Killers of the Flower Moon

Mollie Burkhart (1886 to 1937) was an Osage woman who was married to Ernest Burkhart, a white man; they had three children, one of whom died in childhood. Grann introduces the tale of the Osage Reign of Terror in the 1920s through Mollie’s family’s story: Three of her sisters and her mother were victims.

Mollie is portrayed as a strong woman who cared for her mother Lizzie and watched over her wayward sister Anna. Mollie was also doubly in danger from the murder conspiracy. Not only were the doctors who treated her diabetes almost certainly poisoning her, but Mollie and her children were also targeted more directly: Only by a twist of fate were they not at a house that was bombed.

Mollie hired private investigators to try to solve the mystery of who was killing Osage members, unaware that her husband’s uncle, William Hale—ostensibly an ally of the family and the tribe—was behind many of the murders. Even when her husband admitted to his involvement and was set to testify against Hale, she refused to believe that Ernest was “intentionally guilty” (201). However, after all the facts came out, Mollie divorced the convicted Ernest and later married again, living a happy life in her later years, according to her granddaughter. She died at age 50.

William Hale (1874-1962) started out as a cowboy. After a few failed starts, he began buying up Oklahoma land until he had a large expanse of grazing acreage. This made him rich, so he settled down with a schoolteacher to start a family, eventually becoming the most influential man, known as the “King of the Osage Hills” (29). He also became a reserve deputy sheriff—a mostly honorary position, but one he took seriously. As a result of his wealth and influence, Hale became something of a political boss, bestowing favors on those who courted him and expecting loyalty in return. He also had a reputation for being a friend of the Osage Nation, helped many members by donating to the hospitals and schools that served them.

Hale vowed to get to the bottom of the murders, hiring a private investigator and seemingly helping as much as he could in his capacity as reserve deputy sheriff. In fact, as the Bureau of Investigation discovered, Hale was actually behind many of the murders, including those of members of his extended family. Two of his nephews, Ernest and Bryan Burkhart, were married to Osage women; these men assisted Hale in his plot.

Eventually, based on the work of Bureau investigator Tom White, Hale was brought to trial and found guilty of murder. After being imprisoned for 20 years, he was paroled in 1947. Grann portrays Hale as a hard-hearted and duplicitous individual who denied his role in the murders until the end.

Ernest Burkhart (1892-1986) was the husband of Mollie Burkhart. Born in Texas, he moved to Oklahoma to work for his uncle, William Hale. Portrayed in the book as weak-willed and under the sway of Hale, whom Ernest saw as a surrogate father, Ernest became involved in the Osage murders even though his wife and children were some of Hale’s targets. Ernest knew of murder plots and assisted in some of the killings. He was convicted of conspiracy to murder in 1926, and imprisoned until 1937. After a short time of being free on parole, he was returned to jail when he committed another crime.

Tom White (1991-1971) was the lead investigator of the Osage Reign of Terror for the Bureau of Investigations. After a stint with the Texas Rangers as a young man, White joined the Bureau in 1917. In 1925, the head of the Bureau, J. Edgar Hoover, selected him to head the investigation into the Osage murders. With his team of agents, White was able to crack the case that had eluded so many others and brought William Hale and Ernest Burkhart to justice.

Afterward, White took a job as warden of Leavenworth Prison in Kansas, where Hale and his co-defendant were imprisoned. White was credited with saving the lives of two teenage siblings when all three were taken hostage during a prison break. In the process, White lost the use of his left arm.

Throughout the book, Grann portrays White as tough, but unfailingly fair and having great integrity. Grann holds up White as the consummate investigator, whose dogged pursuit of the truth allowed some of the Osage murderers to be brought to justice. In the last section of the book, Grann models some of his own investigative practices on the traits he portrays White as embodying.