Pludert com Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, January fourth, nineteen twenty six. The
Osage murder mystery, as dramatic as any created by novelist's pen, today seem
nearer a solution. Federal and state officers working in Unison were closing a net
around suspected members of a murdering that is believed to have been responsible for the
deaths of nearly a score of O Sage Indians and white persons. Action was
divided today between Guthrie, where a federal grand jury is convening to consider the
testimony of about one hundred and forty witnesses, and the O Sage Country,
where state officials are expected to arrest several suspects. The murders are believed the
outgrowth of a conspiracy to gain possession of the fortunes of the victim, estimated
to total two million dollars. Although the most recent of the crimes was committed
about three years ago, none of the perpetrators has yet been brought to justice.
Numerous investigations have been launched and seemingly have been abandoned because it seemed impossible
to obtain information. Federal secret servicemen have been working quietly on the cases,
however, and two weeks ago the state was invited to participate in a roundup
of the suspects. It seemed probable solution of the case would revolve around the
dynamiting of the w Smith home in Fairfax three years ago. Smith, his
wife, and Anna Brookshire, a servant, were killed by the explosion.
Some of the persons whose deaths were seemingly connected with the case were Anna Brown,
wealthy o Sage woman shot to death, Ace Kirby white Man shot,
Henry Rome, Anna Brown's cousin shot, Charles Whitehorn kinsman of Anna Brown shop.
George Bigheart, son of the last Osage hereditary chief, died in an
Oklahoma City hospital after a brief mysterious illness. Charles Vaughn, big Heart's attorney,
found dead on railroad ride of boy near Pershing after consulting with big Heart
in Oklahoma City. William Stepson, associate of Henry Roane, died presumably of
alcoholic poisoning. Big Annie Sandford died after short and puzzling illness. Lizzie Kuku,
mother of Anna Brown and Missus Smith, died after mysterious illness. Deaths
of five other Indians of less prominence were believed to have been connected with the
Caves. Information charging William K. Hale of Fairfax, known as the King
of the Osage Hills, Ernest Burkhardt M. A. Boyd, former Deputy
Sheriff of Osage County, and Bert Lawson, prisoner in the Levenworth Penitentiary with
the slaying of W. E. Smith March tenth, nineteen twenty three,
was filed by the State's Attorney's office. Here today, True Crime Historian presents
from the official files a true crime story called from Historic Documents in Law Enforcement
Archives, Episode two hundred and fourteen digs deep into the files of the FBI
and one of its early successful investigations during the tenure of J. Edgar Hoover,
when the Bureau of Investigations as it was called, then looked into the
murder of as many as sixty to seventy O Sage Indians in Oklahoma. The
files include a report by agent Frank Smith, as well as statements from informants
who helped break the conspiracy. True Crime Historian welcomes guest reader Susan Furman as
Catherine Cole, one of these informants. I'm true crime Historian Richard O.
Jones, and I bring you The King of the Osage Hills, a terrible
reign of murder. The story of the Osage Murders is the story of the
land where the Bad Old West never died. It is the story of a
crime that spread its dark, devious paths over a background of ignorance, greed,
superstition, and sly craft. A story that, however depressing, is
nevertheless blown through with the breath of the romantic devil may care frontier West that
we thought was gone. And it is an amazing story too, so amazing
that at first you wonder if it can possibly have happened. In modern twentieth
century America, seventeen men and women have been murdered. One William K.
Hale, picturesquely known as the King of the Osage Hills, is lodged in
jail with various alleged henchmen on a charge of first degree murder. A two
million dollar fortune is at stake. A grim tragedy is coupled with a humorless
irony in the background of these strange murders of the o Sage Hills. To
understand them, you must know something of this background. Otherwise, the whole
thing is inexplicable. It goes back nearly half a century to eighteen eighty three,
in fact, when the Osage Tribe, a branch of the once dreaded
Sioux, was granted a haven in the wilds of unsettled Oklahoma. The Native
American has never in history received a square deal from the white man, and
that occasion was no exception. With canny care, the Great White Father looked
over his Oklahoma acres and picked out the section that was the most utterly bare
and worthless. This section he gave to the O Sage tribe forever. The
O Sages settled on it because there was nothing else to do. But it
was unpromising land. It was so desolate and barren, in fact, that
all of this one million, five hundred thousand acres would not grow enough produce
to support the two thousand odd members of the tribe, and the Great White
Father had to dig down and grant each member a pension of some forty five
dollars a month. In eighteen eighty nine, Oklahoma was opened for white settlement,
and the land around O Sage County became more or less thickly populated.
There was competition for land all over the state, but no white man begrudged
the O Sages their million and a half acres. Then, in nineteen o
six oil was discovered on the O Sage land. A year or two late,
more oil was found. In nineteen twelve came a news strike, a
monstrous field this time, and the Great White Father realized all too late that
the land he had given the outcast O Sages contained the richest oil field in
the whole country. Further, it was too late to do anything about it.
What happened, well, the O Sages became, instead of the most
poverty stricken of red men, the richest body of people on earth. There
are just two two hundred and twenty nine accredited members of the tribe, each
with an equal share or head right in the wealth of the oil land.
This money is collected for them by the government, and each person's share is
paid annually. And what do these annual dividends amount to? Just fifteen thousand
dollars. That's all. Every O Sage Indian has a fifteen thousand dollars annual
income for the rest of his life, except that it may go up as
new wells go down. And in addition, many Indians have invested this money
in oil lands outside the reservation. Practically every member is a millionaire. Some
are millionaires many times over. And here is what started this mysterious train of
murders. Each Indian's head right or share in the fabulous wealth of the o
Sage oil land goes on as death to his next of kin. Consequently,
if some white man who had an Indian wife could kill off all her relatives,
she would fall heir to a fortune of many millions of dollars. William
K. Hale has no Indian wife, but his nephew, Ernest Burkhardt has,
and though the two are named in only one indictment, federal investigators hint
that by the time the Grand Jury quiz ends, something of this murder by
wholesale nature will be found to have been the case. Several relatives of Molly
Burkhardt, Ernest's Osage wife, have died under mysterious circumstances, and the annual
income of Molly and her husband through inheritance of head rights is now about one
hundred and thirty five thousand dollars a year. At all events, it is
common talk throughout this part of the country that the great wealth of the O
Sages has led some of them to sudden death. Even the porter on the
train that brought this rider down from Chicago knew of it. He shook his
head and remarked, no, sir, I don't want to be no Indian
in Oklahoma. They just kill them and throw them in the ditches, that's
all. Paulhuska, Oklahoma, fourth nineteen twenty six. The Indians are just
a bunch of children, says US agent J. George Wright of Pahuska.
They're harmless and inoffensive enough, but they're just children. So now they've got
so much money. Funny things happen once in a while. Funny things do
happen. Indeed, for an example, listen to the story of Catherine Cole
and Kelsey Morrison. Katherine is an Osage Indian and Morrison is a white man.
After each had been to the Altar three times, they married each other.
