DAVIES: We're speaking with David Grann. Ironically, Tom White, the leading FBI agent on the Osage murders, was appointed Leavenworth's new warden when Hale arrived to serve his sentence. [15] 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.[14]. The oil murders took place against the Osage Native American population, and were orchestrated to steal the wealth from the Osage that the white residents of Osage, Oklahoma . In the late 1600s there were possibly seventeen thousand Osage. The Osage were shot and poisoned in staggering numbers. But they ended up with a distinct advantage in their negotiations with the U.S. government. Our guest David Grann's new book tells the story of one of the biggest serial murder cases in American history and one of the most forgotten. Stuff in the Basement: Zitkla- - Blogger And you often didn't quite know who they were working for, who they were leaking to. These invariably brutal killings eventually fell under the jurisdiction of J. Edgar Hoover's nascent Bureau of Investigation. Hoover was in a rush to close the casereally the case was closed prematurely, Grann says. It could also explain why 77 percent of all killings last year involved a gun more than in any previous year. "The Reign of Terror." [21] Other witnesses and participants were murdered as investigation of the conspiracy expanded. DAVIES: So Hoover personally selects this former Texas Ranger Tom White to lead the investigation into the Osage murders, and White assembles an interesting team to help him. how many osage murders might there possibly have been? Just to give an example, the governor of Oklahoma eventually sent in his top state investigator, a guy named - his middle name was Fox, which always seemed appropriate. Following the shooting of a cousin less than two years later, Mollies sister Rita and her husband were killed when an explosion reduced their house to kindling. Between 1920 and 1925, an estimated sixty Osage were murdered in shootings, poisonings, stabbings, in fires, even in a bombing; a number of white investigators were also slain. It does not seem the kingpin was connected to all the murders. The priest told her not to touch liquor under any circumstances. ", "Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese to Reteam on 'Killers of the Flower Moon', "Largely Forgotten Osage Murders Reveal A Conspiracy Against Wealthy Native Americans: Interview with David Grann", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Osage_Indian_murders&oldid=1131818170, Anti-indigenous racism in the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, "The Osage Indian Murders", a dramatization of the case first broadcast on August 3, 1935, was the third episode of the. His doubts arose from a variety of conflicting evidence. As was the case with murders, drug overdoses increased sharply in 2020. how many osage murders might there possibly have been? Do you have any insight into that? They literally imposed a system where guardians - white guardians - were placed in charge of overseeing how the Osage spent their money. White was able to crack the murders of Mollie Burkharts family members, but many of the Osage killings remained unsolved. DAVIES: So each of the Osage families that owned a plot of land had what was called a headright, which means what? 9. And by the 1920s, the Osage collectively had accumulated millions and millions of dollars. [11] Two of his accomplices had died before the BOI investigation was completed. DAVIES: Right. It was a ruthless band of killers who terrorized the Osage from the 1890s through the 1920s, led by a man who enjoyed being called the "king of the Osage Hills". 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. 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. Killers of the Flower Moon: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis - LitCharts And the third chronicle is told from my perspective in the present. At the time Hale, originally from Texas, was considered to one of the most prominent citizens of the area. So there were only about 2,000 Osage who were registered on the tribal roll. DAVIES: Yeah. how many osage murders might there possibly have been? And there was a certain kind of unmooredness to the society. How did whites in Oklahoma react to seeing Native Americans with all that money? DAVIES: Many shot, others died of mysterious illnesses, right? So one of the things that happened back then because - you know, we think of ourself as a country of laws, but these institutions back in the '20s in the United States were very fragile. It's extremely resilient. You tell some fascinating stories about that. Many of the old traditions of the Osage were disappearing at this period, and there was a great deal of intermarriage. Hale, along with his accomplices, Ernest Burkhart, John Ramsey, and several others, were allegedly tied to more than 20 killings. DAVIES: So word of this spread. Farris, David. Why Are So Many Americans Killing One Another? What we know about the increase in U.S. murders in 2020 And each one of them received a headright. [1] In 1995, the writer Robert Allen Warrior wrote about walking through an Osage cemetery and seeing "the inordinate number of young people who died during that time. GRANN: So yeah - so Barney McBride was an oilman in the area, a white man. White oil men are blowing fortunes and going bankrupt. Hale and his nephews, Ernest and Bryan Burkhart, had migrated from Texas to Osage County to find jobs in the oil fields. in 1925, the new boss, j edgar hoover, summoned tom white to washington. These were crimes committed by people who the victims trusted, many cases thought they loved, and it involved a level of betrayal, an almost Shakespearean level of dishonesty of hiding your face, hiding the conspiracy. Weren't they? Pyle presented his evidence of murder and conspiracy and requested an investigation. This week I'm bringing you another story about a family that now has many members, but back in 1887 there was only one in Pawhuska and his name was Fred Drummond. