WEBVTT

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Pludert com Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,
January fourth, nineteen twenty six. The

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Osage murder mystery, as dramatic as
any created by novelist's pen, today seem

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nearer a solution. Federal and state
officers working in Unison were closing a net

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around suspected members of a murdering that
is believed to have been responsible for the

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deaths of nearly a score of O
Sage Indians and white persons. Action was

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divided today between Guthrie, where a
federal grand jury is convening to consider the

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testimony of about one hundred and forty
witnesses, and the O Sage Country,

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where state officials are expected to arrest
several suspects. The murders are believed the

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outgrowth of a conspiracy to gain possession
of the fortunes of the victim, estimated

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to total two million dollars. Although
the most recent of the crimes was committed

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about three years ago, none of
the perpetrators has yet been brought to justice.

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Numerous investigations have been launched and seemingly
have been abandoned because it seemed impossible

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to obtain information. Federal secret servicemen
have been working quietly on the cases,

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however, and two weeks ago the
state was invited to participate in a roundup

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of the suspects. It seemed probable
solution of the case would revolve around the

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dynamiting of the w Smith home in
Fairfax three years ago. Smith, his

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wife, and Anna Brookshire, a
servant, were killed by the explosion.

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Some of the persons whose deaths were
seemingly connected with the case were Anna Brown,

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wealthy o Sage woman shot to death, Ace Kirby white Man shot,

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Henry Rome, Anna Brown's cousin shot, Charles Whitehorn kinsman of Anna Brown shop.

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George Bigheart, son of the last
Osage hereditary chief, died in an

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Oklahoma City hospital after a brief mysterious
illness. Charles Vaughn, big Heart's attorney,

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found dead on railroad ride of boy
near Pershing after consulting with big Heart

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in Oklahoma City. William Stepson,
associate of Henry Roane, died presumably of

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alcoholic poisoning. Big Annie Sandford died
after short and puzzling illness. Lizzie Kuku,

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mother of Anna Brown and Missus Smith, died after mysterious illness. Deaths

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of five other Indians of less prominence
were believed to have been connected with the

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Caves. Information charging William K.
Hale of Fairfax, known as the King

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of the Osage Hills, Ernest Burkhardt
M. A. Boyd, former Deputy

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Sheriff of Osage County, and Bert
Lawson, prisoner in the Levenworth Penitentiary with

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the slaying of W. E.
Smith March tenth, nineteen twenty three,

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was filed by the State's Attorney's office. Here today, True Crime Historian presents

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from the official files a true crime
story called from Historic Documents in Law Enforcement

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Archives, Episode two hundred and fourteen
digs deep into the files of the FBI

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and one of its early successful investigations
during the tenure of J. Edgar Hoover,

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when the Bureau of Investigations as it
was called, then looked into the

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murder of as many as sixty to
seventy O Sage Indians in Oklahoma. The

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files include a report by agent Frank
Smith, as well as statements from informants

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who helped break the conspiracy. True
Crime Historian welcomes guest reader Susan Furman as

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Catherine Cole, one of these informants. I'm true crime Historian Richard O.

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Jones, and I bring you The
King of the Osage Hills, a terrible

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reign of murder. The story of
the Osage Murders is the story of the

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land where the Bad Old West never
died. It is the story of a

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crime that spread its dark, devious
paths over a background of ignorance, greed,

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superstition, and sly craft. A
story that, however depressing, is

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nevertheless blown through with the breath of
the romantic devil may care frontier West that

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we thought was gone. And it
is an amazing story too, so amazing

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that at first you wonder if it
can possibly have happened. In modern twentieth

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century America, seventeen men and women
have been murdered. One William K.

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Hale, picturesquely known as the King
of the Osage Hills, is lodged in

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jail with various alleged henchmen on a
charge of first degree murder. A two

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million dollar fortune is at stake.
A grim tragedy is coupled with a humorless

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irony in the background of these strange
murders of the o Sage Hills. To

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understand them, you must know something
of this background. Otherwise, the whole

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thing is inexplicable. It goes back
nearly half a century to eighteen eighty three,

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in fact, when the Osage Tribe, a branch of the once dreaded

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Sioux, was granted a haven in
the wilds of unsettled Oklahoma. The Native

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American has never in history received a
square deal from the white man, and

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that occasion was no exception. With
canny care, the Great White Father looked

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over his Oklahoma acres and picked out
the section that was the most utterly bare

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and worthless. This section he gave
to the O Sage tribe forever. The

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O Sages settled on it because there
was nothing else to do. But it

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was unpromising land. It was so
desolate and barren, in fact, that

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all of this one million, five
hundred thousand acres would not grow enough produce

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to support the two thousand odd members
of the tribe, and the Great White

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Father had to dig down and grant
each member a pension of some forty five

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dollars a month. In eighteen eighty
nine, Oklahoma was opened for white settlement,

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and the land around O Sage County
became more or less thickly populated.

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There was competition for land all over
the state, but no white man begrudged

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the O Sages their million and a
half acres. Then, in nineteen o

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six oil was discovered on the O
Sage land. A year or two late,

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more oil was found. In nineteen
twelve came a news strike, a

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monstrous field this time, and the
Great White Father realized all too late that

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the land he had given the outcast
O Sages contained the richest oil field in

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the whole country. Further, it
was too late to do anything about it.

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What happened, well, the O
Sages became, instead of the most

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poverty stricken of red men, the
richest body of people on earth. There

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are just two two hundred and twenty
nine accredited members of the tribe, each

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with an equal share or head right
in the wealth of the oil land.

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This money is collected for them by
the government, and each person's share is

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paid annually. And what do these
annual dividends amount to? Just fifteen thousand

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dollars. That's all. Every O
Sage Indian has a fifteen thousand dollars annual

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income for the rest of his life, except that it may go up as

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new wells go down. And in
addition, many Indians have invested this money

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in oil lands outside the reservation.
Practically every member is a millionaire. Some

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are millionaires many times over. And
here is what started this mysterious train of

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murders. Each Indian's head right or
share in the fabulous wealth of the o

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Sage oil land goes on as death
to his next of kin. Consequently,

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if some white man who had an
Indian wife could kill off all her relatives,

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she would fall heir to a fortune
of many millions of dollars. William

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K. Hale has no Indian wife, but his nephew, Ernest Burkhardt has,

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and though the two are named in
only one indictment, federal investigators hint

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that by the time the Grand Jury
quiz ends, something of this murder by

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wholesale nature will be found to have
been the case. Several relatives of Molly

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Burkhardt, Ernest's Osage wife, have
died under mysterious circumstances, and the annual

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income of Molly and her husband through
inheritance of head rights is now about one

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hundred and thirty five thousand dollars a
year. At all events, it is

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common talk throughout this part of the
country that the great wealth of the O

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Sages has led some of them to
sudden death. Even the porter on the

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train that brought this rider down from
Chicago knew of it. He shook his

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head and remarked, no, sir, I don't want to be no Indian

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in Oklahoma. They just kill them
and throw them in the ditches, that's

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all. Paulhuska, Oklahoma, fourth
nineteen twenty six. The Indians are just

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a bunch of children, says US
agent J. George Wright of Pahuska.

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They're harmless and inoffensive enough, but
they're just children. So now they've got

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so much money. Funny things happen
once in a while. Funny things do

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happen. Indeed, for an example, listen to the story of Catherine Cole

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and Kelsey Morrison. Katherine is an
Osage Indian and Morrison is a white man.

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After each had been to the Altar
three times, they married each other.

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Katherine was very rich because of her
share in the O Sage oil lands,

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and Morrison had accumulated a slice or
two of under an increment through his

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previous marriages. So after their marriage
the two had a fortune that was the

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equivalent of nearly a million dollars.
But Morrison had been brought up among the

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outlaws of the Oklahoma wilds, and
the tree often grows in the direction that

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the bent twig assumes. So Morrison
found it hard to break himself of his

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old habits. In spite of his
wealth, he simply could not keep from

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holding up a bank every now and
then. This habit palled on Catherine,

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who liked things peaceful. Her lectures
on reform likewise palled on Morrison, so

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the two were divorced. Morrison thereupon
married another o sage maiden, but he

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was the same old Morrison, and
at last he robbed one bank too many

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and fell a foul of the law. He is now in the penitentiary,

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serving a life term. Shortly after
Morrison's imprisonment, his wife died. Catherine

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ordinarily did not hold any ill feeling
against the girl who replaced her in Morrison's

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affection, but one night recently she
fell to brooding. The brooding may have

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been made more poignant by the fact
that she drank a quart of white mule

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as she brooded. At all events, when the bottle was empty, she

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got an axe, jumped into her
automobile, and sped to the cemetery.

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There she went to the grave of
Morrison's recently deceased wife, where there had

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been erected by orders of the imprisoned
Morrison, a very costly monument. Catherine

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is strong. She went to work
with the axe, and in a very

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short time the tombstone was wrecked beyond
repair. Catherine was arrested for this,

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however, and given a jail term
of six months for defacing property. She

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accepted it with equanimity and went to
Guthrie to testify in the probe of the

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Osage murder lightheartedly. She is ready
to get married again, she says,

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or will be as soon as she
gets out of jail. Only this time

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she sort of thinks she would like
to marry a white man. From the

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report of Agent Frank E. Smith, the O Sage is located between the

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crooked at Arkansas River and the Kansas
state line in the northeasterly part of Oklahoma,

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and what up to only a few
years ago was barren except for a

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few poor pastures. In fact,
when the Osage tribe was forced to leave

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Kansas and settled into what is now
called O Sage, it was considered that

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they had paid a million, two
hundred thousand dollars for a poor grave for

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the tribe. The area of the
Osage is two two hundred and seventy seven

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square miles, and the total population
increased approximately three hundred and fifty percent between

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nineteen hundred and nineteen twenty, the
last census showing thirty six thousand, five

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hundred and thirty six souls. In
nineteen hundred and one, the mad rush

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for oil already had brought into the
county unscrupulous prospectors, and the county actually

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produced in that year. It was
only a short time thereafter that some two

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thousand Osages found themselves facing the same
problem which drove the Indian from Virginia and

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Massachusetts, which, except for a
slight difference in tactic, was to have

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the same result the ultimate acquisition by
the white Man of all that the Indian

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possessed. Figuratively, the desert blossomed
into a garden of roses, and the

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Oceages overnight became the wealthiest people per
capita in the world. Teen hundred and

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six, there were two two hundred
twenty nine members of the tribe. Today

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there are but one thousand, six
hundred and fifty The federal government on June

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twenty eighth, nineteen oh six,
enact at a law known as the Osage

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Act, under which the two thousand, two hundred and twenty nine members of

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the tribe were to receive through the
government an equal number of shares known as

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head rights, growing out of the
leasing of the property or portions thereof for

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the commercial production of oil, and
the total value of each individual share covering

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the period from nineteen oh six to
the present date is seventy two thousand,

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one hundred and thirty dollars, exclusive
of certain other benefits growing out of civil

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damages. An o Sage born subsequent
to June twenty eighth, nineteen oh six

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would inherit only his proportionate share of
his ancestors head right as one of the

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two thousand, two hundred and twenty
nine enrolled in nineteen oh six, since

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which time the tribe has received a
total of one hundred and eighty five million

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dollars through the government. The acquisition
of this wealth cannot be said to have

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constituted a blessing, either to the
tribe as a whole or the individual members,

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For after all, wealth, while
bringing comfort, also brought disease immorality

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and extravagance, which is appalling.
Modern homes, with all of the present

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day conveniences, have been built for
members of the tribe only to have them

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roll up in their blankets and sleep
in the yard, And in fact,

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many of the homes have a wigwam
or canopy outside in which Indians spend a

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large amount of their time when not
driving over the country in automobiles or away

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on even less wholesome missions. Among
the many adventurous prospectors and other white men

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who had come to Oklahoma, William
Kay Big Bill Hale, who had been

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identified with the cattle business in Texas, an old friend of frontier showmen and

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a man whose desire for riches and
power was devoid of scruple there, either

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came with him or later joined him
in Osage County, his nephews Ernest and

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Brian Burkhardt, who with their brothers
were employed by and under the dominance of

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Hale, who, by one means
in another had acquired sufficient wealth to become

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known as quote the King of the
o Sage unquote. He had in his

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employ from time to time a number
of reckless characters, many of whom were

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either ex convicts or fugitives from justice, and were known killers for a prize.