Katherine was very rich because of her share in the O Sage oil lands,
and Morrison had accumulated a slice or two of under an increment through his
previous marriages. So after their marriage the two had a fortune that was the
equivalent of nearly a million dollars. But Morrison had been brought up among the
outlaws of the Oklahoma wilds, and the tree often grows in the direction that
the bent twig assumes. So Morrison found it hard to break himself of his
old habits. In spite of his wealth, he simply could not keep from
holding up a bank every now and then. This habit palled on Catherine,
who liked things peaceful. Her lectures on reform likewise palled on Morrison, so
the two were divorced. Morrison thereupon married another o sage maiden, but he
was the same old Morrison, and at last he robbed one bank too many
and fell a foul of the law. He is now in the penitentiary,
serving a life term. Shortly after Morrison's imprisonment, his wife died. Catherine
ordinarily did not hold any ill feeling against the girl who replaced her in Morrison's
affection, but one night recently she fell to brooding. The brooding may have
been made more poignant by the fact that she drank a quart of white mule
as she brooded. At all events, when the bottle was empty, she
got an axe, jumped into her automobile, and sped to the cemetery.
There she went to the grave of Morrison's recently deceased wife, where there had
been erected by orders of the imprisoned Morrison, a very costly monument. Catherine
is strong. She went to work with the axe, and in a very
short time the tombstone was wrecked beyond repair. Catherine was arrested for this,
however, and given a jail term of six months for defacing property. She
accepted it with equanimity and went to Guthrie to testify in the probe of the
Osage murder lightheartedly. She is ready to get married again, she says,
or will be as soon as she gets out of jail. Only this time
she sort of thinks she would like to marry a white man. From the
report of Agent Frank E. Smith, the O Sage is located between the
crooked at Arkansas River and the Kansas state line in the northeasterly part of Oklahoma,
and what up to only a few years ago was barren except for a
few poor pastures. In fact, when the Osage tribe was forced to leave
Kansas and settled into what is now called O Sage, it was considered that
they had paid a million, two hundred thousand dollars for a poor grave for
the tribe. The area of the Osage is two two hundred and seventy seven
square miles, and the total population increased approximately three hundred and fifty percent between
nineteen hundred and nineteen twenty, the last census showing thirty six thousand, five
hundred and thirty six souls. In nineteen hundred and one, the mad rush
for oil already had brought into the county unscrupulous prospectors, and the county actually
produced in that year. It was only a short time thereafter that some two
thousand Osages found themselves facing the same problem which drove the Indian from Virginia and
Massachusetts, which, except for a slight difference in tactic, was to have
the same result the ultimate acquisition by the white Man of all that the Indian
possessed. Figuratively, the desert blossomed into a garden of roses, and the
Oceages overnight became the wealthiest people per capita in the world. Teen hundred and
six, there were two two hundred twenty nine members of the tribe. Today
there are but one thousand, six hundred and fifty The federal government on June
twenty eighth, nineteen oh six, enact at a law known as the Osage
Act, under which the two thousand, two hundred and twenty nine members of
the tribe were to receive through the government an equal number of shares known as
head rights, growing out of the leasing of the property or portions thereof for
the commercial production of oil, and the total value of each individual share covering
the period from nineteen oh six to the present date is seventy two thousand,
one hundred and thirty dollars, exclusive of certain other benefits growing out of civil
damages. An o Sage born subsequent to June twenty eighth, nineteen oh six
would inherit only his proportionate share of his ancestors head right as one of the
two thousand, two hundred and twenty nine enrolled in nineteen oh six, since
which time the tribe has received a total of one hundred and eighty five million
dollars through the government. The acquisition of this wealth cannot be said to have
constituted a blessing, either to the tribe as a whole or the individual members,
For after all, wealth, while bringing comfort, also brought disease immorality
and extravagance, which is appalling. Modern homes, with all of the present
day conveniences, have been built for members of the tribe only to have them
roll up in their blankets and sleep in the yard, And in fact,
many of the homes have a wigwam or canopy outside in which Indians spend a
large amount of their time when not driving over the country in automobiles or away
on even less wholesome missions. Among the many adventurous prospectors and other white men
who had come to Oklahoma, William Kay Big Bill Hale, who had been
identified with the cattle business in Texas, an old friend of frontier showmen and
a man whose desire for riches and power was devoid of scruple there, either
came with him or later joined him in Osage County, his nephews Ernest and
Brian Burkhardt, who with their brothers were employed by and under the dominance of
Hale, who, by one means in another had acquired sufficient wealth to become
known as quote the King of the o Sage unquote. He had in his
employ from time to time a number of reckless characters, many of whom were
either ex convicts or fugitives from justice, and were known killers for a prize.
Lizzie Q, otherwise known as Lizzie Kyle, was an o Sage squaw
who in nineteen twenty was already old and in bad health. Her own estate
approximated two hundred thousand dollars. She had three daughters, Anna, Mollie,
and Rita. Anna was a dissolute character and notorious in the Osage, with
a preference for white men, with several of whom from time to time she
had had affairs, and at least one of whom, Odie Brown, she
married. In nineteen twenty, her estate approximated one hundred thousand dollars. Rita
married one W. E. Bill Smith, a white man, with whom
she lived up to the time of the destruction of both of them. Mollie
became the wife of Ernest Burkhardt and is living with him today. Mollie appears
to have been the first means to draw to Hale through the Burkharts the assets
of the entire family. Anna had been somewhat intimate with at least one of
the Burkhart boys, but apparently she was too notorious for even the Burkhart to
contract a formal marriage. No one knows what became of her husband, Odie
Brown. And the disappearance of a squawman in the Osage, or the remarriage
of a squall without any inquiry or investigation into the existence of the husband,
were matters which too evidently did not concern anyone. But Anna Brown had money
and the stake was large. In nineteen twenty Lizzie q, the aged mother,
had been brought to Ernest Burkhardt's home at gray Horse and was living with
her daughter. She was the second of the family taken directly under the wing
of Hale in the general scheme. Early in nineteen twenty one, she developed
a malady which very evidently would result in her death. She had been induced
to make a will leaving the bulk of her estate to Ernest Burkhardt's wife and
children, and with the control exercised by the Burkhardts and Hale Well, this
meant that the white men really had the money within their grasp. But there
were higher stakes which might be one. If the old woman should outlive Anna
Brown, under the law of the state, the fortune would be increased by
half of Anna Brown's whereas if Anna should outlive her mother, the greater part
of her fortune would be diverted to collaterals. Lizzie Q was sinking and something
had to be done. Let me ask you a question. Do podcast commercials
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Go ahead, I dare you. My name is Catherine Cole. My home
is Pahsca, Oklahoma. I am Osage. I married Kelsey Morrison in May
nineteen twenty twenty years old. When I married, I have never told anyone
all I know about the Anna Brown murder because I was afraid I would get
killed. When Anna Brown was killed. I was living with Kelsey Morrison in
Fairfax, Oklahoma, on the street one block west of the Fairfax Hospital,
in my own house. On the night that Anna Brown was killed, just
after supper, Kelsey Morrison left my house and said he was going to town
and said he would be back in about an hour. I told him to
send me a taxi that I wanted to go to my mother's. As I
remember, it must have been about six when Kelsey left the house. He
did not send me a cab, nor did he come back to the house.
