With close to 60 pages of source documentation, the author, David Grann, of “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” did more than an admirable job of researching and retelling the story of the Osage Nation Reign of Terror that took place in early 20th century Oklahoma.
Grann left his home in New York and came to the scene of the crime in northeastern Oklahoma - an area of land near the Kansas border.
He walked and drove the streets of Fairfax and Pawhuska and visited rural areas like the Osage settlement town of Gray Horse.
Grann didn’t just rehash earlier versions of the tragedy that have appeared in books such as “The Years of Fear” by Fred Grove or the movie “The FBI Story” starring James Stewart.
He talked to Osage families who had lost family members and dug through countless court documents, archives and libraries to print an historical account of what happened. He brought to the attention of new generations a century-old tragedy.
Grann retold in authoritative detail the painful story of how Osage Indians were targeted on land they had bought.
OSAGE OIL AND MINERAL RIGHTS
A unique part of what makes the Osage Nation’s story a little different than other tribes resettled into what became the state of Oklahoma is that during allotment negotiations they were able to retain their oil and mineral rights.
“Because the Osage had purchased their land, it was harder for the government to impose its policy of allotment. The tribe, led by one of its greatest chiefs, James Big- heart - who spoke seven languages, among them Sioux, French, English, and Latin, and who had taken to wearing a suit - was able to forestall the process. But pressure was mounting. Theodore Roosevelt had already warned what would befall an Indian who refused his allotment: ‘Let him, like those whites, who will not work, perish from the face of the earth which he cumbers.’” (Page 15)
Bigheart and a young Osage lawyer were able to negotiate with Washington over a period of time to obtain better terms of allotment than other Indian tribes.
Each individual allotment was increased from 160 acres to 657 acres, which would hopefully keep at bay the mad dash on their territory like other land runs.
“The Osage also managed to slip into the agreement what seemed, at the time, like a curious provision: ‘That the oil, gas, coal, or other minerals covered by the lands ... are hereby reserved to the Osage Tribe.’” (Page 56)
Grann documented that the tribe already knew there were some oil deposits under the reservation.
OSAGE OIL AND MINERAL RIGHTS
The new wealth brought a lot of non-tribal people into the area seeking a way to profit from the oil boom.
A disadvantage to the Osage is the fact they were considered “Oklahoma wards of the United States” and were not allowed to manage their own head rights or their own money.
Custodians or guardians were appointed to the Indians and were usually white businessmen in the community or “squaw men” - white men who married Indian women.
Mysterious deaths began happening that were eventually traced to poison, bullets and even a bombing. Research showed that it wasn’t a single conspiracy orchestrated by just one person and the murders transpired roughly from 1918 through 1931 and involved many victims.
Another interesting aspect from an Oklahoman’s viewpoint is once persons of interest were arrested, the question of who had jurisdiction for the trial had to be sorted out - the federal government, the state or the Indian nation. Not much has changed in that area in the last 100 years.
CAPTIVATING, HEART-WRENCHING STORY
All the elements are in place for a captivating “whodunit” mystery - the greed, the power, the motives, and the real-life characters.
A modern reader may find themselves wondering how a tale this horrific could happen, but factor in the elements of racism and cultural history and it makes the reality more clear.
It doesn’t make it right. It just explains it.
TEXT FROM BACK OF BOOK JACKET
In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured cars and lived in mansions.
Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed. Mollie Burkhart watched as her family became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. Other Osage were also dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who investigated the crimes were themselves murdered.
As the death toll rose, the case was taken up by the newly created FBI and its young, secretive director, J. Edgar Hoover. Struggling to crack the mystery, Hoover turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White, who put together an undercover team ... and began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.