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and death proof; that the Commission did not arbitrarily enroll any Creek citizen without evidence, and that in every single case if the applicant did not appear some one who was regarded as reliable appeared for him and gave evidence until the Commissioner was satisfied that he belonged on the roll; that whenever any question was raised by the Creek Nation or its attorney with reference to the right to enrollment, or for any reason as to whether the applicant was living or dead, there was generally testimony taken in those cases; that with reference to those people whose names up to March, 1901, had not been accounted for, there were lists of these made and sent to the various town kings and various inquiries were made that way and report came back; that sometimes the party addressed came in and gave verbal testimony, and if it seemed clear to the Commission it was probably not reduced to writing; that if there was any question with reference to the matter it probably was reduced to writing; that the Commission had to be satisfied from the records; that the Commission never passed upon a card until it was completed; that the information may have been picked up piecemeal over a year or two, but the Commission was satisfied that the party was entitled to enrollment, and the records were made up for the purpose of the information of the Commission and to show such information as was necessary to enable the Commission to reach a decision.

One of the enrolling clerks at Okmulgee testified that if information was present that a name was entitled to go on the rolls, the roll was completed at Okmulgee; that if the Commission did not have this information they did not complete it; that the fact that Barney Thlocco's card was completed at Okmulgee indicated that the party who wrote the card was satisfied that Thlocco was living on April 1, 1899, and satisfied from evidence; that there was in all cases some evidence as to whether the citizen

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was living or dead on April 1, 1899, before the rolls were recommended to the Secretary of the Interior.

The Acting Chairman of the Dawes Commission testified that they did not to his knowledge ever enroll any man without taking some evidence, information, or eliciting knowledge from some source other than the tribal rolls that he was entitled to be enrolled, and it was never permitted to be done; that the purpose was to find out whether a man was entitled to enrollment and one of the factors in that determination was whether he died prior or subsequent to April 1, 1899; that he always ascertained that fact before he enrolled the applicant and always satisfied his mind on that subject by evidence outside of the roll; that every name sent into the Department of the Interior as a name to be enrolled and which had been enrolled as a member of the Creek Tribe had been investigated by some member of the Commission at some place and by evidence outside of the rolls and a determination had been reached that that person was entitled to enrollment; that he undoubtedly satisfied himself from an examination of Thlocco's card whether Thlocco was living on April 1, 1899; that in securing information the Commission had the assistance of the best men in the tribes as well as its own field parties; that when he would take the card he would have the card and the clerk would have the schedule, and he went over it several times with clerks and would find out from the clerk all the information the clerk had with reference to that card several times.

It is true, as set forth in the certificate upon which this case was originally sent here, in view of § 28 of the original Creek Agreement, providing that no person except as therein provided should be added to the rolls of citizenship of the tribe after the date of the agreement, and no person whomsoever should be added to the rolls after the ratification of the agreement, which was ratified on May 25, 1901, that the tribe assembled at Okmulgee,

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its capital, some days before that date, for the purpose of considering and acting upon the agreement, and that there was great activity some time before the ratification upon the part of the Dawes Commission and its officers and clerks to complete the enrollment of the tribe; and it is shown that Thlocco's enrollment card was made out at Okmulgee on the twenty-fourth day of May, 1901,the last day before the ratification of the agreement. It is also true that in the testimony as adduced in this record, there was, as naturally would be the case, a lack of recollection as to the details which attended the enrollment of Thlocco. But there is evidence to which we have already alluded, showing the practice of the Commission to make inquiries and investigations and to ascertain the facts as to the persons enrolled, and that no person was enrolled without information that was deemed satisfactory at that time. The Commission had before it the tribal rolls of 1890 and 1895. The latter roll was made out some six years before the action of the Commission, and in the absence of proof of Thlocco's death or some circumstances to give rise to the conclusion that he was not still living, the Commission might well indulge the presumption that he was still alive. Fidelity Mutual Life Assn. v. Mettler, 185 U. S. 308, 316.

It is true that the methods followed by the Commission may not have been the most satisfactory possible of determining who were entitled to enrollment as living persons on April 1, 1899, but it must be remembered that there were many persons whose right to enrollment was being considered, and the Commission in good faith made an honest endeavor to keep the names of persons off the rolls who were not entitled to appear as members of the tribe upon the date fixed by Congress. We think the testimony very far from showing such arbitrary action on the part of the Commission in placing Thlocco's name on the rolls as would establish that mistake of law or fact

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which is essential to the impeachment of the action of the Commission. This action was brought fourteen years after the enrollment of Thlocco and the allotment to him based on such enrollment should not be disturbed except for good and sufficient reasons.

It is not contended by the Government that the subsequent action of the Secretary in striking Thlocco's name from the rolls had the legal effect to accomplish that purpose. Such is the contention of the intervenors. The testimony shows that Thlocco was enrolled by the Commission on May 24, 1901, that the allotment was made and the certificate therefor issued on June 30, 1902, and that patents were recorded in the office of the Commission on April 11, 1903, the allotment certificate issued in the name of Thlocco. On August 25, 1904, the Commission transmitted to the Secretary of the Interior a communication from the Creek attorney in the nature of a motion to re-open the matter. On September 16, 1904, the Secretary of the Interior ordered further investigation, and directed that notice be given to the heirs of Thlocco of the hearing. The heirs of Thlocco were not found, and no notice was given them of the proposed hearing. On October 10, 1906, the Commission reported that the testimony showed that Thlocco died before April 1, 1899, and recommended that his name be stricken from the roll. On December 13, 1906, the Secretary directed that Thlocco's name be stricken from the roll, and requested the Attorney General to take action to set aside the allotment deeds. We think this action entirely ineffectual to annul the previous action of the Government in placing Thlocco's name upon the roll and issuing in his name the certificate and patents as we have stated. Such action could not be legally taken without notice to the heirs, and was void and of no effect. Garfield v. United States ex rel. Goldsby, 211 U. S. 249; Knapp v. Alexander-Edgar Lumber Co., 237 U. S. 162, 169. In Lowe v. Fisher, 223

Opinion of the Court.

244 U.S.

U. S. 95, the Secretary of the Interior in striking names from the roll of Cherokee citizens acted after notice and opportunity to be heard.

The fact that Thlocco was dead at the time deeds were issued in his name would not prevent the title from vesting in his heirs. Section 28 of the Act of March 1, 1901, 31 Stat. 861, 870, provides that "if any such citizen has died since that time [April 1, 1899,] or may hereafter die, before receiving his allotment of lands and distributive share of all the funds of the tribe, the lands and money to which he would be entitled, if living, shall descend to his heirs according to the laws of descent and distribution of the Creek Nation, and be allotted and distributed to them accordingly." The effect of this provision is to vest title in the heirs by operation of law. Skelton v. Dill, 235 U. S. 206, 207, 208.

As to the contention that the lands were not selected by Thlocco, and that he was one of those arbitrarily placed upon the rolls, we think it was within the authority of the Commission to enroll members of the tribe who for any reason refused to make selections; for the statute (§ 3, 31 Stat. 861, 862) provides that "all lands of the said tribe, except as herein provided, shall be allotted among the citizens of the tribe by said commission so as to give each an equal share of the whole in value, as nearly as may be, in the manner following: There shall be allotted to each citizen one hundred and sixty acres of land-boundaries to conform to the Government survey-which may be selected by him so as to include improvements which belong to him." While citizens were thus permitted to make their selections for the purpose of retaining improvements, it seems clear that in case any citizen failed to avail himself of this right it was permissible for the Commission to make the allotment.

We think the District Court rightly ruled that the Government had not offered evidence competent to im

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