Show romance of the and oil 7 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON HEN POPE some two bun dred sears ago he lines 10 lo the I 1 whose antu adlan bcd mind sees god i clouds or hears him i the wind he that he was lu me I 1 language an ex ires slon which was to become a clas ic characterization of a whole race f men for american sentimentality las made poor lo 10 and indian terms seemingly ancon clous of the ironical fact that it has een the american people the white suppers of the land occupied by the americans who are ally responsible for the poor halt f the expression so poor lo 10 became a part of our of speech until the modern astory of the osage indians seeming r proved the falsity of this as of lany of our other rubber stamp but recent developments own in the osage country in okla loma where oil wells have been pour ag a golden stream of material health into the laps of these indians ow suggest that perhaps the poor 10 designation Is not BO te after all for the usages mil lona have brought death to some of hem and sorrow to alie others in the that they have yet much 0 learn of the bitter lesson of the rhote mans greed the osage murders which have coupled so much eln the news ibbers lately have aptly been called one of the blackest chapters in the of the white man s dealings alth the american indian they are he result of what appears to be the effort of a well organized band of men 0 destroy with bullet poison and bomb the heirs to some of the usages ach oil lands this effort already has resulted in nearly a score of murders ind government officials who are in the case predict even more disclosures as their case alie men already indicted for he crime develops in thus centering the attention of he nation upon this tribe of indians those sudden rise to wealth within he last decade has kept them con bantly in the limelight thee mur lers serve to recall some of the early of the usages which in con rast to their later peaceful record vas one of much war and bloodshed the name osage Is a corruption by he french of their name or themselves the or usages were the most important siouan tribe of the western Ihl slon and their original home was along the ohio river but in the con bitant shifting of indian population on account of tribal wars and the no findly traits of the red men they crossed the mississippi probably about 1500 A D the first mention of the usages in written history Is in father alar guettes mop of which shows them located along the osage river in and missouri in 1701 iber ralle another I 1 explorer found hem living near the arkansas aler ind he numbers them at 1200 to 1 in 1714 they were helping the french defeat the foco indians at detroit and three years later the tribe received its first official visit from alie french du a french officer a part of the tribe which was then living along the osage river and records the fact that this village had cabins aad lors all of alie early french travelers comment upon the warlike qualities of uie usages who were the inveterate enemies of the great iancy and who were held in terror ly the tribes of the south west although they were constantly at war with the illinois at one time the warring tribes patched op a sort of truce and when the iroquois descended upon the illinois from the east the latter sought refuge for a time among their new found friends the usages across the great river the first americans to come into contact with these people were lewis and dark by this time the tribe seems to have been divided into two main groups the great osage and the little osage the american explorers state that in 1802 the great osage under the leadership of a chief named big track had migrated to the arkansas river and in 1804 they found athla subdivision numbering warriors in a village on the osage river the little osage then only a halt as numerous as the great osage were occupying a village six miles distant but a group known only as the arkansas band COO warriors strong was located on the vermilion river a branch of the arkansas on november Io vember 10 1808 the first treaty between the american govern ment and the usages was signed at fort chark near kansas city mo in it the indians ceded all of their lands except those comprising the present state of oklahoma north of the canadian and arkansas rivers but this was only the beginning later sessions cessions ces at st louis june 2 1825 at fort gabson L T january 11 1839 and at canville kan september 29 1863 gradually cut down their hold ings until of all the vast territory which the usages once claimed and to which they held a precarious title by force of arms but little remained although the relations of the usages with the americans from the begin nang were more peaceful than those of many western tribes these warlike people did not give up their lands complacently evidently they were troublesome enough a century ago for one of the provisions of the treaty made in 1825 was that the usages were to refrain from molesting the trade with the southwest which was just then beginning and which was destined to make the historic santa re trail which ran through the osage country a great trade artery one of the finest of the canvases painted by the celebrated artist john mix stanley Is an osage scalp dance the artist who visited the usages in the early forties bays of this painting on returning from the acene of strife they celebrate their victories by a scalp dince this picture represents the scalp dance of the around n woman and her and a warrior in the act of striking her with bis club his chief springing forward and arresting the blow with his spear however the united states never engaged in a general war with the usages and it Is noteworthy that they were more often our allies in wars with other tribes than our enemies it was a band of osage scouts who guided general custer to black ket ties camp of in oklahoma in the winter of and took part in alie discussed battle of the which greatly weakened the power of the host lles the lands which the usages now hold were given them when a reservation was established for them in oklahoma by an act of congress on july IS 1870 tha land was hilly and regarded as almost worthless so much BO in fact that another tribe to whom it was first given refused to live on it so the usages who by this time seem to have lost their warlike qualities and who seemed unlikely to protest were given this tract ot approximately a million and a half acres by an act of congress on june 28 1006 this land was divided among the usages then numbering nearly 2000 persons at this time the tribe had to their credit in the united states treasury more than eight and a half millions of dollars in treaty money yielding an annual income of nearly half a million dollars they also drew about a year for pasturage leases so that their total annual income per capita vas even at this time the usages were known as the richest in in the united states when oklahoma statehood was declared in 1007 the usages continued to live a peaceful existence comparatively untouched by outside influences then along in 1012 and 1013 oil was discovered on their lands and almost overnight the usages became rich beyond their wildest dreams then too their troubles began tomed tu this great wealth the indiana fell prey to all kinds of white trick the culmination of their brou trou bles was the series of mysterious murders which began in 1022 and which have recently been exposed apparently unable to get as much of the usages wealth and the wealth of the usages Is constantly increasing the last announcement was that the 2227 in the tribe will pay 2400 each for the first quarter of 1920 instead of 1400 as was expected 1 by trickery as he desired the white man has resorted to violence so although their wealth baa brought the considerable happiness it has brought them BW row too just as it did jackson barnett the creek indian whose philanthropic and matrimonial troubles were BO prominent in the newspapers only a short time ago but out of all their troubles may come a better day not only for the usages but for every indian in the united states the osage case now seems likely to be a history making one for recent agitation in the press and in congress over the indian ques alon in general may soon result in some sweeping changes in the anole conduct of indian affairs and poor lo 10 may soon gain the tardy justice which his friends believe he has so long been denied |