Freeman Bloodgood, only sister Mary Belinda Couchman (Bloodgood) I'm making this up just like reality made it up.https://www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-27-3/justice-in-transition-the-murder-trial-of-straight-head-and-scares-the-hawk/vol-27-no-3-justice-in-transition.pdf
Peter Couchman:
""Peter Couchman, married to Mary Bloodgood, Cheyenne River Indian Agent
The end of the nineteenth century brought about the beginning of the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians. Indian agent Peter Couchman had suggested a separate facility for Indian patients in 1897, Senator Richard Pettigrew had endorsed the suggestion, and the Indian Bureau had cooperated in forwarding his cause.
The asylum, however, was a relatively minor matter for most of the country’s population, who focused, instead, on the Spanish-American War."
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/102115186/
http://www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-27-3/justice-in-transition-the-murder-trial-of-straight-head-and-scares-the-hawk/vol-27-no-3-justice-in-transition.pdf
"Despite the shaky evidence, the court commissioner
bound the three policemen over to the United States
grand jury set to convene at Deadwood, South Dakota, in
February 1895.
Agent Couchman objected strenuously to
the action, considering the matter long settled. In a letter
to the commissioner of Indian affairs, he called the men
involved "the best men I have on the force, [who] always
cheerfully and promptly obey their orders, and are very
careful not to go beyond them or exceed their authority
in any way."-^"'
Miller convened the grand juiy on 5 February 1893, in
Deadwood, South Dakota.
John Whitlock of the original
coroner's jury questioned the location of the proceedings,
stating in a letter to Herbert Welsh of the Indian Rights Association
that Miller chose Deadwood "only because it
was thought the sentiment there was against the Indian
race."
https://www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-27-3/justice-in-transition-the-murder-trial-of-straight-head-and-scares-the-hawk/vol-27-no-3-justice-in-transition.pdf
"In the transition from tribal to reservation life, the decline of traditional American Indian systems of justice and
the subsequent division of responsibilities for law and order among tribal, state, and federal governments caused
major adjustments. Administration of justice through these
various jurisdictional layers was not perfect, especially in
the early years, and abuses occurred. On the other hand,
the same system that sometimes stymied and frustrated
American Indians and their supporters was also capable
of serving up justice. The 1895 conviction, imprisonment,
and eventual exoneration of Cheyenne River tribal policemen Captain Moses Straight Head and Lieutenant Joshua
Scares the Hawk is a case in point. Jailed for the self-defense shooting of William Fielder, a white man living on
the reservation, the two policemen succeeded in a.sserting
their civil rights and gaining their freedom, although the
flght was long and hard. Policemen and agents on other
reservations, as well as Indian policy reformers, watched
the case closely, viewing it as a test of the system they had
helped to institute"
The story of Straight Head and Scares the Hawk began
in 1878, when Congress appropriated money for the creation of tribal police forces to assist Indian agents in "maintaining order and prohibiting illegal traffic in liquor on the
several Indian re.servations."' Armed, mounted, and salaried
by the United States government, the Indian officers were
empowered to arrest or remove individuals who violated
Interior Department ailes governing disorderly conduct,
dainkenness, wife beating, theft, and similar behaviors. On
tlie Cheyenne River Indian Resei-vation, tlie police force
grew from nine men in 1878 to twenty-seven by 1893. A
white man served as police chief, while Straight Head andScares the Hawk served as ranking officers, receiving a
salary of fifteen dollars per month. The force's twenty-five
privates received ten dollars each.
The Indian agent at each reservation appointed the policemen, and the secretary of the interior approved the
nominations annually. Beginning in 1883, agents also nominated judges for the courts of Indian offenses, which had
been established to try the cases of Indian offenciers on the
reservations. These new institLitions paralleled traditional
warrior societies and elder councils, helping to bridge the
white and Indian cultures by involving American Indians in
the process of maintaining law and order in their reservation communities.-
The establishment of Indian police and courts did little,
however, to remedy the gaps in jurisdiction, a problem that
became worse as more non-Indians moved into reserv^ation
areas. Wliile some Indian policy reformers argued for a
blanket extension of United States law to all reservations,
that did not occur until 1885, and then only partially, when
Congress enacted the Major Crimes Act. The law replaced
traditional tribal justice mechanisms relating to Indians who
committed serious crimes on the reservations,
giving authority for their prosecution to the United States government.
The act placed seven major crimes under federal jurisdiction:
murder, manslaughter, rape, assault with intent
to kill, arson, burglary, and larceny.