Some time after dark, possibly eight or eight thirty, Brian Burkhardt drove
up to my house and blowed his horn, and I thought it was a
taxi and went out to the car. When I got to the car,
Brian was and Anna Brown was sitting on the back seat. Brian Burkhart laughed
and spoke and Anna said hello. I could plainly see that Anna Brown was
very drunk. Anna said something about going to get a drink or she wanted
a drink, and told me to get in the car, which I did.
Brian then drove off, going south on the street I lived on,
then east and then onto the main highway going to Ralston and Gray Horse and
on out this road and down a steep hill over a little bridge, and
then east about a quarter of a mile, and stopped his car some little
distance, possibly fifty or sixty feet away. I saw a car standing on
the side of the road, but he had the curtains up, and I
don't know who was in it. Brian Burkhart got out of his car and
went over to that other car. Then I heard Brian and some other men
talking, and I recognized the voice of Kelsey Morrison. Brian Burkhardt then came
back and got in his car with Anna and I and said that they,
meaning the men he had talked to, were going over there a short ways
and we would go with them. I saw the other car drive away first,
and we followed. We drove on a short distance over a round hill
and went through a gate and on buy an old house, and then on
down the Gray Horse Road toward the Prahusca Road. Before we got to Pahusca
Road, we turned off the Gray Horse Road near the head of a ravine
where there are a lot of trees, and stopped. The other car had
stopped on the north side of the ravine between the ravine and Pahusca Road less
than half a block from where we stopped. When we stopped, Kelsey Morrison
and the other two men who I did not know at this time, walked
up to our car. Anna had been drinking and Kelsey, Anna and the
bunch began joking and talking, and there was something said about getting another drink.
Some one of the men said something about having some whiskey hid there and
about taking a drink. Anna Brown was very drunk, and Brian took her
on the right side and Kelsey on the left, and walked her off from
the car, going in the direction of the ravine and towards the head of
the ravine. I looked out and back from the right side of the car
and cleared my throat as to speak, and Kelsey looked back at me and
said you g D s B. Keep your mouth shut by it. They
then walked on with Anna Brown and I did not again look out of the
car. As soon as Anna got out of Brian's car, there was something
said about going and getting something. I was still in the car and Brian
Burkhardt was still at the wheel. Brian immediately drove off with me in the
car and went back in the direction of Gray Horse, by an old cemetery
and then through Gray Horse, driving slowly. He did not open his mouth
to me during this time. After driving around a Gray Horse, he then
turned around and drove on back to a point near where Anna Brown got out
of the car, and near the Pahusca road and near a pond, where
we found Kelsey Morrison and the two men who were with him when we left
Anna Brown. Anna Brown was not with them, and I never saw her
alive again. When we drove up, Kelsey Morrison told me to come and
get in the car with him, which I did. This car was a
Ford, as I remember, they had the curtain up on this Ford car.
When I got out of Bryan's car and got into the Ford, Brian
turned around and drove back in the direction where we left Anna Brown, which
was in the direction of Gray Horse. One of the two strangers drove the
Ford car and I sat on the rear seat with Kelsey Morrison and we drove
to Pahsca. There was not a word said between there and Pahuska about Anna
Brown. When we got to Pahsca, we stopped in front of a restaurant
on the main street. Kelsey Morrison one of the strangers and I got out
of the car and the other stranger said he was going somewhere I don't remember
just where. A few days after this, Kelsey Morrison got mad at me
and told me if I didn't keep my mouth shut, he would kill me
if I ever told anyone, and I knew he would, and that is
the reason I never said anything. When they took Anna Brown out of Brian's
car that night, while no one had told me, I knew something was
going to happen, and I was very badly scared. After we left Anna
Brown that night, Kelsey Morrison would not let me out of his sight and
would not let me leave the house by myself, and if I talked to
anyone he would stop me. And this continued for some time after Anna Brown's
body was found, and Kelsey acted very nervous, as if he was afraid
that somebody suspected him. When Anna Brown's body was found about a week or
ten days after we were riding with her in Brookhart's car, it was reported
in Fairfax that they had found a dead Indian woman, but they didn't know
whether it was an osh or a car as everyone was going out to the
place where the body was found. I hired a taxi and Margaret Walters and
I went out to the place. When we got there, the body was
already in a box and I did not get to see it. But when
I noticed that the body was found at the same place where Kelsey and Brian
Burkhardt assisted Anna Brown out of the car the night we drove out the Gray
Horse Road, then I knew it was Anna Brown's body they found. I
never mentioned it to anyone that it was Anna Brown or that we had been
out riding with her. Kelsey Morrison had threatened me several times that if I
did not keep my mouth shut, and I was afraid to say anything about
it. On the night of January ninth, nineteen twenty six, I went
with mister Smith, mister Parker, and mister Tom Hubbard to my house in
Fairfax and we started from there, going over the same route that we traveled
when Brian Burkhart, Kelsey Morrison, Anna Brown, and I went riding the
night that I last saw Anna Brown alive, when she was assisted out of
the car by Brian and Kelsey close to the ravine where her body was found.
I would have told about this, but I did not have any confidence
in the officers of Osh County, and I knew that if I told them
that Kelsey Morrison would soon learn about it and either kill me or have someone
else kill me. My name is Matt M. Williams. I now reside
at Pahuska, Oklahoma. During the time I lived at Ralston and Pahuska,
Oklahoma, I became well acquainted with W. K. Hale. In fact,
had business dealings with him and was closely associated with him for the past
twenty years. In the year nineteen twenty one, in the month of May,
I think about the seventeenth of May, Brian Burkhardt and Anna Brown came
to my room over the First National Bank in Ralston, and Brian Burkhardt bought
from Fred Shorty Wheeler two courts of whiskey and paid Wheeler fifteen dollars. Brian
Burkhart at the time remarked that he had to take care of some business for
Uncle Bill Hale that night and that Kelsey Morrison was going to meet them at
the end of the Arkansas River Bridge at Ralston. I remember the date quite
well, as that was the time Anna Brown was last seen alive on Saturday
night, preceding the week when she was found murdered. Three or four days
after Anna Brown was found dead, Kelsey Morrison saw me at Pahusca and told
me that Bill Hale had had him do the worst job he had ever pulled,
and that Hale had promised him five thousand dollars and had paid him two
hundred and now refused to pay him the balance, and that the job was
a terrible one. That while Brian Burkhardt was loving Anna Brown, he Morrison
knocked her on the head from behind with a pistol and she hollered so loud
and showed so much life that Morrison and Brian Burkhardt carried her from the car
to where she was found murdered and laid her down, and she still had
some life, and he Morrison shot her in the back of the head with
a gun. Morrison further stated to me that Catherine Cole was with them on
the party for a while and that that they had let her out of the
car before Anna Brown was killed. Morrison also told me that if Hale did
not pay him in full for killing Anna Brown, he was going to kill
Bill Hale a few days later, Hale came to my room at Ralston about
three o'clock in the morning and told me he was afraid that damn son of
a bitch Kelsey Morrison was going to squeak about the Anna Brown killing and asked
me if I could help him keep Morrison's mouth shut. I then told Hale
I thought if he would pay Morrison it would be all right. Hale then
asked me to see Morrison and use my influence in keeping his mouth shut,
and I told Hale I did not think Morrison could afford to Holler. I
later saw Morrison and told him what Hale had said to me, and Morrison
said Hale had given him some more money, but if he did not pay
him the balance, he would bump him off too. I asked Hale what
he had Anna Brown bumped off for, and he said so Ernest Burkhardt's wife
could get the Anna Brown estate. Three days after Ron was found, I
met John Ramsey at Mike Foley's hotel at Fairfax, and Ramsey told me about
killing Henry Roan, where he was found shot. That he Ramsey had done
as Hale told him to do. That he had told Rome to meet him
out there alone to get some whiskey, and when Ron met him, Ramsey
opened the side door of the car and shot Roan in the back of the
head, and that Hale had promised him five thousand dollars, that Hale had
only paid him five hundred and given him a Ford car, and that he
Ramsey asked me to help prevail on Hale to pay the balance of the money.
