Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 5.djvu/386



. And be it further enacted, That, for the purpose of making partition and division of said lands among the individuals of said tribe of Brothertown Indians, a board of commissioners shall be constituted, to consist of five of the principal or head men of said tribe, a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum to do business, whose duty it shall be to make a just and fair partition and division of said lands among the members of said tribe, or among such of them as, by the laws and customs and regulations of said tribe, are entitled to the same, and in such proportions and in such manner as shall be consistent with equity and justice, and in accordance with the existing laws, customs, usages, or agreements of said tribe.

. And be it further enacted, That, for the purpose of electing or choosing said board of commissioners, a meeting of said tribe shall be held at their church, or principal place, on the reservation of land aforesaid, on the first Monday in July next, at which all the male members of said tribe over the age of twenty-one years shall be allowed to vote for such commissioners; and the said five commissioners shall then and there be chosen or elected by the said tribe, by a majority of the whole number of such voters then present. And the judge of the district in which said lands are situated (or in his absence the register of the land office at Green Bay, or the commanding officer of the United States troops at Fort Howard) shall attend at the time and place aforesaid, and preside at said meeting, superintend the said election, and see that the proceedings are fairly conducted: and the said presiding officer may, in his discretion, prescribe whether the said election shall be by ballot or viva voce; and shall in other respects cause the proceedings to be conducted in such manner as to ensure a fair and proper choice or election; and after the said commissioners shall have been so chosen or elected, the said presiding officer shall immediately certify that fact, setting forth the names of the commissioners who shall be elected, and shall make two copies of said certificate, one of which he shall file in the office of the register of the land district at Green Bay, and the other he shall transmit by mail to the President of the United States.

. And be it further enacted, That after the said commissioners shall have been elected or chosen as above prescribed, and as soon thereafter as conveniently may be, they shall proceed to make partition and division of all the lands aforesaid among the individual members of said tribe, or among such of them as, by the laws, customs, usages, or agreements of said tribe are justly entitled to the same, and in such way and manner, and upon such principles and in such proportions as shall be agreeably to equity and justice, and consistent with the laws, usages, customs, and agreements of said tribe: Provided, however, That the buildings and improvements, and the farms on which the same are situated, which are now held or possessed in severalty by the members of said tribe, shall, so far as the same can consistently be done, be allotted or apportioned to the present occupants; and that no person or individual of said tribe shall be dispossessed or deprived of the improvements or land which they now occupy, unless it shall be found by the said commissioners that such person or persons are in the possession of and occupying more land than they are justly entitled to, and then the overplus may be apportioned to others.

. And be it further enacted, That after the said commissioners shall have made such partition and division as aforesaid, they shall make, or cause to be made, a full report of their proceedings in the premises, setting forth the name of each person to whom they have apportioned any part of said land, the quantity apportioned or allotted to each, with the metes and bounds, or other definite description of each several piece or parcel of land; and they shall accompany the said report with a fair and accurate map of the whole, showing the divisions and partitions