TULSA, Okla. — With all the Hollywood glitz and glam shining on Osage County ahead of the release of "Killers of the Flower Moon," many Oklahomans are learning about the terror on which the movie is based for the first time.
Those who inflicted the Reign of Terror on the Osage in the 1920s hoped the atrocities would stay buried, but the Osage people are reliving them to ensure history is more accurately shared.
Osage before the Reign of Terror
The Osage people were known to be fierce warriors and excellent hunters. Origins of the Osage trace back to the Dhegiha Sioux tribes, now known as Quawpaw, Kaw, Ponca, and Osage.
Oral tradition tells us in 400-500 A.D., the Dhegiha tribes, minus the Quapaw, migrated up the central Mississippi River valley, settling in the St. Louis area, with some following the many river drainages into what is now Missouri and Illinois.
Around 1000 A.D., the tribes slowly split, going in different directions. The Osage were the last to stay in the St. Louis area.
This split is how the tribes gained their individual names. Quawpaw translates to "downstream people" because they lived down the river. Omaha translates to “those going against the wind or current” because they traveled up the river.
The Osage's name for themselves is Wahzhazhe, which translates to children or people of the middle waters.
It's believed the actual word "Osage" is an English version of the French phonetic understanding of the tribe's name.
In the early 1800s, the Osage ceded their land in Missouri to the U.S. government and moved west to the Neosho River valley in Kansas.
By 1872, encroachment from American settlers forced the Osage to give up most of their ancestral land and relocate to their present-day reservation in Oklahoma.
The Osage were notable during this time for resisting American culture and continuing to follow Native traditions.
Historians also note that the Osage discouraged alcohol use, which was introduced by European traders.
The Reign of Terror
The reservation given to the Osage in Oklahoma was perceived as rocky and worthless for settlers, but the tribe quickly learned of the black gold they lived on — a rich supply of oil.
In 1906, the Osage Allotment Act gave the Osage Nation mineral rights to any subsurface minerals within the reservation. The rights were held in trust by the U.S. government but were tribally owned.
The government would auction off drilling sites to oilmen. The royalties made went to the tribe.
The tribe then gave out the money equally to each allotted member. The sum of money each tribe member received was a "headright."
Headrights were hereditary and passed down to the next legal heir if the headright owner passed away.
The headrights led the Osage to prosper during the early 1900s — believed to be the richest people per capita in the world. Some elders in the tribe rightfully expressed concern for what the wealth would bring.
David Grann talks about the wealth and subsequent jealousy the Osage saw in his book "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI."
"In 1923 alone, the tribe took in more than $30 million, the equivalent today of more than $400 million. The Osage were considered the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The public became transfixed by the tribe’s prosperity, which belied the images of Native Americans that could be traced back to the first brutal contact with whites.”
- David Grann, "Killers of the Flower Moon"
It wasn't long before non-Osage settlers tried to get in on the money.
Propaganda began to spread, depicting the Osage as lazy, ignorant, and unable to handle their own money. This led to thefederal government deeming many Osage not fully competent and appointing them "guardians" to manage their money.
Guardians were almost always white men. The Osage had to get permission from their guardians to spend their own money.
From 1920-1925, roughly 60 Osage headright holders and close family were murdered under suspicious circumstances. The murderers were especially barbaric in their methods, often poisoning their victims, which led to a slow and excruciating death.
The murderers also bombed a victim's home and shot victims in the back of the head.
Even worse, because of how the headrights and guardianship laws worked, ill-intentioned non-Osage men would marry Osage women or become close friends with heirs to either steal their money or kill them for it. This led to paranoia and distrust for the Osage.
“The world’s richest people per capita were becoming the world’s most murdered.” - David Grann, "Killers of the Flower Moon"
Private detectives and other investigators looked into the murders but came up empty for several reasons. Some Osage were scared to talk about the murders, and some investigators and witnesses were allegedly paid off to thwart efforts.
The Osage Tribal Council then asked the federal government to investigate. Federal investigator Tom White assembled a team and began going undercover to find evidence.
The story of Tom White's investigation is largely what's told in Grann's book. Those who've already seen the movie say it focuses more on the experience of the Osage.
White's investigation met many dead ends, but a Texas rancher named William Hale seemed to be at the core of the murders.
Hale gave himself the name "King of the Osage Hills." White found Hale had his hands in several of the Osage's pockets.
After years of working to gain the trust of the Osage and finally getting Hale's nephew Ernest Burkhart to confess his involvement in one murder, Hale went to trial.
Hale was found guilty of the murder of Henry Roan and sentenced to life in prison in October 1929. He served 18 years before being let out on parole in 1947. He moved to Arizona shortly after, where he spent the rest of his life before he died in 1962.
Only four people were ever convicted in connection to two of the Osage murders, leaving the other 58+ murders largely unsolved.
Hale's nephew, Ernest Burkhart, was one of the four convicted, but he was later pardoned by the Oklahoma Parole Board for his cooperation in the investigation.
Osage after the Reign of Terror
In 1925, Congress passed a law prohibiting non-Osages from inheriting headrights of tribal members possessing more than one-half Osage blood.
The Great Depression compounded the devastation following the Reign of Terror for the Osage. The price of oil crashed from $3 a barrel at its peak, to 65 cents. Annual headright payments dropped to around $800.
The oil supply continued to shrink as well.
It wasn't until 2011, after a decade-long legal battle, that the federal government paid the Osage $380 million as restitution for the money lost, though some argue they lost much more.
The Osage have found new sources of income for the tribe, including the seven casinos owned by the nation.
2 News spoke with Henry Roan's great-grandson and former chief Jim Gray about how "Killers of the Flower Moon" is telling the story of the Osage murders:
With the sudden spotlight on the Osage Nation, tribal officials remind the public they are not relics but a group that navigated devastation and is still prospering today.
"We are not relics. The Osage Nation is a sovereign Nation that is thriving. A people of strength, hope, and passion, honoring the stories of the past and building a world of the future," the Nation said in a press release about the movie.
Today, roughly 26% of all headrights are owned by non-Osage individuals, churches, universities, and other non-Osage institutions, the tribe said.
"The Osage Minerals Council is currently seeking federal legislation to permit non-Osages who own a “headright” interest in the Osage Mineral Estate to gift or sell those headright interests back to the Osage Minerals Council, the Osage Nation, or Osage individuals," tribe officials said.
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