The great Jehovah reigns; His arm is strong, He sets the captive free, though waiteth long, And turns the darkest hours of midnight gloom, Into the effulgent brightness of noon. W. S. V. H. CERTIFICATE OF INDIAN CHIEFS. Personally appeared before me, a Notary Public for the District of Columbia, Mrs. Fanny Kelly, who is at this time a citizen of the State of Kansas, and being duly sworn, deposes and says: That in the year 1864, she started from Geneva, Allen County, Kansas, for the purpose of settling with her husband and family in Montana, and for this purpose she with her husband took all the goods and chattels they had, which are enumerated below, with amount and value. She further says she is now a widow and has a family to support. But she was for many months a prisoner, and taken captive by a band of the Sioux Indians, at the time at war with the white people, and with the United States, as follows: On the 12th day of July, 1864, while on the usually traveled road across the plains, and west of Fort Laramie, she, with her husband and family, with several other persons, were attacked by these Indians, and five of the party were killed, while she was taken captive. That the Indians took or destroyed all they had. She was a captive for five months, suffered hardships and taunts, and was finally delivered to the military authorities of the United States in Dakota, at Fort Sully. That the following is a statement of their goods and effects, including stock, as near as she can remember. The whole account was made out and placed, as she is informed, in the hands of Dr. Burleigh, late delegate from Dakota, but which she can not find at this time. The amount and the leading items she knows to be as follows: • • • • • FANNY KELLY Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 24th day of February, A. D. 1870. JAS. H. MCKENNEY, Notary Public, Washington County, D. C. CITY OF WASHINGTON, } District of Columbia, } June 9th, 1870. } We, the undersigned, chiefs and head men of the Dakota or Sioux Indians, do hereby acknowledge and certify to the facts set forth in the foregoing affidavit of Mrs. Fanny Kelly, as to her captivity and to the destruction of her property by members of our nation. We acknowledge the justness of her claim against us for the loss of her goods, and desire that the same may be paid her out of any moneys now due our nation, or that may become due us by annuity or by any appropriation made by Congress; and we would respectfully request that the amount as set forth in the foregoing bill be paid to Mrs. Fanny Kelly by the Department, out of any funds that may now or hereafter belong to us.