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J.L. WEBSTER,
Attorney and Counselor at Law,
Cor. 14th and Douglas Streets

Omaha, Neb., June 17. 1879

T.H. Tibbles Esq.
       Dear Sir
              Having taken an active part in the legal proceedings for the liberty of Standing Bear and his followers I became interested in the claim of the Ponca tribe, that they still owned their Reservation on the Niobrara and wanted to return to it to save the lives of their women and children from the fated doom of a southern climate.
     Such attention as I have been able to give this question has only tended to confirm the claim of the Poncas that they are the absolute owners of the Reservation, that they never ceeded or released their claim to it; that the portended treaty whereby the United States gave a part of these lands to the Sioux is of doubtful validity; and that the possession of the Reservation can be recovered to the Poncas by legal proceedings once the tribe be permitted to return to it and thus save from extermination a friendly people.

                         Respectfully
                            Jno. L. Webster