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Lizzie Q, otherwise known as Lizzie
Kyle, was an o Sage squaw

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who in nineteen twenty was already old
and in bad health. Her own estate

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approximated two hundred thousand dollars. She
had three daughters, Anna, Mollie,

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and Rita. Anna was a dissolute
character and notorious in the Osage, with

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a preference for white men, with
several of whom from time to time she

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had had affairs, and at least
one of whom, Odie Brown, she

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married. In nineteen twenty, her
estate approximated one hundred thousand dollars. Rita

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married one W. E. Bill
Smith, a white man, with whom

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she lived up to the time of
the destruction of both of them. Mollie

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became the wife of Ernest Burkhardt and
is living with him today. Mollie appears

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to have been the first means to
draw to Hale through the Burkharts the assets

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of the entire family. Anna had
been somewhat intimate with at least one of

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the Burkhart boys, but apparently she
was too notorious for even the Burkhart to

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contract a formal marriage. No one
knows what became of her husband, Odie

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Brown. And the disappearance of a
squawman in the Osage, or the remarriage

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of a squall without any inquiry or
investigation into the existence of the husband,

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were matters which too evidently did not
concern anyone. But Anna Brown had money

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and the stake was large. In
nineteen twenty Lizzie q, the aged mother,

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had been brought to Ernest Burkhardt's home
at gray Horse and was living with

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00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:38.440
her daughter. She was the second
of the family taken directly under the wing

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00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:45.200
of Hale in the general scheme.
Early in nineteen twenty one, she developed

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00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:51.039
a malady which very evidently would result
in her death. She had been induced

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00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:55.799
to make a will leaving the bulk
of her estate to Ernest Burkhardt's wife and

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children, and with the control exercised
by the Burkhardts and Hale Well, this

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00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:04.519
meant that the white men really had
the money within their grasp. But there

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00:21:04.519 --> 00:21:11.000
were higher stakes which might be one. If the old woman should outlive Anna

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00:21:11.079 --> 00:21:15.000
Brown, under the law of the
state, the fortune would be increased by

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00:21:15.079 --> 00:21:21.359
half of Anna Brown's whereas if Anna
should outlive her mother, the greater part

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00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:27.359
of her fortune would be diverted to
collaterals. Lizzie Q was sinking and something

214
00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:36.000
had to be done. Let me
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215
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Go ahead, I dare you.
My name is Catherine Cole. My home

225
00:22:51.240 --> 00:22:57.440
is Pahsca, Oklahoma. I am
Osage. I married Kelsey Morrison in May

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00:22:57.640 --> 00:23:03.440
nineteen twenty twenty years old. When
I married, I have never told anyone

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00:23:03.640 --> 00:23:08.319
all I know about the Anna Brown
murder because I was afraid I would get

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00:23:08.440 --> 00:23:14.240
killed. When Anna Brown was killed. I was living with Kelsey Morrison in

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00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:18.599
Fairfax, Oklahoma, on the street
one block west of the Fairfax Hospital,

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00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:23.400
in my own house. On the
night that Anna Brown was killed, just

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00:23:23.519 --> 00:23:29.799
after supper, Kelsey Morrison left my
house and said he was going to town

232
00:23:30.440 --> 00:23:33.839
and said he would be back in
about an hour. I told him to

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00:23:33.880 --> 00:23:37.079
send me a taxi that I wanted
to go to my mother's. As I

234
00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:41.359
remember, it must have been about
six when Kelsey left the house. He

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00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:45.720
did not send me a cab,
nor did he come back to the house.

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00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:51.359
Some time after dark, possibly eight
or eight thirty, Brian Burkhardt drove

237
00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:55.400
up to my house and blowed his
horn, and I thought it was a

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00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:57.799
taxi and went out to the car. When I got to the car,

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00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:04.000
Brian was and Anna Brown was sitting
on the back seat. Brian Burkhart laughed

240
00:24:04.039 --> 00:24:10.599
and spoke and Anna said hello.
I could plainly see that Anna Brown was

241
00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:15.039
very drunk. Anna said something about
going to get a drink or she wanted

242
00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:18.640
a drink, and told me to
get in the car, which I did.

243
00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:25.200
Brian then drove off, going south
on the street I lived on,

244
00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:30.400
then east and then onto the main
highway going to Ralston and Gray Horse and

245
00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:36.480
on out this road and down a
steep hill over a little bridge, and

246
00:24:36.519 --> 00:24:41.880
then east about a quarter of a
mile, and stopped his car some little

247
00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:48.759
distance, possibly fifty or sixty feet
away. I saw a car standing on

248
00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:52.000
the side of the road, but
he had the curtains up, and I

249
00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:56.160
don't know who was in it.
Brian Burkhart got out of his car and

250
00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:02.400
went over to that other car.
Then I heard Brian and some other men

251
00:25:02.440 --> 00:25:07.920
talking, and I recognized the voice
of Kelsey Morrison. Brian Burkhardt then came

252
00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:12.279
back and got in his car with
Anna and I and said that they,

253
00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:18.160
meaning the men he had talked to, were going over there a short ways

254
00:25:18.599 --> 00:25:22.559
and we would go with them.
I saw the other car drive away first,

255
00:25:22.920 --> 00:25:29.000
and we followed. We drove on
a short distance over a round hill

256
00:25:29.480 --> 00:25:33.480
and went through a gate and on
buy an old house, and then on

257
00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:38.200
down the Gray Horse Road toward the
Prahusca Road. Before we got to Pahusca

258
00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:42.759
Road, we turned off the Gray
Horse Road near the head of a ravine

259
00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:48.240
where there are a lot of trees, and stopped. The other car had

260
00:25:48.279 --> 00:25:55.920
stopped on the north side of the
ravine between the ravine and Pahusca Road less

261
00:25:55.920 --> 00:26:00.480
than half a block from where we
stopped. When we stopped, Kelsey Morrison

262
00:26:00.599 --> 00:26:04.880
and the other two men who I
did not know at this time, walked

263
00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:10.720
up to our car. Anna had
been drinking and Kelsey, Anna and the

264
00:26:10.759 --> 00:26:15.839
bunch began joking and talking, and
there was something said about getting another drink.

265
00:26:17.319 --> 00:26:22.039
Some one of the men said something
about having some whiskey hid there and

266
00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:26.680
about taking a drink. Anna Brown
was very drunk, and Brian took her

267
00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:30.519
on the right side and Kelsey on
the left, and walked her off from

268
00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:36.359
the car, going in the direction
of the ravine and towards the head of

269
00:26:36.359 --> 00:26:40.519
the ravine. I looked out and
back from the right side of the car

270
00:26:40.920 --> 00:26:45.079
and cleared my throat as to speak, and Kelsey looked back at me and

271
00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:51.359
said you g D s B.
Keep your mouth shut by it. They

272
00:26:51.400 --> 00:26:55.359
then walked on with Anna Brown and
I did not again look out of the

273
00:26:55.440 --> 00:27:00.720
car. As soon as Anna got
out of Brian's car, there was something

274
00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:06.039
said about going and getting something.
I was still in the car and Brian

275
00:27:06.119 --> 00:27:11.400
Burkhardt was still at the wheel.
Brian immediately drove off with me in the

276
00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:15.319
car and went back in the direction
of Gray Horse, by an old cemetery

277
00:27:15.599 --> 00:27:22.279
and then through Gray Horse, driving
slowly. He did not open his mouth

278
00:27:22.279 --> 00:27:26.920
to me during this time. After
driving around a Gray Horse, he then

279
00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:32.920
turned around and drove on back to
a point near where Anna Brown got out

280
00:27:32.920 --> 00:27:37.160
of the car, and near the
Pahusca road and near a pond, where

281
00:27:37.160 --> 00:27:41.720
we found Kelsey Morrison and the two
men who were with him when we left

282
00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:48.480
Anna Brown. Anna Brown was not
with them, and I never saw her

283
00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:52.400
alive again. When we drove up, Kelsey Morrison told me to come and

284
00:27:52.440 --> 00:27:56.720
get in the car with him,
which I did. This car was a

285
00:27:56.839 --> 00:28:02.720
Ford, as I remember, they
had the curtain up on this Ford car.

286
00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:07.640
When I got out of Bryan's car
and got into the Ford, Brian

287
00:28:07.720 --> 00:28:11.920
turned around and drove back in the
direction where we left Anna Brown, which

288
00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:18.480
was in the direction of Gray Horse. One of the two strangers drove the

289
00:28:18.519 --> 00:28:22.880
Ford car and I sat on the
rear seat with Kelsey Morrison and we drove

290
00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:30.039
to Pahsca. There was not a
word said between there and Pahuska about Anna

291
00:28:30.119 --> 00:28:36.440
Brown. When we got to Pahsca, we stopped in front of a restaurant

292
00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:41.480
on the main street. Kelsey Morrison
one of the strangers and I got out

293
00:28:41.480 --> 00:28:47.920
of the car and the other stranger
said he was going somewhere I don't remember

294
00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:53.160
just where. A few days after
this, Kelsey Morrison got mad at me

295
00:28:53.839 --> 00:28:57.519
and told me if I didn't keep
my mouth shut, he would kill me

296
00:28:59.039 --> 00:29:03.039
if I ever told anyone, and
I knew he would, and that is

297
00:29:03.079 --> 00:29:07.880
the reason I never said anything.
When they took Anna Brown out of Brian's

298
00:29:07.880 --> 00:29:12.319
car that night, while no one
had told me, I knew something was

299
00:29:12.359 --> 00:29:18.279
going to happen, and I was
very badly scared. After we left Anna

300
00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:23.279
Brown that night, Kelsey Morrison would
not let me out of his sight and

301
00:29:23.319 --> 00:29:27.000
would not let me leave the house
by myself, and if I talked to

302
00:29:27.039 --> 00:29:33.359
anyone he would stop me. And
this continued for some time after Anna Brown's

303
00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:38.720
body was found, and Kelsey acted
very nervous, as if he was afraid

304
00:29:38.759 --> 00:29:56.759
that somebody suspected him. When Anna
Brown's body was found about a week or

305
00:29:56.839 --> 00:30:02.839
ten days after we were riding with
her in Brookhart's car, it was reported

306
00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:07.279
in Fairfax that they had found a
dead Indian woman, but they didn't know

307
00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:11.279
whether it was an osh or a
car as everyone was going out to the

308
00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:17.160
place where the body was found.
I hired a taxi and Margaret Walters and

309
00:30:17.240 --> 00:30:21.559
I went out to the place.
When we got there, the body was

310
00:30:21.640 --> 00:30:25.319
already in a box and I did
not get to see it. But when

311
00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:29.440
I noticed that the body was found
at the same place where Kelsey and Brian

312
00:30:29.519 --> 00:30:33.599
Burkhardt assisted Anna Brown out of the
car the night we drove out the Gray

313
00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:38.720
Horse Road, then I knew it
was Anna Brown's body they found. I

314
00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:42.920
never mentioned it to anyone that it
was Anna Brown or that we had been

315
00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:48.440
out riding with her. Kelsey Morrison
had threatened me several times that if I

316
00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:51.920
did not keep my mouth shut,
and I was afraid to say anything about

317
00:30:51.960 --> 00:31:02.680
it. On the night of January
ninth, nineteen twenty six, I went

318
00:31:02.759 --> 00:31:07.160
with mister Smith, mister Parker,
and mister Tom Hubbard to my house in

319
00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:11.359
Fairfax and we started from there,
going over the same route that we traveled

320
00:31:11.480 --> 00:31:18.039
when Brian Burkhart, Kelsey Morrison,
Anna Brown, and I went riding the

321
00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:22.319
night that I last saw Anna Brown
alive, when she was assisted out of

322
00:31:22.359 --> 00:31:26.240
the car by Brian and Kelsey close
to the ravine where her body was found.

