A Pint On The Train

An Indian man was travelling by train on a railroad whose right-of-way crossed an Indian reservation, planning to get off at a station inside the reservation's outer boundaries. A federal officer found a pint of whisky on him, arrested him and took him back to the city the train had come from. A jury convicted him of introducing liquor into 'Indian country' and he was sentenced to 60 days and a $100 fine. The prosecution argued that the railroad ran through the reservation, so carrying whisky along it was bringing it into Indian country. The defence argued that the tribes had surrendered their title to the right-of-way in exchange for payment, so the strip was no longer Indian country.