Charles Evans Hughes

“ Stress is laid upon the provision in the agreement of 1897 that each allottee should have 'the sole right of occupancy of the land so allotted to him.' But it is not to be supposed that by this form of words Congress intended in the case of the Seminoles to provide that, by virtue of the allotment, the member of the tribe should receive an interest of a different nature from that received by allottees of other tribes. ”

“ With respect to the townsite of Wewoka, which was to be controlled and disposed of according to the provisions of the act of the general council of the Seminole Nation of April 23, 1897, it was provided that, on extinguishment of the tribal government, deeds should issue 'to owners of lots,' as in the case of allottees. The interests of the allottee was a descendible interest. By the supplemental agreement of 1900, in the case of the death of a member of the tribe after December 31, 1899, the lands 'to which he would be entitled if living' were to descend to his heirs. ”

“ The government says in its brief: 'In the printed record it happens that the transactions set out include only lands allotted other than homestead, but other transactions complained of in the bill, omitted from the printed record for the sake of brevity, include lands allotted as homesteads as well.' The broad ground is taken by the government that all conveyances of the lands allotted to members of the Seminole tribe are void because made prior to the date of patent. ”