 1899 cause a special subpoena to issue in a certain case then pending in the case of the State of Iowa VS one James Peters, and further caused the said subpoena to be served on the petitioner, LELAH-PUC-KA-CHEE, as a witness in behalf of the State, for the wilful and premeditated, and unlawful purpose of siezing her body, That afterwards, on the first. day of november 1899, while your petitioners, were attending court in Toledo Iowa in obedience to said subpoena, the defendants, wilfully, unlawfully, corruptly and maliciously, caused your petitioners to be unlawfully and violently assaulted with force and violence, with intent to commit great bodily injury; And that by threats of sending your petitioner, TA-TA-PI-CHA, to jail for one year and by wounds and injuries then and there unlawfully inflicted on the bodies of your petitioners, finally succeeded in subdueing your petitioners, and by force and main strength further succeeded in separating your petitioners, and against
the will and without the consent of your petitioners or either of them and with force and violence, unlawfully caused the body of your petitioner, LELAH-PUC-KA-CHEE, to be forcibly carried away and deprived of her liberty and the society of her husband, and imprisoned her and still so imprison and restrain her illegally in a certain room of said United States School Building at Toledo Iowa, That your petitioners and their tribal relatives are of the religious convictions and honest belief, that the petitioners LELAH-PUC-KA-CHEE, is to be thus imprisoned and restrained of her liberty and deprived of her husband,s society until her death, and she cannot eat or drink or have any exercise or peace of mind That the alleged cause or pretense of such unlawful taking and detention according to the best belief or information of your petitioners is that defendants unlawfully pretend to have the right for so doing, under alleged letters of said guardianship and orders or warrants of arrest issued thereunder. That your petitioners further allege the truth to be, that the said alleged letters of guardianship were procured by fraud and deceipt practiced upon the said District Court in obtaining the same, That the defendants concealed from said Court the facts, that your petitioner, LELAH-PUC-KA-CHEE, had parents and next of kin living among her tribe and people to care for and protect and provide for her and that she was not neglected or deserted. These petitioners further allege that the defendants and each of them knew both before and at the time of such unlawful taking imprisonment and restraint, as a matter of law that your petitioners as well as all other Indians of said tribe, were and are still wards of the United States and not citizens of the United States or the State of Iowa, and not as a matter of law amendable to the laws of the State of Iowa in any way or manner, and that Said District Court of Tama County Iowa never had nor has any jurisdiction, whatever, over your petitioners or other Indians of said Tribe; That said alleged
letters of guardianship and all alleged orders or warrants of arrest issued thereunder, were and are null and void, for the following reason for want of jurisdiction, That the State Courts of Iowa had and have no jurisdiction over either, the subject matter nor any of said tribal Indians, including your petitioners herein as a matter of law, That the defendants were and are the lawfully acting agents and representatives of the United States Government for the said Sac and Fox Indians of Iowa; These petitioners further allege that in the event the court or judge shall hold or find that for any reason the said District Court of Tama County Iowa had or obtained jurisdiction over either the petitioners, or the subject matter, to lawfully issue said letters of guardianship, or any authority or right to the custody of said petitioner, LELAH-PUC-KA-CHEE,, Never-the-less or even in such event your petitioners aver and insist that the same wholly ceased and was a matter of lawfully terminated on the marriage of your petitioners as heretofore alleged, and all of which had occurred before the said petitioner LELAH-PUC-KA-CHEE, was seized by said defendant Malin and taken into his custody and control on the first day of November A,D, 1899. That the said illegality of said wilful and unlawful and malicious seizure and imprisonment and restraint, has not been heretofore adjudged upon by any other or prior proceeding of this character or kind to the the best belief or information of your petitioners, That this application for this preliminary or ordinary writ as the court or judge believes the facts shall warrant issued, has not been your petitioners or either of them or any one in his or her behalf made to any court or judge and been refused, Except that on the 8th day of November your petitioners presented a petition of this kind to judge G,W, Burnham of the 17th judicial District of Iowa at Marshalltown, Iowa, in Chambers for the issuance of a writ, He being the nearest Judge and presided over said
said Tama District Court at time said alleged letters of guardianship were issued, That said Burnham refused to act, verbally stating and admitting, he had no jurisdiction at any time, and further refused to make any endorsement in writing on such petition after being requested to do so, of his his reasons for so refusing to act. That your petitioners further allege both before and at the time of said unlawful and malicious seizure and restraint both of said defendants well knew that these petitioners were and are husband and wife, as heretofore alleged These petitioners further allege that they each were and are wraught up to such a state of excitement and feeling over the aforesaid wilful, unlawful and malicious seizure and imprisonment and restraint, that they will, each, suffer irreparable injury unless a preliminary writ issue at once.
Wherefore your petitioners pray that a preliminary writ issue to the end that your petitioner, LELAH-PUC-KA-CHEE, may be at once discharged from said illegal imprisonment and unlawful restraint That she be at once restored to her husband, That said pretended guardianship be declared forever illegal, null and void, That the said District Court of Tama County Iowa be declared to have or to have had no jurisdiction over, either the subject matter nor over said Tribal Indians, including the petitioners herein.
LELAH-PUC-KA-CHEE
by JW Lamb atty
te te la cha
STATE OF IOWA)
TAMA COUNTY)
) SS
I, TA-TA-PI-CHA, being first duly sworne on oath depose and say that I am one of the petitioners of and in the foregoing petition and the above entitled cause, That
I have heard and had carefully interpreted to me the foregoing petition and each and every allegation thereof, and That all the facts and allegations thereincontained are each and all correct and true as I do verily believe.
te te la cha
SUBSCRIBED and sworne to before me by the said TA-TA-PI-CHA this 25th day of November A,D, 1899
JW Lamb Notary Public in & for said Tama County Iowa
Original
No. 83- Law
Lelah-Puc-Ka-Chee
and
Ta-Ta-Pi-Cha
vs
W.G. Malin
and G.W. Nellis
Petition for
writ of
Habeas-Corpus
Filed No 27th 1899
at 8 o'clock a M
AJ VanDuzee
JA Stewart Deputy