323
00:31:26.599 --> 00:31:30.920
I would have told about this,
but I did not have any confidence

324
00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:34.960
in the officers of Osh County,
and I knew that if I told them

325
00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:41.960
that Kelsey Morrison would soon learn about
it and either kill me or have someone

326
00:31:41.000 --> 00:32:13.000
else kill me. My name is
Matt M. Williams. I now reside

327
00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:19.000
at Pahuska, Oklahoma. During the
time I lived at Ralston and Pahuska,

328
00:32:19.119 --> 00:32:22.720
Oklahoma, I became well acquainted with
W. K. Hale. In fact,

329
00:32:22.839 --> 00:32:28.279
had business dealings with him and was
closely associated with him for the past

330
00:32:28.359 --> 00:32:32.000
twenty years. In the year nineteen
twenty one, in the month of May,

331
00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:37.200
I think about the seventeenth of May, Brian Burkhardt and Anna Brown came

332
00:32:37.240 --> 00:32:43.039
to my room over the First National
Bank in Ralston, and Brian Burkhardt bought

333
00:32:43.079 --> 00:32:49.400
from Fred Shorty Wheeler two courts of
whiskey and paid Wheeler fifteen dollars. Brian

334
00:32:49.480 --> 00:32:52.680
Burkhart at the time remarked that he
had to take care of some business for

335
00:32:52.839 --> 00:32:58.519
Uncle Bill Hale that night and that
Kelsey Morrison was going to meet them at

336
00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:02.480
the end of the Arkansas River Bridge
at Ralston. I remember the date quite

337
00:33:02.559 --> 00:33:07.680
well, as that was the time
Anna Brown was last seen alive on Saturday

338
00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:12.759
night, preceding the week when she
was found murdered. Three or four days

339
00:33:12.759 --> 00:33:17.119
after Anna Brown was found dead,
Kelsey Morrison saw me at Pahusca and told

340
00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:21.880
me that Bill Hale had had him
do the worst job he had ever pulled,

341
00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:25.400
and that Hale had promised him five
thousand dollars and had paid him two

342
00:33:25.480 --> 00:33:30.240
hundred and now refused to pay him
the balance, and that the job was

343
00:33:30.279 --> 00:33:36.079
a terrible one. That while Brian
Burkhardt was loving Anna Brown, he Morrison

344
00:33:36.440 --> 00:33:39.839
knocked her on the head from behind
with a pistol and she hollered so loud

345
00:33:40.279 --> 00:33:45.599
and showed so much life that Morrison
and Brian Burkhardt carried her from the car

346
00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:50.799
to where she was found murdered and
laid her down, and she still had

347
00:33:50.839 --> 00:33:54.200
some life, and he Morrison shot
her in the back of the head with

348
00:33:54.319 --> 00:34:00.400
a gun. Morrison further stated to
me that Catherine Cole was with them on

349
00:34:00.440 --> 00:34:02.519
the party for a while and that
that they had let her out of the

350
00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:08.119
car before Anna Brown was killed.
Morrison also told me that if Hale did

351
00:34:08.119 --> 00:34:13.320
not pay him in full for killing
Anna Brown, he was going to kill

352
00:34:13.400 --> 00:34:17.760
Bill Hale a few days later,
Hale came to my room at Ralston about

353
00:34:17.800 --> 00:34:22.760
three o'clock in the morning and told
me he was afraid that damn son of

354
00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:28.039
a bitch Kelsey Morrison was going to
squeak about the Anna Brown killing and asked

355
00:34:28.119 --> 00:34:32.760
me if I could help him keep
Morrison's mouth shut. I then told Hale

356
00:34:32.800 --> 00:34:37.679
I thought if he would pay Morrison
it would be all right. Hale then

357
00:34:37.760 --> 00:34:40.880
asked me to see Morrison and use
my influence in keeping his mouth shut,

358
00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:45.599
and I told Hale I did not
think Morrison could afford to Holler. I

359
00:34:45.719 --> 00:34:51.199
later saw Morrison and told him what
Hale had said to me, and Morrison

360
00:34:51.239 --> 00:34:53.800
said Hale had given him some more
money, but if he did not pay

361
00:34:53.840 --> 00:34:59.880
him the balance, he would bump
him off too. I asked Hale what

362
00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:04.559
he had Anna Brown bumped off for, and he said so Ernest Burkhardt's wife

363
00:35:04.840 --> 00:35:09.159
could get the Anna Brown estate.
Three days after Ron was found, I

364
00:35:09.199 --> 00:35:15.119
met John Ramsey at Mike Foley's hotel
at Fairfax, and Ramsey told me about

365
00:35:15.239 --> 00:35:20.559
killing Henry Roan, where he was
found shot. That he Ramsey had done

366
00:35:20.639 --> 00:35:23.079
as Hale told him to do.
That he had told Rome to meet him

367
00:35:23.079 --> 00:35:28.320
out there alone to get some whiskey, and when Ron met him, Ramsey

368
00:35:28.360 --> 00:35:31.159
opened the side door of the car
and shot Roan in the back of the

369
00:35:31.199 --> 00:35:36.800
head, and that Hale had promised
him five thousand dollars, that Hale had

370
00:35:36.800 --> 00:35:40.199
only paid him five hundred and given
him a Ford car, and that he

371
00:35:40.360 --> 00:35:45.039
Ramsey asked me to help prevail on
Hale to pay the balance of the money.

372
00:35:45.960 --> 00:35:50.639
I afterwards talked to Hale about the
balance of the money due Ramsey for

373
00:35:50.760 --> 00:35:53.360
killing Ron, and Hale told me
that he had told Ramsey he would pay

374
00:35:53.400 --> 00:35:58.599
him the balance when he collected the
insurance, and that's what the agreement he

375
00:35:58.679 --> 00:36:02.559
had with Ramsey for the killer of
Henry Roan. Hale told me several times

376
00:36:02.599 --> 00:36:07.800
that he had everything square to Osage
County from the road overseer to the top,

377
00:36:08.280 --> 00:36:13.800
and he was exempt from prosecution for
the murders, and that rowan insurance

378
00:36:13.880 --> 00:36:17.400
policy. I then told Hale that
he had better be careful about pulling off

379
00:36:17.519 --> 00:36:22.159
jobs on restricted Indian lands, and
Hale told me he had talked to his

380
00:36:22.280 --> 00:36:28.280
lawyers about government jurisdiction. And Hale
said his lawyers had told him that the

381
00:36:28.320 --> 00:36:31.960
government had no jurisdiction and he was
in the clear so far as the government

382
00:36:32.079 --> 00:36:43.320
was concerned. My name is Dewey's
self. I was living with my wife

383
00:36:43.360 --> 00:36:47.719
near Pahuska in May nineteen twenty five. I had just got back from Colorado.

384
00:36:49.760 --> 00:36:53.280
Kelsey Morrison, who was in the
Pahuska County jail, sent word to

385
00:36:53.320 --> 00:36:58.199
me to come to the jail and
see him. I went to the jail

386
00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:01.519
and saw Kelsey. Kelsey asked me
if I would do him a favor.

387
00:37:02.159 --> 00:37:06.679
I told him I would. He
said that he felt I was the only

388
00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:09.599
one he could trust to do it. Kelsey said that he wanted to make

389
00:37:09.639 --> 00:37:15.320
some arrangements to get shut of Catherine, his wife, because she knew too

390
00:37:15.360 --> 00:37:20.159
much about the Anna Brown murder deal. Kelsey said that he would give me

391
00:37:20.199 --> 00:37:24.320
a note to Bill Hale and that
Hale would fix the arrangements for getting shut

392
00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:29.519
of Catherine. Kelsey did not offer
me any money to help him get shut

393
00:37:29.519 --> 00:37:32.400
of Catherine, but said that Bill
Hale would foot the bill whatever it was.

394
00:37:34.800 --> 00:37:37.119
Kelsey gave me the note to Bill
Hale, which said that I was

395
00:37:37.159 --> 00:37:40.800
a friend of his and that Hale
could trust me to the full extent.

396
00:37:42.840 --> 00:37:45.440
I didn't take the note to Hale
the same day that Kelsey Morrison gave it

397
00:37:45.480 --> 00:37:49.360
to me. But it was a
few days later that I went to Fairfax

398
00:37:49.400 --> 00:37:52.440
and found Bill Hale in a pool
hall where I gave him the note.

399
00:37:52.559 --> 00:37:55.679
As I remember, I believe it
was the latter part of may or the

400
00:37:55.679 --> 00:38:00.000
first day or so in June nineteen
twenty five that I gave Hale the note.

401
00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:05.400
When Hale read the note Kelsey Morrison
sent him, he asked me if

402
00:38:05.440 --> 00:38:08.599
I wanted to help do the job. I told him yes. Bill Hale

403
00:38:08.679 --> 00:38:13.199
told me to go on back to
Pahusca and that he would send a fellow

404
00:38:13.280 --> 00:38:16.320
around to see me about the plans. Two or three days later, when

405
00:38:16.360 --> 00:38:20.960
I was not at my home in
Pahusca, a fella came to my house

406
00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:23.519
and left a note for me to
call him when I came home. He

407
00:38:23.639 --> 00:38:28.400
left an address for me to call
a hotel, which I don't remember now

408
00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:32.360
was in Tonkawa, Oklahoma. This
fellow gave the name of Little Skeet.

409
00:38:34.199 --> 00:38:37.320
When I came home, I called
the address he left, but I could

410
00:38:37.400 --> 00:38:40.000
not get him. I called again
the next day and got him. He

411
00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:44.639
told me he would be over in
Pahuska to see me. I told him

412
00:38:44.639 --> 00:38:49.440
I would either be at the Papa
Hotel or American Cafe. He came over

413
00:38:49.480 --> 00:38:53.440
that same day. I met him
at the American Cafe. We commenced to

414
00:38:53.519 --> 00:38:59.519
lay out our plans where we would
take Catherine Morrison. We decided that I

415
00:38:59.639 --> 00:39:02.719
was to take Katherine out on a
drinking party with some others and go out

416
00:39:02.719 --> 00:39:07.960
on Dial Hill just back of Pauhuska. That Little Skeet was to be close

417
00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:13.159
by Dial Hill in another car,
and when I got out on the hill,

418
00:39:13.519 --> 00:39:15.159
if I had Katherine with me,
I was to blow my horn,

419
00:39:15.639 --> 00:39:21.079
pretending that it was accidentally blown.
If I did not have Catherine with me,

420
00:39:21.480 --> 00:39:24.239
I was to flash my spotlight up
and down. That if I blew

421
00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:29.679
my horn to let Little Skeet know
that I had Katherine with me, then

422
00:39:29.719 --> 00:39:32.679
Little Skeet was to drive up to
where our party was parked and hijack our

423
00:39:32.760 --> 00:39:37.519
party and shoot Katherine, and the
rest of our party would not think that

424
00:39:37.599 --> 00:39:42.480
it was planned to kill her.
Little Skeet stayed in Paalhuska during the last

425
00:39:42.519 --> 00:39:45.840
part of June nineteen twenty five.
Just a few days before the fourth of

426
00:39:45.920 --> 00:39:51.039
July, I told Little Skeat that
I would make up a party that night

427
00:39:51.199 --> 00:39:54.760
and try to get Catherine Morrison to
go along. He said he would go

428
00:39:54.800 --> 00:39:59.239
out near dal Hill and if I
got her to go along, when I

429
00:39:59.280 --> 00:40:01.679
got out to the hill for me
to give the signal to him. That

430
00:40:01.880 --> 00:40:06.599
night, I was riding around with
a boy from Joplin, Missouri, whose

431
00:40:06.679 --> 00:40:12.199
name I've forgotten. This boy borrowed
George Brunt's car. We drove down to

432
00:40:12.199 --> 00:40:15.239
where Marie Benson was living and I
got her to go along with us.

