The Osage Indian murders were a series of murders of
Osage Native Americans in
Osage County,
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
, during the 1910s–1930s; newspapers described the increasing number of unsolved murders as the Reign of Terror, lasting from 1921 to 1926. Some sixty or more wealthy, full-blood Osage Native Americans were reported killed from 1918 to 1931.
However, newer investigations indicate that other suspicious deaths during this time could have been misreported or covered up murders, including people who were heirs to future fortunes.
Some of the murders were committed for the purposes of taking over land and wealth of Osage members, whose land was producing valuable
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
and who each had
headright A headright refers to a legal grant of land given to settlers during the period of European colonization in the Americas. Headrights are most notable for their role in the expansion of the Thirteen Colonies; the Virginia Company gave headrights to s ...
s that earned lucrative annual
royalties
A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...
. Investigation by law enforcement, including the
Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
(BOI; the preceding agency to the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
, or FBI) also revealed extensive corruption among local officials involved in the Osage guardian program. Most of the murders were never prosecuted, but some men were convicted and sentenced including
William Hale William Hale may refer to:
Academics
*William Gardner Hale (1849–1928), American classical scholar and professor of Latin
* William Jasper Hale (1874–1944), president of the historically black Tennessee State University
* William Mathew Hale (b ...
, who ordered the murders of his nephew's wife and other members of her family, to gain control of their oil rights.
The
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
changed the law to prohibit non-Osage from inheriting headrights from Osage with half or more Native American ancestry. The U.S. government continued to manage the leases and royalties from oil-producing lands, and the tribe became concerned about these assets. In 2000, the Osage Nation filed a suit against the
Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...
, alleging that it had not adequately managed the assets and paid people the royalties they were due. The suit was settled in 2011 for $380 million and commitments to improve program management.
Background
In 1897, oil was discovered on the
Osage Indian Reservation
The Osage Nation ( ) ( Osage: 𐓁𐒻 𐓂𐒼𐒰𐓇𐒼𐒰͘ ('), "People of the Middle Waters") is a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Great Plains. The tribe developed in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 700 BC alon ...
, or present-day
Osage County,
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
. The
U.S. Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...
managed leases for
oil exploration
Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth using petroleum geology.
Exploration methods
Vis ...
and
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
on land owned by the Osage Nation through the
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...
and later managed
royalties
A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...
, paying individual allottees. As part of the process of preparing Oklahoma for statehood, the federal government allotted to each Osage on the tribal rolls in 1907; thereafter, they and their legal heirs, whether Osage or not, had "
headrights A headright refers to a legal grant of land given to settlers during the period of European colonization in the Americas. Headrights are most notable for their role in the expansion of the Thirteen Colonies; the Virginia Company gave headrights to s ...
" to royalties in oil production, based on their allotments of lands.
The headrights could be inherited by legal heirs, including non-Osage. The tribe held the
mineral rights
Mineral rights are property rights to exploit an area for the minerals it harbors. Mineral rights can be separate from property ownership (see Split estate). Mineral rights can refer to sedentary minerals that do not move below the Earth's surfac ...
communally and paid its members by a percentage related to their holdings.
By 1920, the market for oil had grown dramatically and brought much wealth to the Osage. In 1923 alone "the tribe took in more than thirty million dollars, the equivalent today of more than four hundred million dollars."
People across the U.S. read about the Osage, called "the richest nation, clan or social group of any race on earth, including the whites, man for man."
Some Osage used their royalties to send their children to private schools; others bought fancy cars, clothes and jewelry, and traveled in Europe; and newspapers across the country covered their activities.
Along with tens of thousands of oil workers, the
oil boom
An oil boom is a period of large inflow of income as a result of high global oil prices or large oil production in an economy. Generally, this short period initially brings economic benefits, in terms of increased GDP growth, but might later lead ...
attracted many white opportunists to Osage County; as the writer
Robert Allen Warrior Robert Warrior (born 1963, Osage), is a scholar and Hall Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Kansas. With Paul Chaat Smith, he co-authored ''Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded K ...
characterizes them, some were entrepreneurial, while others were criminal, seeking to separate the Osage from their wealth by murder if necessary.
