A Blind Elder's Suit to Undo a Land Fraud
In 1889, Washington O-dit went to court to void a deed for 160 acres on the Ahtanum, saying it had been taken from him without his knowledge or consent.
Washington O-dit, through his counsel, John O. Boyle, has instituted proceedings to set aside a deed of 160 acres of land on the Ahtanum, once supposed to be a part of the locally famous Imbrie ranch. O-dit is an old, feeble and blind Indian, who obtained a patent to the land from the United States some years ago, of which he was dispossessed a short while since. O-dit claims the deed was procured without consideration and without his knowledge and by fraud.
“O-dit claims the deed was procured without consideration and without his knowledge and by fraud.”
The case shows how land title in the Yakima Valley could be stripped from Indigenous owners through documents they could not read or understand. O-dit’s suit names a pattern that still echoes in modern fights over tribal sovereignty, land fraud, and who gets to hold the deed.
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