The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
David Grann has written a well-researched and deeply disturbing account of the systematic destruction of the great Osage Nation throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The book is mainly the account of the conspiracy against the Osage in Oklahoma where by chance they ended up sitting on the most valuable oil fields in America.
The story can be said to begin in 1804 when leaders of the Osage Nation met in Washington with Thomas Jefferson who had just completed the deal for the Louisiana Territory. Jefferson was impressed with the strong handsome and well-spoken representatives who met with him, and at that time assurances were given by Jefferson that no one would take tribal lands from the Osage. At that time the Osage possessed 100 million acres of rich land within the territory. In less than 20 years, all that sweet talk was for nought, and the nation was not only decimated by small pox, but forced back into Kansas, their territory reduced to 4 million acres. Soon the white settlers came pouring in with promises from the American government of cheap land. Once again the Osage were relegated into a smaller area, this time in Oklahoma. Homesteaders had claimed all the good land in Kansas and Oklahoma territories. Unknown to those in power at the time, the dry useless land the natives were forced onto was atop of a mega oil field.
The main part of the book takes place in the 1920s, and Grann, an excellent writer, examines the fate of one Osage family, and how the FBI became involved in what was to be its most publicized case, the foundation on which J. Edgar Hoover built his powerful organization. At this time the Osage were the wealthiest people in the world, per capita. The newspapers played up lurid stories of exaggerated profligacy of tribal members spending money on orgies of bling and waste. This sparked jealously and outrage among the white settlers and was further fanned by newsmen throughout the country. The national government decided the Osage were incapable of handling their own money and each family was assigned an guardian, white of course, who lined their own pockets and bilked the natives. Because by law, the mineral rights to the oil could not be sold and could only pass by inheritance, there was a preponderance of white men who married into the Indian families.
By 1925, an overwhelming number of Osage died under violent or mysterious circumstances. No great effort was made to solve these murders. It was only when Mollie Burkhart, (whose husband was white) fearing for her own life after 3 of her sibling suffered unnatural deaths, enlisted the help of a white oil man to petition the national government to step in. Mollie had been victimized by two doctors in the pay of her husband who were poisoning her with shots they claimed were for diabetes.
Once Hoover and an investigator named Tom White became involved, things began to change. The killers of Mollie’s family were eventually brought to justice and the FBI garnered national publicity and praise. By the end of the decade the Great Depression had wiped out what was left of the fortunes of the Osage. While official documents show 24 people had died in mysterious circumstances, modern research had shown the number to be closer to 100.
Unfortunately the greed for oil and territory grabbing is still going on. Witness the recent standoff at Standing Rock and the oil pipelines which are scheduled to go through land belonging to the Lakota Nation. Grann has written an important book furthering our understanding of the injustice done to Native Americans which sadly continues today wherever greed finds a foothold. I recommend this book to all readers and book reading groups.
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