Believing the Osage would not be able to manage their new wealth, or lobbied by whites who wanted a piece of the action, the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
passed a law in 1921 which required that courts appoint
guardians
Guardian usually refers to:
* Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another
* ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper
(The) Guardian(s) may also refer to:
Places
* Guardian, West Virginia, Uni ...
for each Osage of half-blood or more in ancestry, who would manage their royalties and financial affairs until they demonstrated "competency". Under the system, even minors who had less than half-Osage blood had to have guardians appointed, regardless of whether the minors had living parents. The courts appointed the guardians from local white lawyers or businessmen. The incentives for criminality were overwhelming; such guardians often maneuvered legally to steal Osage land, their headrights or royalties; others were suspected of murdering their charges to gain the headrights.
At that time, eight lawyers were working in
Pawhuska
Pawhuska ( osa, 𐓄𐓘𐓢𐓶𐓮𐓤𐓘 / hpahúska, ''meaning: "White Hair"'', iow, Paháhga) is a city in and the county seat of Osage County, Oklahoma, United States. It was named after the 19th-century Osage chief, ''Paw-Hiu-Skah'', wh ...
, the Osage County
seat
A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense.
Types of seat
The following are examples of different kinds of seat:
* Armchair (furniture), ...
, which had 8,000 residents; the number of lawyers was said to be as great as
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
, which had 140,000 residents. In 1924, the Department of the Interior charged two dozen guardians of Osage with corruption in the administration of their duties related to their charges, but all avoided punishment by
settling out of court. These guardians were believed to have swindled their charges out of millions of dollars. In 1929, $27 million was reported as still being held by the "Guardian System", the organization set up to protect the financial interests of 883 Osage families in Osage County.
Murders in Osage County
In the early 1920s, the western U.S. was shaken by the reported murders of eighteen Osage and three non-natives in Osage County within a short period of time.
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
newspapers reported the murders as the "Reign of Terror" on the Osage reservation. Some murders seemed associated with several members of one family.
On May 27, 1921, local hunters discovered the decomposing body of 36-year-old Anna Brown in a remote ravine of Osage County. Unable to find the killer, local authorities ruled her death as accidental because of alcohol poisoning and put the case aside.
["The Osage Murders: Oil Wealth, Betrayal and the FBI’s First Big Case." National Museum of the American Indian. March 1, 2011.](_blank)
Accessed April 23, 2016 Brown was divorced, so
probate
Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the sta ...
awarded her estate to her mother, Lizzie Q. Kyle.
Kelsie Morrison, a petty criminal, later admitted to murdering Brown and testified that
William Hale William Hale may refer to:
Academics
*William Gardner Hale (1849–1928), American classical scholar and professor of Latin
* William Jasper Hale (1874–1944), president of the historically black Tennessee State University
* William Mathew Hale (b ...
, a prominent local
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...
man, had asked him to do so.
Along with his admission, Morrison implicated Hale's nephew and Brown's ex-boyfriend, Bryan Burkhart,
in her murder. Morrison testified that, after meeting Brown earlier at her sister Mollie's home, he and Burkhart took a heavily intoxicated Brown to Three Mile Creek, where Morrison shot and killed her.
The body of another Osage, Brown's cousin Charles Whitehorn (also known as Charles Williamson), was discovered near Pawhuska on the same day as hers; Whitehorn had been shot to death.
Two months later, Lizzie Q. Kyle was killed as well. By that time, Lizzie had headrights for herself and had inherited the headrights from her late husband and two daughters. Her heirs became fabulously wealthy.
On February 6, 1923, Henry Roan, another cousin of Brown's (also known as Henry Roan Horse), was found in his car on the Osage Reservation, dead from a shot in the head.