I afterwards talked to Hale about the balance of the money due Ramsey for
killing Ron, and Hale told me that he had told Ramsey he would pay
him the balance when he collected the insurance, and that's what the agreement he
had with Ramsey for the killer of Henry Roan. Hale told me several times
that he had everything square to Osage County from the road overseer to the top,
and he was exempt from prosecution for the murders, and that rowan insurance
policy. I then told Hale that he had better be careful about pulling off
jobs on restricted Indian lands, and Hale told me he had talked to his
lawyers about government jurisdiction. And Hale said his lawyers had told him that the
government had no jurisdiction and he was in the clear so far as the government
was concerned. My name is Dewey's self. I was living with my wife
near Pahuska in May nineteen twenty five. I had just got back from Colorado.
Kelsey Morrison, who was in the Pahuska County jail, sent word to
me to come to the jail and see him. I went to the jail
and saw Kelsey. Kelsey asked me if I would do him a favor.
I told him I would. He said that he felt I was the only
one he could trust to do it. Kelsey said that he wanted to make
some arrangements to get shut of Catherine, his wife, because she knew too
much about the Anna Brown murder deal. Kelsey said that he would give me
a note to Bill Hale and that Hale would fix the arrangements for getting shut
of Catherine. Kelsey did not offer me any money to help him get shut
of Catherine, but said that Bill Hale would foot the bill whatever it was.
Kelsey gave me the note to Bill Hale, which said that I was
a friend of his and that Hale could trust me to the full extent.
I didn't take the note to Hale the same day that Kelsey Morrison gave it
to me. But it was a few days later that I went to Fairfax
and found Bill Hale in a pool hall where I gave him the note.
As I remember, I believe it was the latter part of may or the
first day or so in June nineteen twenty five that I gave Hale the note.
When Hale read the note Kelsey Morrison sent him, he asked me if
I wanted to help do the job. I told him yes. Bill Hale
told me to go on back to Pahusca and that he would send a fellow
around to see me about the plans. Two or three days later, when
I was not at my home in Pahusca, a fella came to my house
and left a note for me to call him when I came home. He
left an address for me to call a hotel, which I don't remember now
was in Tonkawa, Oklahoma. This fellow gave the name of Little Skeet.
When I came home, I called the address he left, but I could
not get him. I called again the next day and got him. He
told me he would be over in Pahuska to see me. I told him
I would either be at the Papa Hotel or American Cafe. He came over
that same day. I met him at the American Cafe. We commenced to
lay out our plans where we would take Catherine Morrison. We decided that I
was to take Katherine out on a drinking party with some others and go out
on Dial Hill just back of Pauhuska. That Little Skeet was to be close
by Dial Hill in another car, and when I got out on the hill,
if I had Katherine with me, I was to blow my horn,
pretending that it was accidentally blown. If I did not have Catherine with me,
I was to flash my spotlight up and down. That if I blew
my horn to let Little Skeet know that I had Katherine with me, then
Little Skeet was to drive up to where our party was parked and hijack our
party and shoot Katherine, and the rest of our party would not think that
it was planned to kill her. Little Skeet stayed in Paalhuska during the last
part of June nineteen twenty five. Just a few days before the fourth of
July, I told Little Skeat that I would make up a party that night
and try to get Catherine Morrison to go along. He said he would go
out near dal Hill and if I got her to go along, when I
got out to the hill for me to give the signal to him. That
night, I was riding around with a boy from Joplin, Missouri, whose
name I've forgotten. This boy borrowed George Brunt's car. We drove down to
where Marie Benson was living and I got her to go along with us.
We then drove to white House, Pool Hall, where Luther Province worked,
and as soon as he got off work we picked him up in our car.
Then drove down to the Markell Hotel where Luther got Katherine Morrison and a
ukulele. We drove out on seventeenth or eighteenth Street and got a gallon of
chalk beer. Katherine Morrison had a gallon of chalk hid somewhere and we got
that too. We then drove out on Dial Hill, I doing the driving.
Then as soon as we got out on the hill, I pulled off
the road and stopped. I was afraid to go through with the plan,
and instead of blowing my horn to let little Skeet know, I had Katherine
and our party. I flashed my spotlight to let him know that I didn't
have her. Little Skeet, who has parked a little below us at the
foot of the hill, then drove off. We drank the chalk that we
had. Then we ran down to Pehusca and got some jake. We drank
this and then drove around for a while. We took Luther home, then
took Marie home. Catherine would not get out at her hotel, so we
drove on down to the Model Rooms and got a room for her and put
her to bed. She was pretty drunk. Then after I put Catherine to
bed, I went down to the Pan American Cafe, where I met Little
Skeet. Little Skeet asked me what was the matter I could not get Catherine
Morrison to go to the party with me. I told Little Skeet that Catherine
was off somewhere drunk and I couldn't find her. Little Skeet then said that
he didn't care, that he was kind of proud of it, that he
had half the money and he would just keep it anyway. He asked me
if I wanted part of the five hundred dollars Hail had given him half of
which was to go to me, and I told him I didn't want it.
I was afraid of getting in a jam if I took any of the
money. Little Skeet left for Tonkawa, and he told me he was going
to leave Tonkawa, but he did not tell me just where he was going.
When I took the note to Bill Hale that Kelsey Morrison gave me,
and after I told Hale that I would help put Catherine out of the way,
Hale told me he would pay me five hundred dollars for my part of
it, that he would pay half of it before the job was done,
and then he would send a guy to me with money, and when we
done the deal, he would pay us the other five hundred dollars. About
the twelfth or thirteenth of November nineteen twenty five, Frank Kramer, Bessie Rusk,
Grace, Roan Madison, and I rode in Grace's Buick car from Pahuska
to Ralston and got in Ralston about ten or eleven o'clock that night. We
drove to the Jones Hotel and I let Frank and the girl out and they
took the baggage to the rooms. I took the car to the garage across
from the Jones Hotel to get the extra tire fixed. The reason we drove
to Ralston was because Bill Hale called me over to the telephone and told me
he wanted to see me. I got the call and talked to Bill Hale
from the Pan American Cafe, but Hale called me at the Papin Hotel.
