Evening star., 1922-08-12
Barney A. Mcbride Identified
by Two Chiefs as Wealthy
Oklahoma Operator.
TWO UNDER SUSPICION
FOR MURDER ON ROAD
Enemies in Feud to Gain Posses.
sion Of Land Rights Being
Hunted by Police.

Out of the skein of mystery that
beclouded the Staying of Barney A.
Mcbride, whose badly mutilated body
was found along a road in Prince
Georges county last Wednesday, Dis
trict detectives today are unraveling
a clue that points to a generation
old fued between the Indian tribes
of Oklahoma and the oil interests of
that state as a probable motive for
the murder.
One Of the most important facts
developed in the murder was the
positive Identification of Mcbride by
two Indian chiefs today as a member
Of their race, probably a Seminole
or Saxon Fox. Almost stimuli
taneously it was learned from Mus
kogee. Okla. that the dead man was
a wealthy retired oil operator. whose
presence in Washington might not
have been likely to lessen the enmity
existing between the Indians and oil
operators.
Two Under Surveillance.
The arrest of two men who are un-
der surveillance by the police is ex-
pected momentarily and everything
early this afternoon indicated that
these persons would at least be de-
tanned as suspicious characters until
their activities since Monday night
are satisfactorily accounted for.
Two Indian chiefs. one a Blackfoot
and the other a Chippewa. were taken
to the morgue to view the body, and
both imm ediately recognized the dead
man as half-breed of their race.
The Blackfoot declared he had seen
the man here in 1915 and had talked
to him. learning that he was in Wash
ington to assist in the passage of
legislation regarding the Indians.
Later investigat ton developed that
Mcbride was in Washington that year,
but that he was here in regard to i'm
he had acquired through the death of
his wife. Ellen Deer. a full-blooded
Indian woman. Rights to the oil on
! this property he had sold, but still
retained certain interests granted him
under, the laws of oklahoma This
| business did not take him to the In
! dian affairs office, and he was not
known to the officials there.
Chief Shows Nervousness.
| Immediately upon seeing the body
! the Blackfoot gasped. turned to the
Witnesses who were present. and said !:
! That's the Indian. all right. l
know him, too. / thought l recog-
nized his name when l read the pa
| pers. He is either a Seminole or a
Saxon Fox, and is held in high esteem
! by his people l saw him not only in
| 1916, but also month ago, down near
the Capitol Hotel, where l was told
| he once stopped. ! remember now,
! too. that l heard of him out in Okla
homa."
Timidly. the Indian approached
! closer and, at the request of news
samination This resulted in his iden-
tifying the dead man even more ac-
! curately. though the Blackfoot dis
! played unusual nervousness while in
! the presence of the corpse and
! jumped violently when a telephone
existed in the little death chamber
| of the morgue.
Theory Of Indians.
! Both of the Indians advanced the
theory that Mcbride had been slain
by enemies of his race who feared
| that he had come to Washington to
make certain disclosures.
II was IuOTe lHdH a
however, that both should have
reached this conclusion when they
were seen separately and neither
knew that their interrogation had
seen the other. Scarcely had the in
terview opened than each, in differ
! ent rooms and on different occasions.
announced the same conclusion.
stanch Democrat.
Later investigation developed, how
ever, that Mcbride himself, was a
democrat, so stanch a one. in fact,
that he refused to live in Oklahoma
after it became republican and moved
to Louisiana. In addition to this. Nc
Bride was the posSessor Of rich oil
leases which made him Independent
for life and, the police believe, GER
tainly would have no quarrel with
the petroleum interests.
Another element that entered into
the mystery today was the informa-
ton that Mcbride carried about
$500 in travellers checks when he
arrived in Washington last Saturday
The possibility of his being murdered
for theft. however, Is still made slight
because the very revolving nature OF
the staying would indicate that some
long g-standing hatred had steeled the
nerves Of the assassin to permit him
to drive home the knife seventeen OF
more times and then strangled the
victim with a rope to make death
certain.
Had Daughter Here.
The dead man had a daughter, Miss
Ellen Deer, who had been attending
CONTINUED on Page 2. Column 1.)