MURDER RING

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 91, 12 January 1926, Page 7

MURDER RING

SERIOUS ALLEGATION AGAINST WHITES ARISING FROM DEATHS OF INDIANS HEAVILY-INSURED LIVES Bi Telegram.—P-’-Esr Association Copyright. Guthrie (Oklahoma), January 10. The mysterious deaths of nine wealthy Osage Indians has prompted a Federal inquiry, to which 160 witnesses are called, involving an alleged murder ring, reputed to be composed of influential whites, holding insurance policies on the Indians’ lives. The Osages are Government wards, who have received large royalties for oil removed from their tribal lands, each member of the tribe, numbering 2200, having received at least 152,000 dollars royalty on that account up to July 1, 1925. Many Osages dissipate their income immediately after receipt. After this they borrow heavily from whites who, as a security, accept insurance policies on the Indians’ lives, the whites being named as beneficiaries. The latest alleged murder involved the death of Harry Roan, a rich Osage, whose bullet-pierced body was found several days after he disappeared. The jury, investigating Hie deatli, indicted two whites, one of whom was the beneficiary of a 25,000-dollar insurance policy on Roan, and had also previously been indicted for the murder of W. B. Smith, a wealthy Indian, who died with his wife and housekeeper, when their house was blown up in 1923.— Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.