James Quentin Anderson v. C. T. Gladden, Warden, Oregon State Penitentiary

James Quentin Anderson, serving a life term in Oregon State Penitentiary for second degree murder, appeals from a district court order denying his application for a writ of habeas corpus. The opinion and order of the district court are reported in Anderson v. Gladden, 188 F.Supp. 666 .

The homicide was committed November 5, 1954, on the Klamath Indian Reservation in Klamath County, Oregon. Anderson is of Indian blood and at all times here in question was an enrolled member of the Klamath Tribe of Indians residing on that reservation. He seeks discharge from state custody on the ground that by reason of his race, his tribal membership, the place of the homicide, and the provisions of federal and state law then existing, the courts of Oregon lacked jurisdiction to try him for the crime of which he was convicted.

From February 14, 1859, when Oregon was admitted as a state, until August-15, 1953, Oregon did not claim or attempt to exercise jurisdiction to prosecute an Indian for a murder committed on an Oregon Indian reservation. During all that time the state acknowledged the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal courts in this field.

That exclusive jurisdiction had been conferred…