When Hale talked to me over at the telephone, he said he would meet
me at Raston at one of the filling stations. There was only two filling
stations in Ralston. When I got to the garage and filling station to get
the extra tire fixed, Bill Hale was not there. Finally, Hale came
and asked me why we came to do him as we'd done. I told
Hale that I never did see that other guy that he was to send me.
Bill Hale then told me that he thought it would be a good idea
for me to leave that part of the country for a while. I told
him all right if he thought so. Hale asked me if I was broke,
and I told him I was. Hale then gave me one hundred dollars
and told me to take that as that was all he had with him.
Hale then asked me if I was to stay in Roston that night, and
I told him know that I was going to leave right out. Hale told
me to be sure and leave the country. To enjoy this and other episodes
from the True Crime Historian archive without commercial interruption, feel free to join us
at www dot patreon dot com slash true Crime Historian. We're still finding and
dusting off old stories for your horror and indignation. On May twenty seventh,
nineteen twenty one, decomposed and swollen corpse of Anna Brown was found in a
ravine just off the Pehuska Fairfax Road and not far from the road which leads
from Greyhorse. The hunters who found the body went at once to Fairfax and
notified an undertaker, who with doctors J. G. And D. A.
Shoun, proceeded to the place and found a crowd of persons had assembled.
The body was identified as being that of Anna Brown, and a rude
autopsy was held showing that death had resulted from a gunshot wound, evidently from
a thirty two caliber revolver, the bullet entering the head from the rear.
It was very evident that death had taken place in a number of days prior
to that time, and the last time that Anna Brown was seen alive was
on the night of May the twenty second, nineteen twenty one. The undertaker
and doctors made a very hurried examination, and for some reason they began their
search for the boy bullet by opening the skull by sawing it in half vertically
rather than removing a cap horizontally. They were unable to find the bullet and
the body was buried, although half of the skull was preserved by the undertaker.
W. E. Smith, the husband of Rita, suspecting the parties
responsible in the entire county, having been disturbed over the many murders and mysterious
disappearances of Indians shortly, theretofore immediately started an investigation independent of the authorities,
and it soon became known that through an expenditure of a large amount of money,
Smith had acquired sufficient evidence to justify his suspicions that Hale was responsible for
the death. There was no doubt but Anna Brown was dead and that the
state of Lizzie Q her mother, had acquired at least half of her property.
The next expected happening actually occurred. Two months after Anna Brown died.
Old Lizzie Hugh passed away at a home of her daughter, Molly Burkhardt,
the wife of Ernest and the niece of Bill Hale by marriage, and with
her death, the estate augmented by half of Anna Brown's, passed in balk
to the Burkharts. Brian Burkhardt was arrested and charged with the murder of Anna
Brown in the state courts. Hale furnished bond for him, and Brian was
acquitted. Things apparently were running favorable to Hale and his nephews, and nothing
of particular interest in the story occurred until January nineteen twenty three, other than
the finding of the bodies of Joe Gray Horse, Anna Sandford, and others
who evidently had been victims of similar plots. Anna Brown had a cousin,
a full blooded Osage Indian named Henry Roane, who in January nineteen twenty three
was living with his wife, Mary, also a full blooded Osage, and
their children at Fairfax, Oklahoma. Roan frequently left home for as much as
three or four weeks at a time on drunken sprees, so that when He
left the house on January twenty sixth, nineteen twenty three, and was not
seen for several days. There was no excitement. However, on February sixth,
an Indian boy ran across an automobile in a swale or small canyon,
about five miles northwest of Fairfax and about two hundred yards from the road.
He ran to Fairfax and brought two officers, who found Roan's body on the
front seat of his car, where he evidently had been dead several days,
shot through the head from the rear. An inquest did not develop any information
other than he had come to his death by a gunshot wound. This in
itself was not particularly indicative, but a short time thereafter, Hale presented for
payment and insurance policy issued by Capital Life Insurance Company of Colorado for twenty five
thousand dollars on the life of Henry Rome. The company refused to pay the
indemnity on the ground of fraud and misrepresentation, and Hale entered suit in the
federal court. This brought forth an examination of the various court records, which
in themselves disclosed that at the time Ron petitioned the District Court of Osage County
for the appointment of a guardian. He owed Hale six thousand dollars balanced due
on the purchase of a house in Fairfax, and there evidently was no other
ensurable interest of Hale in the life of Rome. A short time prior to
his death, Roan was known to have had some personal difficulties with one Roy
Bunch, a white man who was unduly attentive to Ron's wife. It was
known that Roan and Bunch had been looking for each other on several occasions when
use would be made of arms. Therefore, when Ron's body was found,
a rumor started that Bunch was responsible for the death. This rumor appeared to
be confirmed by the fact that Bunch mary Gron's widow. A very short time
after the finding of Rone's body. The rumor was started by Hale himself.
There appears to have been at the time no serious attempt to identify and prosecute
anyone for Ron's murder. Statement of John Ramsay, January sixth, nineteen twenty
six. Sometime in the early part of nineteen twenty three, the date I
don't recall, Bill Hale came to Henry Grammer's ranch, where I was working
for Grammar selling whiskey. I was in the bunk house and Henry Grammer called
me. I went out and saw him in Hale standing together. I walked
over to them, and the three of us walked out several yards to a
road and stopped. Henry Grammer turned to me and said that Hale had a
little job he wanted done, and asked me if I would do it.
I said, it depends on what the job was. Grammer said he wanted
an Indian bumped off. I said that's different. Hale, Grammar and I
then talk the matter over for a few minutes. I don't recall just what
was said, but I remarked that I would look it over, and I
went back to the bunk house. In a few days. Grammer told me
that Hale was getting anxious to have that job done, as I remember.
The next time I saw Hale was in Fairfax and we had another talk about
the Indian he wanted killed, and I told him I would do the job,
but that I did not have any way to get around. Hale said
that he would see me in a day or two, or in a few
days. I again met Hale at Ranch and Hale told me he was going
to buy me a car and gave me five hundred dollars. Something was said
about where I would buy it the car, and I said I would buy
it at Ponka City, and something was said about my getting over there,
and Hale said he would drive me over to Pawnee, which he did,
and I caught the train there. I went to ponk A City, where
I bought a new Ford Roadster from the Ford garage. Before I received the
car, I made application and the Ford people secured a license. I drove
back to Grammar's ranch. At some stage of the game, Hale pointed out
to me the Indian that he wanted killed on the street in Fairfax. I
don't remember Hale ever telling me the indian's name. Several days after Hale pointed
this Indian out to me, I met this Indian in a restaurant in Fairfax
and he sat down beside me, and I smelled whiskey on his breath and
we got into a conversation about whiskey. Told him I could sell him some.
He said he wanted some, and I told him to meet me out
at the road running through the saw smith's pasture about ten o'clock and I would
meet him and have the whiskey for him. I left him and went to
Grammar's and got some whiskey and drove back on the road leading through saw Smith's
Pasture and found this Indian sitting in his car waiting at a point near Salt
Creek. I drove up and got out of my car and we took several
drinks from a bottle I had. I then got my car and went to
Fairbanks. Several times after that I met this Indian and gave him drinks.
This went on for several days, and I was trying to rib up a
little more courage. Finally, one day I decided to pull the job.