Roan also had a financial connection with Hale, having borrowed $1,200 from the cattleman. Hale fraudulently arranged to make himself the beneficiary of Roan's $25,000
life insurance
Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death ...
policy.
[Farris, David. "A look at the Osage Indian murders", ''Edmond Life and Leisure''. April 29, 2015.](_blank)
Accessed April 23, 2016 Over a month later, on March 10, 1923, a bomb destroyed the
Fairfax residence of Anna's sister Rita Smith, killing Rita and her servant, Nettie Brookshire. Rita's husband, Bill Smith, sustained massive injuries from the blast and died four days later. Shortly before his death, Bill gave a statement implicating his suspected murderers and appointed his wife's estate. Later investigations revealed that the bomb contained of
nitroglycerin
Nitroglycerin (NG), (alternative spelling of nitroglycerine) also known as trinitroglycerin (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by nitrating g ...
.
On June 28, 1923, Hale and Burkhart put George Bigheart on a train to Oklahoma City to be taken to a hospital. There, doctors suspected that he had ingested poisoned
whiskey
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden cask ...
. Bigheart called attorney William "W.W." Watkins Vaughan of Pawhuska, asking him to come to the hospital as soon as possible for an urgent meeting. Vaughan complied, and the two men met that night. Bigheart had said he had suspicions about who was behind the murders and had access to incriminating documents that would prove his claims. Vaughan boarded a train that night to return to Pawhuska,
[Donald L. Fixico. ''The Invasion of Indian Country in the Twentieth Century''. (Available on Google Books.)](_blank)
Accessed April 27, 2016. but turned up missing the next morning when the
Pullman porter
Pullman porters were men hired to work for the railroads as porters on sleeping cars. Starting shortly after the American Civil War, George Pullman sought out former slaves to work on his sleeper cars. Their job was to carry passengers’ bagga ...
went to awaken him; his berth on the train had not been used. Vaughan's body was later found with his skull crushed beside the railroad tracks near
Pershing, about five miles south of Pawhuska.
Bigheart died at the hospital that same morning.
Thirteen other deaths of full-blooded Osage men and women, who had guardians appointed by the courts, were reported between 1921 and 1923. By 1925, at least sixty wealthy Osage had died and their land had been inherited or deeded to their guardians, who were local white lawyers and businessmen.
[MARGO JEFFERSON, "BOOKS OF THE TIMES; Digging Up a Tale of Terror Among the Osages"](_blank)
''New York Times'', 31 August 1994, accessed 2 December 2011 The
Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
(BOI), the preceding agency to the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
(FBI), found a low-level market in
contract killer
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may b ...
s to kill the Osage for their wealth.
In 1995, the writer
Robert Allen Warrior Robert Warrior (born 1963, Osage), is a scholar and Hall Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Kansas. With Paul Chaat Smith, he co-authored ''Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded K ...
wrote about walking through an Osage cemetery and seeing "the inordinate number of young people who died during that time."
In 1925, Osage tribal elders, with the help of local law officer
James Monroe Pyle
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
, sought assistance from the BOI when local and state officials could not solve the rising number of murders. Pyle presented his evidence of murder and
conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...
and requested an investigation. The BOI sent Tom White to lead an investigation. Because of the large number of leads and the perception that the police were corrupt, White decided he would be the public face of the investigation while most of the agents would work
undercover
To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an indi ...
. The other agents recruited were: a former
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
sheriff; a former
Texas Ranger; John Burger, who had worked on the previous investigation; Frank Smith; and John Wren, an American Indian of the
Ute Nation
Ute () are the Indigenous people of the Ute tribe and culture among the Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. They had lived in sovereignty in the regions of present-day Utah and Colorado in the Southwestern United States for many centuries unt ...
who had previously been a spy for the
Mexican revolutionaries
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
.
