136 18 ALASKA FEDERAL REPORTS
31 F. 327
In re SAH QUAH.
District Court, D. Alaska.
May 8,1886.
1. Slaves 1
A custom or rite prevailing among the uncivilized
tribes of Indians in Alaska, whereby slaves are bought, sold,
and held in servitude, against their free will, and subjected to
ill treatment at the pleasure of the owner, is contrary to the
thirteenth amendment to the constitution of the United
States, and the "Civil Rights Bill" of 1866, and a person so
held in slavery will be released by order of the court upon
writ of habeas corpus.
2. Indians 2
The treaty of March 30, 1867, by which the territory
of Alaska was ceded to the United States, made the uncivil-
ized tribes therein subject to such laws and regulations as the
United States might adopt in regard to them.
3. Indians 35
The act of congress of March 3, 1873, extending to
Alaska two sections of the act of June 30, 1834, known as
the "Indian Intercourse Laws," and relating principally to
the interdiction of the liquor traffic among the Indians, is to
be construed to make said territory "Indian Country" only
to the extent of the prohibited commerce, and did not put
the Alaska Indians on a general footing with Indians in
other parts of the United States.
4. Indians 2
No treaty having ever been made with the Alaska In-
dians or tribal independence recognized, they are not to be
regarded as within the operation of the custom and policy of
the government arising out of the ordinance of 1787, relat-
ing to the north-west territory, whereby the Indian tribes of
the United States have been treated as free and independent
within their respective territories, governed by their tribal
laws and customs in all matters pertaining to their internal
affairs.
5. Indians 36
The Alaska Indians, while not citizens within the full
meaning of the term, are dependent subjects, amenable to
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the penal laws of the United States, and subject to the juris-
diction of its courts. The act of congress of March 3, 1885,
making all Indians amenable to the criminal laws of the
United States for the offenses therein designated, is to be re-
garded as aiding this construction of the law, and the act of
March 3, 1871, prohibiting future recognition of tribal inde-
pendence among the Indians, is to be construed in the same
connection.
6. Indians 5
The Indian tribes within the territory of the United
States are independent political communities, and a child of
a member thereof, though born within the limits of the
United States, is not a citizen thereof, because not born sub-
ject to its jurisdiction.
--- Habeas Corpus.
W. Clark and P. J. Berry, for petitioner.
M. D. Ball, for respondent.
DAWSON, Judge.