Everything being favorable, so I told this Indian to meet me out on the
road running through Smith's Pasture and that I would have some whiskey for him.
I told him about what point on the road I would meet him. So
he went out on one road and I on another. We met about the
foot of the big hill near saw Creek. I motioned for him to go
up on top of the hill, which he did and stopped. I drove
up and I saw a car coming and I told him to drive off under
the hill, which he did. I got out of my car, and
when the car I had seen past, I then walked down under the hill
where I found him wait him for me. He got out of the car
and we sat on the running board of his car and drank that whiskey I
had. The Indian then got in his car to leave, and then I
shot him in the back of the head. I suppose I was within a
foot or two of him when I shot him. I then went back to
my car and drove to Fairfax. In a few days I saw Hale and
told him enough for him to understand that I had killed the Indian. There
was very little said at this time. Some time later I again met Hale
and there was something said about paying me the balance of five hundred dollars,
Hale saying he would pay it a little later, as he would have more
money then, and I told him that was all right and I didn't need
it. Then, sometime within a month or two, Hale paid me the
balance due of five hundred dollars, some several days I don't remember just how
long, but something like ten days, this Indian's body that I killed was
found, and as I remember, that was the first time I found out
that his name was Henry Rome signed John Ramsay Statement of Ernest Burkhardt, Guthrie,
Oklahoma, January sixth, nineteen twenty six. Sometime several weeks before Henry
Roan was found murdered, I went with Bill Hale to Henry Grammer's ranch,
and while there, Bill Hale called my attention to a man who was there
working for Grammar, and told me this man's name was John Ramsey, and
that he was a man who would stand pat and keep his mouth shut.
That on one occasion in the past, Henry Grammar was caught with some stolen
cattle, and that Grammar got Ramsey to say that he stole the cattle,
which cleared Grammar, and that Ramsey served a sentence in McAllister of Penitentiary for
the theft of these cattle. Sometime around one year and a half before Ron's
death, Hale took out a policy on Henry Roan's life for twenty five thousand
dollars and told me the reason he got this policy was on account of the
fact that Henry Roan having family trouble and drinking very hard, and he had
made one attempt to commit suicide, and he did not figure he would live
long after Hale and I left Grammar's ranch, and after he pointed out Ramsey
to me, Hale said he believed he would put Ramsey on Henry Rohan's trail,
and that Ramsey could either give him some poison whiskey or shoot him and
lay a gun beside it, and everybody would think he had committed suicide.
A few days later, Ramsey came down to Fairfax and I was walking down
the street and ran on to Ramsey and Bill Hale talking something about buying a
Ford Roadster at Ponca City. After Ramsey left, Hale told me he had
given Ramsey money to buy a Ford Roadster, as Ramsey had no way to
get around and kill Roan and get away, that it would be necessary for
Ramsey to steer Roan around and keep up with him and get him to a
place where he could dump him. In a few days, Ramsey returned to
Fairfax and a new Ford Roadster, which I understood he bought at Ponca City.
I saw Ramsey round town in this car for the next few days.
About a week before Henry Rohan's body was found, Ramsey walked up to me
on the street at Fairfax and inquired for Hale. I told him I did
not know where he was. Ramsey then told me to tell Hale that the
job was all right and not to worry that had happened out in the soul
Smith pasture. I later saw Hale and told him what Ramsey had said.
Ramsey left Fairfax, going to his home at Ripley. In a few days,
Ramsey came back to Fairfax and later went to Grammar's place. Shortly thereafter,
Henry Rohan's body was found dead in his car. A few days later,
Ramsey came back to Fairfax and stayed a short time and went on to
Ripley. Sometime after Ron's body was found, possibly a month later, Bill
Hale told me he had paid Ramsey the balance he owed Ramsey for killing Roan,
which made the job cost him the Ford car and the balance being a
total of one thousand dollars. Sometime after Rone was found dead, I asked
Ramsey how it happened, and Ramsey said he met Roan on the road running
from Fairfax to Burbank and got in Roane's car with him sitting on the back
seat, and they drove off under the hill. He telling Ron that he
could take a drink, and when they got to the right place out of
side of the road, he shot Rome and walked back to the top of
the hill where he had met Roan and left his car. Then he drove
on to Fairfax. He shot Roan with a forty five automatic pistol. Signed
Ernest Burkhardt statement by John Mayo, convict in Kansas State Penitentiary, Lansing,
Kansas, February sixth, nineteen twenty six. I was raised at Chickasha,
Oklahoma, and went to Webb City, Oklahoma, in January nineteen twenty three.
Asa Kirby and myself operated a rooming house at Webbs City from January nineteen
twenty three to April nineteen twenty four. During this time, Bill Smith's home
at Fairfax, Oklahoma was blown up and Smith and his wife and servant girl
were killed. During this time, I was around Henry Grammer's place a good
deal and saw John Ramsey at Grammar's place several times. About two weeks before
Bill Smith's house was blown up, John Ramsey came to the rooming house that
Asa Kirby and I were running at Webb City and had private conference with Asa
Kirby. The following morning, asa Kirby took me out into the country near
Webb City in his car and told me we could get two thousand dollars to
kill a man in a squaw, meaning Bill Smith and his wife. A
few days later, Kirby came to our rooming house at Webb City with a
roll of fuse about one hundred feet long and some dynamite caps and told me
we would get ready to go over to Fairfax and do the job, meaning
to blow up Bill Smith's house and kill Smith and wife. Kirby asked me
if I knew where a nitro magazine was located near Webb City, and I
told him I did not. Kirby then said John Ramsey had told him.
Kirby then said that John Ramsey had told him that there was a magazine on
the road to Call City. The next day, Kirby and myself went to
Henry Grammar's and Kirby looked for a magazine but could not find it, and
we drove to Henry Grammar's and had to talk there. The next day,
John Ramsey came to our house at Webb City and Ramsey and Kirby had a
talk Ramsey drove away from his house in his Ford car and Kirby followed him
in his. Kirby returned to our house later and told me John Ramsey had
showed him where a Nitro magazine was, and the next evening Kirby came to
the house at Webb City with a new five gallon oil can and left the
can there until dark. After dark, Doc Hawkins and Nasa Kirby came to
the house and got the oil can and wrapped it with an old quilt and
put the can in Kirby's car and they drove away between eight and nine pm.
The night before Bill Smith's house was blown up. Kirby returned home after
midnight the same night. The next morning, Kirby had told me he had
taken the stuff meaning night troglyserin over there and left it and was going back
that night as he wanted to be sure Smith and wife were home. The
night Smith's house was blown up, Doc Hawkins and Asa Kirby left our house
in Webb City in Kirby's car about dark. Kirby woke me when he came
in the following morning about five am. About eleven am the same day,
when Kirby got up. Kirby said to me that it was a dandy job
that they heard her explode when they were about seven or eight miles away.
The following day, Kirby went to Grammar's place and returned home the same day.
About two days later, John Ramsey came to our house in Webb City,
and shortly after Ramsey arrived, Doc Hawkins came into the house and Ramsey
told Kirby and Hawkins and my present that they had done a good job.
