 Standing Bear, circa 1877.
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While Crook watched over the Ponca at Fort Omaha, Tibbles worked feverishly to
tell Standing Bear's story and enlist support for the Ponca cause.
He telegraphed the story of the Crook's interview with Standing Bear
to eastern newspapers and wrote a very passionate editorial for the
Omaha Herald on April 1, 1879. Tibbles enlisted the support
of the ministers of the leading churches in Omaha and sent a telegram
to Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior, pleading with him to reverse
his removal order.
Thomas Tibbles wrote,
"Therefore in spite of my double night tasks for
the Herald, I stole my forenoons from sleep to spend them
in a law library. I had to devise a case and a method which could
release these abused Poncas — and then could recast our nation's
whole Indian Policy."
Tibbles then roughed out a court case, based on the newly approved Fourteenth Amendment, and took it to his friend John L. Webster, a young lawyer in Omaha, and to A. J. Poppleton, the chief attorney of the Union Pacific Railroad. Both men agreed to represent Standing Bear and the Ponca without a fee.
The two attorneys then petitioned Judge Elmer S. Dundy of the United States
District Court for a writ of habeas corpus to compel General Crook
to justify his arrest of the Ponca. Dundy, known to be sympathetic
to the downtrodden, issued the writ and ordered the opposing parties
to appear before him.
The trial opened
in Omaha on April 30, 1879, and lasted for two days. G. M. Lambertson
represented the U.S. Government and their argument was simply that
the Indian was neither a person nor a citizen within the meaning
of the law, and therefore could not bring suit of any kind against
the government. Lambertson further contended that the Poncas adhered
to their traditional ways, were dependent on the government, and
as Indians, were not entitled to the rights and privileges of citizens.
The attorneys for the Indians stressed that the Poncas had renounced tribal authority, were engaged in farming, had made great advances in assimilation, and were entitled under the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to be treated like other people. The lawyers also argued that the U.S. Government had no right to take the Poncas' land or move them to Indian Territory.
After the attorneys presented their arguments, Judge Dundy allowed Standing Bear to address the court. Standing Bear did not speak English, but he was able to make an eloquent plea to the court through his interpreter, Susette ("Bright Eyes") La Flesche.
Standing Bear rose, extending his hand toward the judge's bench:
"That hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it,
I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you also
feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be
the same color as yours. I am a man. God made us both."
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The Trial of Standing Bear