The measure grew out
of Ex Parte Crow Dog, a case in which the murderer of
Spotted Tail, a chief of the Brûlé Sioux of the Rosebud In
dian Reservation, was set free when the United States Supreme Court determined that no law existed to govern the
killing of one Indian by another on a reservation.'
The major crimes legislation did not solve a special problem that Indian police and courts were !)eginning to encounter, however. A small population of white males, often with Indian wives, now lived on reservations like the
Cheyenne River reservation in north-central South Dakota and committed petty crimes. Although the tribal police
could remove such offenders from the reservation, the
tribal court lacked authority to prosecute them. Federal
law provided fines but no prison sentences for these petty criminals. Because these men lived off the tribe or their
wives' allotments and had little or no property of their
own to attach, such fines were an ineffective deterrent."
The jurisdictional gaps on the Cheyenne River reservation fostered a no-man's land for non-Indian troublemakers, a situation that ultimately led to the shooting of William
Fielder and the subsequent trial in federal court of seven
tribal policemen. Fielder, a white man, had spent his adult
life with the Lakota, who called him "Has the Boat." He became an interpreter at Cheyenne River Agency in 1873 and
served as official interpreter for an 1875 delegation to
Washington, D.C. The Cheyenne River Indian agent appointed him chief of the tribal police in 1878, the year the
force was organized. Over the next few years, however,
Fielder developed a reputation as a drinker and trouble
maker and was eventually removed from the post.^ On several occasions, agents ordered Indian police to remove him
from the reservation for his conduct, but he always returned, claiming his right to live there as the husband of
a Lakota woman.
In 1887, Agent Charles E. McChesney sought assistance
from the United States Indian Sei-vice to remove Fielder
permanently from Cheyenne River, but he received little
help or encouragement. Acting Commissioner Alexander
B. Upshaw refuted Eielder's right to live on the reservation solely because of his marriage to Kate Eielder, telling..." the agent that he "could acquire no rights on the reservation" in that way. UnforUinately, he continued, "the absence
of any law providing for the adequate punishment of [petty] offenses" committed by those who lacked property
meant that the predicament had no solution. McChesney's
only recourse, according to Upshaw, was to evict Eielder
"whenever he is found on the reservation."'" This jurisdictional void was a major factor in the incident that cost
Fielder his life.
The event precipitating the clash between Fielder and
the Indian police occurred in early March 1893, when the
United States paid Cheyenne River claimants for nearly
one thousand horses that General Alfred Terry had seized
during the Sioux War of 1876.^ On the morning of 7
March 1893, William Fielder's wife, Kate Fielder, walked
the mile from her home to the agency to claim two hundred dollars for five horses confiscated from her in 1876.
That afternoon she gave her husband $105 to pay his
debts and buy clothes for his boys, explaining later that
she had done so out of fear because he was drunk at the
time. Fielder later demanded more money, and she refused, having concealed the remainder in her pillow. He
then threatened to kill her and in an ugly rage struck her
with an ash stick. Finally, Fielder threw water on his unconscious wife to revive her and made her promise not to
tell anyone about the incident."*
After the beating, William Fielder left for Forest City,
across the Missouri River from the agency, and Kate Fielder went to see Cheyenne River agent Frank Lillibridge who sent her to the agency physician to have her wounds
dressed.'' Later that day, William Fielder visited the agency
and asked his wife to return home, which she refused to
do because "he had a knife" and would "cut her throat,"
she said.'" Her husband also went to the office of the agent,
who did not have him arrested at tliat time because the
"large and powerful man" was "crazed" with drink and could
not be handled by the single policeman then on duty. According to Lillibridge, chief of police William Fletcher visited
Fielder at lois house twice that afternoon to persuade him to
surrender." When Fielder refused, tlireatening Fletcher and
his accompanying officers with a wrench and an ax, the
agent delayed further action until he could gather a larger
force of men.'' Private Joseph Gray Spotted Horse, one of
the policemen with Fletcher, later recalled Fielder telling
them, "I am not afraid of your six shooters. You have to
kill me before you can take me—that is the only way you
can take [me].'"^
According to Lieutenant Joshua Scares the Hawk, at
midday Agent Lillibridge advised Captain Moses Straight
Head, who had been absent earlier, not to arrest Fielder
but to wait one day and see if he would surrender. Instead, Straight Head decided to arrest Fielder immediately, ordering six tribal police to accompany him." At about
5:00 P.M. on 8 March, Captain Straight Head rode ahead,
planning to talk to Fielder before the other police arrived.
