Show aw aw LOS the poor I 1 acl ian I 1 4 4 J iq X k 77 1 at it li U AP 1 A 1 DAWS fasy fj sy romance of a the f e olaes and oil 01 i by ELMO SCOTT WATSON II 11 REN E N ALEXANDER some two hundred bundred years ago wrote the lines 10 lo the poor adlan I 1 whose antu red mind sees god i clouds or hears bears him a the wind h be little teall zed that lie he was giving to lu me lne english language an expression which was to become a clastic classic characterization ot of a whole race ot of men for american sentimentality has made poor lo 10 and indian synonymous terms seemingly unconscious of the ironical fact that it las has been the american people the white usurpers usurp ers of the land occupied by the original americans who are principally res responsible pon sible for the poor halt half of the expression so poor lo 10 became a part of our currency of speech until the modern history of the osage indians seemingly proved the falsity of this as ot of many of our other rubber stamp expressions cut but recent developments down in the osage country in oklahoma homa where oil wells have been pouring a golden stream of material wealth into the laps of these indians now cow suggest that perhaps the poor lo 10 designation Is not so inappropriate after 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 the white mans greed the osage murders which have occupied so much space in the newspapers lately have aptly been called one of the blackest chapters in the history of the white mans dealings with the Ami american rican 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 bomb the heirs to some of the usages rich oil lands land this effort already lia lias resulted in nearly a score of murders and government officials who are investigating vesti gating the case predict even more sensational disclosures as their case against the men already indicted for the crime develops in thus centering the attention of the nation upon this tribe of indians whose sudden rise to wealth within the last decade lias has kept them con in the limelight tiles these e murders mure inure serve to recall some of the early history of the usages which in con frost to their later peaceful record was one of much war and bloodshed the name osage Is a corruption by the french of their name tor for themselves the or 0 usages es were the most important southern siouan tribe of the western division and their original home was along the ohio river cut but in the constant shifting shit ting of indian population on OD account of tribal wars and the nomadic traits of the red men they eventually crossed the mississippi probably about 1500 A D the first mention of the usages in written history is in father mir mar quetter qu ettes map of 1673 which shows them located along the osage river in kansas and missouri in 1701 iberville another french explorer found them illing near the arkansas river and he numbers them at 1200 to I 1 in 1714 they wore were helping the french defeat the foxe indians at detroit and three years later the tribe receded its first official visit from tile the french du a french officer visited a part of the tribe which was then living along the osage river and records the fact that tills village had bad cabins a nad ad warriors all of the early french trave traveler lerg comment upon the warlike qualities of the usages who aho wele the inveterate enemies of 0 the great mini confederacy and who were held in terror by the tribes of the southwest although they were constantly 72 nt at war with the illinois at one time the warring tribes patched up a s sort ort of truce and when the iroquois descended upon the illinois from the east tile the latter sought bought refuge for a time among their newfound new found friends the usages across the great river the first americans to come into contact with these people were lewis and clark 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 1801 they found this subdivision numbering warriors lu in a village on tho the osage river the little little osage then only a halt half 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 10 1808 the first treaty between the american government and the usages was wag 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 was only the beginning later cessious ces at st louis june 2 1823 at fort gibson L T january 11 1839 and at canville ran kan september 20 gradually cut down their holdings until of all the vast territory which the usages once claimed and to willell 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 were troublesome enough a century ago for one of the pro provisions ismons 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 ve fe trail which ran through the osage country a great trade artery one of the finest of the canvases painted by the celebrated artist john ifie ill t 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 scap scalp dance of the usages around a woman and her child and a warrior in the act of striking her with his club his chief springing forward and arresting the blow with his spear however the united states never engaged la in n R general war with the osage and it Is noteworthy that they were more often our allies in wars with other tribes than our enemies tt it was a band of osage scouts who guided general custer to black kettles camp of in oklahoma in tle the winter of 1803 and took part in tho the iauch discussed battle of the which greatly weakened the power of r the bo liosi stiles iles A i A a C 0 0 I 1 the lands which the usages now I 1 hold were given them when a reservation was established for them in oklahoma by an act of congress on july 15 1840 1870 the land was hilly and regarded as almost worthless so much so BO in fact that another tribe to whom it was first given refused to live on it so the who by this time seem to have lost their war like qualities and who seemed unlikely to protest were given this tract of approximately a million and a half acres by an act of congress on june 23 1000 1900 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 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 BO that their total annual income per capita vas approximately even at this time the usages were known as the richest indians in the united states when oklahoma statehood was declared la in 1007 the usages continued to live a peaceful existence comparatively untouched by outside influences then along in 1913 1912 and 1913 2913 oil was discovered on their lands and almost overnight the usages became rich beyond their wildest dreams then too their troubles began unaccustomed tu to this great wealth tile indiana fell prey to all kinds of white trick the culmination of the ir troubles was the series of mysterious murders which began in 1922 1022 and which have recently been exposed apparently un unable able to get as much of tile the usages wealth and the wealth of 0 the usages la Is constantly increasing the last announcement was that the tha 2227 bead rights in the tribe will pay 2400 each for the first quarter of 1826 1926 instead of 1400 as was expected edl 1 by trickery as he desired the white man has resorted to violence so although their wealth has brought the usages considerable happiness it has brought them sir gyr row too just ea 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 may come a better day not only for the tha 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 andin congress over the indian question in general may toy soon result in some sweeping changes in the whole conduct of indian affairs and poor lo 10 may soon gain the tardy justice which his friends believe he has so go long been denied |