Show 19 PD acl aft TM I 1 i k 14 A V f ar r 1 m 4 V ka A g A P dazar Z romance of the and oil 7 dy ELMO SCOTT WATSON ti HEN H N ALEXANDER 1011 sonio some two hundred yours ngo ago wrote lie he lines 10 1110 lo the poor whose until ml mind sees red god i clouds or hears him 1 ille wind willa lie ho little that lie ho was riving lu iu the language an expression pres slon which was wag to become a classic ella rac teriza tion of a whole race of il inan lilli for american sentimentality has made poor lo 10 and indian terms seemingly unconscious of the froni ironical cill fact that it liaa has been the american people the white usurpers usurp ers of the land occupied by the original americans who are principally responsible for the poor halt of the expression so poor lo 10 became a part pait of our currency of speech until the modern history of the osage indians seemingly proved the falsity of this as of many 0 of f our other rubber stamp expressions but recent developments down in the osage country in oklahoma where oil wells have been pouring a golden stream of inn material terdal wealth into the laps of these indians now cow suggest that perhaps the poor lot lo 10 designation is not so inappropriate after nil all for the usages millions have brought death to some of them and sorrow to the others in the realization that they have yet much to learn of the bitter lesson of tho the white mans greed the osage murders which have occupied so much space in the newspapers lately have aptly been j called one of the blackest chapters in tho the history of tile the white mans dealings with the american indian they are the result of what appears to be the effort of a well organized band of men to destroy with bullet poison and comb the heirs to some of tile the usages rich oil lands this effort already has haa resulted in nearly a score ot of murders and government officials who are investigating vesti gating the case predict even more sensational disclosures as aa their case against the men already indicted for the crime develops in thus centering tile tho attention of tho the nation upon this tribe of indians whose sudden rise to wealth within the last decade has kept them constantly in the limelight these murders serve to recall some of the early history of the usages which in contrast to their later peaceful record was ono one of much war and bloodshed the name osage Is a corruption by tile the french of their nnnie name for themselves the or dosages were the most important southern siouan tribe of the western alv division sion and their original home wag waa along niong the ohio river but in tile the constant shifting of indian population on account of tribal wars and the nomadic traits of the red men they eventually crossed the mississippi probably about ir M A D the first mention of the usages in written history Is in father iq quetter ettes map of 1073 1673 which shows them located along the osage river in kansas and missouri in 1701 iberville another french explorer found I 1 them living near and lio lie numbers them at 1200 to 1 ro COO in 1714 they were helping the french defeat tile the foxe indians at detroit add aad three years later them the tribe received its first official visit from the french du a french officer visited a part of the tribe which was then living along the osage river antl records the fact that flint this village had en cabins bins nad and warriors all of t the he early french travelers comment upon the warlike qualities of the plages who were the inveterate enemies of the great mint confederacy and who were held in terror by the Cad iloan tribes of the south vest A although they were constantly 1 i u tit at war with tho the illinois at one time the warring tribes patched up a sort of truce and when the iroquois Iro quola descended upon the illinois from the tha east the latter sought refuge for a time among theli their newfound new found friends the usages across the groat great river the first americans americana to come into contact with these people wet were lewla hewl and dark clark by this time the tribe seems to have been divided into two main groups the great osage and the little bange the t american explorers state that in 1802 the great osage under tile the leadership of a chief named big track had migrated to the arkansas river and la in 1804 they found this subdivision numbering BOO warriors in a village on the osage river the little osage then only a halt half as aa numerous as the great osage were occupying a village six miles distant but a group known only as the arkansas band warriors warr lora strong was located on the vermilion river a branch of the arkansas on november 10 1808 the first treaty between the american government and the usages was signed at fort dark clark 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 treaty wasi waa only tile the beginning later sessions cessions ces cess lons at st louis juno june 2 S at fort gibson L T january 11 1839 and at canville nan kan september 29 1805 gradually cut down their holdings until of all the vast territory which the usages once claimed and to they held a precarious title by force of arms but little remained although the relations of the usages with the americans americana from the beginning were more peaceful than those of many western tribes these warlike people did not give up their lands complacently evidently they thea 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 fe trall trail which ran through the osage country a great trade artery one of the finest of the canvases painted by tho the celebrated artist john mix stanley Is an osage scalp dance the artist who visited the usages in the early forties says of this painting on returning from the scene of strife they celebrate their victories by a scalp dance this picture represents the scalp dance jot the usages around a woman woman and her child and a warrior in anthe the act of striking her with ills club ills his chief springing forward and arresting tho blow with his spear allow however ver the united states never engaged in a general war with the oapl aspes es ind it Is noteworthy that they were more often our allies in wars with other tribes than our ene enemies inies it was a band of osage scouts who guided general custer to black kettles camp of Clie in oklahoma in ID the winter of 1868 and took part in the in much discussed battle of tho the lVa shita which greatly weakened the power rf ol the ho hostiles host stiles lles EX t fj t k A y A V I 1 J 0 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 15 ISTO 1870 tho the land was hilly and regarded as almost worthless so BO much so in tact fact that another tribe to whom it was first given refused to live on it so the usages who by this time seem beem to have lost their war like qualities lUes and who isee seemed nied unlikely to protest were ere given this tract of approximately a million and a half acres dy an act of congress on juno june 28 1000 this land was divided among the usages then numbering nearly 2000 persons at this time the tribe had bad to their credit in the united states treasury more than eight and ft 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 vaa approximately even at this time the usages wore were known as the richest indians 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 1912 and 1013 oil ell was discovered on their lands land and almost overnight tho the usages became rich beyond their wildest dreams then too their troubles began unaccustomed tu to this great wealth the indiana fell prey to nil all kinds of white trick the culmination of their troubles was the series of mysterious in murders u aders 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 to Is constantly increasing the last announcement was that the 2227 in the tribe will pay 2400 each tor for the first quarter of 1020 instead of 1400 as was expected edt I 1 by trickery ai a he desired the white man hns has resorted to violence so although their wealth has haa brought the usages considerable happiness it has haa brought them borrow too just as it did jackson barnett the creek indian whose philanthropic and matrimonial troubles were so prominent in the newspapers only a short time ago but out of all their troubles moy 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 n the press and in congress over the indian question in general may soon result in some sweeping bli changes anges in the whole conduct of indian affairs and poor loll lo may soon gain the tardy justice which his friends believe he ha has so BO long been denied |