The Ojibwa Indians have had a number of attorneys in the past twenty, or twenty-five years. None of these men seem to have concerned themselves with the prevention of the wholesale thefts of land and timber. The gentleman who acted as attorney at the time of our arrival, became active toward the end of our investigation, and did what he could to secure justice for the Indians. But he had done nothing previously along such lines, and his activities savored of a death-bed repentance. The Secretary of the Interior did not approve his re-election. The full-blood Indians were against the employment of the attorney, and the mixed-blood Indians, headed by Gus Beaulieu, were very insistent that the attorney be retained. During the three years prior to 1909, the attorney had received in salary and expenses about $20,000.
A large council was called in July by the Indians to talk over the attorneyship. Mr. Linnen and myself were spectators, and while we could have helped the poor, ignorant full-bloods, because of our official position, we were compelled to sit in silence and see Gus Beaulieu and John Carl, Rev. Clement Beaulieu and others manipulate the meeting. The first morning, there were sufficient full-bloods to have outvoted the Beaulieu element, two to one. But Gus Beaulieu and his brother, Rev. Clement Beaulieu, consumed the time in speech-making, while Ben Fairbanks sent mixed-bloods in teams all over the reservation to bring in those who would vote according to Gus Beaulieu’s desires. At the afternoon session the full-blood Indians might have carried their point, but they spent their time answering the arguments of the two Beaulieus and others, being cleverly heckled into making long speeches.
The next morning, the council adjourned to a larger hall, in the center of White Earth village. By this time the mixed-blood element predominated and a very motley crowd was assembled, including a number of saloon-keepers of Ogema and other towns, and several interpreters who were mentioned in the affidavits as having acted as go-betweens in land and timber deals. To shorten my story, the poor full-blood Indians were outvoted, they were asked to write out ballots (which they did not understand and most of them could not write) and the attorney was re-elected. We made a report against the council, and the Secretary of the Interior sustained our objections.
OJIBWA GRAVEYARD, WHITE EARTH MINNESOTA
Nearly all of these burials are those of consumptives the past few years.
In addition to the Chippewa attorney, there was also a Chippewa Commissioner. The Graham Investigating Committee considered him at some length.
Senator Clapp asked that Darwin H. Hall be appointed Chippewa Commissioner. The history of this appointment is interesting, but must not (at present) be related. Previous to that, Hall had been employed at various intervals until his employment totaled eight years and cost $31,845. In this connection it is well to remark that the investigation made by Linnen and myself, including the employment of thirty-seven persons, and lasting all summer and part of the fall, cost for my part $3,066.64. Mr. Linnen’s expenses could not have been more than a third of that sum.
Hall came to White Earth while Linnen and I were investigating, and was of no value to us. He helped us in no way. He was detailed to move some 200 or 300 Mille Lac Indians about one hundred miles (more or less). I had offered to move these same Indians in sixty days, but my offer met with no cordial response. During the twenty months that Hall was in office he moved fifty Indians, according to my information, and fifty-one according to the Indian Office report. At that rate, his job would have lasted nearly seven years! It cost him $167.50 per head to move an Indian one hundred miles. It would have cost $33,500 to move 200 Indians to White Earth!
I met Hall at the Hiawatha Hotel, White Earth, prior to the arrival of Mr. Linnen. We stepped out into the street in order not to be overheard and I told him of the dreadful situation of the Chippewa Indians and how that he could help us right their wrongs. He informed me that he had no sympathy with the investigation, and I could see his attitude was hostile.
The Secretary of the Bureau of Catholic Missions, Charles S. Lusk, wrote to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in August, 1910, calling attention to the sad condition of these Indians, that the removal of a portion of them to White Earth had brought them under the influence of one Gus Beaulieu and other politicians. They were promised houses, lands and farming implements. In Washington three years ago I met a delegation of the Ojibwa. Three of the members of this body were personally known to me, and the Chief Ah-bow-we-ge-shig well known. They told me that the last thing that Darwin Hall did was to summon the Mille Lacs and persuade them to move a considerable distance from their homes. He left them in camp, promising to return shortly and move them to White Earth. These Indians waited two weeks. They had little food. Mr. Hall did not move them, and they suffered privations, and at last returned to their former homes. The story of the Mille Lacs reads as a page from Helen Hunt Jackson’s “Century of Dishonor,” yet this scandal did not occur in the old days, but is recent history. Who is responsible?