United States ex rel. Jump v. Ickes

Appellants, Josephine Jump and James Strikeaxe, are the children of Bennie Strikeaxe, a deceased Osage Indian. They instituted this mandamus proceeding against the Secretary of the Interior to establish, as sole heirs of their father, a claim to an allotment of the tribal lands and funds, as provided in the Osage Allotment Act of June 28, 1906,1 and which they assert was unlawfully withheld. Prior to the passage of the Act, title to the lands of the Osages was held by the United States in trust for the tribe as a whole. No right or incident of tribal membership was inheritable or alienable,…