That they had killed two of them, Smith's wife and a servant girl,
and blowed Smith's privates off, and he was in the hospital and would be
gone in a day or two. One or two days later, Kirby myself
went to Grammars to get some whiskey, and while at Grammar's asa, Kirby
and Grammar went down to Grammer's barn and had a long talk. When Kirby
came back to where I was, he said he would be ready to go
as soon as Grammar gave him some money. Kirby walked to Grammar's back door
and Grammar handed Kirby a big roll of money. We then returned to our
house at Webb City, and Doc Hawkins came into our house. Kirby took
out the roll of money from his pocket and count out five hundred dollars to
Hawkins and told Hawkins that he would get the rest of it if Smith died.
About two days later, John Ramsey called at our house and told Asa
Kirby that Smith was dead and he Kirby would get the rest of the money.
Statement of John Ramsey, as I remember, before I was hired to
kill Henry Roan, through talking with Henry Grammer, where I was then selling
whiskey, I knew that Bill Hale wanted Bill Smith murdered, and I knew
that Henry Grammer was helping Bill Hale to arrange to have him killed. I
can't remember right now the different conversations I had with Grammar which convinced me they
were going to kill Smith. I can't say for sure whether it was before
I killed Henry Roane or after that. Grammar told me that he had a
man to do the job and told me it was Asa Kirby. And in
a little while after Grammer told me Asa Kirby showed up at Grammar's That was
the first time I met him. Grammar was very drunk, and he in
the presence of Asa Kirby, told me Kirby was all right, that he
would do that job he wanted done, and for me to help Kirby all
I could. Kirby then talked to me and asked me what was the job
that Grammer wanted done. I told him that he wanted a squaw man killed
down near Fairfax by the name of Bill Smith. Kirby then said, well,
I wasn't figuring on staying here long and wanted to know what there was
in it for him. I told him I did not know. He said,
well, I'll see Grammar and talk it over with him. I don't
remember now other little details and conversations, but I do remember that The next
thing I took Kirby down near gray Horse, where Bill Smith was living on
a ranch, and pointed out Bill Smith's house to Kirby. The next thing
I remember, in some way is I heard Bill Smith left the country and
had gone to Arkansas. In fact, Ernest Burkhart told me that Smith had
gone to Arkansas, but he did not think he would be gone long,
and for me to tell Kirby. I told Asa Kirby what Ernest Burkhart told
me. The next thing that followed, and I don't know how long after,
Ernest Burkhart came to me and told me that Bill Smith had come back
from Arkansas, and then took me and showed me a house in Fairfax that
Bill Smith was going to move into. The next thing that had happened,
Ernest Burkhart came to me at Ripley, where I had my family, and
told me that Bill Smith had moved into town and told me to tell Asa
Kirby that everything was ready, or words to that effect, and tell him
as quick as I could. I told Ernest my wife was sick and I
would go as soon as I could get away. I'm not sure whether I
went after Kirby that day or the next day. I drove to the little
oil town as I remember, either Webb City or Cooper, where Kirby runs
a rooming house, and met Kirby and told him everything was ready and I
would take him down and show him the house. Kirby and I drove to
Fairfax and I showed him the house that Ernest said Bill Smith lived in.
Kirby asked me if I knew where there was any soup, and said Henry
Grammar had some and if I knew where it was, and I told him
I did not. Then there was something said about there being plenty of soups
stored in the oil field and there would be no trouble for him to get
it if he needed it, that he was not sure whether he'd blow up
Smith or shoot him. As I remember, I went on home. I
suppose Kirby went home. I don't recall exactly when, but soon after that,
possibly the next night, Smith's house was blown up. At some stage
of the game, I don't exactly recall when. Before the blow up,
I asked asa Kirby if he needed any help to do the job, and
he said no. Some few days I don't recall just how long after some
few days I don't recall just how long after the Smith blow up, I
met Kirby and he told me something about doing a good job. After the
blow up, I talked with Grammar and he asked me if i'd seen the
blow up, and he said it was a fair good job. I will
say possibly a week after that I went to Fairfax and saw the blow up.
Neither he nor Grammar paid me anything for the part I did in this.
I was supposed to be just helping out, but at different times since
the blow up, Hale has given me a little money. And whenever I
needed a little money, I let Hale know it, and he never failed
to favor me. Henry Grammer told me that he paid Asa Kirby for the
job, and I asked Asa if he got a settlement for the job,
and he said, Henry Grammar paid all but a little. That Grammar came
up to pay him all, but got on a drunk and spent a few
hundred dollars, but later paid it all. I just got one thing to
say. Www dot Patreon dot com, slash true crime historian, that's it.
W. E. Smith, the husband of Rita and the brother in
law of Anna Brown, was living in a comfortable home. Smith had continued
his active investigation of the murder of Anna Brown and had an open break with
Hale due not only to his letting it be known that he had evidence involving
Hale in the murder of Anna, but also because of a demand which he
had made upon Hale for six thousand dollars and which Hale had refused to pay.
Smith was known to be apt to take action to enforce his claim against
Hale, and at two o'clock on the morning of March tenth, nineteen twenty
three, less than two months after the finding of Henry Rohane's body, Smith's
home at Fairfax was blown up, his wife, Rida and the servant Nettie
Brookshire are being killed instantly, and Smith himself being mutilated, so that he
died within a few days, but not before making a dying declaration to the
effect that the only enemies he had in the world were Hale and the Burkharts.
With the passing of Rita Smith, the last of the members of the
family of Lizzie Q was done away with, leaving alone her daughter Mollie,
who now lives in Pahusco with her husband Ernest Burkhardt, the nephew of Hale.
And in addition to the wiping out of the six thousand dollars claim which
Smith held against Hale, Rida's property, it was felt also would go to
the surviving sister, Molly Burkhart. However, a will had been made by
Rita and her husband under which the survivor of the two was to acquire the
estate of the first to die, and Smith having survived, Rita by approximately
four days all of the proper he went to a daughter of Smith's by a
former marriage, a girl in Arkansas. Unknown to Hale and the Burkharts,
the debris of once had been a home remained for some time a horrible monument
to Hale, But neither he nor anyone else for that matter, was run
down until the Department of Justice sent into the country a number of its men,
carefully selected because of their knowledge of Indian and frontier life, their indomitable
courage and persistence over seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The blast that shook Fairfax also shook
the Osage Tribal Council to action. In desperation, the Indians appealed to Washington.
A lawyer composed their resolution, which said, whereas several members of the
Osage Tribe have been murdered and many other crimes committed against members of the tribe,
be it resolved that the Honorable Secret Terry of the Interior be requested to
obtain the services of the Department of Justice in capturing and prosecuting the murderers of
the members of the Osage Tribe. The appeal was relayed to the FBI,
and the order went out, launching an investigation that was to last for three
years and become one of the classic man hunts and FBI history. FBI agents
moved into Fairfax and found an almost impenetrable wall of fear. People were afraid
to talk, and witnesses who might have given information had long since disappeared.