433
00:40:15.639 --> 00:40:20.960
We then drove to white House,
Pool Hall, where Luther Province worked,

434
00:40:21.000 --> 00:40:23.239
and as soon as he got off
work we picked him up in our car.

435
00:40:23.519 --> 00:40:29.440
Then drove down to the Markell Hotel
where Luther got Katherine Morrison and a

436
00:40:29.519 --> 00:40:35.239
ukulele. We drove out on seventeenth
or eighteenth Street and got a gallon of

437
00:40:35.320 --> 00:40:38.920
chalk beer. Katherine Morrison had a
gallon of chalk hid somewhere and we got

438
00:40:38.920 --> 00:40:44.880
that too. We then drove out
on Dial Hill, I doing the driving.

439
00:40:44.960 --> 00:40:47.320
Then as soon as we got out
on the hill, I pulled off

440
00:40:47.360 --> 00:40:52.039
the road and stopped. I was
afraid to go through with the plan,

441
00:40:52.480 --> 00:40:55.039
and instead of blowing my horn to
let little Skeet know, I had Katherine

442
00:40:55.079 --> 00:40:59.960
and our party. I flashed my
spotlight to let him know that I didn't

443
00:41:00.280 --> 00:41:04.119
have her. Little Skeet, who
has parked a little below us at the

444
00:41:04.119 --> 00:41:07.559
foot of the hill, then drove
off. We drank the chalk that we

445
00:41:07.639 --> 00:41:10.880
had. Then we ran down to
Pehusca and got some jake. We drank

446
00:41:10.920 --> 00:41:15.719
this and then drove around for a
while. We took Luther home, then

447
00:41:15.760 --> 00:41:20.760
took Marie home. Catherine would not
get out at her hotel, so we

448
00:41:20.880 --> 00:41:23.760
drove on down to the Model Rooms
and got a room for her and put

449
00:41:23.800 --> 00:41:29.679
her to bed. She was pretty
drunk. Then after I put Catherine to

450
00:41:29.800 --> 00:41:32.079
bed, I went down to the
Pan American Cafe, where I met Little

451
00:41:32.079 --> 00:41:37.400
Skeet. Little Skeet asked me what
was the matter I could not get Catherine

452
00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:42.079
Morrison to go to the party with
me. I told Little Skeet that Catherine

453
00:41:42.239 --> 00:41:45.119
was off somewhere drunk and I couldn't
find her. Little Skeet then said that

454
00:41:45.159 --> 00:41:47.920
he didn't care, that he was
kind of proud of it, that he

455
00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:52.840
had half the money and he would
just keep it anyway. He asked me

456
00:41:52.880 --> 00:41:55.519
if I wanted part of the five
hundred dollars Hail had given him half of

457
00:41:55.559 --> 00:41:59.559
which was to go to me,
and I told him I didn't want it.

458
00:42:00.119 --> 00:42:01.679
I was afraid of getting in a
jam if I took any of the

459
00:42:01.719 --> 00:42:07.280
money. Little Skeet left for Tonkawa, and he told me he was going

460
00:42:07.320 --> 00:42:09.480
to leave Tonkawa, but he did
not tell me just where he was going.

461
00:42:10.679 --> 00:42:14.960
When I took the note to Bill
Hale that Kelsey Morrison gave me,

462
00:42:15.079 --> 00:42:17.199
and after I told Hale that I
would help put Catherine out of the way,

463
00:42:17.840 --> 00:42:21.960
Hale told me he would pay me
five hundred dollars for my part of

464
00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:24.159
it, that he would pay half
of it before the job was done,

465
00:42:24.559 --> 00:42:29.079
and then he would send a guy
to me with money, and when we

466
00:42:29.159 --> 00:42:32.119
done the deal, he would pay
us the other five hundred dollars. About

467
00:42:32.119 --> 00:42:37.239
the twelfth or thirteenth of November nineteen
twenty five, Frank Kramer, Bessie Rusk,

468
00:42:37.639 --> 00:42:43.119
Grace, Roan Madison, and I
rode in Grace's Buick car from Pahuska

469
00:42:43.199 --> 00:42:47.159
to Ralston and got in Ralston about
ten or eleven o'clock that night. We

470
00:42:47.280 --> 00:42:52.400
drove to the Jones Hotel and I
let Frank and the girl out and they

471
00:42:52.400 --> 00:42:55.639
took the baggage to the rooms.
I took the car to the garage across

472
00:42:55.679 --> 00:43:00.159
from the Jones Hotel to get the
extra tire fixed. The reason we drove

473
00:43:00.239 --> 00:43:06.199
to Ralston was because Bill Hale called
me over to the telephone and told me

474
00:43:06.239 --> 00:43:09.320
he wanted to see me. I
got the call and talked to Bill Hale

475
00:43:09.400 --> 00:43:14.800
from the Pan American Cafe, but
Hale called me at the Papin Hotel.

476
00:43:15.679 --> 00:43:19.079
When Hale talked to me over at
the telephone, he said he would meet

477
00:43:19.119 --> 00:43:22.320
me at Raston at one of the
filling stations. There was only two filling

478
00:43:22.320 --> 00:43:27.719
stations in Ralston. When I got
to the garage and filling station to get

479
00:43:27.719 --> 00:43:32.039
the extra tire fixed, Bill Hale
was not there. Finally, Hale came

480
00:43:32.159 --> 00:43:36.679
and asked me why we came to
do him as we'd done. I told

481
00:43:36.719 --> 00:43:38.679
Hale that I never did see that
other guy that he was to send me.

482
00:43:39.760 --> 00:43:43.440
Bill Hale then told me that he
thought it would be a good idea

483
00:43:43.760 --> 00:43:46.480
for me to leave that part of
the country for a while. I told

484
00:43:46.559 --> 00:43:51.400
him all right if he thought so. Hale asked me if I was broke,

485
00:43:51.440 --> 00:43:54.079
and I told him I was.
Hale then gave me one hundred dollars

486
00:43:54.440 --> 00:43:58.320
and told me to take that as
that was all he had with him.

487
00:43:58.719 --> 00:44:01.119
Hale then asked me if I was
to stay in Roston that night, and

488
00:44:01.119 --> 00:44:06.159
I told him know that I was
going to leave right out. Hale told

489
00:44:06.159 --> 00:44:28.360
me to be sure and leave the
country. To enjoy this and other episodes

490
00:44:28.400 --> 00:44:34.000
from the True Crime Historian archive without
commercial interruption, feel free to join us

491
00:44:34.039 --> 00:44:39.719
at www dot patreon dot com slash
true Crime Historian. We're still finding and

492
00:44:39.840 --> 00:44:57.760
dusting off old stories for your horror
and indignation. On May twenty seventh,

493
00:44:58.000 --> 00:45:04.119
nineteen twenty one, decomposed and swollen
corpse of Anna Brown was found in a

494
00:45:04.199 --> 00:45:08.199
ravine just off the Pehuska Fairfax Road
and not far from the road which leads

495
00:45:08.239 --> 00:45:15.320
from Greyhorse. The hunters who found
the body went at once to Fairfax and

496
00:45:15.440 --> 00:45:19.639
notified an undertaker, who with doctors
J. G. And D. A.

497
00:45:19.840 --> 00:45:23.440
Shoun, proceeded to the place and
found a crowd of persons had assembled.

498
00:45:23.760 --> 00:45:28.920
The body was identified as being that
of Anna Brown, and a rude

499
00:45:28.960 --> 00:45:34.599
autopsy was held showing that death had
resulted from a gunshot wound, evidently from

500
00:45:34.599 --> 00:45:38.280
a thirty two caliber revolver, the
bullet entering the head from the rear.

501
00:45:39.400 --> 00:45:44.159
It was very evident that death had
taken place in a number of days prior

502
00:45:44.280 --> 00:45:47.920
to that time, and the last
time that Anna Brown was seen alive was

503
00:45:47.960 --> 00:45:53.639
on the night of May the twenty
second, nineteen twenty one. The undertaker

504
00:45:53.679 --> 00:45:59.199
and doctors made a very hurried examination, and for some reason they began their

505
00:45:59.239 --> 00:46:02.679
search for the boy bullet by opening
the skull by sawing it in half vertically

506
00:46:04.159 --> 00:46:08.440
rather than removing a cap horizontally.
They were unable to find the bullet and

507
00:46:08.480 --> 00:46:14.199
the body was buried, although half
of the skull was preserved by the undertaker.

508
00:46:15.960 --> 00:46:20.119
W. E. Smith, the
husband of Rita, suspecting the parties

509
00:46:20.199 --> 00:46:24.559
responsible in the entire county, having
been disturbed over the many murders and mysterious

510
00:46:24.599 --> 00:46:32.280
disappearances of Indians shortly, theretofore immediately
started an investigation independent of the authorities,

511
00:46:32.639 --> 00:46:37.880
and it soon became known that through
an expenditure of a large amount of money,

512
00:46:37.320 --> 00:46:44.920
Smith had acquired sufficient evidence to justify
his suspicions that Hale was responsible for

513
00:46:44.960 --> 00:46:49.840
the death. There was no doubt
but Anna Brown was dead and that the

514
00:46:49.880 --> 00:46:53.199
state of Lizzie Q her mother,
had acquired at least half of her property.

515
00:46:54.079 --> 00:46:59.800
The next expected happening actually occurred.
Two months after Anna Brown died.

516
00:47:00.719 --> 00:47:04.679
Old Lizzie Hugh passed away at a
home of her daughter, Molly Burkhardt,

517
00:47:04.960 --> 00:47:08.000
the wife of Ernest and the niece
of Bill Hale by marriage, and with

518
00:47:08.119 --> 00:47:13.920
her death, the estate augmented by
half of Anna Brown's, passed in balk

519
00:47:14.199 --> 00:47:20.400
to the Burkharts. Brian Burkhardt was
arrested and charged with the murder of Anna

520
00:47:20.480 --> 00:47:25.000
Brown in the state courts. Hale
furnished bond for him, and Brian was

521
00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:30.960
acquitted. Things apparently were running favorable
to Hale and his nephews, and nothing

522
00:47:31.000 --> 00:47:37.679
of particular interest in the story occurred
until January nineteen twenty three, other than

523
00:47:37.719 --> 00:47:42.519
the finding of the bodies of Joe
Gray Horse, Anna Sandford, and others

524
00:47:42.519 --> 00:47:47.239
who evidently had been victims of similar
plots. Anna Brown had a cousin,

525
00:47:47.679 --> 00:47:53.880
a full blooded Osage Indian named Henry
Roane, who in January nineteen twenty three

526
00:47:54.559 --> 00:47:59.880
was living with his wife, Mary, also a full blooded Osage, and

527
00:48:00.159 --> 00:48:06.559
their children at Fairfax, Oklahoma.
Roan frequently left home for as much as

528
00:48:06.599 --> 00:48:09.679
three or four weeks at a time
on drunken sprees, so that when He

529
00:48:09.800 --> 00:48:15.000
left the house on January twenty sixth, nineteen twenty three, and was not

530
00:48:15.079 --> 00:48:20.599
seen for several days. There was
no excitement. However, on February sixth,

531
00:48:20.840 --> 00:48:24.599
an Indian boy ran across an automobile
in a swale or small canyon,

532
00:48:24.920 --> 00:48:30.960
about five miles northwest of Fairfax and
about two hundred yards from the road.

