Turtle Talk

From Lansing City Pulse:

By any measure the career of John D. Voelker was a phenomenal success. He was a successful author, having written the bestseller “Anatomy of a Murder” (later made into a movie directed by Otto Preminger and starring James Stewart, Lee Remick and George C. Scott) and he was a member of the Michigan Supreme Court. But something was gnawing at him.
As a younger man, he had heard a story about an Indian woman who had, against all odds, taken on the white power structure of the Upper Peninsula’s mining industry while seeking what she thought was compensation owed to her family.

Voelker had always wanted to do a fictional treatment of this real-life case, but the success of “Anatomy” and his job as a justice had kept him too busy.

In an address to the Michigan Historical Society in 1970 he said his “neglected Indian story receded even further into the background.”

In a brash move, Voelker decided he was fed up and had enough of the “baying dogs of success” — he quit his job.
In his letter of resignation to Gov. G. Mennen Williams he wrote, “While other men can write my legal opinions (although I would debate that) they can scarcely write my books. I am sorry.”

Voelker, who wrote under the pen name Robert Traver, retreated to the Upper Peninsula, where he would spend two winters writing his Indian story. “Laughing Whitefish” was published in 1965, but soon went out of print.

Now, Michigan State University, working with the Voelker family, has reprinted the book with an introduction written by MSU College of Law Professor Matthew Fletcher, who heads the Indigenous Law and Policy Center.

In describing his book, Voelker always said it was “a basic story … rather simple” and “it was about iron ore, Indians and the infidelity to one’s own promises.”

The book tells the story of a young Indian woman, Charlotte Kawbawgam (her real name was Kobogum), who seeks compensation for her father. He had been promised a “wee fractional interest” after leading a group of mining executives to the world’s largest deposit of iron ore. Kawbawgam hires lawyer Willy Post, a newcomer to Marquette.

Although the real-life case was extremely complicated, Voelker simplified it for the book; in essence, it shows how tribal law has supremacy over state law in domestic disputes.

Fletcher said the book, which provides great context for state/tribal relations, still can be used as a textbook in Indian law. In his introduction, he puts the book into the context of little-known aspects of Indian law. “Whitefish” also explores little-known tribal customs and laws, including the practice of polygamy.

Voelker, who spent most of his life in the Upper Peninsula, also creates a window into the customs and language of the Cornish mining community around Ishpeming, where he lived. He often said he used the keen ear he developed sitting in his father’s bar listening to miners in order to recreate a lifestyle that has all but disappeared in the western Upper Peninsula.

Although Voelker stayed as true to the facts as he could in writing the book he did change one important item — otherwise, the book might’ve been named “Carp.” He said he chose not to name the Indian girl after the river she was born next to (Carp) but opted for the “more romantically named river (Laughing Whitefish).”

In 1989, two Michigan lawyers who had developed a friendship with Voelker approached him about establishing a foundation to raise money to make a film based on the book.

Voelker had another idea. Voelker, who was very close with the Indians who lived nearby him and aware of the many injustices played out against them, decided he wanted to raise money to send Indians to law school.

Since 1989, the Voelker Foundation (which has more than 400 members) has provided scholarships to 16 law students: 15 have graduated and one is still in school. The foundation also recognizes another of Voelker’s passions by awarding a writing prize of $2,500 each year for the best short story on fly fishing.

The myth of Voelker continues to loom large in the western Upper Peninsula, perhaps rivaled only by the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Tourists still seek out the haunts and sites where “Anatomy of a Murder” was filmed, and make pilgrimages to the grave of Voelker.

Because of “Anatomy,” which was on The New York Times best seller list for 65 weeks, Voelker is often credited with creating the modern legal thriller. But he openly admitted “Laughing Whitefish” was the hardest book he ever wrote.
Fletcher said that since “Laughing Whitefish” has been republished many readers have told him that it would “make a good movie.” Fletcher said he could see the plot set in the modern era, keeping all the facts, but treating it as if there had never been a Supreme Court decision.

“All the underlying concepts are the same,” he said.