Alfalfa Bill Murray and the Chickasaws

 

 

                                                     

                                                             "Alfalfa" Bill Murray

 

I mentioned Bill Murray, 9^th governor of Oklahoma, in my last post, and it reminded me that I know a few more tidbits about him than I included in my brief characterization.

 First of all, Murray owed his prominent place in Oklahoma history to the Chickasaw Indian Tribe, my tribe. He was born in Texas, in 1869 – he was actually older than my grandparents, who was born in 1876 and 77. He was an enterprising young man, and by the time he came to Indian Territory in 1898, he had already earned a college degree in education, passed the Texas state bar, and run for the Texas state senate. In Indian Territory he began farming, started a law practice handling Indian land claims, got acquainted with Douglas Johnson, the Chickasaw Governor, and married his niece, Mary Alice Hearell.  

 At that time the Indian nations’ land had been divided into allotments and distributed to tribal members. Many of the Indians had no concept of the value of their allotments since their tradition was for tribal land to be held in common, so they were easy targets for unscrupulous men who would have them sign over their land for a pittance. Indian children were assigned guardians who would sell their land and squander the proceeds - that happened to my grandfather and his brother - and there were many marriages that lasted only long enough for the husband to obtain an allotment by claiming to be an intermarried tribal citizen[1]. The Chickasaws needed plenty of legal advice to protect their interests.

  

State of Sequoyah

 

When the issue of Oklahoma statehood arose, the tribes petitioned Congress to be admitted to the Union as a separate state, the state of Sequoyah, in honor of the creator of the Cherokee alphabet. I have a map of the proposed state of Sequoyah hanging in my study. The Indians held a constitutional convention. Bill Murray was a delegate, as was my grandfather, William H. Paul[2]. Murray was a vice-president of the convention, and my grandfather was assistant secretary. The constitution was ratified by Indian Territory in a landslide vote of 86%, but the Indians’ quest for statehood failed, partly because the Republican controlled Congress was unwilling to admit two Democratic states, and partly because of racial prejudice against Indians, but when the Oklahoma constitutional convention was held, Bill Murray was elected president, and the Sequoyah constitution was used as a model.

 

                                                                    William H Paul

 

A lot has been made of Bill Murray’s gruff, uncouth manners, and personality, but he was a brilliant lawyer and politician. He was Speaker of Oklahoma’s first legislature, and then served two terms in Congress. After an unsuccessful run a third term, he returned to his farm and his law practice, but, always restless, Murray soon cooked up a scheme to start an agricultural colony in Bolivia. In 1924, he packed up his family and headed for South America.

 

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[1] Angie Debo. And Still the Waters Run, Princeton, NJ,  Princeton University Press, 1940

[2] "Convention of Mock Heroes,” Oklahoma City Daily Oklahoman, 22 Aug. 1905