533
00:48:31.159 --> 00:48:36.960
He ran to Fairfax and brought two
officers, who found Roan's body on the

534
00:48:36.960 --> 00:48:40.079
front seat of his car, where
he evidently had been dead several days,

535
00:48:40.280 --> 00:48:46.159
shot through the head from the rear. An inquest did not develop any information

536
00:48:46.320 --> 00:48:51.880
other than he had come to his
death by a gunshot wound. This in

537
00:48:51.960 --> 00:48:57.679
itself was not particularly indicative, but
a short time thereafter, Hale presented for

538
00:48:57.800 --> 00:49:04.480
payment and insurance policy issued by Capital
Life Insurance Company of Colorado for twenty five

539
00:49:04.559 --> 00:49:09.119
thousand dollars on the life of Henry
Rome. The company refused to pay the

540
00:49:09.159 --> 00:49:15.840
indemnity on the ground of fraud and
misrepresentation, and Hale entered suit in the

541
00:49:15.880 --> 00:49:22.360
federal court. This brought forth an
examination of the various court records, which

542
00:49:22.360 --> 00:49:27.559
in themselves disclosed that at the time
Ron petitioned the District Court of Osage County

543
00:49:27.840 --> 00:49:32.400
for the appointment of a guardian.
He owed Hale six thousand dollars balanced due

544
00:49:32.440 --> 00:49:37.880
on the purchase of a house in
Fairfax, and there evidently was no other

545
00:49:37.039 --> 00:49:43.760
ensurable interest of Hale in the life
of Rome. A short time prior to

546
00:49:43.800 --> 00:49:47.719
his death, Roan was known to
have had some personal difficulties with one Roy

547
00:49:47.880 --> 00:49:53.639
Bunch, a white man who was
unduly attentive to Ron's wife. It was

548
00:49:53.719 --> 00:49:59.519
known that Roan and Bunch had been
looking for each other on several occasions when

549
00:49:59.679 --> 00:50:05.159
use would be made of arms.
Therefore, when Ron's body was found,

550
00:50:05.480 --> 00:50:10.599
a rumor started that Bunch was responsible
for the death. This rumor appeared to

551
00:50:10.599 --> 00:50:15.079
be confirmed by the fact that Bunch
mary Gron's widow. A very short time

552
00:50:15.159 --> 00:50:21.559
after the finding of Rone's body.
The rumor was started by Hale himself.

553
00:50:22.440 --> 00:50:27.679
There appears to have been at the
time no serious attempt to identify and prosecute

554
00:50:27.719 --> 00:50:40.280
anyone for Ron's murder. Statement of
John Ramsay, January sixth, nineteen twenty

555
00:50:40.320 --> 00:50:46.840
six. Sometime in the early part
of nineteen twenty three, the date I

556
00:50:46.880 --> 00:50:52.239
don't recall, Bill Hale came to
Henry Grammer's ranch, where I was working

557
00:50:52.360 --> 00:50:57.280
for Grammar selling whiskey. I was
in the bunk house and Henry Grammer called

558
00:50:57.320 --> 00:51:01.440
me. I went out and saw
him in Hale standing together. I walked

559
00:51:01.480 --> 00:51:05.440
over to them, and the three
of us walked out several yards to a

560
00:51:05.559 --> 00:51:09.199
road and stopped. Henry Grammer turned
to me and said that Hale had a

561
00:51:09.239 --> 00:51:13.679
little job he wanted done, and
asked me if I would do it.

562
00:51:14.639 --> 00:51:19.280
I said, it depends on what
the job was. Grammer said he wanted

563
00:51:19.320 --> 00:51:23.800
an Indian bumped off. I said
that's different. Hale, Grammar and I

564
00:51:23.880 --> 00:51:29.000
then talk the matter over for a
few minutes. I don't recall just what

565
00:51:29.239 --> 00:51:31.280
was said, but I remarked that
I would look it over, and I

566
00:51:31.320 --> 00:51:36.360
went back to the bunk house.
In a few days. Grammer told me

567
00:51:36.440 --> 00:51:39.960
that Hale was getting anxious to have
that job done, as I remember.

568
00:51:40.199 --> 00:51:45.079
The next time I saw Hale was
in Fairfax and we had another talk about

569
00:51:45.119 --> 00:51:50.000
the Indian he wanted killed, and
I told him I would do the job,

570
00:51:50.440 --> 00:51:53.039
but that I did not have any
way to get around. Hale said

571
00:51:53.039 --> 00:51:57.079
that he would see me in a
day or two, or in a few

572
00:51:57.159 --> 00:52:01.880
days. I again met Hale at
Ranch and Hale told me he was going

573
00:52:01.920 --> 00:52:07.039
to buy me a car and gave
me five hundred dollars. Something was said

574
00:52:07.079 --> 00:52:10.880
about where I would buy it the
car, and I said I would buy

575
00:52:10.920 --> 00:52:15.320
it at Ponka City, and something
was said about my getting over there,

576
00:52:15.360 --> 00:52:19.360
and Hale said he would drive me
over to Pawnee, which he did,

577
00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:22.360
and I caught the train there.
I went to ponk A City, where

578
00:52:22.360 --> 00:52:28.079
I bought a new Ford Roadster from
the Ford garage. Before I received the

579
00:52:28.119 --> 00:52:32.559
car, I made application and the
Ford people secured a license. I drove

580
00:52:32.639 --> 00:52:37.119
back to Grammar's ranch. At some
stage of the game, Hale pointed out

581
00:52:37.119 --> 00:52:43.239
to me the Indian that he wanted
killed on the street in Fairfax. I

582
00:52:43.239 --> 00:52:47.960
don't remember Hale ever telling me the
indian's name. Several days after Hale pointed

583
00:52:49.000 --> 00:52:52.880
this Indian out to me, I
met this Indian in a restaurant in Fairfax

584
00:52:52.920 --> 00:52:57.079
and he sat down beside me,
and I smelled whiskey on his breath and

585
00:52:57.159 --> 00:53:00.119
we got into a conversation about whiskey. Told him I could sell him some.

586
00:53:01.320 --> 00:53:04.719
He said he wanted some, and
I told him to meet me out

587
00:53:04.760 --> 00:53:08.960
at the road running through the saw
smith's pasture about ten o'clock and I would

588
00:53:08.960 --> 00:53:14.159
meet him and have the whiskey for
him. I left him and went to

589
00:53:14.239 --> 00:53:17.960
Grammar's and got some whiskey and drove
back on the road leading through saw Smith's

590
00:53:19.000 --> 00:53:22.360
Pasture and found this Indian sitting in
his car waiting at a point near Salt

591
00:53:22.440 --> 00:53:27.159
Creek. I drove up and got
out of my car and we took several

592
00:53:27.239 --> 00:53:30.000
drinks from a bottle I had.
I then got my car and went to

593
00:53:30.039 --> 00:53:35.599
Fairbanks. Several times after that I
met this Indian and gave him drinks.

594
00:53:36.320 --> 00:53:38.239
This went on for several days,
and I was trying to rib up a

595
00:53:38.280 --> 00:53:43.400
little more courage. Finally, one
day I decided to pull the job.

596
00:53:43.519 --> 00:53:46.199
Everything being favorable, so I told
this Indian to meet me out on the

597
00:53:46.280 --> 00:53:50.639
road running through Smith's Pasture and that
I would have some whiskey for him.

598
00:53:51.599 --> 00:53:53.360
I told him about what point on
the road I would meet him. So

599
00:53:53.400 --> 00:53:58.480
he went out on one road and
I on another. We met about the

600
00:53:58.519 --> 00:54:01.760
foot of the big hill near saw
Creek. I motioned for him to go

601
00:54:01.880 --> 00:54:06.840
up on top of the hill,
which he did and stopped. I drove

602
00:54:06.960 --> 00:54:08.920
up and I saw a car coming
and I told him to drive off under

603
00:54:08.920 --> 00:54:13.519
the hill, which he did.
I got out of my car, and

604
00:54:13.559 --> 00:54:16.000
when the car I had seen past, I then walked down under the hill

605
00:54:16.320 --> 00:54:20.360
where I found him wait him for
me. He got out of the car

606
00:54:20.440 --> 00:54:22.639
and we sat on the running board
of his car and drank that whiskey I

607
00:54:22.719 --> 00:54:29.039
had. The Indian then got in
his car to leave, and then I

608
00:54:29.079 --> 00:54:31.840
shot him in the back of the
head. I suppose I was within a

609
00:54:31.880 --> 00:54:36.280
foot or two of him when I
shot him. I then went back to

610
00:54:36.320 --> 00:54:40.119
my car and drove to Fairfax.
In a few days I saw Hale and

611
00:54:40.199 --> 00:54:45.360
told him enough for him to understand
that I had killed the Indian. There

612
00:54:45.400 --> 00:54:50.199
was very little said at this time. Some time later I again met Hale

613
00:54:50.320 --> 00:54:53.119
and there was something said about paying
me the balance of five hundred dollars,

614
00:54:53.760 --> 00:54:58.039
Hale saying he would pay it a
little later, as he would have more

615
00:54:58.079 --> 00:55:00.480
money then, and I told him
that was all right and I didn't need

616
00:55:00.519 --> 00:55:05.440
it. Then, sometime within a
month or two, Hale paid me the

617
00:55:05.519 --> 00:55:10.039
balance due of five hundred dollars,
some several days I don't remember just how

618
00:55:10.079 --> 00:55:15.199
long, but something like ten days, this Indian's body that I killed was

619
00:55:15.239 --> 00:55:19.159
found, and as I remember,
that was the first time I found out

620
00:55:19.199 --> 00:55:43.880
that his name was Henry Rome signed
John Ramsay Statement of Ernest Burkhardt, Guthrie,

621
00:55:43.880 --> 00:55:51.800
Oklahoma, January sixth, nineteen twenty
six. Sometime several weeks before Henry

622
00:55:51.880 --> 00:55:55.320
Roan was found murdered, I went
with Bill Hale to Henry Grammer's ranch,

623
00:55:55.559 --> 00:56:00.519
and while there, Bill Hale called
my attention to a man who was there

624
00:56:00.559 --> 00:56:05.119
working for Grammar, and told me
this man's name was John Ramsey, and

625
00:56:05.199 --> 00:56:07.599
that he was a man who would
stand pat and keep his mouth shut.

626
00:56:08.360 --> 00:56:13.800
That on one occasion in the past, Henry Grammar was caught with some stolen

627
00:56:13.880 --> 00:56:16.719
cattle, and that Grammar got Ramsey
to say that he stole the cattle,

628
00:56:16.840 --> 00:56:22.079
which cleared Grammar, and that Ramsey
served a sentence in McAllister of Penitentiary for

629
00:56:22.159 --> 00:56:28.280
the theft of these cattle. Sometime
around one year and a half before Ron's

630
00:56:28.320 --> 00:56:32.280
death, Hale took out a policy
on Henry Roan's life for twenty five thousand

631
00:56:32.320 --> 00:56:37.320
dollars and told me the reason he
got this policy was on account of the

632
00:56:37.320 --> 00:56:40.599
fact that Henry Roan having family trouble
and drinking very hard, and he had

633
00:56:40.639 --> 00:56:45.199
made one attempt to commit suicide,
and he did not figure he would live

634
00:56:45.280 --> 00:56:50.599
long after Hale and I left Grammar's
ranch, and after he pointed out Ramsey

635
00:56:50.599 --> 00:56:53.719
to me, Hale said he believed
he would put Ramsey on Henry Rohan's trail,

636
00:56:54.280 --> 00:56:59.039
and that Ramsey could either give him
some poison whiskey or shoot him and

637
00:56:59.119 --> 00:57:02.599
lay a gun beside it, and
everybody would think he had committed suicide.

