The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1926-01-20
BY Bruce Cation.


daring still burn brightly.)
BY Bruce Cation.
Special Correspondent.
Guthrie. Okla. Jan. 2O.-Thc story
of the Usage murders is the story Of
the land where the bad old west never
died.
1t is story Of crime that spread
its dark. devious paths over a back
ground Of ignorance, greed. supersti-
tion and sly craft--a story that. how
ever depressing, is nevertheless blown
through with breath Of the roman
tic. dcvil-may-care frontier west that
we thought was gone.
And it is an amazing story, too. So
amazing that at first you wonder if
it can possibly have happened in
modern, twentieth century, America.
II Have Been Killed
Seventeen men and women have
been murdered. One. William X.
Hale. picturesquely known as the
king Of the Usage Hills." is lodged
in Jail, with various alleged hench-
men. on q charge Of first-degree mur-
der. A million. dollar fortune is
at stake.
A grim tragedy is coupled with q
humorless irony in the background
OF these strange murders Of the
Usage hills.
To understand them you must
know something Of this background.
Otherwise the whole thing is mex
plicable.
Land Thought Worthless
It goes back nearly half century
to 1883. in fact, when the Usage
tribe, branch Of the once-dreaded
Sioux. was granted a haven in the
wilds Of unsettled Oklahoma.
The red man has never in history
received a square deal from the
white man, and that occasion was no
exception. With Ganny care the
great white father looked over his
Oklahoma acres and picked out the
section that was the most utterly
barren and worthless. This section
he gave to the Usage tribe forever.
The Osages settled on it. because
there was nothing else to do. but it
was unpromising land. 1t was SO des-
clate and barren, in fact. that all Of
its 100000 acres would not grow
enough produce to support the 2000-
odd members of the tribe, and the
great white father had to dig down
and grant each member q pension of
some $45' a. month.
In 1889 Oklahoma was opened for
white settlement, and the land around
Usage county became more or less
thickly populated. There was COM
petition for land all over the state
but no. white man bcgrudgcd the
Ossges their million and half
Oil Was discovered
And then, in 1906. oil was discov-
cred on the Usage land, A year or
two later more oil was found. In
1912 came a new strike-a monstr0us
field this time.
And the great white father real
izc, all too late, that the land he had
given the outcast Osages contained
the richest oil field in the whole
country! Further. it was too late to
do anything about it.
What happened? Well, the Osages
became, instead Of the most poverty
stricken Of red men, the richest body
of neople on earth.
There are 1929 accredited members
of the tribe. each with an equal share.
or head-right, in the wealth of the
oil land. This money is collected for
them by the government and each
persons share is paid annually.
And what do these annual divi-
dends amount TO-! Just $4,000
that's all.
In other words, every Usage Indian
has a $4,000 annual income for the
rest Of his life-except tha. it may
20 up as new wells 60 down. And,
in addition, many Indians have in
vested this money in oil lands out
side the reservation. Practically
every member is millionaire. Some
are milli6naires many times over.
The Fight for Head Rights
And here is what started this mys-
terious train of murders.
Each Indians kead-right, or share
in the fabulous wealth OF the Ossce
oil land, goes on his death to his
next Of kin. Consequently
II some white man who had an In
diani wife could kill off all her rela-
tives, she would fall heir to for
tune Of many millions Of dollars.
William X. Hale has no Indian
wife. But his nephew, Ernest Burk-
hart, has--and though the two are
named in only one Indictment, fed
eral Investigators hint that by the
time the grand jury quiz ends some.
thing OF this "murder, by Wholesale
nature will be found 10 have been the
case. Several relatives Of MoIlie
Burkhart, Ernssts 0sage wife, have
died under mysterious ctrcunistances
and the annual income of Moliie ana
hsr husband through inhsfitance OF
head-rights, y now about tlSS'OOO :
ye.t' =, tt4. - n,roc tall