Jackson's paternal nieces and nephews.
[Muskogee Daily Phoenix, June 3, 1934]
Jackson Lived Alone Near Henryetta Until Gold Rushed From Scrubby Acreage
FOUND BY 'ADVENTURESS'
Battle for Indian Millions Just Starting, a Heirs Flock to Agency Here.
The death of Jackson Barnett
last week brought to a sudden close one of the strangest and at the same time
one of the sordidly romantic stories in the history of the rich Creek nation and
began another.
Jackson Barnett was "the world's richest
Indian". As oil gushed forth from his 160 acres in Creek county -
land that had been given up as unproductive, and which had been allotted him as
punishment for his participation in the ill-fated "Crazy Snake" rebellion
- Barnett's fortune was estimated at $90,000 per month, and 10 years later, as
oil continued to pour from his properties, it was still estimated at more than
three million dollars.
At his death, Jackson Barnett enjoyed a monthly
income of $2,500 and had more than $1,900,000 on deposit with the superintendent
of the Five Civilized Tribes.
For 70 years Jackson lived among his dogs
and ponies in a log cabin shack near Henryetta. Unkept, unlettered, dirty,
the millionaire Creek was considered a "scrub" Indian, unable to meet
the requirements of the Creek tribe. An outcast, Jackson lived alone until
"black gold" poured out of his allotment.
It was there that
Anna Laura Lowe, a Kansas oil promoter, found him, and rushed the millionaire
"scrub" across the Kansas state line to marry him. Mrs. Lowe is
reported to have made several trips to Barnett's cabin to woo the aged Creek
incompetent. Jackson later said that he refused several times to marry
Mrs. Lowe, an attractive white widow, because she called when it was
"getting dark."
Against that marriage the Indian bureau cried
in protest. They insisted that Jackson was incompetent, did not understand
the intent of marriage vows, and that the extent of his participation in the
marriage ceremony had been a "grunt and a grin."
Need Other Kidnapers
Mrs. Barnett, the former Mrs. Lowe fought back with quiet
and sullen fury. She insisted that she had done more for Jackson than the
government had ever done.
"If I kidnaped him," she insisted,
"the government ought to hire other women like me to go out and kidnap the
rest of the Indians."
The Barnett's - now central figures in a drama
of riches that whirled about the unperturbed head of the childish old
millionaire - moved to Muskogee to take up their residence as the department of
interior continued its efforts to annul their marriage.
Never seriously
concerned in any of the litigation to which he became a placid onlooker, Jackson
insisted that he "liked" his wife and was willing to share his fortune
with her.
"She smart woman" he said, "she count my
money." Barnett once attempted to estimate his fortune by the number
of ponies it would buy.
Harassed by attorneys, Mrs. Barnett suddenly
bundled up the "chief" and hurried him to California to a mansion at
the corner of Wilshire Boulevard. The step was taken, she insisted, to
protect the "chief" against the ravages of further litigations.
In
California, the aged Barnett found new interest in life. Mrs. Barnett
provided him with his loved calico ponies, and allowed him to stand daily on the
parking as he directed traffic.
Held Prisoner Here
But Jackson was
not allowed to remain in California. Insisting that they had been
kidnaped, the Barnetts were pushed back into Oklahoma and held virtual prisoners
in the Baltimore hotel here pending disposition of their affairs before the eastern district of Oklahoma federal court.
Because
Federal Judge Robert L. Williams was confined to a Battle Creek hospital at the
time, Federal Judge F. E. Kennamer of Tulsa released Barnett on a $2,500 bond,
warning Mrs. Barnett at the same time that criminal prosecutions would be
brought against her if she attempted to take her "husband" back to the
coast.
Mrs. Barnett was said at that time to have kept a automobile in
front of the Muskogee federal building preparatory to a dash back to their Los
Angeles mansion, but reconsidered in view of Judge Kennamer's lashing warning
and engaged a cottage in Muskogee on West Broadway.
Back to California,
the Barnett wrangle continued unabated as the department of interior insisted
that the "faked marriage" should be annulled. Despite the fact
that the couple had lived as husband and wife for more than 13 years, the
government continued its efforts to secure an annulment and to denounce Mrs.
Barnett as an imposter.
Marriage Held Void
On March 31, 1934,
Federal Judge William P. James of Los Angeles declared the marriage void.
It was a shock not only to Mrs. Barnett and to the unperturbed Jackson, but to
the department of interior that originally sought annulment only to later
recognize the validity of the "grunt and grin" marriage vows.
Judge
James held that Jackson Barnett was an incompetent and that he had not known the
purpose of the marriage ceremony. He held, however, that Barnett could
employ his wife as a housekeeper, but that expense accounts were not to exceed
$2,500 per month.
Jackson Barnett's Indian fortune is one that has rocked
national administrations, brought on senatorial investigations and demands for
cabinet resignations. Jackson alone of the principals concerned in the
million dollar litigations has remained calm and undisturbed as the drama of
human greed broke about his aged head.
On Sept. 26, 1926, Harold McGugin,
long an attorney for Mrs. Barnett, carried a direct appeal to President Calvin
Coolidge, insisting that attorneys should "let Jackson alone."