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. While being investigated for the murder of Henry Roan, Burkhart tied Hale and Ramsey to the murder of Roan and confessed to the murder of William E. Smith. how many osage murders might there possibly have been? By John D. May - Oklahoma Historical Society. What are their methods? Most of the murders were never prosecuted, but some men were convicted and sentenced including William Hale, who ordered the murders of his nephew's wife and other members of her family, to gain control of their oil rights. [17] 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. The bureau - the Bureau Investigation, the FBI had been formed in 1906 under Theodore Roosevelt. About the film. And it was utterly devastating to her as anyone would imagine. . But then, he never arrived. [7], 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 passed a law in 1921 which required that courts appoint guardians for each Osage of half-blood or more in ancestry, who would manage their royalties and financial affairs until they demonstrated "competency". What happened there? In the 1800s, President Thomas Jefferson referred to them as that great nation and promised to treat them as their friends. he was from The same problems that infected local enforcement were still plaguing the bureau where you had criminals who were often investigators. What are we talking about? And eventually a very obscure branch of the Justice Department which was then known as the Bureau of Investigations, which would later be renamed the FBI, take up the case. In 1871 there were about 3,679 full-blooded Osage and 280 mixed-bloods and intermarried citizens. But then it continually grew. Register now and get started. DAVIES: In this period in which whites in Osage had a lot of social contact, a lot of intermarriage, many whites that were trusted by members of the Osage Nation - this FBI agent Tom White and his team begin to discover some pretty sinister stuff going on. Copyright 2017 NPR. Before he went, he told his wife that he had put money in a safe for her in case anything happened to him. Morrison received a life sentence in 1926, for his participation in the Brown murder. And evidence later surfaced that she had been poisoned. And that's why there were so many of them. Although Walton later pardoned Davis, the investigation of Bigheart and Vaughan was never completed. The trials received national newspaper and magazine coverage. DAVIES: Two white men were arrested and brought to trial, people with access to resources and money. When the first gusher sprang from beneath the Osage feet, the Osage got filthy rich. how many osage murders might there possibly have been? There were so many people who were either directly profiting from these crimes or were silently complicit in them. Thats what makes these crimes so sinister and disturbing, he says. June 21, 2022 how many osage murders might there possibly have been? She's been shot in the back of the head. Somebody had slipped him what was believed to be strychnine, which is just a horrible poison. And one of the most powerful things in all of the research was meeting with the descendants. And the Osage would receive a check every four months. how many osage murders might there possibly have been? In 1923 alone "the tribe took in more than thirty million dollars, the equivalent today of more than four hundred million dollars. But hundreds of millions of dollars was swindled. GRANN: Yeah. And what that meant is they would receive a check for any royalties or any leases that derived from the oil money. Grann spoke to FRESH AIR's Dave Davies about his new book, "Killers Of The Flower Moon: The Osage Murders And The Birth Of The FBI.". He had been a longtime private eye, had a criminal history. White pursued the case when many people believed the people they were pursuing were untouchable because they were white and the victims were Native Americans, Grann says. We'll continue our conversation after a break. The bodies would lay unclaimed and unmourned on the prairies, sometimes for weeks.. He is a staff writer for The New Yorker. And eventually, the whites tried to find ways to get their own hands upon this money. So the Osage purchased this land. And Ken Tucker will review a new album by the Philadelphia-based band, The Menzingers, which features songs about getting older. DAVIES: And it's worth noting that I guess particularly Osage women - their control of these assets were restricted in some ways. He came back and suddenly collapsed, frothing, his whole body shaking. Sentenced to life imprisonment, Hale, Ramsey, and Ernest Burkhart later received parole despite protests from the Osage. They weren't protected by law or any kind of treaty. As the body count rose in the early 1920s, the Osage saw no action from local and state law enforcement personnel. GRANN: Exactly. [1] The Bureau of Investigation (BOI), the preceding agency to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), found a low-level market in contract killers to kill the Osage for their wealth. In the early 20th century, the members of the Osage Nation became the richest people per capita in the world, after oil was discovered under their reservation, in Northeast Oklahoma. Osage mineral lease royalties were paid to the tribe, who then distributed it equally to each allottee. Oil had been discovered in the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma, but with that boon came a terrible series of deadly crimes. And when his wife, the next day, went to the safe where he had stored his materials everything had been cleaned out. are now White (Albino) or Mulatto. There really was a culture of killing and a culture of complicity. His father had been a frontier lawman, a local sheriff. And you could not sell or buy a headright. A headright was hereditary, passing to the immediate legal heir of the deceased allottee. David Grann's book. The United States Congress changed the law to prohibit non-Osage from inheriting headrights from Osage with half or more Native American ancestry. They involve lawmen who then would not investigate them. (Credit: David Grann). Osage Murders - Friends of the OSU Library - Oklahoma State University And it's what makes this so barbaric. GRANN: So - yeah. Indictment for John Ramsey and William K. Hale, 1/9/1926. There was a great deal of lawlessness. 