Summary of Killers of the Flower Moon

SpeedyReads

• Publisher: SpeedyReads
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9783965082373
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

On the 24th of May 1921, Mollie Burkhart of the Osage settlement town of Gray Horse, Oklahoma, began dreading the worst about her elder sister, Anna Brown. Anna had vanished three days earlier, which wasn't uncharacteristic of her since she disappeared at times. Their sister, Minnie, had passed away three years ago due to a mysterious illness that the doctors had not been able to explain. By the year 1923, the number of killed Osages had reached twenty-four. A young director, J. Edgar Hoover, started obsessing over the case of the Osage killings and called on to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to investigate and solve the mystery.

Summary of Killers of the Flower Moon

On the 24^th of May 1921, Mollie Burkhart of the Osage settlement town of Gray Horse, Oklahoma, began dreading the worst about her elder sister, Anna Brown. Anna had vanished three days earlier, which wasn't uncharacteristic of her since she disappeared at times. Their sister, Minnie, had passed away three years ago due to a mysterious illness that the doctors had not been able to explain.

Mollie and her sisters were registered members of the Osage tribe and had a fortune. When the Osage were directed to this reservation in the early 1870s, they were not aware of its worth. They later found that the land was situated above some of the most prominent oil deposits in the U. S. Prospectors started paying leases and royalties to the Osage to acquire the oil in the early 1900s. These came in the form of quarterly checks to every name on the tribal roll.

The amount started small but gradually turned into thousands of dollars. The payments kept increasing every year to convert the tribe's collective fortune into millions of dollars. Because of this, the Osage had lavish lifestyles. Along with other luxuries, Mollie also had a huge number of servants.

Mollie was married to a 28-year-old white man, Ernest Burkhart. He had been living with his uncle William K. Hale when he met Mollie as her chauffeur. They got married despite some obstacles and had two children, Elizabeth and James.

Mollie also tended to their mother, Lizzie, who had joined her after the death of their father. Anna was last seen on the 21st of May when she had arrived to look after Lizzie on Ernest's request. Anna was the eldest of her siblings and Lizzie's favorite. Mollie was hosting a luncheon that day and needed Anna's help.

However, Anna was troubled since she had recently gone through a divorce with her husband Oda Brown. At Mollie's house, Anna was drunk and flirted with Ernest's younger brother, Bryan, who she had dated at times. Anna then fought with everyone. Mollie was supposed to look after her mother and Ernest took the guests to Fairfax, where his uncle lived. Bryan offered to drop Anna off.

According to Bryan, he had dropped Anna home and then went to join the guests for the show. Mollie started getting worried. News of Anna's disappearance traveled. What made matters worse was the disappearance of another Osage, Charles Whitehorn, who had disappeared a week before Anna. A week after Anna's disappearance, the corpses of both Charles and Anna were discovered at different places. Charles's body was identified with the help of a letter in his pocket. It was clear that he had been shot since there were two bullet holes between his eyes.

Anna's body had no identification and was in a bad shape. Mollie, her sister Rita and Rita's husband Bill identified the body.

A coroner's inquest was convened. It included jurors selected from white men and a justice of the peace. A hole in the back of Anna's skull confirmed that she had been murdered in cold blood. Lawmen in those times were mostly amateurs. The Osage County sheriff was Harve M. Freas. While he was considered terrorizing to criminals, rumor had it that he also had connections with criminals. No bullet was found inside or near Anna. A bottle of moonshine was discovered near her body, which she must have been drinking before being shot. Two different car tracks were found nearby. No proper forensic methods were used during the investigation.

Osage burials and funerals were extremely costly. Mollie approached Anna's burial with dedication. Anna's last rites paid homage to her Osage roots.

The two killings caused a stir. The two Osage had both been wealthy and, in their thirties, which gave rise to suspicion. In addition, the bullets found from Charles' body had similarities with the weapon suspected in Anna's killing. Mollie put pressure on law enforcement to investigate Anna's killing but they did not care a lot about the case. She then sought help from Ernest's uncle Hale, who held the position of a reserve deputy sheriff in Fairfax. The position was honorific but enabled him to enjoy certain perks linked with it. Hale had been fond of Anna and assured Mollie of his help.

The coroner's inquest also questioned Bryan and Ernest but no evidence implicated Bryan. One theory about Anna's killer was that he had come from outside the reservation. However, another theory regarding the killer was that he was amongst them. Mollie and others began suspecting Anna's ex-husband, Oda Brown. People started makin...

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