But we Chitimachas are a nation of people that are afraid to venture as we may make the whites mad, and we seem as we do not want that. We have the money to regain that property, but we do not trust lawyers in this vicinity as we think they would work for the white instead of the Indians, which was proven in the period of 1903 to 1910. One white lawyer named George Demerest and one civil engineer named Fusilier contacted the Indians stating that (the agreement with) Soulier Rouge and Alex Dardenne was illegal as they could not read or write, that they could gain all that land back for the Chitimachas. (I think John Paul might have been Chief then.) The Indians had no money, so it was agreed that Demerest would work for part of the land. It would not cost the Indians one penny. So I guess the tribe, thinking that the land was lost anyhow, so whatever they got back would be okay. So it was agreed that Demerest would get 4/9 of the land for the Indians. The legal papers were drawn and signed by both parties. So Demerest took to court in Franklin. As to be expected, he lost the case. So the Indians must have been a little outdone, but they figured the case was closed. But they had signed to give George Demerest 4/9 of the land, win or lose. So Demerest took all of Georgetown. Fusilier surveyed the land and found that it was three acres short of 4/9, so he came over and started to measure three acres on Uncle Regis’ land. He was stopped by a shotgun pointing at his head and ordered to get off. So he did, and they thought that was the end of it. I can remember that incident. They would laugh when they said Regis was going to shoot Fusilier. But what they did not know was that Demerest took out a lien on the land. The Indians ignored the judgement until 1916, when Demerest foreclosed on the land, which by now included all of the Chitimacha’s land. The lien was to be sold on the courthouse steps. Now Tante MiMi was Chief Ben Paul’s wife. She was in cahoots with one Sarah McIlhenny at Avery Island in a basket trade. Miss Sarah would buy all the baskets the Chitimacha women would make. The basket makers gathered at Tante MiMi’s and decided to write to Miss Sarah and ask her help. Being a very rich woman, they were sure that she would help. She did not say she would or would not. She sent her lawyer to Franklin to pay off the mortgage, and there was no sale. The land belonged to Avery Island. Miss Sarah then made arrangements with Chief Ben Paul to rent the land to some farmers and pay her back, as she did not want the land. She only wanted her money back. So this was done. The chief let some Negro farmers work on share as they had no money to pay rental. Come harvest time, the Chief had a barn full of corn and sweet potatoes and no market. The stuff just stayed there and rotted. He sold some. Up to 1918, he had sold and paid back $600.00, more or less.