KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: THE OSAGE MURDERS AND THE BIRTH OF THE FBI by David Grann

(oil rigs in Osage County, OK)

From 1921 to 1926 a series of murders took place in Osage County, Oklahoma. As the number of victims turned up more and more residents of the county became suspicious. The history of these murders is recounted and analyzed in David Grann’s new book, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: THE OSAGE MURDERS AND THE BIRTH OF THE FBI. Though the book appears to be a work of non-fiction, in reality it reads like a serial murder mystery, as it leads the reader through the different layers of the crimes that were committed.

Grann begins his narrative by introducing a number of important people, then goes on to describe the background history of the Osage tribe that was stripped of their land between the Arkansas and Missouri Rivers, and forced on to a reservation in Kansas. When white squatters stole many of their plots in the 1870s the government moved them again, this time to Oklahoma. By 1877 there were no buffalo remaining and government policy shifted from containment of Native-Americans to assimilation. The forced acculturation made the Osage adapt the white man’s clothing, names, and way of life. The government instituted an allotment plan that was designed to destroy the communal way of life to make Native-Americans farmers on given plots of land. The Osage were the last to accept this system when they negotiated an increase in acreage per family. They were wise to include in the 1906 treaty a caveat that stated “that the oil, gas, and other minerals covered by the lands…are hereby reserved to the Osage Tribe.” Lo and behold the land would contain the largest oil deposits in the United States, creating numerous “Red millionaires” as described by newspaper accounts The problem was that in the early 1920s a series of murders of tribal residents began to occur.

Since the victims were “only Indians” the white power structure did not go full bore in their investigation of the developing “reign of terror.” With a lack of forensics and other techniques the investigation really went nowhere prompting the tribe itself to fund further investigative work. The number of people that were killed is open to question. Grann puts the figure as around 24, but other historians believe it is significantly higher. Many Native-American lived an ostentatious life style that only created further animosity against them. The government instituted a “guardian system” to protect these incompetent individuals. These guardians would become perpetrators of “theft, graft, and mercenary marriage” against the Osage.

(Tom White and J. Edgar Hoover)

Grann’s story is a deep dive into who the victims were and why they were murdered. Grann presents a series of important characters that are the key to events. The Burkhardt family, including Ernest and Mollie emerge as extremely important when other family members are killed. William Hale, who presents himself as a benefactor to the tribe, but in truth is rather duplicitous with his own agenda. Tom White is appointed by J. Edgar Hoover, the newly appointed head of the Bureau of Investigation (the precursor to the FBI) to take over the investigation when the killings continue. Of course there is J. Edgar Hoover and numerous other characters from criminals, prosecutors, lawyers, snitches and on and on.

Grann’s approach is based on meticulous research as he has combed the available primary materials. Interviews, investigative documents, and newspaper accounts are all employed. What emerges are crimes that had infected the state and local government of Oklahoma, particularly Osage County. Be it the courts, the governor’s office, or county officials there were layers of crimes being committed in the name of a cover-up for the goal of fleecing Native-Americans of their oil money. Grann heavily focuses on Tom White, offering his background in law enforcement and his approach to solving the murders. He must navigate the closed society that exists that seems to want to cover-up any evidence and when potential witnesses began to disappear the case goes cold. White also must deal with Hoover who sees the case as a means of increasing the reputation of his new agency. Hoover wanted things done in a certain way and have his agents follow his approach to “scientific law enforcement.” Those who worked outside his parameters soon found themselves unemployed.

(Mollie, Lizzie, and Anna Burkhardt)

The core of the book involves tracing numerous murders of the Osage. A few would be solved, but many, perhaps a few hundred were not. Grann will use the last section of the book to describe his own investigation into some of these murders. He will interview descendants of the victims and the conclusion is very clear that an unknown number of the Osage community were killed over the oil wealth to the point where it is described as “the blood cries out from the ground,” or the Osage seeking justice a generation or two later. Grann delivers what appears to be a detective novel just as he did in his previous book, THE LOST CITY OF Z and he has produced a wonderful work of non-fiction as a follow up. As David Eggers points out in New York Times review of the book, by interviewing contemporary Osage tribe members Grann presents “a far deeper” and sickening conspiracy against the tribe throughout its history. As Eggers states, “history is a merciless judge.”*