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CORNELL UNrVEHSITY LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 068 300 874 
 
 LAWS A^D REGULATIONS 
 
 ADOPTED BY THE 
 
 fINNEBAGO TRIBE 
 
 INDIANS, 
 
 IN COUNCIL HELD AT THE 
 
 WIlS^lSrEBAGO AGENCY, NEBRASKA, 
 
 JULY 31st, A. D. 1868. 
 
 OMAHA: 
 
 DAILY HERALD BOOK AND JOB PRINTIlfG ESTABLISHMEN'J'. 
 
 1868. 
 
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 LOT 
 A3 
 
 I8U 
 
LA'WS AND REGULATIONS 
 
 WINNEBAGO TRIBE OF INDIANS. 
 
 I. Any member of the Tribe who may wilfully and maliciously 
 take the life of another, shall be arrested by the Police and tried by 
 the Chiefs, and if found guilty shall suffer death, the mode of death 
 to be determined by the majority of the Chiefs. 
 
 II. Any member of the Tribe who shall maliciously assault 
 another with the intent to kill, shall, upon conviction thereof, be 
 imprisoned for a term of not Jess than one, nor more than three months, 
 and shall, in addition thereto, be subject to a fine, or shall perform 
 such labor as may be ordered by the Chiefs as a punishment for the 
 offence. 
 
 III. Any member of the Tribe charged with stealing property 
 of any description from a white man, Indian, or from; the United 
 Slates shall be arrested by the Police and brought before the Chiefs 
 for trial, and if convicted shall be compelled to restore the stolen 
 property or pay the value thereof to the party injured, and shall be 
 imprisoned and required to perforin such labor and for such time as 
 may be deemed adequate to the offence. 
 
 IV. Any person who shall wilfully and maliciously kill or des- 
 troy a horse or other property belonging to a white man, an Indian, 
 or the United States, shall on conviction be punished in the manner 
 provided in law number three. 
 
 V. Any member of the Tribe, who shall be found drunk, or .who 
 shall bring intoxicating liquors' on the Reservation, or. in whose posses- 
 
gion it may be found, or who may send off the Eeservation for it, shall 
 for the first offence be imprisoned for a term not more than thirty, nor 
 less than ten days, and for the second offence shall, in addition to the 
 aljove punishment, forfeit his next cash annuity payment. 
 
 VI. If any Chief of the Tribe or member ef-the Police force 
 is found drunk; he shall forfeit his next annuity payment, and shall 
 be immediately deposed from office. 
 
 VII. If any person shall wilfully and maliciously burn the house 
 or other property of another, or shall by setting fire to the prairie 
 cause the burning of another's property, he shall, upon conviction, 
 pay for the property destroyed, and the annuity money due the of- 
 fender shall be applied in the payment of the debt until the same is 
 fully discharged. 
 
 VIII. If any member of the Tribe shall owe a debt to any one 
 of the Tribe, and the debtor shall refuse to pay the same, he shall be 
 brought before the Chiefs and the Agent of the Tribe, who, whirn sat- 
 isfied that the debt is just, shall fix a time for its payment, and if the 
 debtor fail to pay the debt in the time named, it shall be the duty of 
 the Chiefs, upon receiving notice of the debtor's failure tapay, to in- 
 struct the Police force to at once seize such property as they can find 
 belonging to the debtor, wliich said property shall be assessed by the 
 Agent, and a sufficient quantity thereof to pay the whole of said in- 
 debtedness shall be turned over by the Chiefs to the creditor, and it 
 shall be the duty of the Police force to protect the creditor in the 
 possession of said property. 
 
 IX. If a stray animal shall come on the Eeservation and shall be 
 taken up by an Indidn, it shall be the duty of the Indian who takes 
 up the estray to i^nmediately turn the same over to the Agent of the 
 Tribe, who shall pay the Indian a fair compensation for his expenses 
 and trouble. 
 
 X. Any Indian who may wilfully damage the property of another 
 Indian shall be required to pay the injured party such an amount as 
 the Chiefs may deem just and right. 
 