638
00:57:02.719 --> 00:57:07.079
A few days later, Ramsey came
down to Fairfax and I was walking down

639
00:57:07.119 --> 00:57:13.000
the street and ran on to Ramsey
and Bill Hale talking something about buying a

640
00:57:13.039 --> 00:57:17.400
Ford Roadster at Ponca City. After
Ramsey left, Hale told me he had

641
00:57:17.400 --> 00:57:22.880
given Ramsey money to buy a Ford
Roadster, as Ramsey had no way to

642
00:57:22.920 --> 00:57:27.519
get around and kill Roan and get
away, that it would be necessary for

643
00:57:27.639 --> 00:57:30.880
Ramsey to steer Roan around and keep
up with him and get him to a

644
00:57:30.920 --> 00:57:35.880
place where he could dump him.
In a few days, Ramsey returned to

645
00:57:35.920 --> 00:57:39.559
Fairfax and a new Ford Roadster,
which I understood he bought at Ponca City.

646
00:57:40.159 --> 00:57:44.760
I saw Ramsey round town in this
car for the next few days.

647
00:57:45.639 --> 00:57:49.840
About a week before Henry Rohan's body
was found, Ramsey walked up to me

648
00:57:49.880 --> 00:57:53.159
on the street at Fairfax and inquired
for Hale. I told him I did

649
00:57:53.159 --> 00:57:58.480
not know where he was. Ramsey
then told me to tell Hale that the

650
00:57:58.599 --> 00:58:01.079
job was all right and not to
worry that had happened out in the soul

651
00:58:01.119 --> 00:58:07.000
Smith pasture. I later saw Hale
and told him what Ramsey had said.

652
00:58:07.840 --> 00:58:12.159
Ramsey left Fairfax, going to his
home at Ripley. In a few days,

653
00:58:12.280 --> 00:58:16.960
Ramsey came back to Fairfax and later
went to Grammar's place. Shortly thereafter,

654
00:58:17.039 --> 00:58:22.599
Henry Rohan's body was found dead in
his car. A few days later,

655
00:58:22.960 --> 00:58:25.960
Ramsey came back to Fairfax and stayed
a short time and went on to

656
00:58:27.079 --> 00:58:32.719
Ripley. Sometime after Ron's body was
found, possibly a month later, Bill

657
00:58:32.840 --> 00:58:37.599
Hale told me he had paid Ramsey
the balance he owed Ramsey for killing Roan,

658
00:58:38.239 --> 00:58:43.400
which made the job cost him the
Ford car and the balance being a

659
00:58:43.440 --> 00:58:47.840
total of one thousand dollars. Sometime
after Rone was found dead, I asked

660
00:58:47.920 --> 00:58:52.719
Ramsey how it happened, and Ramsey
said he met Roan on the road running

661
00:58:52.719 --> 00:58:58.599
from Fairfax to Burbank and got in
Roane's car with him sitting on the back

662
00:58:58.679 --> 00:59:01.360
seat, and they drove off under
the hill. He telling Ron that he

663
00:59:01.400 --> 00:59:05.280
could take a drink, and when
they got to the right place out of

664
00:59:05.320 --> 00:59:08.440
side of the road, he shot
Rome and walked back to the top of

665
00:59:08.480 --> 00:59:13.280
the hill where he had met Roan
and left his car. Then he drove

666
00:59:13.320 --> 00:59:19.199
on to Fairfax. He shot Roan
with a forty five automatic pistol. Signed

667
00:59:19.480 --> 01:00:09.559
Ernest Burkhardt statement by John Mayo,
convict in Kansas State Penitentiary, Lansing,

668
01:00:09.719 --> 01:00:22.199
Kansas, February sixth, nineteen twenty
six. I was raised at Chickasha,

669
01:00:22.280 --> 01:00:29.199
Oklahoma, and went to Webb City, Oklahoma, in January nineteen twenty three.

670
01:00:29.440 --> 01:00:34.679
Asa Kirby and myself operated a rooming
house at Webbs City from January nineteen

671
01:00:34.679 --> 01:00:39.360
twenty three to April nineteen twenty four. During this time, Bill Smith's home

672
01:00:39.440 --> 01:00:45.280
at Fairfax, Oklahoma was blown up
and Smith and his wife and servant girl

673
01:00:45.320 --> 01:00:50.039
were killed. During this time,
I was around Henry Grammer's place a good

674
01:00:50.079 --> 01:00:55.559
deal and saw John Ramsey at Grammar's
place several times. About two weeks before

675
01:00:55.599 --> 01:01:00.159
Bill Smith's house was blown up,
John Ramsey came to the rooming house that

676
01:01:00.199 --> 01:01:06.400
Asa Kirby and I were running at
Webb City and had private conference with Asa

677
01:01:06.480 --> 01:01:10.639
Kirby. The following morning, asa
Kirby took me out into the country near

678
01:01:10.679 --> 01:01:15.840
Webb City in his car and told
me we could get two thousand dollars to

679
01:01:15.960 --> 01:01:21.440
kill a man in a squaw,
meaning Bill Smith and his wife. A

680
01:01:21.480 --> 01:01:24.480
few days later, Kirby came to
our rooming house at Webb City with a

681
01:01:24.599 --> 01:01:30.880
roll of fuse about one hundred feet
long and some dynamite caps and told me

682
01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:35.199
we would get ready to go over
to Fairfax and do the job, meaning

683
01:01:35.519 --> 01:01:40.480
to blow up Bill Smith's house and
kill Smith and wife. Kirby asked me

684
01:01:40.519 --> 01:01:45.679
if I knew where a nitro magazine
was located near Webb City, and I

685
01:01:45.719 --> 01:01:50.039
told him I did not. Kirby
then said John Ramsey had told him.

686
01:01:50.280 --> 01:01:52.960
Kirby then said that John Ramsey had
told him that there was a magazine on

687
01:01:53.000 --> 01:01:58.880
the road to Call City. The
next day, Kirby and myself went to

688
01:01:58.920 --> 01:02:02.639
Henry Grammar's and Kirby looked for a
magazine but could not find it, and

689
01:02:02.679 --> 01:02:07.920
we drove to Henry Grammar's and had
to talk there. The next day,

690
01:02:07.280 --> 01:02:12.840
John Ramsey came to our house at
Webb City and Ramsey and Kirby had a

691
01:02:12.960 --> 01:02:17.840
talk Ramsey drove away from his house
in his Ford car and Kirby followed him

692
01:02:17.840 --> 01:02:22.679
in his. Kirby returned to our
house later and told me John Ramsey had

693
01:02:22.719 --> 01:02:28.280
showed him where a Nitro magazine was, and the next evening Kirby came to

694
01:02:28.360 --> 01:02:31.320
the house at Webb City with a
new five gallon oil can and left the

695
01:02:31.400 --> 01:02:37.480
can there until dark. After dark, Doc Hawkins and Nasa Kirby came to

696
01:02:37.559 --> 01:02:42.679
the house and got the oil can
and wrapped it with an old quilt and

697
01:02:42.719 --> 01:02:47.239
put the can in Kirby's car and
they drove away between eight and nine pm.

698
01:02:47.559 --> 01:02:53.559
The night before Bill Smith's house was
blown up. Kirby returned home after

699
01:02:53.639 --> 01:02:58.119
midnight the same night. The next
morning, Kirby had told me he had

700
01:02:58.159 --> 01:03:02.559
taken the stuff meaning night troglyserin over
there and left it and was going back

701
01:03:02.599 --> 01:03:07.000
that night as he wanted to be
sure Smith and wife were home. The

702
01:03:07.119 --> 01:03:13.360
night Smith's house was blown up,
Doc Hawkins and Asa Kirby left our house

703
01:03:13.400 --> 01:03:17.960
in Webb City in Kirby's car about
dark. Kirby woke me when he came

704
01:03:17.960 --> 01:03:22.599
in the following morning about five am. About eleven am the same day,

705
01:03:22.679 --> 01:03:27.800
when Kirby got up. Kirby said
to me that it was a dandy job

706
01:03:28.239 --> 01:03:30.719
that they heard her explode when they
were about seven or eight miles away.

707
01:03:31.760 --> 01:03:37.599
The following day, Kirby went to
Grammar's place and returned home the same day.

708
01:03:37.880 --> 01:03:42.480
About two days later, John Ramsey
came to our house in Webb City,

709
01:03:42.760 --> 01:03:46.880
and shortly after Ramsey arrived, Doc
Hawkins came into the house and Ramsey

710
01:03:46.880 --> 01:03:51.239
told Kirby and Hawkins and my present
that they had done a good job.

711
01:03:51.559 --> 01:03:54.079
That they had killed two of them, Smith's wife and a servant girl,

712
01:03:54.400 --> 01:03:59.519
and blowed Smith's privates off, and
he was in the hospital and would be

713
01:03:59.559 --> 01:04:03.079
gone in a day or two.
One or two days later, Kirby myself

714
01:04:03.119 --> 01:04:08.800
went to Grammars to get some whiskey, and while at Grammar's asa, Kirby

715
01:04:08.840 --> 01:04:13.400
and Grammar went down to Grammer's barn
and had a long talk. When Kirby

716
01:04:13.440 --> 01:04:15.719
came back to where I was,
he said he would be ready to go

717
01:04:15.800 --> 01:04:20.519
as soon as Grammar gave him some
money. Kirby walked to Grammar's back door

718
01:04:21.039 --> 01:04:26.400
and Grammar handed Kirby a big roll
of money. We then returned to our

719
01:04:26.440 --> 01:04:30.480
house at Webb City, and Doc
Hawkins came into our house. Kirby took

720
01:04:30.480 --> 01:04:33.920
out the roll of money from his
pocket and count out five hundred dollars to

721
01:04:34.000 --> 01:04:39.559
Hawkins and told Hawkins that he would
get the rest of it if Smith died.

722
01:04:40.639 --> 01:04:45.320
About two days later, John Ramsey
called at our house and told Asa

723
01:04:45.440 --> 01:04:49.440
Kirby that Smith was dead and he
Kirby would get the rest of the money.

724
01:04:56.760 --> 01:05:02.199
Statement of John Ramsey, as I
remember, before I was hired to

725
01:05:02.280 --> 01:05:06.920
kill Henry Roan, through talking with
Henry Grammer, where I was then selling

726
01:05:06.920 --> 01:05:13.360
whiskey, I knew that Bill Hale
wanted Bill Smith murdered, and I knew

727
01:05:13.360 --> 01:05:17.719
that Henry Grammer was helping Bill Hale
to arrange to have him killed. I

728
01:05:17.760 --> 01:05:23.960
can't remember right now the different conversations
I had with Grammar which convinced me they

729
01:05:23.960 --> 01:05:27.639
were going to kill Smith. I
can't say for sure whether it was before

730
01:05:27.679 --> 01:05:30.639
I killed Henry Roane or after that. Grammar told me that he had a

731
01:05:30.679 --> 01:05:35.360
man to do the job and told
me it was Asa Kirby. And in

732
01:05:35.400 --> 01:05:41.320
a little while after Grammer told me
Asa Kirby showed up at Grammar's That was

733
01:05:41.360 --> 01:05:45.840
the first time I met him.
Grammar was very drunk, and he in

734
01:05:45.880 --> 01:05:49.320
the presence of Asa Kirby, told
me Kirby was all right, that he

735
01:05:49.320 --> 01:05:54.239
would do that job he wanted done, and for me to help Kirby all

736
01:05:54.280 --> 01:05:59.079
I could. Kirby then talked to
me and asked me what was the job

737
01:05:59.159 --> 01:06:02.360
that Grammer wanted done. I told
him that he wanted a squaw man killed

738
01:06:02.360 --> 01:06:09.320
down near Fairfax by the name of
Bill Smith. Kirby then said, well,

739
01:06:09.679 --> 01:06:13.760
I wasn't figuring on staying here long
and wanted to know what there was

