The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1912-05-16
INDIAN WILLS
ARE UNNATURAL
optnion is That Not Natural One
White Man Should Benefit by Five
FuIlblood Bequests.

Oklahoma City, May le.-The prac'
tices of white me min eastern Okla
boma securing wills from full-blood In
dians, thereby inheriting the Indians
land. received marked attention in an
opinion by Judge C. B. Ames of diyi-
sion No. of the supreme court com,
mission. The case was that of Ralph
Welch, guardian of Addie Hickory, an
heir to the estate of Bunnie Hawkins,
a deceased Indian, against David A.
Barnett, James A. Ostrum and John
e. Turner, appealed from Hughes
county.
Barnett, Ostrum and Turner appear
ed as beneticiaries through will eX-
cuted by Hawkins, which was offered
for probate. The county court found
that Hawkins wild not possess the
ability to execute will and declined
to make the necessary order. This
was appealed to the district court of
Hughes county, where the probate
court was reversed and an appeal fol-
lowed to the supreme court.
One of the issues from the district
court was the introduction of testi-
mony regarding the making of wills
by Indians. Turner, the opinion re-
cited, is an attorney; Ostrum is a
white man and he and Turner are
principal stockholders and are officers
of the Wetumka Oil, Mining and De-
velopment company. Barnett is a
Creek Indian and Judge of one of the
Creek courts. In 1907 Hawkins exc
cuted a warranty deed conveying to
an agreed price of $500, of which sum
$40 was paid down. The total paid on
the purchase was, the opinion says,
s335e OF the sum $3.50 was paid
the day before the will in question was
executed in Turner'S Office. The court
erred in excluding the testimony, the
opinion said, and the case was re-
versed and remanded. Among other
things the court said:
IF white men are engaged in the
business of becoming the beneficiaries
of the wills of full-blood Indians, that
is circumstance which, it seems to
us, is proper for consideration in ascer-
tanning whether or not they have exert
ed undue influence upon any particular
one of these Indians. The white man
belongs to a different race. The In
dians in this state, by virtue of the
Distribute nof their tribal property,
are all property owners Many of
them are the owners of valuable prop
erty. The full-bloods, as general rule,
are known to be peculiarly subject to
the loss of their property at the hands
of designing and INSCRIPTIONS white
men The courts should be astute to
furnish them protection, and every
legitimate rule of law should be most
literally applied in their interest.
1T is not natural that one white
man should be the beneficiary of the
wills of five full-blood Indians. 1t is
not natural that after full-blood In
dians have sold to one white man their
inherited lands for mere fraction of
their value that they should be under
such heavy obligations to him that
they would then voluntarily walk into
his Office and ask him to draw Wills
for them, creating him the sole heir
of all of their allotments as well as
their inherited lands. This is par
ticularly true when it appears that
there is doubt in the minds of the
white man about the legal right of
these full-blood Indians to sell their
inherited lands. One can not help sus-
pect that these wills have something
to do with perfecting the title which
the white man has purchased for
nominal consideration. Evidence tend
=. . off of