Bailey

The appellants were convicted upon a charge of smuggling thirty-two head of cattle from Mexico into the United States in violation of 19 USCA § 497. The appellants are Indians belonging to the Papago Tribe, living upon the Indian reservation reserved for that tribe in Southern Arizona, bounded on the south by the line between the United States and Mexico. The cattle were purchased in Mexico and driven across the international boundary line into the Indian reservation where they were at the time of their seizure by the customs officials of the United States. It is contended by the appellants that the appellants, being Indians residing on an Indian reservation, are not subject to *703 the general laws of the United States with relation to smuggling, and consequently were improperly convicted. In support of this contention they cite numerous decisions by the federal courts in which the historical relation of Indian tribes to the federal and state governments has been dealt with. For instance, it is stated in United States v. Rickert, 188 U. S. 432 , 23 S. Ct. 478 , 47 L. Ed. 532 , that “general acts of Congress do not apply to Indians unless so worded that they clearly manifest an…