Show = INDIfN flS fl LfPYR FULLDLOODED SENECA MAY PRACTICE AT QOTHAM DAR John L Snyder Will Be First Red Man Ever Admitted If Legisla ture Approves Hill Before It Graduate of Carlisle New York John L Snyder a full blooded member of the Seneca tribe will be the first Indian to practice law at the bar of the state ot New York If tile governor approves a bill which the legislature has passed to authorize tho state board of law examiners to admit him to the bar examination As Snyder is not a citizen of the state n special act was necessary to enable him to take the bar examination and this was Introduced by Senator Albert T Fancher who represents the Fif tieth district of which Snyder Is a resident The young Seneca Is a pro tege of Senator Fancher who Js a I JOHN L SNYDER Full ntooded Seneca Indian Who May Soon Practice Law In New York wealthy bachelor largely interested In oil wells In the formidable Indian league of the Six Nations which once held In subjection the territory extending from the Hudson to Lake Superior and from the St Lawrence to tho Delaware tho Seneca nation played a prominent part When the league was finally broken and Its members screred after af-ter the revolutionary war the white men took possession of Its lands and the remnant of the Seneca tribe was dually settled upon a reservation near Salamanca In Catiaraugus county The Senecas still live on this reservation reserva-tion as a tribe retaining their tribal customs and traditions At tho same time they have adopted much from tho civilization which surrounds them and they mingle freely and on equal terms with their white neighbors In the veins of the young Seneca lawyer runs some of the oldest and purest blood In America Tho line of his descent goes back to tho times before be-fore Columbus cioBsed tho Atlantic and Is lost in the traditions of his race Of all the Indian tribes the Six Nations were the proudest and their merciless league represented the ex Ireme advance of Indian statecraft Snyder Is 26 years old six feet In Il height with an athletic figure and tho case of bearing that is conferred by his descent through centuries at forest ancestry He lives on the reservation with the 2700 other members of his tribe He married n Seneca girl and they have two children Several members of the Senoca tribe have risen to distinction In tho call I Ings of civilization Gen Ely Parker who served 09 n civil engineer on thel staff ot Gen Grant and who copied from I Grants notes the famous terms of < surrender which were given to Gen Lee was a full blooded Seneca and a graduate of the Albany Normal school Oscar Snyder father of tho applicant for admission to the bar was a schoolmate school-mate of James S Whlpple state forest for-est fish and game commissioner Ho was killed In a railway accident i HU son was educated at the Carlisle I Indian school and ho Is now studying law In an office in Salamanca Ho Is permitted to practice In the peacemakers peace-makers court which Is tho Indian court on tho reservation and which corresponds to the county court In tho judicial plan of tho state Ho cannot take tne regular state bar examination without an enabling act because ho Is not a citizen He might abandon his tribal relation and become a citizen were it not for the fact that by leaving his tribe ho would sacrifice his Interest in the tribal possessions which are held In common A bill Is now pending In congress to dissolve the tribal relation ot the Senecas and to make them all citizens When this bill becomes u law l the tribal property will be divided di-vided among tho members of tho trlbn and each Seneca will have about 2000 with which to start on his career of Independence Snyder therefore finds himself placed In n dilemma It he walls until tho property Is allotted he will bo too old tobecomo n member of the stato bar and If ho anticipates his citizenship by leaving his tribe ho will lose his share of tho tribal lands Senator Fauchers bill opens a way out of this difllculty by providing that Snyder may bo examined for the bar notwithstanding tho fact that said Snyder Is not a citizen provided that at the time of applying for admission to such examinations he shall be otherwise oth-erwise qualified to take the same and 1 shall comply with the rules of tho t court of appeals and of the state board i of law examiners In respect thereto and upon passing such examination the said Snyder shall be admitted to practice law in this state with the same powers and subject to tho samo duties as if he were a citizen Friendly relations exist between tho Senecas and their white neighbors some of whom have been adopted Into the tribe as a mark ot esteem Commissioner Com-missioner Whlpple was thus adopted a few weeks ago at a formal ceremony which was a great event on tho reservation res-ervation Ho received tho Indian name of Odonjea Tho ceremony of adoption was frequently practiced by the Indians as a means of supplying the losses caused by their constant warfare with each other and many white prisoners In the early days owed their lives to adoption I |