This day in history: October 17, 1907
As reported in the Utica Daily Press on October 17, 1907
INDIANS HAVE A GRIEVANCE
Delegation of Oneidas Make an Appeal to Gov. Hughes.
”It is many moons, some say forty moons or more,” says the Albany Argus, “since the governor of the state has been appealed to by Indians to extend his strong arm for their protection. But yesterday, Gov. Hughes gave a hearing to a delegation of Oneida Chiefs. Their spokesman, Chief William Honyost (Honyoust), seconded by Simeon Elm and Baptist Day, informed the governor that unscrupulous white men were plotting under guise of mortgage foreclosures and partition suits in the white man’s courts to get possession of what little lands the Oneidas still own.
”The land immediately involved is about 30 acres, and lies about four miles south of the city of Rome. The legal documents describe it as within the city limits. On the land are now living a score of descendants of the original Oneida Indians and the land is not only a remnant of the Oneida reservation, but a part of the land over which no red man, save an Oneida, ever had the right to hunt.
”It is understood that the wily whites have paper deeds and decrees based on the claim that the Oneidas are citizens who may buy, sell and mortgage the same as the whites. In this case, however, the Oneidas living on this piece of land claim that they constitute an Indian band, and that this land has never been owned in severalty nor paid a white man’s tax, and that they are still the political subjects of a red men’s government.
”Fearing that the sheriff of Madison County might soon disturb their peaceful possession and evict them, they have invoked the governor to make good the states guardianship over its dependent Indian wards.
“Gov. Hughes listened attentively to the brief and concise address of Chief Honyost, and assured the delegation of their right to come to him, and that he would do whatever was proper to protect them. The governor has referred the matter to Attorney General Jackson to investigate and advise him. Deputy Attorney General Decker has been assigned by the attorney general to take up the investigation.”
