Show dealt wealthy indians prey of lawyers oklahoma probate co court urt system loots he heirs irs of five tribes Was hinston D 1 I among the mat many evils which congress con grese lately has ha been asked to investigate li Is the this alleged exploitation of well todo to do indians in oklahoma write writes Irre frederic daric J baikin in the chicago news it la is charged that since all jurisdiction over indian probate matters has ha been transferred from the interior department to the local county court courts the estates of the fly five civilized tribes are belag being shame and openly robbed in a den title and ruthless ruth lesa manner in other word words without the protection of the federal government theeo these indiana indians are now more completely at the mercy of unscrupulous white men than were their unfettered ancestors a couple of centuries ago this charge ll 11 the result of a private investigation made by pedal special agents of three organizations in inter te es ceded in the welfare of the american abill Indian mrs gertrude bonnin a college sioux research research h agent of the indian welfare committee of the general federation of duba clubs I 1 charles IL fabens of the american indian defense as association so clation and matthew K X sniffen stiffen of the indian rights nights aloda ass octa tion all AU three recently spent several weeks in eastern oklahoma In individually engaged in quiet research and hence all are am well provided with first band bud evidence their report reveals some startling abuses and cie clearly arly shows the immediate need of federal interference Interfere rim even undertaker undertakers got in it charges that in many ot of the conn coull ties the indian indians are virtually at the mercy of swaps groups that include the conn cou n ty jud judges gics guardians attorney attorneys bank ere em tand and even the under taker takers ell all of whom regard the indian estates ai as legitimate game the chief trouble it explains plaIns ax arises from the tact fact that many of the county court courts are aro influenced by political con considerations alder and that indian guardianships guardI are the plum plums to be distributed dietri buted to the th faithful friends of the judges as a reward for support at the polls A prominent attorney of creek county told the investigators the indian business cai ties become a political proposition no ifo lawyer who practices law legitimately can get in A man has to buy a big case I 1 have been here for ten years and find we bare have not bad had a square judge during that time how Is it worked suppose for instance here Is a of particular value and I 1 am a friend of the judges and be he wants to appoint john jolka doe as an guardian lie can a any to me you tell doe I 1 will appoint him if be digs digi up when doo doe Is appointed be he soon get gets back bis his and then some the wards often get little more than a bare living out of their estates there Is no way to compel compe I 1 the judges to act square better than thin bootlegging th the e professional guardianship game Is to so very profitable able table la in hati that even bootleggers are leaving their lucrative business bosl nes to become guardians guard lAns they find it much easier and less haar hazardous adous work each guardian usually has an in attorney steadily retained probably it has been suggested to advise him how far be he can call go ind and be within the law with the estate of his indian ward under control be la Is entered to by the bankers who desire bilac account countI by the mercha merchants ants who want to secure the tho ward trade and sad by any tiny number of sycophants who want to negotiate loans on questionable security la in this way the whole community Is more or leis less interested and especially the tb judge who Js i anxious to be many of the bounty judges ur the In torf ld appeared to b be L quite lenient toward ther these guard guardians laul usually no auditing of account accounts la in demanded and the judge asks no embar bassing questions two great evils 11 result from this syi myo tern tem the report point points out one on Is i ill the charging of excessive fees fe and administrative istra tive costs co the other la is the actual abuse of the trust by dishonesty petty graft and in on one cae case a guardian fu ardlan not only asked for or and received SM a month mouth for or himself lil but la in addition aked asked the court to appoint a co cardlan to help him also 1 at OW a month mouth lie ile retained an at torney tomey at a month mouth and the co au ardlan retained bli his attorney at a month thus the tots total cost of administering this one estate was about a year in all cree cases it la Is the guardian ruan llan who decides when where and how much ot of the warda wards money be will pay for ills lite support and at what stores the ward may purchase goods to be charged to the guardian fu ardlan sometimes when the guardian Is drawing 1 0 a month from an estate his ward Is re belving only 80 split profit through friends such eccentricities in the matter of feel fees are mild however compared to the cases of actual dishonesty dishon eity which are constantly being brought to light one of these cited in the report arose in connection with the oil allotment of aule allis daney darkey which could hare have been leased for a bonus t some in addition to the usual royalties but the guardian had a better idea than that he ile entered into an arrangement with a friend whereby he be as guardian made a lease tense for a nominal cum sum and was to receive personally a part interest in the lessees profits prof lt later it seems the lessee lesses failed to ive up to the agreement whereupon the he guardian bad he be temerity to bring suit to set alde aside bit own leaie lease on the ground that be he bad entered into a conspiracy against the interest Inte reet of 0 his ward the expense expenses of thie this suit were charged 40 the estate in this case the probate attorney attorneys excepted the guardians report and the exceptions were sustained it must not be thought that these practices are condoned by all the catl tens of Okla oklahoma boma that they are not may be ascertained from a it perusal of the oklahoma press which does not hesitate to give 1 wide publicity to the vicious operation operations of the probate system the oklahoma bar association hai has announced its lt op OV petition position to the system la in a public re r port in which it deplore deplores the plunder ing of public fund funds by those vi ho 0 con alder their of election a IR license to take everything in eight it in believed therefore that R large number of 0 oklahoman Okla homana wilt ili welcome remedial legislation juat just a R 2 toon soon is aa it can be put through congress the present probate sa extern item which li Is inflicting uch such great injuries In jurle upon open the indian indians came into existence la to ION 1006 when an act wa was passed by congress re removing moving all federal of the eale tile of inherited landi lands by full blood and of coune course incompetent heirs and giving J u tie di atlon in the premise pr emlie to the th local county probate court courtl urged on an U S by congressman this was done as a the result of much ura on the part of the oklahoma delean delegation aton in congress which argued that the indiana indians were competent to care for or their property and needed DO n legislative protection against dencer dence that the state could be tru brosted to give 1 them all the protection they required and that federal guardianship and supervision should cease As a it wai was an intolerable interference with the personal and rights ot dolien of Okla oklahoma homar the five ATS civilized tribe tribes affected by this legislation are trip the cherokee choctaws Choc chickasaws creek and Semi seminoles noles they are eo so called limply simply because they have been living under our white presumably long enough to abs absorb 0 rb it As it matter ot of fact there ie Is considerable evident evidence to how show that they are able to their own affairs fairly well when not manacled by the court courtl but this ran ram ly happen happens to the it li Is impo elble sible to elate state the total number of la in deans who bare have been plundered or the 1116 value 1 of their property but of 0 the K whose restrictions were M r moved in n probably not more than that 5 or 10 20 per cent have anything left most mo of them are living back ta in the th hills or arobel are being ug cared for or by friend friends or relative relatives the only hope of saying 1 the property of the remaining restricted indian member members of if the tile five civili za tribe bibes sar the lie es in giving the interior department definite and specific authority of a character that will afford protection to these la 14 diane A bill baa has been introduced which has the approval app oj ol the indian bureau and it la it h hoped that nu friend friends of the indians will write to their representatives in the enato senate urging if its prompt consideration and |