The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1912-07-24
NEW CLAIMANT
NOW APPEARS
FOR RICHES
UNLOCKED FOR AND UN-
KNOWN HEIRESS APPEARS
AND PROVES IDENTITY
Special to The Daily Leader.

| Special TO The Daily Leader
| Muskogee. July 24.--When the
court called the final settlement OF
the Hardy Sells estate here sen
sation was created when a hitherto
unknown heir appeared made and
| proved her claim and was given a
large share of the estate. she is
Alice Flint OF Tulsa, and had con.
elusive proof that she is a daughter
of Hardy Sells.
This is the final chapter in a
story of greed that led to the muir
der of children and life sentence
for some of the conspirators 1t is
the blackest spot in the history of
avaricious white men stealing the
patrimony of the Indian citizens.
The estate settled was a rich one.
Under the order of the court Pris-
ella Mackey. formerly the wife of
Hardy Sells. negro. receives the
allotments of the two children who
We're killed with dynamite and the
remainder of the Sells estate, with
the exception of 100 acres of valu-
able oil land and $4,000 in cash.
The property turned over 10 Mrs
Maclzey is conseryatiyely worth
quarter of a million
Hardy Sells disappeared ten years
ago drowning while trying to cross
swollen stream, or being murder
ed At least he was never seen
again. He left two known children.
He had allotments of 160 acres each
for himself, wife, two known living
children and one dead. The fourth
was not known until today. The
land was located in what after
Sells death developed into one of
the richest oil pools in the Mid
Continent field.
Mrs. Sells married Zeb Mackey.
They lived at Taft. A conspiracy
was formed whereby some white
men and negroes conceived the idea
that by doing away with the Sells
children and the mother, and get
ting deeds to their allotments from
a bogus Hardy Sells they could gain
possession of the rich oil property
One night in the spring Of 1911 the
Mackey cottage at Taft was blown
up and burned, the two Sells chill
dren perishing in the flames, but
M5s. Sells escaped. immediately
thereafter William Irwin a Musko-
gee real estate man went to Mexico
City and there stcured deeds to the
Sells, but afterwards proved to be
who purported to be the real Hardy
Sells. but afterwards proceed to be
an Oklahoma negro working on
Mexican railway.
Irwin was arrested charged with
the murder Of the Sells children, the
motive being 10 secure possession
of their land. A the same time
William Martin, another prominent
real estate man of Muskogee, and
John Coombs an oil operator at
and three negroes
We're arrested charged with the
Irwin was arrested in
Mexico City with the deeds in his
J oebet and the cti.erE lncludisS2. |
three negroes, were arrested in Ok
lahoma Irwin and one of the ne !
groes were given life sentences in |
lac penitentiary. and the others |
we're cleared of the charges against |
them
The developments Of today prove
hat The conspirators would have
ost the prize for which they dared
30 much, as the third and unknown |
living heir would then have come
nto possession of the entire Sells
state The settlement Of the es-
ate makes Mrs, Zeb Mackey the
'ichest negro in the state Of Ok
ahOma