Damage Asked in Sum of $125,000 of Osage Indian

July 2, 1925
The Pawhuska Daily Journal
Microfilm Roll: MN00267

On this day in Osage country, The Pawhuska Daily Journal Capital published an article about a woman who is suing her husband f or $125,000 on the basis of deceit.

Lucy B. Logan, a Pawnee woman, claimed that her husband John A. Logan, an Osage tribal member, maliciously convinced her to marry him on the presumption that he was a wealthy man. Supposedly, John Logan promised Lucy a life of splendor and leisure, supporting her with the money that he earned from his share of the Osage oil headrights. After only three months of marriage, John filed for divorce. Upset, Lucy filed a suit against her husband asking for the following damages:

Fraudulent and malicious misrepresentation of defendant $25,000; damage to plaintiffs reputation $25,000; exemplary damages for alleged willful and malicious fraud $25,000; humiliation, disappointment and shame to plaintiff $50,000; total $125,000.

During this time period, Osages were being paid by the government, in the form of headrights, for oil found on their land. By the peak of the oil boom, Osages were deemed “the richest people on Earth” (Burns). Unfortunately, it became a common occurrence for outsiders to marry into Osage wealth, hoping that they could someday become a beneficiary of such money; for one did not have to be a tribal member to inherit another’s headrights. Not only did this lead to interracial marriage, but also to the “reign of terror” an epoch of Osage murders.

Morgan M. Guzman

“Damage Asked in Sum of $125,000 of Osage Indian.” The Pawhuska Daily Journal Capital. July 2, 1925, p. 1. Microfilm roll number MN00267. Sequoyah National Research Center, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Further Reading

Burns, Louis F. “Osage (tribe).” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=OS001. Accessed January 26, 2018.

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