Vaughan Family Hero By Gypsy Hogan
Some heroic journeys are the stuff of family history, told around the holiday table or talked about late at night among those who still grieve, heard by those who will always wonder.
M
elville Vaughan, Ph.D., a biology professor at UCO for 15 years, grew up in such a family. His grandfather, although not Native American, is counted among the Osage murders of the 1920s in Oklahoma’s Osage County. It was a time when Osage tribal members, by virtue of large deposits of oil found beneath their land in northeastern Oklahoma, were among the nation’s wealthiest per capita — and the world’s most murdered. Last year, David Grann, staff writer for The New Yorker, released his book, “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.” Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio now are developing a film adaptation of the best seller, which tells not only about the deadly schemes of non-Osage to gain access to Osage wealth, but also how the development of the FBI played into the scenario. In 1994, another book — “The Deaths of Sybil Bolton” — was released, written by Dennis McAuliffe Jr., a reporter for The Washington Post. The book followed his efforts to find out how his Osage grandmother died in 1925 and who killed her — questions never answered for many Osage families about their relatives. Both books detail the corruption of attorneys, law enforcement officers, court-appointed guardians — even spouses and parents — all people expected to protect the Osage, but who instead stole their money, even if it required murder. Both books also tell about the death of a 54-year-old Pawhuska, Oklahoma, attorney named W. W. Vaughan, although McAuliffe mistakenly left out the second “a” in the name Vaughan. Attorney W. W. Vaughan is professor Vaughan’s grandfather. *** UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
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