338 pp. In 2015, why couldn't the Osage prevent wind turbines being erected on allotted land that had been sold? GROSS: We're listening to the interview FRESH AIR's Dave Davies recorded with David Grann about his new book "The Flower Moon: The Osage Murders And The Birth Of The FBI" (ph). 5(ish) Questions: David Grann and "Killers of the Flower Moon" DAVIES: And, you know, when you speak to these surviving members of the Osage Nation and you see the pain that they still feel generations later from this - the series of crimes, and when you think about how many white people were complicit in it, it makes me think there's another book to be done about descendants of white people and what stories their grandparents might have told them because surely some told stories and surely some felt some guilt about it. DAVIES: Mollie Burkhart and relatives of the other victims would turn to private investigators. [11] Roan also had a financial connection with Hale, having borrowed $1,200 from the cattleman. DAVIES: David Grann's book is "Killers Of The Flower Moon." This was a deeply racist system, and it literally was based on the quantum of Osage blood. In the 1990 U.S. Census, 10,430 people identified themselves as . She said, in many cases, they don't fully know even what their ancestors did, but we live side by side. There were so many willing executioners. how many osage murders might there possibly have been? His body was eventually found 24 hours later lying along the tracks. He's then arrested. 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. And for someone like Mollie Burkhart to have to reckon when she begins to discover that the very people she knew enough and trusted were the very people who were targeting her family. He quickly takes a bribe, you know, from a bootlegger. February's Book Club Pick: 'Killers of the Flower Moon,' by David Grann And the people who were being charged had enough power to buy jurors, to buy witnesses, to murder witnesses, to make witnesses disappear. Initially it was for maybe $100, and then it grew to 1,000. Thirteen other deaths of full-blooded Osage men and women, who had guardians appointed by the courts, were reported between 1921 and 1923. This is FRESH AIR. In 1925, to prevent another Reign of Terror, the United States Congress passed a law prohibiting non-Osages from inheriting headrights of tribal members possessing more than one-half Osage blood. First moved to a reservation in Kansas, the Osage in 1870 sold their Kansas lands for $1.25 an acre to settlers and were driven to land in northeastern Oklahoma that, until 1866, had belonged to the Cherokee. It was, he said, about how, in early 1920s, swaths of the Osage Nation, in Oklahoma, were systematically slaughtered. In some cases, guardians dropped any pretenses and simply stole the moneyat least $8 million, according to one government study. By David Grann. Accuracy and availability may vary. Bloodhounds ran through the prairie. Between 1921 and 1926, at least 24 members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma were brutally murdered. They were also often susceptible to corruption. How the Osage murders in Oklahoma led to the making of the modern FBI There were other murders happening throughout the community, other Osage being targeted. Osage Nation's 'Reign of Terror' gains renewed attention with - Indianz But at least early on, there is no evidence or witnesses connecting him to the crime other than the fact that he had dropped her off at her house earlier in that evening. So you get a sense just of the quality of the legal establishment who is supposed to be solving these crimes. The attorney's name is given as W.W. Vaughan in some sources (e.g. Theyre scalping our souls out here, complained one exasperated Osage. Somebody put a bag over his head. This is FRESH AIR. Mollie, a devout Catholic, had told her priest that she feared she was being poisoned at home. I mean, what is amazing is that - and this was an open question. Lawmakers appointed local white guardians to approve every expenditure by the full-blooded Osage down to the toothpaste they purchased at the corner store, Grann writes. And there was a complicity to these killings because they involved not only the perpetrators. But the typical sheriff back then had no training in scientific detection, and there was also a great deal of corruption back then. But within a few years, they began to be forced off their territory. "The Osages, who were forced to sell . The coroner ruled the cause of death was "suspicious," but did not rule that it was murder. Some sixty or more wealthy, full-blood Osage Native Americans were reported killed from 1918 to 1931. Soon, Grann writes, the world's richest people per capita were becoming the most murdered. And she's really somebody who is straddling not only two centuries, but in many ways two civilizations. They resettled there. