William King Hale (December 24, 1874 – August 15, 1962) was an American cattleman and convicted murderer. Hale was a prominent figure 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 ...

, in what was then the

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

, where he built the noted Hale Ranch and made a fortune raising cattle. When

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 ...

gained statehood in 1907, the land occupied by the reservation became contiguous with

Osage County, Oklahoma Osage County is the largest county by area in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Created in 1907 when Oklahoma was admitted as a state, the county is named for and is home to the federally recognized Osage Nation. The county is coextensive with the Os ...

.May, John D. "Osage Murders." ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''.
Accessed April 21, 2016. A power player on the Osage reservation, Hale rose to local prominence through years of bribery,

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

, and intimidation. In 1921, he ordered the murders of his nephew's wife and mother-in-law, followed by her cousin, sister and brother-in-law two years later, to gain control of their oil rights.

Early life

Little seems to have been written about William Hale's early life, other than that he was born in Greenville,

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 ...

. He apparently came to the Osage Indian Reservation just before the turn of the 20th century.Christian, Jason. "Terror's Legacy." ''This Land Press''. August 14, 2013.
Accessed April 21, 2016. Thomas B. White, special agent in charge, wrote in a 1932 memo to

FBI Director The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a United States' federal law enforcement agency, and is responsible for its day-to-day operations. The FBI Director is appointed for a single ...

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation � ...

: "Eventually (Hale) became a millionaire, who dominated local politics and seemingly could not be punished for any of the many crimes which were laid at his door...His method of building up power and prestige was to put various individuals under obligation to him by means of gifts and favors shown to them. Consequently, he had a tremendous following in the vicinity composed not only of the riffraff element which had drifted in, but of many good and substantial citizens."

Murders for money

Hale and his nephews, Ernest and Bryan Burkhart, conspired to kill several Osage Native Americans for their oil

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 ...

. Ernest married Mollie Kile (or Kyle), a native Osage. Through various permutations, Hale had Mollie's sister Anna Brown killed in 1921. Anna's headrights were inherited by her mother Lizzie Q and Mollie. The death of Lizzie Q and several cousins left Mollie and therefore Ernest as heirs to the headrights, which were worth several hundred thousand dollars in the 1920s. Mollie fell ill and was later discovered to have been poisoned, but recovered when she moved away. She divorced Ernest afterward, and their children inherited Mollie's estate.

Investigations

The Osage Tribal Council suspected Hale in the murders early on, but could not elicit any testimony from the townspeople, many of whom he had bribed or threatened into silence. The council turned to the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) later renamed 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), who sent four undercover agents to the Reservation. Over the next few years, these agents gained the townspeople's trust enough that they began speaking out against Hale. Hale's nephew, whom he had coerced into helping with the scheme, eventually confessed. Charges were finally brought against Hale, as well as the

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 ...

he had hired to perform the murders and Hale's corrupt attorney. In 1929, Hale was convicted of ordering the murders and imprisoned.

Conviction and later life

After four trials, Hale was convicted before a Federal District Court in 29 October 1929 for only one killing - that of the shooting death of Anna Brown's cousin, Henry Roan, and sent to the

Leavenworth prison The United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth (USP Leavenworth) is a medium security U.S. penitentiary with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp in northeast Kansas. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the Unite ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

. Hale had attempted to cash in a $25,000 insurance policy on Roan's life only a week after the man's death; obligingly, Hale had also served as one of Roan's pallbearers. He was sentenced to life but was

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 ...

d on July 31, 1947.Fixico, Donald and Donald Lee Fixico, ''The Invasion of Indian Country in the Twentieth Century.''
Accessed April 22, 2016. He spent some of his life in

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, working as a ranch hand for Benny Binion. He died in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

in 1962 and was buried in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

. Bryan Burkhart turned state's evidence and never served time. His brother Ernest was sentenced in state court to life in prison and was sent to

Oklahoma State Penitentiary The Oklahoma State Penitentiary, nicknamed "Big Mac", is a prison of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections located in McAlester, Oklahoma, on . Opened in 1908 with 50 inmates in makeshift facilities, today the prison holds more than 750 male o ...

in McAlester. He was released in 1959 and received a

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 ...

in 1966 from

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Henry Bellmon Henry Louis Bellmon (September 3, 1921 – September 29, 2009) was an American Republican politician from the U.S. State of Oklahoma. A member of the Oklahoma Legislature, he went on to become both the 18th and 23rd governor of Oklahoma, mai ...

References

External links