Investigation
The Osage Tribal Council suspected that Hale was responsible for many of the deaths. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior sent four agents to act as undercover investigators. Working for two years, the agents discovered a
crime ring
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
led by Hale, known in Osage County as the "King of the Osage Hills". Hale and his nephews, Ernest and Bryan Burkhart, had migrated from
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
to Osage County to find jobs in the oil fields. Once there, they discovered the immense wealth of members of the Osage Nation from royalties being paid from leases on oil-producing lands. Hale's goal was to gain the headrights and wealth of several tribe members, including his nephew's Osage wife, the last survivor of her family.
To gain part of the wealth, Hale persuaded Ernest to marry Mollie Kyle, a full-blooded Osage.
[Louis F. Burns, ''A History of the Osage People,'' (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1989) pp. 439–442] Hale then arranged for the murders of Mollie's sisters, her brother-in-law, her mother, and her cousin, Henry Roan, to cash in on the insurance policies and headrights of each family member.
Other witnesses and participants were murdered as investigation of the conspiracy expanded. Mollie and Ernest Burkhart inherited all of the headrights from her family. Investigators soon discovered that Mollie was already being poisoned.
["Osage Murders"](_blank)
, Oklahoma Historical Society, accessed 2 December 2011
Charges and trials
Hale, his nephews, and one of the ranch hands they hired were charged with the murder of Mollie Kyle's family. Hale was formally charged with the murder of Roan, who had been killed on the Osage Reservation land, making it a federal crime.
Two of his accomplices had died before the BOI investigation was completed. Hale and his associates were convicted in state and federal trials from 1926 to 1929, which had changes of venue,
hung juries
A hung jury, also called a deadlocked jury, is a judicial jury that cannot agree upon a verdict after extended deliberation and is unable to reach the required unanimity or supermajority. Hung jury usually results in the case being tried again.
...
,
appeal
In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...
s, and overturned verdicts. In 1926, Ernest pleaded guilty to being part of the conspiracy.
John Ramsey confessed to participation in the murder of Roan as soon as he was arrested. He said that Hale had promised him five hundred dollars and a new car for killing Roan. Ramsey met Roan on a road outside of Fairfax, and they drank whiskey together. Then Ramsey shot Roan in the head. Subsequently, Ramsey changed his story, claiming that the actual killer was Curly Johnson. His accomplice, Bryan Burkhart, another nephew, had
turned state's evidence
A criminal turns state's evidence by admitting guilt and testifying as a witness for the state against their associate(s) or accomplice(s), often in exchange for leniency in sentencing or immunity from prosecution.Howard Abadinsky, ''Organized C ...
. The trials received national newspaper and magazine coverage. Sentenced to
life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
, Hale, Ramsey, and Ernest Burkhart later received
parole
Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
despite protests from the Osage.
Various residents of Pawhuska petitioned
Oklahoma Governor
The governor of Oklahoma is the head of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the governor serves as the head of the Oklahoma executive branch, of the government of Oklahoma. The governor is the ''ex officio ...
Jack C. Walton
John Calloway Walton (March 6, 1881 – November 25, 1949) was an American politician and the fifth governor of Oklahoma. He served the shortest term of any Governor of Oklahoma, being the first Governor in the state's history to be removed from ...
to conduct a full investigation of the deaths of Charles Bigheart and his attorney, William Vaughan. Walton assigned Herman Fox Davis to the investigation. Shortly after the assignment, Davis was convicted of
bribery
Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...
. Although Walton later
pardon
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
ed Davis, the investigation of Bigheart and Vaughan was never completed.
In the case of the Smith murders, Ernest was soon convinced that even his wife's money and his uncle's political influence could not save him. He changed his plea to guilty and asked to be sentenced to life imprisonment rather than receive the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
. He turned state's evidence, naming his uncle as responsible for the murder conspiracy. Ernest said that he had used a person named Henry Grammer as a go-between to hire a professional criminal named Asa "Ace" Kirby to perform the killings. Both Grammer and Kirby were killed before they could testify.
Ernest Burkhart's attempt to kill his wife failed. Mollie, a devout Catholic, had told her priest that she feared she was being poisoned at home. The priest told her not to touch liquor under any circumstances. He also alerted one of the FBI agents. Mollie recovered from the poison she had already consumed and (after the trials) divorced Ernest. Mollie Burkhart Cobb died of unrelated causes on June 16, 1937. Her children inherited all of her estate.