As he approached the house, the officer saw Fielder standing outside with an ax in his hand. He called the white man
by bis Lakota name, Wata, and, according to Gray Spotted
Horse, "talked good to him all day—but got no answer.'"^
The remaining tribal police approached slowly, attempting
to coax Fielder into going to the agency. Private Dennis
Buck offered to speak to Fielder in English. Gray Spotted
Horse reminded him of the consequences of bis actions
for his large family, telling Fielder that he had "bad notions in your head—we do not come up to hurt you.""*
Lieutenant Scares the Hawk told Fielder that "he must not
have any hard feelings—and have pity or mercy on us—
and come along." The lieutenant "asked and begged him
four times to come," but Fielder ran inside the cabin, shut
the door, and told the seven men to leave.'' Finally, Gray
Spotted Horse forced a decision in the stalemate, reminding Straight Head "that this being Indian land—as policemen we can go any where—and dig him out,"'"
Advising his men to be on their guard, Straight Head
kicked in a door panel, opened the door, and retreated a
step. Fielder came out after the captain, raising his ax, which
lodged in the edge of the low roof. Straight Head then
drew his revolver, firing when Fielder came at him with
the ax a second time.'"' Tlie captain later explained, "I
stepped back when I saw he wanted to strike me—and then
I fired—he was about four feet from me." Either the force of
the bullet or Fielder's momentum from swinging the ax
turned liim toward the other policemen, who stood about
six feet away. Lieutenant Scares the Hawk fired a second
shot, followed by shots from all but one of tlie other policemen.'"
Jacob Little Bull, a tribal freighter, reported that he had
driven his wagon to Fielder's home and reached the scene
shortly before tlie shooting. He, too, witnessed Fielder come
out of the house witli an ax. After the shooting, someone
covered Fielder's face, and the policemen placed the body
on a wagon and reUimed to the agency.''
The following day, 9 March 1893, Agent LiUibridge convened a coroner's jury to determine Fielder's cause of
death." Agency trader John F Whitlock, Episcopalian missionary Reverend Edward Ashley, and issue clerk Roger G.
Morton served as inquest members. After examining tlie
body and listening to testimony from eleven witnesses, tliey
concluded that the deceased "died from the effect of pistol
shots fired by U. S. Indian Police of this Agency, said firing
being self defense, while Fielder was resisting arrest, and
attempting to kill some of the Police."--^ Concluding his re
port on the matter, Lillibridge wrote, "I can only say that
the Police have done their dut>'."^^
Undoubtedly, the judgment was partially based on the
fact that the tribal police involved were seasoned and experienced. Straight Head, a thirty-seven-year-old Minneconjou, had held the position of captain since 1889. In
1886, he had seived as a tribal judge; he was a man who
understood legal procedures and boundaries of authority.
Lieutenant Scares the Hawk, a forty-one-year-old Sans
Arc, likewise had several years of police experience. The
remaining police had joined the force after 1889 but were
mature men in their thirties and forties, except for Dennis
Buck, who was in his twenties.'' Following the inquest, it
appeared that everyone considered justice served and the
case closed. Kate Fielder would not suffer further at the
hands of her husband, and the Cheyenne River coroner's
jury had vindicated the seven policemen. There was every
reason to believe that the Fielder case was closed, but the
existence of multiple jurisdictions dictated otherwise.
Because William Fielder had died at the hands of Indians on a reservation, the Major Crimes Act extending federal authority for the prosecution of serious crimes committed on Indian reservations came into play. Accordingly, United States Attorney for South Dakota William B.
