Roy St. Lewis

Roy St. Lewis was a young, newly appointed U.S. attorney who joined the federal prosecution of William K. Hale and John Ramsey for the murder of Henry Roan. His role came into sharp focus at two points in the trial: in the prosecution’s appeal to the jury and in his accusation, after deliberations failed, that the jury might have been corrupted.

Place on the Prosecution Team

St. Lewis served alongside two high-ranking Justice Department officials and local attorney John Leahy, who had been hired by the Osage Tribal Council to assist with the trials. The team brought federal authority to a case selected in part because Roan had been killed on an Osage allotment that had not been sold to white owners, allowing prosecutors to argue for federal jurisdiction. St. Lewis was one of the public voices of that prosecution, confronting a defense backed by Hale’s extensive legal team.

Appeal to the Jury

When the prosecution rested on August 7, Hale took the stand and denied devising a scheme to have Roan killed or desiring his death. St. Lewis called him “the ruthless freebooter of death.” Another prosecutor widened the argument beyond the defendants, telling the jury that the Osage Nation’s wealth had made its people prey to white men and that a larger principle was at stake. St. Lewis’s characterization placed Hale’s alleged conduct within the broader exploitation the case had brought before the court.

The Deadlocked Trial

The jury began deliberating on August 20. After five days without agreement, the judge asked whether a verdict was possible. The foreman said it was not. When the judge invited the government to speak, St. Lewis stood with his face red and his voice trembling. He said he had been informed that at least one juror, and possibly more, had been bribed. The judge dismissed the jury and ordered that Hale and Ramsey remain in custody for another trial. The accusation did not produce a verdict, but it made the prosecution’s predicament unmistakable: a forceful case had reached a jury that would not agree, and St. Lewis publicly suggested that its failure might not have been merely a matter of doubt.