In the early 1990s, journalist
Dennis McAuliffe
Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Saint Dionysius (disambiguation), Christian saints named Dionysius.
The name came from Dionysus, the Classical mythology, Greek god of ecstatic states, ...
of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' investigated the suspicious death of his grandmother, Sybil Beekman Bolton, an Osage with headrights who died in 1925 at age 21. As a youth he had been told she died of
kidney disease
Kidney disease, or renal disease, technically referred to as nephropathy, is damage to or disease of a kidney. Nephritis is an inflammatory kidney disease and has several types according to the location of the inflammation. Inflammation can ...
, then as a
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
. His doubts arose from a variety of conflicting evidence. In his investigation, McAuliffe found that the BOI believed that the murders of several Osage women "had been committed or ordered by their husbands."
Most murders of the Osage during the early 1920s went unsolved.
[Dennis McAuliffe (1994), ''The Deaths of Sybil Bolton: An American History,'' Times Books; republished a]
(1994), ''Bloodland: A Family Story of Oil, Greed and Murder on the Osage Reservation''
Council Oak Books McAuliffe found that when Bolton was a minor, the court had appointed her white stepfather, attorney Arthur "A.T." Woodward, as her guardian. Woodward also served as the federally appointed Tribal Counsel, and he had guardianship of four other Osage charges, each of whom had died by 1923.
McAuliffe learned that his grandmother's murder had been covered up by a false death certificate. He came to believe that Woodward was responsible for her death.
His book about his investigation, ''Bloodland: A Family Story of Oil, Greed and Murder on the Osage Reservation'' (1994), presents an account of the corruption and murders during this period.
Osage County officials sought revenge against Pyle for his role in bringing the murders to light. Fearing for his life, Pyle and his wife fled to Arizona, where he again served as an officer of the law. He died there in 1942.
Change in law
To try to prevent further criminality and to protect the Osage, in 1925 Congress passed a law prohibiting non-Osage from inheriting headrights from Osage who had half or more Native American ancestry.
Trust management lawsuit
The Department of Interior continued to manage the trust lands and pay fees to Osage with headrights. In 2000, the tribe filed a lawsuit against the department, alleging that federal government management of the trust assets had resulted in historical losses to its trust funds and interest income.
[Melissa Howell, "The Reign of Terror"](_blank)
''The Oklahoman'' (OKNews), 12 January 2014; accessed 3 March 2017 This was after
a major class-action suit had been filed against the departments of Interior and Treasury in 1996 by
Elouise Cobell
Elouise Pepion Cobell, also known as Yellow Bird Woman (November 5, 1945 – October 16, 2011) (''Niitsítapi'' Blackfoot Confederacy), was a tribal elder and activist, banker, rancher, and lead plaintiff in the groundbreaking class-action sui ...
(
Blackfeet
The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Monta ...
) on behalf of other Native Americans, for similar reasons.
In 2011, the U.S. government settled with the Osage for $380 million. The settlement also strengthened management of the tribe's trust assets and improved communications between the Department of Interior and the tribe.
The law firm representing the Osage said it was the largest trust settlement with one tribe in U.S. history.
In literature and media
*
John Joseph Mathews
John Joseph Mathews (November 16, 1894 – June 16, 1979) (Osage) became one of the Osage Nation's most important spokespeople and writers, and served on the Osage Tribal Council during the 1930s. He studied at the University of Oklahoma, Oxf ...
(Osage) based his novel ''
Sundown'' (1934) in the period of the murders.