Sterling initiated an investigation of Fielder's death even
though he "was satisfied that rhe Indian Police had not
been guilty of any crime."^"^ United States Deputy Marshal
Frank Keyes subsequently arrested the seven policemen
and took them before a United States court commissioner who bound them over to a grand jury that convened
on 28 March 1893 in Pierre.^' The grand jury found no
reason to prosecute the men. and Sterling concluded, "No
blame can be attached to the agent and none to the Indian Police except, perhaps that they were too hasty in their
action."^
In 1894, Sterling's successor, Ezra W. Miller, a Democrat
from Elk Point, South Dakota, decided to retry the seven
tribal policemen for murder. As an appointee of Democratic President Grover Cleveland in a Republican-dominated state, Miller was unpopular, and his popularity probably dropped even further after he filed a timber trespass
suit against the powerful Homestake Mining Company.^^
Miller may have believed the successful prosecution of a
murder charge against one or all of the seven tribal policemen would improve his status in the state. He justified his
action in a letter to United States Attorney General Richard
Olney, alluding to the possibility of a cover-up and writing
that he was "satisfied in my own mind that they are guilty
of murder; that two or three of them at least went to his
house with the intention of killing [Fielder]."^"
Miller found willing allies in his case against the tribal
police. One was William Benoist, a Cheyenne River resident of mixed descent. Fluent in both Lakota and English,
he lived on the Cheyenne River reservation where Agent
Lillibridge's successor, Peter Couchman, called him a "disturber of long standing." Over the years, Benoist had had
"difficulties" with fomier agents and exliibited "the strongest
animosity" toward police captain Moses Straight Head,
Couchman continued.^' Joining Benoist in support of a trial
for the policemen were several Forest City residents, including Jacob Kluth, a United States deputy marshal who
also owned the store where Fielder bad purchased goods
immediately before his death, and another merchant,
Charles Bailey.'- Reverend Ashley, a member of the original coroner's jury, reported later that he overheard Bailey
say that he wanted to testify against the tribal police because "there was money in it, and it would be a nice trip
to Deadwood [site of the next grand jury].'"'
Miller's first move was to have Privates Dennis Buck,
Joseph Gray Spotted Horse, and James Crane arrested and
charged with murder in what Agent Couchman contended was a "test case" aimed at eventually charging the rest
of the force. Authorities then took the three tribal policemen to Gettysburg, South Dakota, across the Missouri River
from the agency, for a preliminary hearing before a United
States court commissioner on 5 January 1895.^^ Roger Mor
ton, Yellow Horse, and Jacob Little Bull of Cheyenne River Agency, along with Charles Bailey of Forest City, appeared before the grand jury as witnesses, although none
had observed the actual shooting. Charles Bailey provided some damaging testimony, claiming that he had seen
the police kill Fielder and "afterward put a rope around
his neck and drag him about twenty rods." Bailey, however, had viewed the incident from across the river at Forest City, about one mile distant. Due to the range and the
time of day (Fielders death occurred at dusk on a late
winter evening). Bailey could not identify specific individuals.^^ Buck would later testify that Bailey also offered
"to get me out of my trouble" in exchange for twenty-five
dollars, an offer the private refused.^'
Despite the shaky evidence, the court commissioner
bound the three policemen over to the United States
grand jury set to convene at Deadwood, South Dakota, in
February 1895. Agent Couchman objected strenuously to
the action, considering the matter long settled. In a letter
to the commissioner of Indian affairs, he called the men
involved "the best men I have on the force, [who] always
cheerfully and promptly obey their orders, and are very
careful not to go beyond them or exceed their authority
in any way."-^"'
Miller convened the grand juiy on 5 February 1893, in
Deadwood, South Dakota. John Whitlock of the original
coroner's jury questioned the location of the proceedings,
stating in a letter to Herbert Welsh of the Indian Rights Association that Miller chose Deadwood "only because it
was thought the sentiment there was against the Indian
race." According to Whitlock, several members of the bar
there also believed that Deadwood had been chosen precisely because "a fair trial could not be had there."^"
The grand jury proceedings seemed to confirm Whitlock's claims. First, William Benoist served as interpreter;
Couchman complained that he was an improper person
to act in that capacity because of his past troubles with
the tribal police.^" Second, Miller's actions determined who
would and would not testify. Wlien the grand jury issued
subpoenas for defense witnesses from Cheyenne River,
Miller refused to call them, stating, according to Whitlock,
that "not a damned one should go before them.""' Finally,
Miller refused to allow the court to pay the travel costs of
the defense witnesses, whose trip to Deadwood via steam
boat and rail totaled nine hundred miles. Several grand jury
members were uncomfortable with the district attorney's actions and sought assistance from a Deadwood lawyer, but
Miller prevailed, and no witnesses for the defense testified
before the grand jury. As a result, on 13 February 1895,
twenty grand jurors issued an indictment charging all seven
tribal policemen with William Fielder's murder."
