Stevens

Plaintiff instituted suit in the superior court of Riverside County seeking to have it decreed that certain lands in that county which had been patented to the defendant by the United States were held in trust for plaintiff, by reason of irregularities in the actions of government officials through which the patents were issued.

Chronologically, the events which enter into the history of the land in controversy transpired in the following order:

On May 15, 1876, by executive order, certain lands (including the lands in controversy) were set apart for the use and benefit of the Mission Indians. An act of Congress, approved January 12, 1891 ( 26 Stat. 712 ), provided for the appointment of a commission of three persons to select a reservation for each band or village of the Mission Indians residing in the state of California, the selection to include, as far as practicable, the lands and villages which had been actually occupied by the Indians. The commission submitted its report to the Secretary of the Interior on December 5, 1891, and, among other things, recommended that the land here in controversy should be restored to the public domain. On December 28, 1891, the report of…