"There is now no tribe of Montauk Indians" (Riverhead, N.Y., Oct. 1910; affirmed on appeal)

SUMMARY"There is now no tribe of Montauk Indians" (Riverhead, N.Y., Oct. 1910; affirmed on appeal) [Connections: Northeast & Mid-Atlantic, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDIn Pharaoh v. Benson, 69 Misc. 241, 126 N.Y.S. 1035 (1910), brought by Montauk chief Wyandank Pharaoh against the Benson estate, Justice Abel Blackmar wrote: "There is now no tribe of Montauk Indians. It has disintegrated and been absorbed into the mass of citizens." Also: "Their blood became so mixed that in many of them Indian traits were obliterated," and Arthur Benson's purchase "gave it the final death blow." Strong reports that on appeal the court said the Montauk had mixed with "inferior races" and become "impaired by racial miscegenation, particularly with the negro race." Strong calls the decision one that "would undoubtedly be read as arbitrary, outrageous, and racist today." Montauk Library says Benson bought Montauk at the 1879 auction for $151,000, "subject to the rights and privileges of the Montauk Tribe of Indians."

PATTERNThis is the Rhode Island 1898 logic again: "negro" mixing equals extinction, and extinction frees the land

LENS (WW9)A court declared a nation extinct because it had mixed with "the negro race," and the people were still there

OPENThe opinion says the Benson purchase was 1885, the library says 1879: reconcile. The decision date is Oct. 11 or Oct. 15, 1910 depending on the source. Read the appellate opinion (164 App. Div. 51; aff'd 222 N.Y. 665) directly for the "negro race" quote

SOURCEPharaoh v. Benson (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1910); Strong 1992, p. 11; Montauk Library, "Throwback Thursday – One Final Blow".