Native rights advocates sounded the alarm on dying children, but the courts did little to save them

Photo of Ledcie Stechi with her grandmother, provided by Richard Johnston, author of Choctaw Woman - Mela Comes Home

During the first part of the 20th century in Oklahoma, many Indigenous minors were placed under guardians, who managed their estates and resources. A group of investigators believed they had a  copious amount of evidence that these guardians were stealing from their wards. But, nothing was done even after a Congressional investigation.

(MCCURTAIN COUNTY, Okla.) Ledcie Stechi, a 7-year-old Choctaw girl, was sick for months before she died in 1923. Questions were raised about her guardian, such as whether he was affording her proper medical care and providing her with enough food to live, despite her estate being worth $4.6 million in today's money.

Later, it was determined there was not enough evidence to prosecute anyone for Ledcie’s death. 

However, a report filed by E.O. Clark, the National Attorney for the Choctaw Nation suggested that there were "suspicious circumstances" afoot. Towards the end of her short life, Ledcie had been vomiting and her lips were turning black. The report suggested these were symptoms of mercurial poisoning. Further, her guardian W.J. Whiteman refused to make any statements after she died. 

Allegations regarding whether Whiteman was more concerned with Ledcie’s well-being or the access to her estate were raised by the National Attorney for the Choctaw Nation. 

This reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Fund for Indigenous Journalists: Reporting on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two Spirit and Transgender People (MMIWG2T).

The guardianship system that Ledice lived under was scrutinized for years. Guardians were given to many Indigenous minors, especially minors that were full-blooded Native American. The guardians were given the power to manage the bank accounts and estates of the minor Indigenous allottees they were appointed over. Guardians were responsible for distributing their ward’s money to them.  

Following Oklahoma statehood in 1907, it was accepted that the federal government had jurisdiction over Native people and their estates. However, that did not last long. In 1908, legislation that is sometimes referred to as “The Crime of 1908” was passed. Under this legislation, restrictions were removed from allotments after the allottee died. Federal supervision of the sales for these land allotments was non-existent and local probate courts were given all of the power.

The probate courts were also given the power in how the estates of the heirs of these allotments were handled, once the heirs were determined to be incompetent and placed under guardianship.  

For example, under Whiteman’s guardianship of Ledcie Stechi, he determined how much money she and her grandmother were given for food every month and where she would go to school. Ledcie and her grandmother were only given about $15 a month to buy food. 

In 1912, members of the United States Board of Indian Commissioners published a report titled, Our National Problem: The Sad Condition of the Oklahoma Indians, which contained numerous writings about Indigenous minors who were placed under guardianships after Oklahoma became a state. 

“To say that we found a shocking condition is putting it mildly. Many of the guardians appointed over persons of minor years, or weak minds are absolutely lost, or dead, to all sorts of honor and decency,” wrote Warren K. Moorehead, one of the authors of the report. 

Moorehead believed there was little incentive to do anything about the guardianship system because it wasn’t just the guardians benefiting off of the money of their wards. Judges, bankers, and storekeepers were among others who stood to gain from the system that was in place in Oklahoma during the allotment era. 

In 1924, a publication titled Oklahoma’s Poor Rich Indians was released. The report detailed the conditions of Indigenous people in Eastern Oklahoma who were living under the probate and guardianship system. It was authored by the Indian Rights Association, an organization that monitored probate cases in Eastern Oklahoma and documented some of the abuse by guardians. 

Oklahoma’s Poor Rich Indians discussed the ways in which the guardianship system was in Oklahoma because of the ability to keep money flowing to certain people in each town. 

The publication states, “The Professional Guardian is catered to by banks, who desire his account; by merchants who want to secure the ward’s trade.” 

Judges were also typically lenient with guardians because they wanted to be re-elected. 

The release of these reports led to calls by the Indian Rights Association for the affairs of these allottees to be handed over to the Department of Interior. 

In November of 1924, days of hearings were held about the injustices taking place in Oklahoma and the way probate judges were using the guardian system to benefit themselves. 

However, newspaper articles from that time period show after spending time in Oklahoma hearing testimony about the probate and guardianship situation, the Congressional Committee determined there was no evidence of injustice. 

In fact, they did everything they could to discredit the allegations.

New York Congressman Homer Snyder, and a member of the committee that went to Muskogee, was quoted in Harlow’s Weekly saying, “Not a scintilla of evidence had been introduced to substantiate charges that there existed rings composed of court officials and attorneys and guardians formed to fleece Indians.”

After a brief stint in Oklahoma hearing about what was happening with the probate courts, the committee was gone. 

An excerpt from the Tulsa Daily World stated, “About the only tangible result of the Indian investigation in Muskogee the past week was the opportunity it gave members of the committee to excoriate witnesses who dared to cast reflection upon any of the probate courts of the state.”

Another excerpt from Harlow’s Weekly reported the state press was “greatly dissatisfied” with the outcome of the inquiry. 

The paper quoted the Tulsa World as saying the investigation was unexpectedly terminated “just at the moment when pay dirt was about to be unearthed”. 

Another section of the Tulsa World noted that Congressman Hastings had "two members of the investigating committee hooked to his kite”.

More than 100 years later, there has been very little acknowledgement about what happened to Indigenous people in Oklahoma and the system that allowed legalized theft. 

Ledcie Stechi is just one of countless cases of minor Indigenous children who were placed into the hands of a guardian, and died under suspicious circumstances. More than 100 years after her death, there are still questions that have yet to be answered regarding the cause of death and what could have been done to prevent it, as well as countless others.

This reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Fund for Indigenous Journalists: Reporting on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two Spirit and Transgender People (MMIWG2T).