Even the Osages blessings turned out to be cursed, however. By 1925, 60 wealthy Osage had been killed, and their land had been inherited or deeded to their guardians: local white lawyers and businessmen. So the government in - really looking back, just an outrageous system - decided somehow that the Osage were not capable of handling their money. As a youth he had been told she died of kidney disease, then as a suicide. He went to Oklahoma City to meet with an Osage who was dying of suspected poisoning. DAVIES: Right - a terrible, dramatic crime and a mystery around it. You know, it's fascinating because you spoke with grandchildren of this era, and they would bring you documents and in some cases stories that they had heard of crimes that we didn't know about. Henry Roan was another Osage who was found in his car shot in the back of his head. GRANN: Well, early on when - in the early 20th century, there was just a little bit of oil. how many osage murders might there possibly have been? David Grann is a staff writer for The New Yorker, who's won a George Polk Award. Partly that was because the victims were Native Americans. He, too, had been stripped naked. Local whites befriended them, in some cases, married them and targeted them for their money. January 12, 2014. he was born in a cabin in texas. The short film explores the systematic murders of the Osage from 1910 to 1930 in an organized effort to rob them of their oil and money. [10] Unable to find the killer, local authorities ruled her death as accidental because of alcohol poisoning and put the case aside. It was a very fledgling period with federal law enforcement. Tell us that story. The Department of Interior continued to manage the trust lands and pay fees to Osage with headrights. I mean, it was literally asked, and there was a belief that white men would not be convicted for these crimes and that white jurors would not find them guilty. GRANN: So the Osage issue a tribal resolution where they plead for federal investigators to come in, those who will not be tainted or connected to the local power structure. David Grann: Killers of the Flower Moon | National Archives They released an outlaw named Blackie Thompson hoping he would work as an undercover informant, but he instead robbed banks and killed a police officer. Bloodhounds ran through the prairie. DAVIES: And what became of the wealth of the Osage? GRANN: No, I mean, they lived in the community, and they presented a certain face and concealed often what they were about. When a white oilman, Barney McBride, was recruited by Osage to ask federal officials to investigate these deaths, he was also killed: stabbed and beaten, then stripped naked "except for his socks. Many Osage moved to California. GRANN: So yeah - so Barney McBride was an oilman in the area, a white man. Once there, they discovered the immense wealth of members of the Osage Nation from royalties being paid from leases on oil-producing lands. Of course, this was an easier way for settlers - white settlers - to get their land. Mollie recovered from the poison she had already consumed and (after the trials) divorced Ernest. . [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 case shifted from a question of who did it to can you actually convict them? As a youth he had been told she died of kidney disease, then as a suicide. 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.". It's about 3 in the morning. One descendant of a murderer I spoke with sent me a note at one point. By that time, there were only a few thousand left. It was said at the time whereas as one American might own a car, each Osage owned 11 cars. Nobody could pinpoint what was happening. how many osage murders might there possibly have been? Hale and his nephews, Ernest and Bryan Burkhart, had migrated from Texas to Osage County to find jobs in the oil fields. And evidence later surfaced that she had been poisoned. DAVIES: Two white men were arrested and brought to trial, people with access to resources and money. Between 1921 and 1926, at least 24 members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma were brutally murdered. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. What appears to have been a common means through which many Osage were poisoned? History Bookshelf David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon : CSPAN3 How did whites in Oklahoma react to seeing Native Americans with all that money? He had rushed - he had been - began to try to kind of fill in this void, this kind of corrupt void, to see if he could try to catch the killers and stop them. DAVIES: Mollie is married to a guy named Ernest Burkhart. DAVIES: Now, you used the word victims - plural. Reign of Terror: The Forgotten Story of the Osage Tribe Murders Then local whites began targeting the tribe. "The Great Depression had wiped out many Osage fortunes that had already been diminished by guardians and thieves. Murders in the U.S. by state 2021 | Statista It was the time of America's oil boom, and Osage County, Oklahoma was in the heart of the matter. Scorsese to Direct DiCaprio in 1920s Osage Murders Thriller - Culture Trip Osage would later refer to this as a diaspora. We'll continue our conversation after a short break. But there was still a great indifference because the victims were Osage, were Native Americans. 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. These are just the murders we're talking about now in Mollie Burkhart's family. And eventually, the whites tried to find ways to get their own hands upon this money. And there are about 20,000 members who now belong to the nation. Christopher Klein is the author of four books, including When the Irish Invaded Canada: The Incredible True Story of the Civil War Veterans Who Fought for Irelands Freedom and Strong Boy: The Life and Times of John L. Sullivan. . There were at least 24 Osage who had been murdered. In some cases, guardians dropped any pretenses and simply stole the moneyat least $8 million, according to one government study. [1] McAuliffe learned that his grandmother's murder had been covered up by a false death certificate. So this was just one of the many means of targeting the Osage in these very systematic and brutal ways. Investigators who probed the case too deeply also had a propensity for turning up dead. "[1] 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. There was one champion steer-roper Osage who got a call one night. GRANN: Yeah. GRANN: So her family becomes a prime target of a conspiracy. The forgotten murders of the Osage people for the oil beneath their It was somebody who Mollie thought loved her. This is FRESH AIR. He said that Hale had promised him five hundred dollars and a new car for killing Roan. DAVIES: David Grann, thank you so much for speaking with us. All Rights Reserved. 