The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-12-31
FIRST CASE IN
TULSA RECALLED
Death of A. w. Shulthis
Revives Memory of Oil
Lease Tangle
IN COURT FOR YEARS
Inheritance" Versus "Acqui-
sition" Was Settled by U.
S. Supreme Court

The first case filed in Tulsa after
this city was made a court town Of
the federal district court for western
indian Territory in 1906, and OF
tho federal district court for east
ern oklahoma, in 1907, after state
hood. as well as the Indian land
suit that established n precedent for
the disposition of the ailotments of
dead Indians, were recalled Satur-
day hy Tulsans who read in The
world OF the death OF Albert w.
Shulthis, at Independence, Kan.
Mr.. Shulthis was a pioneer oper-
gtor in the Indian Territory and
made a futile effort to obtain pos
session Of the now famous A. j.
Berryhill allotment, near Sapulpa,
the oil production from which was
the foundation OF the great estate
that D. A. McDougal OF Sapulpa,
possesses today.
II was about noon on July :. 1906.
when Otis Lorton, tho newly ap-
pointed court clerk for the federal
court stepped off the Frisco train
from Sapulpa 20 assume his duties
as CLERICAL head of the western In
dian Territory district court. He
carried with him his commission
and a filing stamp. Otherwise he
was without supplies.
Accostcd Clerk.
Az Mr.. Lorton walker from the
depot to the Tulsa police court
then domiciled over what Is today
the Tulsa fire department, he was
accosted at First street by G. s.
Walker, an attorney, and handed a
document which he (Walker) asked
him 10 file in the new federal court
Lorton told him that the case was
already on file" Before Mr.. Lor-
ton reached the police court room,
he was besieged by others lawyers
anxious to file their cases with him,
all seeking the honor of filing the
first case in the Tulsa court.
The case was that Of A. ]. Berry
hill deceased. through his father,
q. f. Berryhill, as intervenor in the
ease of A. W. Shulthis versus ID. A.
MacDougal, for control of the Berry
hin oil lease.
Mr. Shulthis had obtained pos
session of the lease through the
Kiefer Oil & Gas Co, which had
been sold the lease by G. +. Berry
hill, a member of the Creek Indian
tribe, under the impression that
they had the right to bestow the
allotment of their dead child, An
drew j. Berryhill, to whom they
wished. This was controverted by
the Creek Indian tribe awarding to
Mr.. McDougal the allotment under
the Arkansas law as relating to in
heritance.
Shulthis claimed the allotment by
the virtue of the accepted rule Of
acquisition" while MacDougal got
a. rrntlar 4hn s-iphf nf nj arifa
and his view was afterwards upheld
by the appeals and supreme courts,
Ruled for Tribe.
The higher courts ruled that as
the Creek Indians were a separate
nation prior to their lands being
sold to the United States, that the
tribal rule of all property being
held in common, held good, and
that the Berryhill baby died. the
allotment that was awarded 1t n
year later when its name was placed
upon the tribal laws. reverted to the
tribe and that tho tribe and not the
parents had the right to bestOw 10
another the land.
By another peculiar coincidence
the appeal of Shulthis was the first
ease filed IN the district court for
eastern Oklahoma at Muskoges,
after statehood, late in 1907, and
was one of the first cases to be ap-
pealed to the federal court OF ap-
peals from Oklahoma as a state.
The late Ralph 4. Campbell, who
was federal judge of eastern Okla
homa, tried the case the second
time, holding to the inheritance idea,
while his predecessor. Judge Sulz-
bacher of the western Indian Ter
rtory court, held to the acquisition
rule. The appeals court upheld
Judge Campbell, overruling and re-
versing SuiZDacher. The case was
appealed many times and finally
fea ched the federal supreme court
in 1912, the higher tribunal ruling
In favor of MacDougal in July that
year.
During the six years that the
-MacDougal-B l-Berryhill case
was in the courts, nearly all of the
representative attorneys of Okla
homa since statehood had more or
less active connection with tho case.
A perusal of the court record re-
one of the directory OF the
eastern Oklahoma bar.
still another coincidence is that
the Tulsa and Sapulpa legal fra
,ernity were almost to q man in
elined to the acquisition view of the
case, feeling that Shulthis was en-
titled to the allotment through his
having acquired the Kiefer Oil &
Gas Co. property, while Loyal j.
afterwards mayor of Tulsa,
and moro recently superior Judge,
held out alone TO the inheritance
Idea. The final decision of the fed
sral supreme court was a bombshell
In the legal camps of the two cities.