201 F. 295 | 8th Cir. | 1912
The United States brought this action against the defendant, Fitzgerald, for damages for the wrongful taking by him from the Indian, Towanta, of certain sacks of wool that had been sheared from the latter’s sheep. The facts set forth in the complaint were these; Towanta was an Indian allottee, located on a
The taking by the defendant of the personal property of the Indian, Towanta, from him by fraud without the consent of the Indian agent, under whose control, supervision, and management it had been placed for the purpose of protecting it against the fraud and rapacity of members of the defendant’s race, was an infringement of tire governmental rights of the United States, a hindrance of the execution of its governmental policy, and a wrongful seizure of the lawful means it was using to carry that policy into effect. It was therefore a wrong for the redress of which the United States had the capacity to sue. It may maintain an action for damages for the fraudulent taking of the personal property of an Indian allottee, which is under the supervision, control, and management of the Secretary of the Interior, or his subordinate, an Indian agent, and may hold the amount it recovers in trust for the Indians whose property has been taken or injured, because such suits are lawful aids to redress infringements of its governmental rights, obstructions to the execution of its governmental policy, and interference with the means it is using to carry that policy into effect.
The judgment below must accordingly be reversed, and the case must be' remanded to the District Court, with instructions to permit the defendant to answer and to take further proceedings in accordance with the views expressed in this opinion. !
It is so ordered.