McMurry v. Producers' Oil Co.

284 F. 181, 1922 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1202
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Oklahoma
DecidedAugust 12, 1922
DocketNo. 2768
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 284 F. 181 (McMurry v. Producers' Oil Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McMurry v. Producers' Oil Co., 284 F. 181, 1922 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1202 (E.D. Okla. 1922).

Opinion

WILLIAMS, District Judge.

On August 10, 1921, complainants filed their bill praying for the issuance of an injunction against the Superintendent for the Five Civilized Tribes receiving or attempting to receive or collect royalties under a certain oil and gas lease covering the surplus allotment of Robert Pitman, Jr., and asking for a judgment against the defendants the Producers’ Oil Company and the Texas Company in the sum of $10,498.19 for certain royalties due uncicr Sciid IgcIsg

On March 7, 1922, the Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes, by ancillary petition, procured a temporary restraining order which required the proceeds from the sale of the renewal of the oil and gas lease on said surplus allotment to be paid over to said Superintendent.

Issue having been joined in the pleadings as to all matters, the cause has been submitted on an agreed state of facts, as follows:

“ * * * That Robert Ritman, Jr., * * • enrolled as a half-blood Creek' Indian, * * * and * a * allotted to him as a part Of his surplus land, * * * ” and that his guardian “made oil and gas leases covering the above-described land (part oí his surplus allotment) on April 1, 1907, and that the leases were approved by the Secretary of the Interior on May 22, 1907. * * * On August 2,1912, Dana H. Kelsey, predecessor in office of Victor M. Locke, Jr., advised the guardian of Robert Pitman, Jr., a minor, that all restrictions on the land had been removed, and that thereafter settlement for the royalty under the terms of the lease should be made to the guardian of said minor, or to the minor himself when he became of age, * * and at the same time said Dana H. Kelsey, superintendent and predecessor of Victor M. Locke, Jr., defendant herein, notified the lessee oil company that restrictions had been removed, * * * and at the same time notified the Southwestern Surety Insurance Company, being the company-having executed the bond to guarantee the payment of all royalties and rentals under the terms of said [182]*182lease, that restrictions had been removed; * * * that on October 8, 1919, the said Robert Pitman, Jr., died, single, unmarried, and without issue, and that at the time of his death he was a resident of Delta county, Colo.; that he was living with his father Robert Pitman, Sr.; * * * that at the time of the death of Robert Pitman, Jr., Robert Pitman, Sr., the father, and Lucinda Pitman, the mother, were living separate and apart, having been divorced by a decree of divorce by the district court of El Paso county, Colo., on February 24, 1911, and that thereafter the said Robert Pitman, Sr., the father, and Lucinda Pitman, the mother, of Robert Pitman, J., lived separate and apart, and were so living separate and apart on October 8, 1919, being the date of the death of Robert Pitman, Jr., and that the said Lucinda Pitman was on said October 8,1919, living in Tucson, Arjz., and at that time her legal residence was in Muskogee, Okl.; * * * that the said Robert Pitman, Sr., is a white man and a noncitizen of the Oreek Tribe of Indians; that he is without Indian blood and was never adopted as a member of the tribe, and that Lucinda Pitman, the mother of Robert Pitman, Jr., is a full-blood member of the Creek Tribe of Indians, and duly enrolled as such; * * * that the amount of royalty accruing since the date of the death of Robert Pitman, Jr., up to the date of filing of complaint is the sum of $10,864.05; * * * that the regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of the act of Congress approved April 26, 1903 (34 Stat. 137), * * * with regard to the leasing for oil and gas and the collection of the royalty is as follows: ‘All leases^ executed and approved heretofore or hereafter on land from all of which restrictions against alienation have been or shall be removed, even if such leases contain provisions authorizing supervision by this Department, shall, after such removal of restrictions against alienation, be operated entirely free from such supervision, and the authority and power delegated to the Secretary of the Interior in said leases shall cease, and all payments required to be made to the Superintendent for the Five Civilized Tribes shall thereafter be made to lessor or the then owner of said land, and changes in regulations thereafter made by the Secretary of the Interior applicable to oil and gas leases shall not apply to such leased land from which said restrictions are removed, except, where a bond is required in said lease, it shall be furnished with responsible surety, unless the giving of said bond is waived by the lessor or. the owner of the land;’ * * * that subsequent to the date of the letter of notification mailed by Dana H. Kelsey, Superintendent and predecessor in office of Victor M. Locke, Jr., and Superintendent for the Five Civilized Tribes, * _ * * all royalties accruing under the lease from the date of such letters until the date of the death of Robert Pitman, Jr., were paid direct to the guardian of Robert Pitman, Jr., without the intervention and supervision in any form of the Superintendent for the Five Civilized Tribes, or any of his employees, servants, or agents; that Lucinda Pitman has been duly adjudged an incompetent ; and that Joe McMurry and Albert H. Davidson are her duly qualified and acting guardians.”

On March 8, ■ 1920, Robert Pitman, the father of decedent Robert Pitman, Jr., by proper and valid quitclaim deed conveyed to Lucinda Pitman, his former wife and the mother of said decedent, all of his interest in and to said land covered by said oil and gas lease. On March 7, 1922, the Texas Company offered to pay the sum of $60,000 for the execution of an oil and gas lease covering the land involved herein, the former lease having expired. The guardians, with the approval of the county court, accepted said offer and executed such oil and gas lease to said company. By reason of a temporary restraining order issued by this court at the instance of the defendant Victor M. Locke, Jr., Superintendent, for the Five Civilized Tribes, said sum of $60,000 was deposited with him to abide the determination of this action. The following questions arise on this record; (1) As to wheth[183]*183er the mother inherited said land to the exclusion of the father; (2) as to whether the Department of the Interior has supervision of the interest of the mother in said oil and gas lease, she being a full-blood Creek citizen.

“The homestead of each citizen shall remain after the death of the allottee, for the use and support of children bom to him after the ratification of this agreement, but if he have no such issue, then he may dispose of his homestead by will; free from limitation herein imposed, and if this be not done, the land shall descend to his heirs according to the laws of descent and distribution of the Creek Nation free from such limitation.” Section 7, Act March 1, 1901 (31 Stat 864).

See, also, Act May 27, 1902 (32 Stat. ch. 888, p. 258).

In Woodward v. De Graffenried, 238 U. S. 284, 35 Sup. Ct. 764, 59 L. Ed. 1310, it is said:

“That section [section 7 of Original Creek Agreement] begins by saying .that lands allotted to citizen hereunder’ shall not be incumbered or sold to secure or satisfy any debt contracted prior to the date of the deed to the allottee, and shall not be alienable within fire years from the ratification of the agreement except with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior.

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Bluebook (online)
284 F. 181, 1922 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1202, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcmurry-v-producers-oil-co-oked-1922.