[Robert Allen Warrior, "Review Essay: ''The Deaths of Sybil Bolton'' by Dennis McAuliffe"](_blank)
''Wizcza Sa Review'', Vol. 11, No. 1, Spring 1995, accessed 2 December 2011
* "The Osage Indian Murders", a dramatization of the case first broadcast on August 3, 1935, was the third episode of the
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
series ''G-Men'', created and produced by
Phillips Lord
Phillips Haynes Lord (July 13, 1902 – October 19, 1975) was an American radio program writer, creator, producer and narrator as well as a motion picture actor, best known for the ''Gang Busters'' radio program that was broadcast from 1935 to ...
with cooperation of the FBI. ''G-Men'' lasted 13 episodes before leaving the air in October 1935. A retooled version, ''
Gang Busters
''Gang Busters'' is an American dramatic radio program heralded as "the only national program that brings you authentic police case histories." It premiered on January 15, 1936, and was broadcast over 21 years through November 27, 1957.
Histo ...
'', which dramatized cases from a number of different American law enforcement agencies rather than just the FBI, debuted the following January.
* Award-winning
western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
novelist
Fred Grove, part Osage on his mother's side, was 10 years old when he was an "ear" witness to the bombing murders of Bill and Rita Smith and Nettie Brookshire. This incident haunted him. Several of his novels were based on aspects of the case: his first novel, ''Flame of the Osage'' (1958), two written in roughly the middle of his career: ''Warrior Road'' (1974) and ''Drums Without Warriors'' (1976), and one of his last, ''The Years of Fear'' (2002).
* The Kyle family murders were featured as a dramatic part of the 1959 film, ''
The FBI Story
''The FBI Story'' is a 1959 American drama film starring James Stewart, and produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay by Richard L. Breen and John Twist is based on a book by Don Whitehead.
Plot
John Michael ("Chip") Hardesty (James S ...
''.
* John Hunt portrayed this period in his novel ''The Grey Horse Legacy'' (1968).
[Logston, Guy]
Guy Logsdon, "Mathews, John Joseph"
''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture'', 2009. Accessed March 1, 2015.
*
Linda Hogan's ''
Mean Spirit
''Mean Spirit'' is a book about the Osage tribe during the Oklahoma oil boom. It is the first novel by Chickasaw author Linda Hogan. It was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1991.
Synopsis
The book is set in the 1920s, at a tim ...
'' (1990) explores a fictionalized version of the murders.
*
Tom Holm's novel ''The Osage Rose'' (2008) is a fictionalized account of murders on Osage Territory intended to strip Osage members of their royalties and land.
* American journalist
David Grann
David Elliot Grann (born March 10, 1967) is an American journalist, a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' magazine, and a best-selling author.
His first book, '' The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon,'' was published by D ...
investigates the case in his 2017 book ''
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI''. The book is the basis for
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
's next
film of the same name starring
Robert De Niro
Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
,
Jesse Plemons
Jesse Plemons (; born April 2, 1988) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and achieved a career breakthrough with his major role as Landry Clarke in the NBC drama series '' Friday Night Lights'' (2006–2011). He subseque ...
,
Tantoo Cardinal
Tantoo Cardinal CM (born Rose Marie Cardinal; July 20, 1950) is a Canadian actress of Cree and Métis heritage. In 2009, she was made a member of the Order of Canada "for her contributions to the growth and development of Aboriginal performing ar ...
, and
Leonardo DiCaprio
See also
*
Osage Nation#Natural resources and headrights
Notes
References
Further reading
* Bill Burchardt, "Osage Oil," ''The Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 41 (Fall 1963)
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External links
''All FREE videos about The Osage Indian Murders found at The Internet Archive (a non-profit corporation)''"Osage Indian Murders" FBI, scanned images of original casenotes, more than 3,000 pages
Osage Reign of Terror. ''Encyclopedia of the American Indian in the Twentieth Century''*
1921 murders in the United States
1931 murders in the United States{
1910s murders in the United States
1920s murders in the United States
1930s murders in the United States
American frontier
Anti-indigenous racism in the United States
Crimes in Oklahoma
Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains
Murder in Oklahoma
Murdered Native American people
Native American history of Oklahoma
Osage Nation
Serial murders in the United States
Violence against indigenous peoples