 XI. If any Indian or half-breed of the Tribe shall make mis- 
 chief or create discontent among the Indians it shall be the duty of 
 
the Chiefs and Police to report him to the Agent, with the view of 
 having him removed from the Eeservation. 
 
 XII. Any Chief of the Tribe who may receive a bribe or pres- 
 ent in money, goods, or other property for signing his name to a 
 written obligation, acknowledging the indebtedness of the Tribe, or 
 to a petition asking that the debt be paid out of the annuity money 
 belonging to the Tribe, shall immediately on conviction be deposed 
 from office. 
 
 XIII. It shall be the duty of the Chiefs to see that the children 
 of their respective bands regularly attend the school on the Reserva- 
 tion, and if any scholar who shall have received clothing for attend- 
 ing schopl shall remain away from school, and the parents or guar- 
 dians of such child shall fail to send the scholar or clothes back with- 
 in a reasonable time, he or they shall be made to pay the value of 
 the clothes from the annuity money of the scholar, parents, or guar- 
 dians. 
 
 XIV. Any Chief who shall be convicted of crime, or tainted 
 with corruption, or who shall neglect his band, or fail in any respect 
 to guar<i over their interests, shall be deposed from office. 
 
 XV. If any member of the Tribe. shall die in the possession of 
 property, one-half of such property shall be given to his widow and 
 one-half thereof to his children, the children to receive equal shares ; 
 if he leaves no children, all of such property shall be given to his 
 widow, and if he leaves no widow all of such property shall be given 
 to his children in equal shares ; if he has no widow or children all 
 of such property shall go to his nearest relations in such proportions 
 as the Chiefs may deem fair and just. 
 
 XVI. If any member of the Tribe shall steal a horse or other 
 property from an Indian belonging to another Tribe, he shall, on con- 
 viction, be required to return the property stolen to the owner, with- 
 out delay ; or if he cannct return the property, he shall pay to the 
 party injured the fijU value of the property stolen, and in addition 
 thereto shall forfeit his cash annuity for the two payments next suc- 
 ceeding the commission of the crime, and shall be imprisoned arid put 
 to hard labor for a term not exceeding three nor less than one month. 
 
XVII. For the purpose of enforcing the laws of the Winnebago 
 Tribe, and for the prompt punishment of crime, and the preservation 
 of order on the Reservation, there shall be appointed by the Agent of 
 the Tribe a Police force, which shall consist of seven Indians selected 
 from the Tribe, one of whom shall be designated and styled the Cap- 
 tain, who shall have immediate control of the Police, and shall receive 
 a salary of three hundred dollars per year, and one of whom shall be 
 designated and styled Lieutenant, who shall receive a salary of two 
 hundred dollars per year ; the residue of the force shall receive a sal- 
 ary of one hundred and fifty dollars each per year. The salaries of 
 the Police, and all necessary and reasonable expenses incurred by 
 them in the performance of their duties, shall be paid out of the an- 
 nuity money belonging to the Tribe. The Agent shall have power 
 to remove any one or all of the members of the Police force at his 
 pleasure. 
 
 XVIII. The Executive and Judicial power of the Tribe shall be 
 lodged in fourteen Chiefs, whose duty it shall be to guard with vigil- 
 ance the interests of the entire Tribe, irrespective of distinct bands 
 and individuals, to see that the laws are rigidly enforced, and that all 
 offenders, without respect to person or rank, are brought to quick and 
 prompt punishment, and they shall have jurisdiction of all cases aris- 
 ing jinder the laws of the Tribe. In all cases involving the innocence 
 or guilt of persons tried before them for violation of law, nine of the 
 Chiefs shall constitute a quorum, and shall have power to decide all 
 questions under the law the same as if the whole number of Chiefs 
 were present ; a majority of those pre Bent and acting shall be necessary 
 to a decision. 
 
 This is to certify that the Winnebago Tribe, in Council assem- 
 bled at the Winnebago Agency, Nebraska, July 21st, 1868, adopted 
 the foregoing laws for their local government. 
 
 CHARLES MATHEWSON^ 
 Mitchell St. Cyh, U. S. Indian Agent. 
 
 IJ. S. Interpreter. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this bool< is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924068300874