There were rumors that sent the agents off for days at a time on false
leads. Someone they knew was deliberately planting stories to confuse their search, but
the hunt continued. No one in Fairfax paid any particular attention when four strangers
drifted into town one by one, a cattle buyer, an insurance salesman,
an oil prospector, and an Indian herb doctor. They went about their business,
minding their own affairs. Weeks passed without a break in the case,
but then a signal was passed and the four strangers met one night in the
bad lands to pool their information and plan their next moves. The cattle buyer
was the oldest, and he was the FBI agent in charge for this special
undercover detail. After hearing the reports, he summed up, quote, here's
where we stand. Anna Brown was killed on unrestricted land, and so were
Bill and Rita Smith. We have no jurisdiction there, but Henry Ronehors was
killed on government land, and that's our case. If we can break that
case, I figure we'll find all the killers. The others agreed. Months
passed. The four strangers met under the star in the o Sage Hills to
exchange information, and each time they met they had a bit more information about
the circumstances surrounding the murders. Gradually the picture was taking form, and the
man in the picture was William K. Hale. Finally, the agent in
charge told his men, Hale is our man, without a doubt. He
had a twenty five thousand dollar insurance policy on Henry Roan's life and had looked
as if he was working to get the estates of Lizzie Q and her daughters
centered in the hands of that nephew of his. But we have yet to
prove it. But prove it they did. The wall against which they had
pounded so long crumbled slowly but steadily. From the bad lands came a tip
that a certain convict in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary knew something about the murders.
The agents found that convict, who hated Hale was ready to talk. He
said, go see Ernest Burkhardt. He can tell you everything you want to
know. This dove tailed with other information collected over the months. The agents
confronted Burkhardt with what they had and what they suspected. Hale's nephew was the
weak link. He broke and told the agents how Hale had dominated him all
his life. He named the killers of Henry Roanehorse and the Smiths. He
said that his uncle had plotted the murders. One by one, the killers
confessed in each case. They pointed the finger at Hale, and the story
unfolded of how Ace Kirby had been double crossed after he blew up the smith
home, how they posed as medicinemen, prospectors, cattlemen, how many times
were framed, how they were hunted and lost, how they uncovered scores of
false leads and faked confessions, how they gathered from all parts of the country
small bits of evidence, and finally, why they took prisoner. The King
of the o Sage will not be told until the evidence comes from the witnesses
on the stand. June third, nineteen twenty six, Kelsey Morrison, twenty
three years old, Tuesday, admitted from the witness stand that he killed Anna
Brown, an Osage Indian woman whose body was found in a ravine near Fairfax
in nineteen twenty two. Morrison was testifying as a state witness in the trial
of Ernest Burkhardt, charged with the slaying of W. E. Smith,
O Sage County rancher. Morrison related the W. K. Hale, alleged
by officers to be the mastermind of the O Sage reign of horror, had
given him six hundred dollars in an automobile for killing Anna Brown, a sister
of Missus Smith and Missus Burkhardt, and a daughter of Lizzie Q, wealthy
woman now deceased. Hale urged him to kill Smith and his wife. Morrison
testified, and offered him money to shoot them. Burkhart, he said,
had asked him why he didn't go ahead and go through with it, and
asked me how much I wanted to do the job unquote. Morrison's public confession
came after he had been informed by the judge that testimony given would not be
used against him in the case. Edward Dabney, Assistant Attorney General and State
prosecutor, explained to the court that Morrison had given the statement to him and
another prosecuting attorney at Guthrie after they had informed Morrison that the judge would grant
him immunity. Morrison, on the stand said that Hale had talked to him
at one time at one of his ranch houses and told Morrison that Bill Smith
had quote Dunham dirty unquote and asked how much he was would take to kill
the whole bunch. Morrison said, quote. I told him I would study
about it. I talked to him later in one of his pastors. Hale
wanted me to shoot Smith. Later, he wanted me to set fire to
their house and shoot Smith and his wife as they ran out. I was
out with Burkhart and Hale in a pasture at a later time. Hale asked
me if I was going on through with it, and that if I wasn't,
he would get someone else. I told him I didn't believe I wanted
to do it. I had a conversation with Burkhart at the side of the
road at another time. He asked me if I was going to go on
through with it. He asked me why I didn't go on and kill Bill
Smith. I told him I didn't know anything about it because Hale had been
talking to me. He said if I'd go on through with it, he
would make it right with me later. That he didn't have any money then,
He said he would have all the money in the country someday. Unquote,
Morrison spoke in a low with eyes downcast, apparently nervous. His answers
to questions asked by attorneys came after long intervals of apparent thought. Quote.
He asked me how much I wanted to do the job, and I told
him I did not want to do it. I told him I knew who
he could get. I said this party would have to have the money down.
He said he didn't have it then, but he would when the job
was pulled. Hale said I was to get three thousand dollars. He said
Smith and his wife had a joint will, and if one got killed,
both should be killed at once. He said, if I did not lose
my nerve, Ernest would get it all and I would be taken care of.
He meant by all that Burkhardt would get the head right of the Lizzie
Q family, Molly's Burkhart, Anna Brown and Missus Smith. Hale told me
after the death of Anna Brown that it was a good job I killed her.
I was hired by Hale in nineteen twenty one. He came to me
one day and asked me what I would due for one thousand dollars. I
told him most anything. He said he wanted me to kill Anna Brown.
He paid me six hundred dollars once and later bought me a car. William
K. Hale fought back, and one of the bitterest trials ever held in
the Southwest. He boasted when arrested that he could raise a million dollar bond
if necessary, and he must have spent a chunk of money. The court
room battles were highlighted by charges of bribery perjury threats against witnesses. Bill Hale's
battery of lawyers almost succeeded in winning freedom for him. The federal district court
held in his first trial that the government had no jurisdiction, but the US
Supreme Court reversed this decision. The second trial ended in a hung jury after
a defense witness gave perjeak testimony. The perjurer was convicted. Hale was convicted
on the third trial, but the fight hadn't been won. The verdict was
set aside on the ground that the trial had been held in the wrong district.
On the fourth try, Hale was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
That was January twenty sixth, nineteen twenty nine. In Osage County. The
Indian's Tribal Council assembled again, and this time they adopted a resolution voicing,
quote, our sincere gratitude for the splendid work done in the matter of the
investigating and bringing to justice the parties charged with the murders of members of the
o Sage tribe of Indians unquote. The bloody reign of the King of the
Osage Hills had ended. The FBI had closed one of its most fantastic cases
in its files. Epilogue. Bill Hale was sentenced to life in prison,
but was paroled on July thirty first, nineteen forty seven. He spent some
of the rest of his life in Montana working as a ranch hand, but
died in Arizona in nineteen sixty two and was buried in Wichita, Kansas Byron
Burkhardt turned state's evidence and never served any time. His brother, Ernest was
sentenced to life in state court and was sent to Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAllister,
Oklahoma. He was relieved in nineteen fifty nine and received a pardon in
nineteen sixty six from Governor Henry Bellman. That was the King of the Osage
Hills, a terrible reign of murder. The statement of Catherine Cole was read
by Susan Furman. Incidental music by Niko Vitessi. Theme music by Dave Sam's
and Rachel Shott. Engineered by David Hish at Third Street Music. Media management
by Sean R. Jones, Production assistant by Emily seymer Brown and I'm True
Crime historian Richard O. Jones signing off for now.