McGugin insisted that Sen. W. B. Pine of Oklahoma had attempted to tie up the
Barnett funds in Okmulgee county through the appointment of various local
guardians.
McGugin, now a republican representative from Kansas, charged
that the Pine machine was dominating in Okmulgee county and had attempted to
keep the funds there for their personal advancement.
He Directed Traffic
McGugin demanded, at the same time, the resignation of Bert M. Parmeter, as assistant
United States attorney general. Pine had demanded the resignation of
Indian Commissioner Burge who had approved various Barnett settlements.
As
attorney fought and were disbarred, as cabinet officials grabbed, and were
dismissed, as senators meddled and were investigated, Jackson stood on the
parking of his palatial colonial home in Los Angeles and tended his duties as a
volunteer traffic officer.
At one time Barnett attempted to donate
$550,000 to Bacone and another $550,000 in trust funds to his wife at his
death. According to the agreement - admittedly drawn by Mrs. Lowe -
Barnett was to have had an interest in both trust funds until his death.
Against
that donation, however, there was also vigorous protest.
"Friends" of the aged Creek insisted that he had been prevailed upon
to sign with his thumb mark a deed that he did not understand, and forced the
matter into federal court to save the million dollar fortune.
Barnett's
deed were set aside by Federal Judge John C. Knox of New York in 1927.
Judge Knox held that Jackson Barnett had been "kidnaped and married by an
adventuress, and harassed and annoyed by his attorneys" until he had become
a "shuttlecock in a game of battledore in which the stakes are high."
Suit Brought here
Bacone returned the $550,000. Mrs. Lowe continued her
fight for recognition until death overtook the chief.
Mrs. Barnett came
to Muskogee three weeks ago to file a motion in federal court here to require
the department of interior to pay the $2,500 monthly check through the office of
the superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes. She was apparently
dissatisfied with the handling of her accounts by the Mission Indian agency, but
could find no suit here in which she could file and was forced to return to Los
Angeles.
There it was that death, suddenly and unexpected, overtook
"the chief" and carried him quietly back to the happy hunting ground that he
had known in his pioneer shack near Henryetta.
To Jackson the white man's
world had always been interesting, but queer, unexplainable, and a bit
"off."
He sipped of that which he approved and ignored that
which disturbed the tranquility of his child like mind.
His neighbors
around Henryetta insisted that he was "daffy" but excused his
incompetence on the grounds that he had been thrown from a horse as a youth.
Perhaps
as Jackson fell dead in his palatial home in Los Angeles his mind reverted back
to Henryetta, as his relatives insist that his body shall be returned there for
burial.
His Spirit Strong
Mrs. Barnett refused to concede that
"the chief" might be dead. "His spirit is so strong"
she insisted, "surely he will come back now."
But the
chief was dead and over his corpse broke one of the strangest and most inhuman
maelstroms yet witnessed in a civilized world.
As Barnett lay a corpse,
his government denied him the right of burial. Though he had lived in
loneliness among his dogs and ponies in the Henryetta community, though he had
known none of human companionship until wealth was his, his relatives and heirs
besieged the Five Civilised tribes roll book prove their claim to his fortune.
They
insisted that Mrs. Lowe, his companion for 13 years, should not be consulted in
burial plans and registered vigorous protest to the present commissioner of
Indian affairs who ordered that burial be postponed and that the body of Jackson
Barnett - denied even the solace of peace in death - be held in escrow pending disposition
of various legal details.
Even as to his return to Oklahoma, Barnett's
"loving" relatives could not agree. Some insisted that he should
be returned to Henryetta for the final weird Indian rites, others were equally
vehement that he should be laid to rest in the old Arbeka cemetery near
Bryant.
The battle for the fortune of Jackson Barnett, observers
say, has just begun. More than 20 nephews and nephews have put in their claims
as kin of the dead millionaire, and as for Jackson... "The
chief is dead; long live the chief."
Jackson's paternal nieces and nephews. |
An 'Old Man' Conner
On the maternal side there was
an "Old Man" Conner, whose wife is unknown. Conner was known as
"Irish Tuskegee Micco." Children included Thlesothle or Betty,
whose son was Jackson Barnett; Jenny and William Conner. Jenny died
without heirs. William Conner, a Seminole fullblood, died in 1900 and had a
child by a first marriage named Wynie Conner, now Hendrix. Another child
of the older Conners was Lydia Conner, who died in 1922. The last was
Thomas Conner who died in 1901. William Conner also has these three
children: Rosanna , dead; Susie, Emma, Jennie, dead, and May or Hannah
Conner. Thomas Conner had these children: Thomas, Jr., dead; William,
Nettie, and John.
By this genealogy it is noted that "Old Man"
Conner had five children, one of whom was Thlesothle, Jackson's mother, and that
heirs on the maternal side come through William Conner, who was married twice,
and Thomas Conner. No heirs through Jenny or Lydia Conner are shown.
On
the paternal side, after Jackson's mother died, Siah Barnett married again and
had four children, all of whom had heirs. However, all heirs of Maria West
are now dead.