Judge Denies Indians' Claim on Pa. Land

[Khephra]

PHILADELPHIA -- An Indian tribe that says it was swindled out of land by the son of Pennsylvania founder William Penn cannot have any of it back, a federal judge ruled.

The Delaware Nation had sued to reclaim 315 acres of eastern Pennsylvania land it lost in the so-called Walking Purchase, a 1737 deal between Thomas Penn and the chiefs of the Lenni Lenape tribe.

According to the history books, Penn asked for as much Indian land as the colonists could cover in a day-and-a-half's walk. The chiefs agreed, thinking any such concession would be small. Penn then hired the fastest runners he could find and the tribe lost 1,200 square miles.

The descendants of the tribe, now federally recognized and based in Oklahoma, wanted to build casinos on the land, now occupied by businesses and homes.

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