PERSONS ERRONEOUSLY ENROLLED AS FREEDMEN ASSERTED THEIR INDIAN BLOOD
WHEN BEFORE THE COMMISSION
Of these persons those who were then capable
in law to act for themselves, assert under oath, and their affidavits are on
file with the Commission, certified copies of which are in the record in this
case, that they did assert their Indian blood and that they did attempt to
secure enrollment as citizens when they appeared before the Com mission in 1898
and 1899, and that the Commission refused to make any entry of their Indian
blood on the written examination sheets. The latter portion of their statement
is borne out by the examination records.
Thus, while the field cards, not the
examination records, show the Indian descent of these persons erroneously
enrolled as freedmen, they do not show any application for enrollment as a
citizen by blood, and therefore all these persons erroneously enrolled are
barred from securing a correction of their enrollment by section 4 of the act
approved
Congress did not know these facts or it would not have enacted that legislation. The Commissioner did know these facts, and yet he drafted that provision of law and urged its enactment upon Congress.
 | Senate Report 5013 (59-2) Vol. 2 pp1524-1529 |