In The 1920s, A Community Conspired To Kill Native Americans For Their Oil Money
In The 1920s, A Community Conspired To Kill Native Americans For Their Oil Money
April 17, 20174:44 AM ET
Ernest and Mollie Burkhart married in 1917. Unbeknownst to Mollie, a member of the Osage tribe, the marriage was part of a larger plot to steal her family's oil wealth.
Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoman Collection/Courtesy of Doubleday
Generations ago, the American Indian Osage tribe was compelled to move. Not for the first time, white settlers pushed them off their land in the 1800s. They made their new home in a rocky, infertile area in northeast Oklahoma in hopes that settlers would finally leave them alone.
As it turned out, the land they had chosen was rich in oil, and in the early 20th century, members of the tribe became spectacularly wealthy. They bought cars and built mansions; they made so much oil money that the government began appointing white guardians to "help" them spend it.
And then Osage members started turning up dead.
Interview Highlights
On how the conspiracy worked
What makes these crimes so sinister is that it involved marrying into families. It involved a level of calculation and a level of betraying the very people you pretended to love. And the way these murders would take place is that people would marry into the families and then begin to kill each member of the family. ... That's exactly what happened to [Osage woman Mollie Burkhart]. She had married a white man, and his uncle was the most powerful settler in the area. He was known as the King of the Osage Hills ... and he had orchestrated a very sinister plot played out over years where he directed his nephew, who had married Mollie Burkhart, to marry her so that he could then begin to kill the family members one by one and siphon off all the wealth.
More:
https://www.npr.org/2017/04/17/523964584/in-the-1920s-a-community-conspired-to-kill-native-americans-for-their-oil-money?fbclid=IwAR04RFaWRWArGU75b2roHQ4v4zuuTdCV6pGUz0qb_iL4COYshhATYCIbO0k
= new reply since forum marked as read
Wiki, Osage Indian Murders. Thirteen other deaths of full-blooded Osage men and women, who had guardians appointed by the courts, occurred between 1921 and 1923. By 1925, 60 wealthy Osage had been killed, and their land had been inherited or deeded to their guardians: local white lawyers and businessmen. The FBI found a low-level market in murderers for hire to kill the Osage for their wealth.
>Murder investigation and trials[edit] The Osage Tribal Council suspected that rancher **William 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 undercover for two years, the agents discovered a crime ring of petty criminals led by Hale, known in Osage County as the "King of the Osage Hills". He and his nephews, Ernest and Bryan Burkhart, had migrated from Texas 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.
To gain part of the wealth, Hale persuaded Ernest to marry Mollie Kyle, a full-blooded Osage. 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 oil 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 found when they opened the case that Mollie was already being poisoned.[ Mollie moved away, recovered and divorced Ernest. Her children inherited her property]... MORE, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osage_Indian_murders
- William Hale, Osage Indian murderer.
William King Hale (December 24, 1874—August 15, 1962), often known locally as "Bill", or the self-styled "King of the Osage Hills," was a U.S. cattleman and convicted murderer. Born in Greenville, Texas, he came to the Indian Territory late in the 19th century and settled on the Osage Indian Reservation, where he built the noted Hale Ranch and made a fortune raising cattle. When Oklahoma gained statehood in 1907, the land occupied by the reservation became contiguous with Osage County, Oklahoma.
A power player in the Osage Indian Reservation in northern Oklahoma, Hale rose to local prominence in the late 19th century through years of bribery, intimidation, and extortion. 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. Over the next few months, he had killed at least two dozen others who had threatened to testify against him..More, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hale_(cattleman)
Last edited Sun Jun 2, 2019, 12:36 AM - Edit history (1)
Found this one:
This photo appeared on the front page of the Tulsa World on Jan. 19, 1929. The original caption says: "Perhaps the three figures most familiar to court fans following the Hale murder trial at Pawhuska are W.K. Hale, "King of the Osage," accused in connection with the death of Henry Roan, Osage Indian, in 1923, in the center of the above picture: Mrs. Myrtle Hale, the defendant's wife, at the right, and Mrs. Willie Oller, 21 years old, Hale's daughter. The wife and daughter have been with Hale at every session of court since the trial opened last Tuesday."
https://www.tulsaworld.com/william-k-hale-and-family/pdf_3bc96502-55d6-522d-a7c4-1a134903678c.html
Looks as if they were all wearing their stylish clothes bought with money William got after murdering and robbing so many Osage people. This demon lived until 1962.
Thank you for your links and information.
On edit:
Found a clearer photo:
many others he directed in criminal activity. Worse than the Borgias. Hale was already well off from ranching, extortion and other efforts prior to scheming to kill and rob the Osage- always 'more to me had' I guess, especially for sociopaths. And the guardians, attorneys appointed to protect the Osage were often in on the schemes. SO evil and corrupt. Thanks for the OP, the good video below and all the info. I look forward to the Scorcese movie based on the book that's beginning to be filmed now so I read. *From the photos with his wife and daughter, Hale looks like a very smug, confident and self satisfied criminal.
Mollie Burkhart (second from right) lost all three of her sisters under suspicious circumstances. Rita Smith (left) died in an explosion, Anna Brown (second from left) was shot in the head and Minnie Smith (right) died of what doctors referred to as a "peculiar wasting illness."