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann review - family murder, oil No products in the cart. I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR. In 1870, the Osage-expelled from their lodges, their graves plundered-agreed to sell their Kansas lands to settlers for $1.25 an acre. The documents Bighorn had given him were missing. Her father literally referred to Ernest Burkhart as Old Dynamite - that's what he called his father - because he was participating in the blowing up of one of the houses. He never arrived in Osage County - disappeared. By 1906 there were only 2,229 Osage, about half mixed-bloods and half full-bloods. [12] Kelsie Morrison, a petty criminal, later admitted to murdering Brown and testified that William Hale, a prominent local cattleman, had asked him to do so. He turned state's evidence, naming his uncle as responsible for the murder conspiracy. They had to pay for justice.. Generally speaking, what are they finding? The great wealth lured not only desperadoes, bootleggers and criminalsbut fantastic jealousy as well. how many osage murders might there possibly have been? Anna was known to be a heavy drinker. They didn't treat these crimes with seriousness. And one day in 1921, her sister, Anna Brown, disappears, and Mollie looks everywhere for her, searching along the prairie. All Rights Reserved. They had servants, many of whom were white. how many osage murders might there possibly have been? In his investigation, McAuliffe found that the BOI believed that the murders of several Osage women "had been committed or ordered by their husbands. Now, you have to remember this in the 1920s, and the period of Great Gatsby. Nevertheless, impatient settlers massacred several of the Osage, mutilating their bodies and scalping them. [5] McAuliffe found that when Bolton was a minor, the court had appointed her white stepfather, attorney Arthur "A.T." Woodward, as her guardian. He changed his plea to guilty and asked to be sentenced to life imprisonment rather than receive the death penalty. That night, when he arrived at his boarding house, he received a telegram, and it said be careful. In 1926, Ernest pleaded guilty to being part of the conspiracy. Osage in automobile. He came to believe that Woodward was responsible for her death. Non-Osages were able to inherit an Osage headright, and this was the motive for the Reign of Terror. Kyle. 3 Luglio 2022; common last names in kazakhstan; medical careers that don't require math in sa . Hale lived to be 87 and is buried in Wichita, Kansas. The rocky, barren reservation promised to yield littlewith the exception of their desire to be left aloneuntil the discovery of one of the largest oil deposits in the United States below the surface. It wasn't simply a reservation given to them, right? [1] 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.[2]. The Osage oil murders were a series of murders based on Native American discrimination that took place in the 1920's, in order to steal the wealth of the Osage tribe. What appears to have been a common means through which many Osage were poisoned? Hoover instead turned the case over to Tom White, an experienced investigator who lived in the saddle. 8. GRANN: No, I mean, they lived in the community, and they presented a certain face and concealed often what they were about. And then within about 30 years because of oil deposits under her land becomes one of the wealthier people in the United States and is living in a mansion and married to a white husband, has a couple children. Largely Forgotten Osage Murders Reveal A Conspiracy Against - NPR And it terrified people. And then something happens to her sister, Anna. I'll be on the train. how many osage murders might there possibly have been? Suggested terms to look for include - diary, diaries, letters, papers, documents, documentary or correspondence. Over two decades, they would have to cede more than 100 million acres of their land. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,, When the Irish Invaded Canada: The Incredible True Story of the Civil War Veterans Who Fought for Irelands Freedom, Strong Boy: The Life and Times of John L. Sullivan. He was part of a tribe of lawmen. What was the kingpin's sentence? And he had also stored away the evidence he had been gathering because he was afraid for his life. He was abducted. GRANN: Yeah. It makes your whole body convulse as if with electricity. You slowly can't breathe, but you're conscious throughout until finally you mercifully suffocate. Screen Printing and Embroidery for clothing and accessories, as well as Technical Screenprinting, Overlays, and Labels for industrial and commercial applications I'm coming back. GRANN: These were deeply intimate crimes. The BOI sent Tom White to lead an investigation. Document in the "HaleRamsey Murder Case", from the Oklahoman Collection at the Oklahoma Historical Society Photo Archives. Who would investigate this kind of murder at the time? (Credit: David Grann). What kinds of men does he pick? There was one champion steer-roper Osage who got a call one night. DAVIES: Yeah. So in this case, there was a bunch of kind of wild or frontier lawmen who were very experienced including a man named Tom White. Vaughan's body was later found with his skull crushed beside the railroad tracks near Pershing, about five miles south of Pawhuska. He shows up to look into the killings. 9 it seems the commonly reported dates for the osage - Course Hero 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. In The 1920s, A Community Conspired To Kill Native Americans For Their Oil Money. Combine these these terms with the event or person you are researching. Her body seemed to wither and become more insubstantial each day. And he said, if you speak to the Osage, will you please tell them that for me? Some murders seemed associated with several members of one family. GRANN: So her family becomes a prime target of a conspiracy. Executed But Possibly Innocent | Death Penalty Information Center "Serial killer" was not yet a term in the crime lexicon, but as a reader, you arrive at that conclusion quickly. And yet members of the United States Congress would sit in these mahogany-paneled committee rooms and literally debate as if the nation's security was at stake, scapegoating the Osage about their wealth. . Top Quotes: "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders - Medium