The Washington times., 1936-04-25

When 1000 Usage Indians, as
wards of Uncle Sam, received
millions Of dollars in revenue de-
rived from the sale Of oil on
their lands in 1921, things be
gan to happen.
Braves who had formerly lived
in poverty, whose incomes IN
1915 seldom exceeded 1921
year, suddenly found themselves
possessed of wealth Of which
they had never even dreamed.
They plunged into an orgy OF
spending. They bought expen
sive automobiles; built massive
stone houses and furnished them
luxuriously; they stayed drunk
most of the time and spent their
nights dancing with other tribes
around huge fires to the inces-
SAINT beat of tom-tomS. Their
native costumes were stiff with
beads and their headdreSSes OF
the finest feathers money could
buy.
The men married white women
who appeared suddenly from the
North, South, East and West,
Full blooded Usage women found
themselves suddenly desirable to
the white men who had previ-
ously ignored them.
Ideal HideOut
Gangsters, criminals, fugitives
from justice and get-rich-quick
Schemers fastened to this mecca
Of the West.
Criminals found the deeply
wooded sections of beautiful Usage
county made excellent hide-outS
from the prying eyes of the law.
At one time IS notorious bank rob-
bers, bandits and murderers lived
together on the ranch" of AL
Spencer, notorious Western bank
robber. With time hanging heavy
on their hands they spent hours at
target practice or manufacturing
fire water to sell at enormous
prices to the Indians.
Henry Grammer, Western bad
man and bootlegger, gained con-
troll of the Usage liquor traffic.
Located in the hills, he kept q
small army of men working day
and night manufacturing illicit
liquor. He installed his own power
plant so his men could have plenty
of light to work by. These white
men hobnobbed with the Indians
and kept them drunk.
Then, one after another, "a rich
Osages died of alcoholic poisoning
but not before they had trans
ferred their head rights to their
kind white friends.
Among the respected citizens of
the town it was rumored that the
white men would get the Indians
drunk, call in doctor, who would
diagnose the case as intoxication
and administer a shot of NOR
phine. When the doctor had de-
parted the unconscious red men
would receive additional shots,
from which they never recovered.
The doctor-knowing only, that
he had treated them for intoxi-
cation-would issue certificates
OF death from alcoholic poison
ing" It was as simple as that.
Crime by this time had become
so rampant that decent residents
lived in fear. Henry Grammer
was found dead, a gaping wound
in his side and $4,000 cash miss
ing from his pockets. True.
Henry was a bad egg and the
townspeople were glad to get rid
of him but the fact that town
officials ignored the murder-and
that of the "a rich Indians
stirred the tribal council to &C
ton.
A resolution was passed asking
the United States Government to
bring law and order to Usage
county and to solve the murders
Of its citizens.
Usage county is on Federal
territory, so the case was turned
over to the chief Of the Omen,
j. Edgar Hoover, of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, Depart
ment of Justice.
Hoover promptly dispatched
several agents to Oklahoma. He
selected men well verSed in In
dian affairs and familiar with the
country.
However. the Special Agents
found residents afraid to talk.
Working under cover, several
agents disguised as insurance
statesmen, medicine men and plain
Texas cowmen learned some
startling things.
They learned, for instance. that
the town was practically con-
trolled by one William K. Hale,
ex-cowpuncher, ex-cattle thief and
petty politician. Hale had drifted
into the Usage Country shortly
CONTINUED in r