After the indictments were handed down. Private Dennis Buck claimed that Miller took him from his cell to the
attorney's Deadwood office, where he had assembled
Charles Bailey, Jacob Kluth, and William Benoist. Miller
then reportedly pressured the young private to testify
against the other six policemen, first addressing him condescendingly as a "good boy" and later insinuating that
Buck would not "see his wife again" unless he cooperated. Buck testified that he told Miller, "Even if you want to
hang those people to night [sic] 1 will be with them." The
next morning, according to Buck's affidavit, Miller, Benoist,
and a local attorney again visited Buck in jail, telling him
that if he gave the local attorney twenty-five dollars he
would get out of jail "that day."^^
Reports of Miller's actions soon reached friends of the
Indians. A correspondent for the New York Evening Post
wrote, "It seems to have been enough for the AttorneyGeneral that a new Democratic District Attorney, who
from all accounts was a gentlemen of the strictly South
Dakota frontier type, had found it convenient to satisfy
the cravings of a populace always ready to condemn a
• Indian' with or without a hearing, by raking up a
matter nearly two years old." The story concluded that in
stead of seeking justice "the State [was]. . . . subjecting
tliese men to trial by 'a jury of the vicinage [the hostile
community of Deadwood]'!"^^ Within the state. Agent Couchman reported that Lakota people on other reservations
viewed the proceedings as nothing more than "persecution."
Tlie tribal police threatened to resign in mass in a show of
"how deeply they felt the injustice of the treatment accorded their fellow-members of the force."*'
At this point, neither Indian nor white opinion could
stop the legal proceedings, and the seven defendants were
turned over to the United States Circuit Court at Deadwood
for trial. Tlie presiding judge was Elmer S. Dundy from Nebraska, who had heard prior cases involving the civil
rights of American Indians. In Standing Bear v. Crook, he
had ruled that Indians had a right to sue for habeas corpus in federal court.'^ On 13 February 1895, the seven policemen appeared without legal counsel before Dundy for
their arraignment and pleaded not guilty. Because they
were destitute, Dundy appointed John H. Burns and
Granville G. Bennett of Deadwood to defend them."*'' The
trial began on 6 March and concluded just over a week
later when the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on the
murder charges for all seven men. Jurors did, however,
find Captain Straight Head and Lieutenant Scares the
Hawk "guilty of assault with intent to do great bodily
harm" but recommended that under the circumstances
they should be dealt with extreme liencey [sicV^
Dundy informed the jur^--, that their improperly worded
verdict combined their findings and comments, and he in
staicted Miller's assistant, Stephen B. Van Buskirk, to redraw it in proper legal form. When Van Buskirk returned
the document to the judge, Dundy reportedly remarked
to jurors that they "might make some changes in that verdict." Looking it (3ver carefully, the jury discovered that
Van Buskirk had replaced their finding of 'intent to do
great bodily injury" with the stronger phrase "intent to
kill." Perceiving that Van Buskirk had attempted to trick
them, the incensed jurors informed the court that their
verdict had t.:)een improperly stated. It was then redrawn
correctly, and the jurors were dismissed.'" In redrafting the
verdict, Van Buskirk had undoubtedly been aware that
the only statutory authority for prosecuting and punishing
the American Indian men, the Major Crimes Act, did not
delineate the crime of "assault with intent to do great bodily injury."'" Judge Dundy was also aware of this fact, for
he took "the matter [of sentencing] under advisement" and
released the men on one-thousand-dollars bail. All seven
policemen returned to Cheyenne River reservation in the
middle of March.'"
Straight Head and Scares the Hawk returned to Deadwood for sentencing on 30 March, when Dundy ordered
them to serve one year and one day at hard labor in the
South Dakota State Penitentiary at Sioux Falls.^' Even
though the verdict had failed to comply with the wording
of the Major Crimes Act, Dundy concluded that in a jury trial he was bound to sentence the men, and he gave them
the lightest sentence possible. In accepting the jury's verdict, however, Dundy had also insured that the defense
attorneys would have a strong basis for appeal on habeas
corpus, a tactic he knew well from past experience. In case
that failed. Dundy also wrote President Grover Cleveland
requesting "a full and complete pardon" for Straight Head
and Scares the Hawk.'''
As a Lînited States marshal escorted the policemen to
the penitentiary, lawyers Burns and Bennett filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal court in Sioux
Falls on 8 April 1895. Tlie right of habeas corpus, literally
defined as •'prt)ducing the prisoner," is a protection against
illegal imprisonment specified in article one of the United
States Constitution. The court, by applying habeas corpus,
can order the release of an individual who has been wrongly incarcerated.^^ In their petition, the attorneys claimed that
"there is no such crime known to the laws of the United
States as assault with intent to do great bodily injury and
no punishment prescribed by the laws of the United
States for such offense, and that the judgments and sentences rendered and entered on said verdicts against your
petitioners are absolutely null and void." The arguments
of Burns and Bennett convinced federal judge Alonzo J.
