Judge Hanford Lets Railroad Cross Puyallup Reservation
A federal judge rules in favor of a railroad contractor over U.S. Army soldiers stationed on Indigenous lands.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The now-famous case involving the right of Frank C. Ross to construct a railroad across the Puyallup Indian reservation was decided yesterday by Judge Hanford of the United States circuit court, by the issuance of a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, who are representatives of the United States, from interfering with the work. Two cases were brought, Frank C. Ross being the plaintiff in one and John Cook and Susie Cook (Indians) in the other. In both cases the defendants were Edwin Eells, Indian agent, Maj. J. T. French, Capt. O. A. Carpenter, and Lieut. W. P. Goodwin, the last three being officers of the United States army. Judge Hanford decides that John and Susie Cook are owners in fee simple of the land on which Ross was at work; that Ross was lawfully and peaceably in possession of the land under a valid lease from the owners, and that a perpetual restraining order be granted.
“Judge Hanford decides that John and Susie Cook are owners in fee simple of the land... that Ross was lawfully and peaceably in possession of the land under a valid lease.”
This decision reflects the complex and often predatory nature of 19th-century land dealings on the Puyallup reservation, where railroad interests frequently exploited legal loopholes to build through Indigenous territories. The tension between federal Indian agents, military presence, and private capital remains a central, unresolved chapter in the history of tribal land rights in the Pacific Northwest.
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