740
01:06:13.840 --> 01:06:17.079
in it for him. I told
him I did not know. He said,

741
01:06:17.079 --> 01:06:20.719
well, I'll see Grammar and talk
it over with him. I don't

742
01:06:20.760 --> 01:06:26.599
remember now other little details and conversations, but I do remember that The next

743
01:06:26.639 --> 01:06:30.639
thing I took Kirby down near gray
Horse, where Bill Smith was living on

744
01:06:30.679 --> 01:06:36.400
a ranch, and pointed out Bill
Smith's house to Kirby. The next thing

745
01:06:36.440 --> 01:06:41.599
I remember, in some way is
I heard Bill Smith left the country and

746
01:06:41.639 --> 01:06:45.840
had gone to Arkansas. In fact, Ernest Burkhart told me that Smith had

747
01:06:45.880 --> 01:06:49.599
gone to Arkansas, but he did
not think he would be gone long,

748
01:06:49.719 --> 01:06:55.559
and for me to tell Kirby.
I told Asa Kirby what Ernest Burkhart told

749
01:06:55.559 --> 01:06:59.800
me. The next thing that followed, and I don't know how long after,

750
01:07:00.519 --> 01:07:03.199
Ernest Burkhart came to me and told
me that Bill Smith had come back

751
01:07:03.199 --> 01:07:08.719
from Arkansas, and then took me
and showed me a house in Fairfax that

752
01:07:08.840 --> 01:07:13.199
Bill Smith was going to move into. The next thing that had happened,

753
01:07:13.639 --> 01:07:16.519
Ernest Burkhart came to me at Ripley, where I had my family, and

754
01:07:16.599 --> 01:07:20.679
told me that Bill Smith had moved
into town and told me to tell Asa

755
01:07:20.800 --> 01:07:25.800
Kirby that everything was ready, or
words to that effect, and tell him

756
01:07:25.800 --> 01:07:30.039
as quick as I could. I
told Ernest my wife was sick and I

757
01:07:30.079 --> 01:07:32.719
would go as soon as I could
get away. I'm not sure whether I

758
01:07:32.760 --> 01:07:36.360
went after Kirby that day or the
next day. I drove to the little

759
01:07:36.360 --> 01:07:42.000
oil town as I remember, either
Webb City or Cooper, where Kirby runs

760
01:07:42.039 --> 01:07:45.800
a rooming house, and met Kirby
and told him everything was ready and I

761
01:07:45.800 --> 01:07:48.440
would take him down and show him
the house. Kirby and I drove to

762
01:07:48.519 --> 01:07:53.440
Fairfax and I showed him the house
that Ernest said Bill Smith lived in.

763
01:07:54.519 --> 01:07:58.159
Kirby asked me if I knew where
there was any soup, and said Henry

764
01:07:58.159 --> 01:08:00.440
Grammar had some and if I knew
where it was, and I told him

765
01:08:00.440 --> 01:08:04.559
I did not. Then there was
something said about there being plenty of soups

766
01:08:04.599 --> 01:08:09.079
stored in the oil field and there
would be no trouble for him to get

767
01:08:09.079 --> 01:08:12.639
it if he needed it, that
he was not sure whether he'd blow up

768
01:08:12.679 --> 01:08:15.640
Smith or shoot him. As I
remember, I went on home. I

769
01:08:15.680 --> 01:08:20.079
suppose Kirby went home. I don't
recall exactly when, but soon after that,

770
01:08:20.319 --> 01:08:26.680
possibly the next night, Smith's house
was blown up. At some stage

771
01:08:26.680 --> 01:08:30.119
of the game, I don't exactly
recall when. Before the blow up,

772
01:08:30.760 --> 01:08:33.119
I asked asa Kirby if he needed
any help to do the job, and

773
01:08:33.159 --> 01:08:39.399
he said no. Some few days
I don't recall just how long after some

774
01:08:39.600 --> 01:08:43.439
few days I don't recall just how
long after the Smith blow up, I

775
01:08:43.479 --> 01:08:46.920
met Kirby and he told me something
about doing a good job. After the

776
01:08:46.920 --> 01:08:50.159
blow up, I talked with Grammar
and he asked me if i'd seen the

777
01:08:50.199 --> 01:08:54.640
blow up, and he said it
was a fair good job. I will

778
01:08:54.680 --> 01:08:59.000
say possibly a week after that I
went to Fairfax and saw the blow up.

779
01:08:59.560 --> 01:09:02.079
Neither he nor Grammar paid me anything
for the part I did in this.

780
01:09:02.800 --> 01:09:06.520
I was supposed to be just helping
out, but at different times since

781
01:09:06.600 --> 01:09:10.800
the blow up, Hale has given
me a little money. And whenever I

782
01:09:10.840 --> 01:09:14.239
needed a little money, I let
Hale know it, and he never failed

783
01:09:14.239 --> 01:09:17.520
to favor me. Henry Grammer told
me that he paid Asa Kirby for the

784
01:09:17.640 --> 01:09:21.159
job, and I asked Asa if
he got a settlement for the job,

785
01:09:21.560 --> 01:09:26.960
and he said, Henry Grammar paid
all but a little. That Grammar came

786
01:09:27.039 --> 01:09:30.560
up to pay him all, but
got on a drunk and spent a few

787
01:09:30.640 --> 01:09:46.640
hundred dollars, but later paid it
all. I just got one thing to

788
01:09:46.720 --> 01:09:54.239
say. Www dot Patreon dot com, slash true crime historian, that's it.

789
01:10:13.119 --> 01:10:15.640
W. E. Smith, the
husband of Rita and the brother in

790
01:10:15.760 --> 01:10:23.319
law of Anna Brown, was living
in a comfortable home. Smith had continued

791
01:10:23.359 --> 01:10:28.239
his active investigation of the murder of
Anna Brown and had an open break with

792
01:10:28.359 --> 01:10:32.199
Hale due not only to his letting
it be known that he had evidence involving

793
01:10:32.279 --> 01:10:36.119
Hale in the murder of Anna,
but also because of a demand which he

794
01:10:36.159 --> 01:10:42.560
had made upon Hale for six thousand
dollars and which Hale had refused to pay.

795
01:10:43.479 --> 01:10:46.479
Smith was known to be apt to
take action to enforce his claim against

796
01:10:46.520 --> 01:10:51.239
Hale, and at two o'clock on
the morning of March tenth, nineteen twenty

797
01:10:51.319 --> 01:10:57.439
three, less than two months after
the finding of Henry Rohane's body, Smith's

798
01:10:57.479 --> 01:11:01.119
home at Fairfax was blown up,
his wife, Rida and the servant Nettie

799
01:11:01.119 --> 01:11:08.000
Brookshire are being killed instantly, and
Smith himself being mutilated, so that he

800
01:11:08.119 --> 01:11:12.760
died within a few days, but
not before making a dying declaration to the

801
01:11:12.800 --> 01:11:17.079
effect that the only enemies he had
in the world were Hale and the Burkharts.

802
01:11:18.079 --> 01:11:21.720
With the passing of Rita Smith,
the last of the members of the

803
01:11:21.760 --> 01:11:27.680
family of Lizzie Q was done away
with, leaving alone her daughter Mollie,

804
01:11:27.720 --> 01:11:31.439
who now lives in Pahusco with her
husband Ernest Burkhardt, the nephew of Hale.

805
01:11:32.199 --> 01:11:36.039
And in addition to the wiping out
of the six thousand dollars claim which

806
01:11:36.079 --> 01:11:41.800
Smith held against Hale, Rida's property, it was felt also would go to

807
01:11:41.880 --> 01:11:46.279
the surviving sister, Molly Burkhart.
However, a will had been made by

808
01:11:46.359 --> 01:11:50.840
Rita and her husband under which the
survivor of the two was to acquire the

809
01:11:51.000 --> 01:11:57.560
estate of the first to die,
and Smith having survived, Rita by approximately

810
01:11:57.600 --> 01:12:01.319
four days all of the proper he
went to a daughter of Smith's by a

811
01:12:01.359 --> 01:12:08.000
former marriage, a girl in Arkansas. Unknown to Hale and the Burkharts,

812
01:12:09.159 --> 01:12:14.159
the debris of once had been a
home remained for some time a horrible monument

813
01:12:14.239 --> 01:12:17.840
to Hale, But neither he nor
anyone else for that matter, was run

814
01:12:17.920 --> 01:12:23.680
down until the Department of Justice sent
into the country a number of its men,

815
01:12:24.159 --> 01:12:29.319
carefully selected because of their knowledge of
Indian and frontier life, their indomitable

816
01:12:29.399 --> 01:12:39.520
courage and persistence over seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The blast that shook Fairfax also shook

817
01:12:39.560 --> 01:12:45.439
the Osage Tribal Council to action.
In desperation, the Indians appealed to Washington.

818
01:12:45.199 --> 01:12:50.840
A lawyer composed their resolution, which
said, whereas several members of the

819
01:12:50.840 --> 01:12:57.600
Osage Tribe have been murdered and many
other crimes committed against members of the tribe,

820
01:12:57.760 --> 01:13:01.159
be it resolved that the Honorable Secret
Terry of the Interior be requested to

821
01:13:01.199 --> 01:13:08.239
obtain the services of the Department of
Justice in capturing and prosecuting the murderers of

822
01:13:08.279 --> 01:13:13.560
the members of the Osage Tribe.
The appeal was relayed to the FBI,

823
01:13:13.800 --> 01:13:17.000
and the order went out, launching
an investigation that was to last for three

824
01:13:17.119 --> 01:13:24.880
years and become one of the classic
man hunts and FBI history. FBI agents

825
01:13:24.960 --> 01:13:30.960
moved into Fairfax and found an almost
impenetrable wall of fear. People were afraid

826
01:13:30.000 --> 01:13:35.039
to talk, and witnesses who might
have given information had long since disappeared.

827
01:13:36.319 --> 01:13:41.399
There were rumors that sent the agents
off for days at a time on false

828
01:13:41.520 --> 01:13:47.159
leads. Someone they knew was deliberately
planting stories to confuse their search, but

829
01:13:47.199 --> 01:13:54.479
the hunt continued. No one in
Fairfax paid any particular attention when four strangers

830
01:13:54.560 --> 01:14:00.000
drifted into town one by one,
a cattle buyer, an insurance salesman,

831
01:14:00.600 --> 01:14:05.560
an oil prospector, and an Indian
herb doctor. They went about their business,

832
01:14:06.000 --> 01:14:12.439
minding their own affairs. Weeks passed
without a break in the case,

833
01:14:13.159 --> 01:14:16.319
but then a signal was passed and
the four strangers met one night in the

834
01:14:16.359 --> 01:14:23.399
bad lands to pool their information and
plan their next moves. The cattle buyer

835
01:14:23.600 --> 01:14:28.079
was the oldest, and he was
the FBI agent in charge for this special

836
01:14:28.199 --> 01:14:32.920
undercover detail. After hearing the reports, he summed up, quote, here's

837
01:14:32.960 --> 01:14:39.680
where we stand. Anna Brown was
killed on unrestricted land, and so were

838
01:14:39.760 --> 01:14:45.760
Bill and Rita Smith. We have
no jurisdiction there, but Henry Ronehors was

839
01:14:45.840 --> 01:14:48.840
killed on government land, and that's
our case. If we can break that

840
01:14:49.039 --> 01:14:56.720
case, I figure we'll find all
the killers. The others agreed. Months

841
01:14:56.880 --> 01:15:00.479
passed. The four strangers met under
the star in the o Sage Hills to

842
01:15:00.600 --> 01:15:05.760
exchange information, and each time they
met they had a bit more information about

843
01:15:05.800 --> 01:15:13.439
the circumstances surrounding the murders. Gradually
the picture was taking form, and the

844
01:15:13.479 --> 01:15:17.960
man in the picture was William K. Hale. Finally, the agent in

845
01:15:18.119 --> 01:15:23.720
charge told his men, Hale is
our man, without a doubt. He

846
01:15:23.800 --> 01:15:29.159
had a twenty five thousand dollar insurance
policy on Henry Roan's life and had looked

847
01:15:29.159 --> 01:15:31.800
as if he was working to get
the estates of Lizzie Q and her daughters

848
01:15:32.239 --> 01:15:36.439
centered in the hands of that nephew
of his. But we have yet to

849
01:15:36.520 --> 01:15:43.119
prove it. But prove it they
did. The wall against which they had

850
01:15:43.119 --> 01:15:48.560
pounded so long crumbled slowly but steadily. From the bad lands came a tip

851
01:15:48.680 --> 01:15:54.359
that a certain convict in the Oklahoma
State Penitentiary knew something about the murders.

