Status of Breeds – 1900
The article below appeared in the Daily Democrat-Messenger – an alternative Missoula newspaper – on July 5, 1900.
STATUS OF BREEDS
Judge Knowles Decides They are Indians in the Eyes of the Law.
Judge Knowles, of the United States court, in an opinion of great interest to Montana, has decided that breeds are Indians in the eyes of the law, and as such entitled to all the privileges and subject to all the restrictions governing Uncle Sam’s full-blooded wards. The opinion is of especial interest in the west, as it determines the legal status of breeds.
The question involving the status of breeds was raised in an action brought in the name of the United States against County Treasurer Higgins of Missoula County, who sought to force the collection of taxes upon property owned by a half-breed, Alexander Matt, residing upon the Flathead reservation. The issue in the case was whether Matt should be classed as a half-breed or an Indian. If the latter, his property was not subject to taxation. The court finds from an examination of the evidence offered that Matt had a white father and that his mother was a Piegan Indian; that his mother was adopted into the Flathead tribe, and from that time on she and her children were recognized as members of that tribe. The court, after a review of the evidence and citations from numerous authorities and treaty rights, holds that Matt should be treated as an Indian, and as such he is not subject to taxation under the laws of Montana.
“It is well known to those who have lived upon the frontier in America,” says Judge Knowles in concluding his decision, “that as a rule half breeds of mixed blood Indians have resided with the tribes to which their mother belonged; that they have as a rule never found a welcome home with their white relatives, but with their Indian kindred. It is but just, then, that they should be classed as Indians and have all the rights of the Indian.”