Edgerton that Straight Head's and Scares the Hawk's constitutional rights had been violated, and on 25 April 1895,
Edgerton signed the habeas corpus order claiming that
Warden Nye E. Phillips was illegally depriving Straight
Head and Scares the Hawk of their liberty.'"
After initially ordering Miller to challenge Judge Fdgerton's decision. United States Attorney General Richard Olney dropped the appeal in response to growing pressure
from tlie Indian Rights Association.^^ At the urging of the
defendants' supporters, the national group had looked into
the matter and presented Olney with a petition signed by
New York attorney Everett P. Wheeler, former Secretary of
the Interior Carl Schurz, and others, asking the attorney
general to investigate the conduct of Miller and Van
Buskirk. Wheeler accused the two South Dakota attorneys
of actions "most prejudicial to the interest of the Government, and calculated to inspire tlie Indians with a sentiment that good faith was not being used toward them,
and thus to destroy their confidence in the administration
of the Indian Department."^'' In response, the Department
of Justice sent examiner Leigh Chalmers to South Dakota
to look into the charges. Chalmers found Miller and Van
Buskirk innocent of any wrongdoing.^' Shortly thereafter,
Olney stepped down as attorney general, and the Justice
Department dropped the matter entirely.
As the Straight Head and Scares the Hawk case became
a victory for constitutional rights. Commissioner of Indian
Affairs Daniel M. Browning encc?uraged President Grover
Cleveland to honor the seven police for the Fielder affair.^
By thus acting on his 1885 inaugural speech in which he
had pledged that "the Indians . . . shall be fairly and honestly treated as wards of the Government." Cleveland
could gain favor in the eyes of those pressing for Indian
policy reform.^^ The awards came with a stipulation, however. In a letter to Agent Couchman, the commissioner of
Indian affairs made it clear that the medals would be
withheld if "their conduct, or the conduct of any one of
them, has been since the trial, such as to forfeit the consideration to which they would otherwise be entitled."'*
Couchman responded that the conduct oí the seven men
had been exemplary, and in February 1896 he presented
them with medals in the name of the president "as a reward of merit, and in recognition of their faithful discharge
of duty, under the direction of the Agent, on the occasion
of the killing of William Fielder while resisting arrest.'"" For
the seven policemen, the medals' luster was undoubtedly
tarnished Even though the liberation of Straight Head and Scares
the Hawk from prison helped to satisfy those who had
rallied to the defense of the tribal police, the problem of
multiple jurisdictions on Indian reservations remained. After the Deadwood trial, South Dakota Episcopal Bishop
William Hobart Hare had written to President Cleveland
about the problem. "If Indian police are made to fear that
they will be committing a crime if they obey orders and
defend themselves when attacked, the police force is, of
course, doomed," Hare said. They are, he concluded, "just
as ti'uly the representatives of lawful authority putting forth
its power in behalf of law and order as constables and police are among our white people."'"'
The story of Captain Straight Head and Lieutenant Scares
the Mawk pointed out the lapses in reservation law enforcement. No (jne was more aware of the prol:)lem than
reservation residents, who wanted their policemen to arrest non-Indian offenders for crimes committed on Indian
land. After World War II, a case similar to that of Straight
Head and Scares the Hawk arose on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation in central South Dakota. In November
1947, Indian policemen William Red Owl and Charlie
Long Turkey attempted to arrest Alfred Hickey, a white
resident of Lower Brule, for arguing with them and striking Red Owl as he sat in his police car. When Red Owl
tried to hit Hickey with the butt of his pistol, the weapon
discharged, killing Hickey*"
United States Court Commissioner David M. Rogers
evenaially dismissed murder charges against both Indian
policemen, but the case prompted South Dakota's representative in Congress, Francis H. Case, to introduce legislation conferring authority for reservation law enforcement on state and county officials. The bill failed, but in
1948, Congress revised and codified Title 18 of the United States Code extending federal jurisdiction over major
crimes committed by Indians against either Indians or
non-Indians on tribal lands."- This act only partially closed
the jurisdictional canyon. Authority over non-Indians who
committed crimes against Indians continued to be a
source of debate, particularly as the movement for termination of federal assistance to Indian tribes gained momentum in the 1950s.
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