noyce. | TREATY OF AUGUST 6, 1846. 315 
The landed interests of these North Carolina Cherokees had also 
since the treaty of 1835 become iwnuch complicated, and through their 
confidence in others, coupled with their own ignorance of proper busi- 
ness methods, they were likely to lose the title to their homes. At this 
juncture Congress, by an act approved July 15, 1870,' authorized suit 
in equity to be brought in the name of the Eastern Band of Cherokee 
Indians in the district or circuit courts of the United States for the 
recovery of their interest in certain lands in North Carolina. This suit 
was instituted in the circuit court of the United States for the western 
district of North Carolina in May, 1875, against William H. Thomas 
and William Johnston. Thomas, as the agent and trustee of the In- 
dians, it was alleged had received (between 1836 and 1861) from them 
and for their benefit large sums of money, which had or ought to have 
been invested by him, in pursuance of various contracts with the In- 
dians, in certain boundaries of land as well as in a number of detached 
tracts. The legal title to all these lands was taken by Thomas, and was 
still held in his own name, he having in the mean time become non 
compos mentis. It was alleged against the other defendant, Johnston, 
that in the year 1869 he had procured sales to be made of all these lands 
to satisfy judgments obtained by him against Thomas, and that he had 
bought in the lands at these sales and taken sheriff’s deeds therefor, 
althongh having himself a knowledge of the existing equities of the 
Indians. In fact, that after the purchase of the lands he had entered 
into a contract with the Indians to release to them all the rights he had 
acquired by such purchase for the sum of $30,000, payable within eight- 
een months. Under this contract, and at the time of its execution, the 
Indians paid him $6,500. 
A suit in law was also instituted, at the same time with the foregoing, 
against James W. Terrell, their former agent (from 1853 to 1861), and 
his sureties, the above named Thomas and Johnston, to recover a balance 
of Cherokee funds which he had received for their use from the United 
States and which it was alleged he had not properly accounted for. 
At the May term, 1874, of the circuit court the matters in dispute were 
by agreement submitted to a board of arbitrators. The arbitrators made 
their report and award, which were confirmed by the court at the Novem- 
ber term, 1874. 
The award finds that Thomas purchased for the Indians as a tribe 
and with their funds a large tract of land on Soco Creek and Oconalufty 
River and their tributaries, known as the Qualla boundary, and esti- 
mated by the arbitrators to contain 50,000 acres. It declares that such 
tract belongs to and shall be held by the Eastern Band of Cherokees as 
a tribe. 
The award also determines the titles of a large number of individual 
Indians to tracts of land outside of the Qualla boundary. It further 
finds that the Indians owe Thomas a balance toward the purchase- 

‘United States Statutes at Large, Vol. XVI, p. 362. 