852
01:15:55.039 --> 01:16:00.600
The agents found that convict, who
hated Hale was ready to talk. He

853
01:16:00.720 --> 01:16:03.880
said, go see Ernest Burkhardt.
He can tell you everything you want to

854
01:16:03.920 --> 01:16:10.600
know. This dove tailed with other
information collected over the months. The agents

855
01:16:10.640 --> 01:16:15.840
confronted Burkhardt with what they had and
what they suspected. Hale's nephew was the

856
01:16:15.840 --> 01:16:20.960
weak link. He broke and told
the agents how Hale had dominated him all

857
01:16:21.000 --> 01:16:27.960
his life. He named the killers
of Henry Roanehorse and the Smiths. He

858
01:16:28.039 --> 01:16:32.279
said that his uncle had plotted the
murders. One by one, the killers

859
01:16:32.319 --> 01:16:38.520
confessed in each case. They pointed
the finger at Hale, and the story

860
01:16:38.600 --> 01:16:43.520
unfolded of how Ace Kirby had been
double crossed after he blew up the smith

861
01:16:43.600 --> 01:16:49.199
home, how they posed as medicinemen, prospectors, cattlemen, how many times

862
01:16:49.239 --> 01:16:55.239
were framed, how they were hunted
and lost, how they uncovered scores of

863
01:16:55.359 --> 01:17:00.560
false leads and faked confessions, how
they gathered from all parts of the country

864
01:17:00.880 --> 01:17:04.119
small bits of evidence, and finally, why they took prisoner. The King

865
01:17:04.239 --> 01:17:10.199
of the o Sage will not be
told until the evidence comes from the witnesses

866
01:17:10.359 --> 01:17:19.479
on the stand. June third,
nineteen twenty six, Kelsey Morrison, twenty

867
01:17:19.479 --> 01:17:26.119
three years old, Tuesday, admitted
from the witness stand that he killed Anna

868
01:17:26.239 --> 01:17:31.000
Brown, an Osage Indian woman whose
body was found in a ravine near Fairfax

869
01:17:31.359 --> 01:17:38.039
in nineteen twenty two. Morrison was
testifying as a state witness in the trial

870
01:17:38.119 --> 01:17:42.439
of Ernest Burkhardt, charged with the
slaying of W. E. Smith,

871
01:17:42.840 --> 01:17:47.680
O Sage County rancher. Morrison related
the W. K. Hale, alleged

872
01:17:47.680 --> 01:17:53.439
by officers to be the mastermind of
the O Sage reign of horror, had

873
01:17:53.479 --> 01:17:58.600
given him six hundred dollars in an
automobile for killing Anna Brown, a sister

874
01:17:58.720 --> 01:18:03.359
of Missus Smith and Missus Burkhardt,
and a daughter of Lizzie Q, wealthy

875
01:18:03.399 --> 01:18:10.239
woman now deceased. Hale urged him
to kill Smith and his wife. Morrison

876
01:18:10.359 --> 01:18:15.319
testified, and offered him money to
shoot them. Burkhart, he said,

877
01:18:15.680 --> 01:18:17.439
had asked him why he didn't go
ahead and go through with it, and

878
01:18:17.520 --> 01:18:24.520
asked me how much I wanted to
do the job unquote. Morrison's public confession

879
01:18:24.640 --> 01:18:29.520
came after he had been informed by
the judge that testimony given would not be

880
01:18:29.640 --> 01:18:34.720
used against him in the case.
Edward Dabney, Assistant Attorney General and State

881
01:18:34.840 --> 01:18:40.680
prosecutor, explained to the court that
Morrison had given the statement to him and

882
01:18:40.800 --> 01:18:45.560
another prosecuting attorney at Guthrie after they
had informed Morrison that the judge would grant

883
01:18:45.600 --> 01:18:50.600
him immunity. Morrison, on the
stand said that Hale had talked to him

884
01:18:50.600 --> 01:18:56.399
at one time at one of his
ranch houses and told Morrison that Bill Smith

885
01:18:56.520 --> 01:19:00.880
had quote Dunham dirty unquote and asked
how much he was would take to kill

886
01:19:00.920 --> 01:19:04.640
the whole bunch. Morrison said,
quote. I told him I would study

887
01:19:04.680 --> 01:19:09.920
about it. I talked to him
later in one of his pastors. Hale

888
01:19:10.039 --> 01:19:14.000
wanted me to shoot Smith. Later, he wanted me to set fire to

889
01:19:14.079 --> 01:19:17.960
their house and shoot Smith and his
wife as they ran out. I was

890
01:19:18.000 --> 01:19:24.199
out with Burkhart and Hale in a
pasture at a later time. Hale asked

891
01:19:24.199 --> 01:19:27.039
me if I was going on through
with it, and that if I wasn't,

892
01:19:27.079 --> 01:19:30.800
he would get someone else. I
told him I didn't believe I wanted

893
01:19:30.840 --> 01:19:34.079
to do it. I had a
conversation with Burkhart at the side of the

894
01:19:34.199 --> 01:19:38.760
road at another time. He asked
me if I was going to go on

895
01:19:38.880 --> 01:19:42.359
through with it. He asked me
why I didn't go on and kill Bill

896
01:19:42.439 --> 01:19:45.399
Smith. I told him I didn't
know anything about it because Hale had been

897
01:19:45.439 --> 01:19:48.880
talking to me. He said if
I'd go on through with it, he

898
01:19:48.920 --> 01:19:51.880
would make it right with me later. That he didn't have any money then,

899
01:19:53.520 --> 01:19:58.039
He said he would have all the
money in the country someday. Unquote,

900
01:19:58.399 --> 01:20:03.479
Morrison spoke in a low with eyes
downcast, apparently nervous. His answers

901
01:20:03.520 --> 01:20:10.600
to questions asked by attorneys came after
long intervals of apparent thought. Quote.

902
01:20:10.760 --> 01:20:13.199
He asked me how much I wanted
to do the job, and I told

903
01:20:13.279 --> 01:20:15.800
him I did not want to do
it. I told him I knew who

904
01:20:15.840 --> 01:20:18.399
he could get. I said this
party would have to have the money down.

905
01:20:18.840 --> 01:20:21.680
He said he didn't have it then, but he would when the job

906
01:20:21.800 --> 01:20:27.960
was pulled. Hale said I was
to get three thousand dollars. He said

907
01:20:28.000 --> 01:20:30.279
Smith and his wife had a joint
will, and if one got killed,

908
01:20:30.640 --> 01:20:34.119
both should be killed at once.
He said, if I did not lose

909
01:20:34.159 --> 01:20:39.920
my nerve, Ernest would get it
all and I would be taken care of.

910
01:20:40.319 --> 01:20:44.039
He meant by all that Burkhardt would
get the head right of the Lizzie

911
01:20:44.159 --> 01:20:49.119
Q family, Molly's Burkhart, Anna
Brown and Missus Smith. Hale told me

912
01:20:49.159 --> 01:20:53.760
after the death of Anna Brown that
it was a good job I killed her.

913
01:20:54.279 --> 01:20:58.439
I was hired by Hale in nineteen
twenty one. He came to me

914
01:20:58.520 --> 01:21:01.199
one day and asked me what I
would due for one thousand dollars. I

915
01:21:01.239 --> 01:21:05.119
told him most anything. He said
he wanted me to kill Anna Brown.

916
01:21:05.720 --> 01:21:19.439
He paid me six hundred dollars once
and later bought me a car. William

917
01:21:19.520 --> 01:21:24.840
K. Hale fought back, and
one of the bitterest trials ever held in

918
01:21:24.920 --> 01:21:29.840
the Southwest. He boasted when arrested
that he could raise a million dollar bond

919
01:21:29.840 --> 01:21:33.039
if necessary, and he must have
spent a chunk of money. The court

920
01:21:33.119 --> 01:21:42.279
room battles were highlighted by charges of
bribery perjury threats against witnesses. Bill Hale's

921
01:21:42.319 --> 01:21:47.119
battery of lawyers almost succeeded in winning
freedom for him. The federal district court

922
01:21:47.199 --> 01:21:51.479
held in his first trial that the
government had no jurisdiction, but the US

923
01:21:51.600 --> 01:21:58.359
Supreme Court reversed this decision. The
second trial ended in a hung jury after

924
01:21:58.399 --> 01:22:04.840
a defense witness gave perjeak testimony.
The perjurer was convicted. Hale was convicted

925
01:22:04.840 --> 01:22:10.000
on the third trial, but the
fight hadn't been won. The verdict was

926
01:22:10.039 --> 01:22:13.600
set aside on the ground that the
trial had been held in the wrong district.

927
01:22:14.319 --> 01:22:18.199
On the fourth try, Hale was
convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

928
01:22:18.880 --> 01:22:26.239
That was January twenty sixth, nineteen
twenty nine. In Osage County. The

929
01:22:26.279 --> 01:22:31.199
Indian's Tribal Council assembled again, and
this time they adopted a resolution voicing,

930
01:22:31.279 --> 01:22:35.560
quote, our sincere gratitude for the
splendid work done in the matter of the

931
01:22:35.600 --> 01:22:42.039
investigating and bringing to justice the parties
charged with the murders of members of the

932
01:22:42.079 --> 01:22:47.279
o Sage tribe of Indians unquote.
The bloody reign of the King of the

933
01:22:47.319 --> 01:22:54.760
Osage Hills had ended. The FBI
had closed one of its most fantastic cases

934
01:22:54.800 --> 01:23:30.840
in its files. Epilogue. Bill
Hale was sentenced to life in prison,

935
01:23:30.159 --> 01:23:35.039
but was paroled on July thirty first, nineteen forty seven. He spent some

936
01:23:35.079 --> 01:23:40.159
of the rest of his life in
Montana working as a ranch hand, but

937
01:23:40.279 --> 01:23:46.399
died in Arizona in nineteen sixty two
and was buried in Wichita, Kansas Byron

938
01:23:46.439 --> 01:23:51.560
Burkhardt turned state's evidence and never served
any time. His brother, Ernest was

939
01:23:51.600 --> 01:23:57.840
sentenced to life in state court and
was sent to Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAllister,

940
01:23:57.920 --> 01:24:02.279
Oklahoma. He was relieved in nineteen
fifty nine and received a pardon in

941
01:24:02.399 --> 01:24:25.960
nineteen sixty six from Governor Henry Bellman. That was the King of the Osage

942
01:24:26.039 --> 01:24:31.319
Hills, a terrible reign of murder. The statement of Catherine Cole was read

943
01:24:31.319 --> 01:24:39.399
by Susan Furman. Incidental music by
Niko Vitessi. Theme music by Dave Sam's

944
01:24:39.399 --> 01:24:45.359
and Rachel Shott. Engineered by David
Hish at Third Street Music. Media management

945
01:24:45.439 --> 01:24:50.239
by Sean R. Jones, Production
assistant by Emily seymer Brown and I'm True

946
01:24:50.279 --> 01:24:55.479
Crime historian Richard O. Jones signing
off for now.