The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-01-09
INDIAN BUREAU
LAND SCANDALS
SMEAR CABINET
Involve Fall and West;
Prosecutor Says His
Chief Blocked Probe
Graft in Barnett Case
Hold Up Secretary of
Interior Approval

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8.-Former
Secretary of Interior Work, Attor-
ney General Sargent and Indian
Commissioner Charles Burke, will
come before the senate Indian affairs
committee in the case of the Jack
son Barnett Indian oil lands fraud
in Oklahoma.
Consideration of the nomination
of Secretary of the Interior Roy o.
West was indefinitely postponed by
the senate today TO permit the In
dian Affairs Committee to investi-
gate Vests connection with Indian
land contracts. The nomination will
be taken up when the investigation
is completed, probably within the
next week, it was indicated.
Try to Hide Scandal.
The Indian Bureau has been hand
ling the case for a long time, it be-
came known today. For over year
it has had evidence showing the col
lusion of high officials in the frauds.
But until accident gave publicity to
the charges it remained benevoIently
secretive. Now, with Selby's state
ment made public, there is nothing
to do but to at least go through the
forms of an investigation, with
whatever risk of scandal for the re-
publican party administration may
result.
PueblOs Robbed.
There are two separate cases.
Roy West, recently appointed secre-
tary of the interior, not yet con-
firmed in his office by the senate,
while holding lesser office in the
interior department, signed a con-
tract for the Pueblo Indian tribes in
New Mexico. robbing them of their
oil lands, it is charged. and turning
thenl uver tothe Middle Rio Grande'
Conse1vancy District" West has
already admitted that his law firm
is an employe of the power trust
andl that his wife owns large block
of stock in insults power companies.
AS secretary of the interior he is
in a position to do the insult COM
panies some real favors.
s1,1OO,OO0 Involved.
The so-called Barnett case, as re-
viewed by Selby, had its inception
when Anna Laura Lowe, a Young
widow, abducted" Jackson Barnett.
aged and mentally incompetent but
rich Indian, and married him in
Kansas.
Uncertain that the ceremony was
binding, Mrs. Barnett retained Nc
Gugan as her attorney and secured
a second marriage license in Mis-
souri,. Thus armed, she returned to
Oklahoma and started negotiations
with government officials for divi-
sion of Barnett's estate, grown large
from oil royalties.
Finally an agreement was reached
whereby two trust funds of S550.000
each We're created. one for Mrs. Bar
rett and the other for the American
Baptist Mission Society
The arrangement was approved by
Rurke and Fall. but later nullified
bv a New York court. whose de-
cision was upheld by the Supreme
Court.
Selby told the committee lie be-
lieved ali officials who approved the
division or helped make it were
guilty of conspiracy.
Would lndict Fall.
He planned to-secure indictments
naming Mrs. Jackson Barnett, Har-
old C. McGugan of Kansas, her at
torney; A. J. Ward. Creek tribal at
torney, and NJ. L. Mott, former
Creek tribal attorney. as we'll as
Secretary Interim Fall and Burke.
he said. Fall was soon afterward
indicted for the Teapot Dome oil
frauds.
He was proceeding with that in
mind when he received a telegram
from Mitchell, acting attorney gen
eral while Sargent was in Vermont,
ordering him not to go on with the
proposed grand jury investigation,
he said. Later he received letter
from Mitchell explaining that the
order was issued by Sargent him.
self in a lone-distance telephone
conversation after a conference with
interior department officials.
Letter Shows Fall Guilt.
The special assistant attorney
general told of discovering letter
written to Burke by Peter Dykeman,
probate attorney in Oklahoma, warn
ing Burke of the conspiracy to OBJ
tain Barnett's wealth. Prior to the
discovery of this letter, Selby said,
he thought Fall and the Indian Com
missioner were merely duped by
Mrs. Barnett's attorneys.
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