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 . Alex Murdaugh trial: Observers predict guilty verdict or hung jury GRANN: Exactly. Osage Indian murders - Wikipedia Grann's focus on the Osage murder investigation as the "Birth of the FBI" is a sad joke. It makes your whole body convulse as if with electricity. [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. The power structure was able to buy off lawmen. Hoover was in a rush to close the casereally the case was closed prematurely, Grann says. And because of racial prejudice, it was a enormous challenge, and many people believe that the locals would never convict fellow white men for killing an Osage Indian. OETA Debuts New Documentary About Early 1900s Osage Murders GRANN: At one point, they released an outlaw, a man named Blackie - very appropriately - who they hoped to use as an informant. Tell us about that. It's called "Killers Of The Flower Moon." Osage Reign of Terror: Dark Hearts - Tulsa World Mollie Burkhart married Ernest Burkhart, a white man who was very typical of the kind of people who was kind of drawn to this area because there were these kind of wild boom towns at the time. in many ways he is like mollie. And it's what makes this so barbaric. And because of that, justice was often privatized, that if you had money and resources, you had to turn to private investigators. I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR. By the early 20th century, because of this kind of clash of cultural forces, so many whites were coming into the area because of the well, so many oil workers and oil men. You feel it must be a serial killer. Subsequently, an autopsy revealed that the cause of Brown's death was not alcohol, but a bullet fired into the back of her head. He's an interesting guy. Wiki, Osage Indian Murders. "The Osages, who were forced to sell . how many osage murders might there possibly have been? And she had spent years doing her own investigation, gathering evidence trying to pinpoint the killers. chivas regal ultis vs royal salute; instagram models dubai; shooting in henderson, tx today; city of ottawa hedge bylaw; The Osage were being shot and poisoned in staggering numbers. The setting was the Osage Indian Nation in the 1920s when oil deposits had brought enormous wealth to the members of the tribe. It was a real time of terror. National Museum of the American Indian. And they've taken enormous efforts to protect themselves from this kind of criminal conspiracy again. Walton assigned Herman Fox Davis to the investigation. They had become. GRANN: Yeah. 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. DAVIES: We're speaking with David Grann. [12] Two months later, Lizzie Q. Kyle was killed as well. ["The Data Are Pointing to One Major Driver of America's Murder Spike . DAVIES: Wow. But what they often lacked at least back then was real experience investigating real criminals. The U.S. Department of the Interior managed leases for oil exploration and production on land owned by the Osage Nation through the Bureau of Indian Affairs and later managed royalties, paying individual allottees. how many osage murders might there possibly have been? His body was eventually found 24 hours later lying along the tracks. And gradually, a lot of the oil was depleted. I mean, what is amazing is that - and this was an open question. ", "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. He went out of his house. Mollie and Ernest Burkhart inherited all of the headrights from her family. Journalist David Grann tells the story. What appears to have been a common means through which many Osage were poisoned? And so while some of the Osage still receive royalties from oil money, it's nothing like the fortune that they had once had during the 1920s and the beginning of the 20th century. The story of the Osage people should have been one of triumph over . 7. You slowly can't breathe, but you're conscious throughout until finally you mercifully suffocate. The Reign of Terror was a frightful time for the Osage people. "Osage Reign of Terror. And I think that's certainly true when you visit Osage Nation, you meet with the Osage and you see what a remarkable place it is and the strength of its government institutions. These invariably brutal killings eventually fell under the jurisdiction of J. Edgar Hoover's nascent Bureau of Investigation. The Osage trusted him. The Tulsa Race Massacre and Osage Reign of Terror: Missing Links Hale was Bigheart's neighbor and friend, and had recently been designated by the court as Bigheart's guardian. Many of the old traditions of the Osage were disappearing at this period, and there was a great deal of intermarriage. Largely Forgotten Osage Murders Reveal A Conspiracy Against - NPR DAVIES: And so how helpful, how beneficial was this to the Osage? And the people who were being charged had enough power to buy jurors, to buy witnesses, to murder witnesses, to make witnesses disappear. NewsOK. . The coroner ruled the cause of death was "suspicious," but did not rule that it was murder. He never arrived in Osage County - disappeared. And it's a very vibrant nation. how many osage murders might there possibly have been? It wasn't simply a reservation given to them, right? He's then arrested. No products in the cart. Let's get back to the interview FRESH AIR contributor Dave Davies recorded with David Grann, author of a new book about one of the biggest serial murder cases in American history. But let's back up a bit here and talk about the Osage Nation. 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. Inside the Story of the Systematic Murder of Osage Indians in the '20s Nevertheless, impatient settlers massacred several of the Osage, mutilating their bodies and scalping them. Top Quotes: "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders - Medium The bureau had had in the early 1920s - one of the worst con men in the history of the United States was working for the FBI. Hes very insecure in his career at the time, Grann says. "With the help of independent producers, Dan Bigbee and Lily Shangreaux, we were . Somebody had planted a bomb under the house, killing everyone in it, including Mollie's sister Rita, including her - Rita's husband and a white servant who lived in the house. 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. The U.S. government continued to manage the leases and royalties from oil-producing lands, and the tribe became concerned about these assets. (Credit: Bettmann / Getty Images). [19] Ernest Burkhart's attempt to kill his wife failed. None of these people had college educations or whatnot. Osage Nation's 'Reign of Terror' gains renewed attention with - Indianz 7. It was then Indian Territory. how many osage murders might there possibly have been? It has gone on to become an award-winning book, and is reportedly being adapted in a movie directed by Martin Scorsese. The Osage "Reign of Terror" Murder Trials - Famous Trials In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. What was the impact on the daily lives of members of the Osage? He had been thrown off the speeding train, and his neck was broken. By the early 1900s, the Osage - these 2,000 or so on the tribal roll - began to receive quarterly checks for the money that was used to pay for leases and royalties. how many osage murders might there possibly have been?