Smith v. United States (151 U.S. 50)

Statement by Mr. Justice BROWN:

This was a writ of error to review the conviction of the plaintiff in error for the murder of one James Gentry, alleged to have been 'a white man, and not an Indian,' on August 1, 1883, in the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory. The case was tried before the circuit court of the United States for the western district of Arkansas, at the May term of 1893, and the prisoner convicted, and sentenced to death. Thirty-four assignments of error were contained in the record, none of which were considered except the first and last, which raised the question of the jurisdiction of the court, arising from the fact that both the accused and the deceased were Indians.

A. H. Garland, for plaintiff in error.

Asst. Atty. Gen. Whitney, for the United States.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 51-53 intentionally omitted]

Mr. Justice BROWN, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.