miles bareheaded on a cold
winter day, but to resist a soldier while in the discharge of duty is
considered disgraceful in the extreme. When I reached the lodge I told
Faribault of the predicament in which I was placed. We concluded the
best policy, would be to prepare a feast to mollify them. We got
together all the best things we could muster and when the soldiers
arrived in the evening we went out and invited them to a feast in our
lodge. The temptation was too strong to be resisted." They responded,
ate their fill, smoked and forgave the "contempt of court," which
indicates that the judiciary, even in that primitive time, was not
wholly incorruptible.

[8] Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. III.

* * * * *

The modern Sioux Courts, organized under the authority of federal law
and in accordance with the rules of the Indian Department, are perhaps
of more interest to lawyers than the courts of the primitive tribes.
The modern courts were first proposed by General William S. Harney, in
1856 and were provided for in the treaty made at Port Pierre in March
of that year, which unfortunately was not ratified by the senate.[9] It
can scarcely be doubted that had Harney's scheme for making the Sioux
responsible to the government for the conduct of their own people been
adopted, much bloodshed and treasure would have been saved.

[9] This treaty was not ratified because of the large expenditure
which would be demanded to uniform and subsist the police force.
Afterwards we spent in a single year for the subjugation of the
Sioux sufficient money to subsist the police for a century.

It was not until after the Red Cloud war ended in 1868 that the courts
for Indian offenses, equipped by the Indian themselves, began to be
tried at some of the agencies in a small way. The Sissetons and Santees
were first to give them a trial and eventually they were supplied to
all the Reservations except the Rosebud, which, for some reason of
which I have been unable to secure information, has never had them.

The following general rules governing courts of Indian Offenses
pursuant to the statute have been adopted by the Indian Department:[10]

[10] Rules and Regulations of the Indian Office governing Indian
Reservations. Letter of Hon. John R. Brennan, agent at Pine
Ridge, April, 1908.

First: When authorized by the Department there shall be e