L. D. Putnam and Edison Ward v. United States

SANBORN, Circuit Judge.

This action was brought by the United States to procure the cancellation of certain deeds and leases of Indian trust lands in Bennett County, South Dakota, together with the records thereof in the office of the Register of Deeds of that County. The claim of the Government was, in effect, that the lands in suit were Indian allotments within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and were held in trust by the Government for Indian allottees and their heirs, and that the defendants (appellants) had induced the owners of the beneficial interests in the lands to…