“The bureau didn’t reveal a deeper, darker conspiracy, and as a result many were able to escape justice.”, Workers strike oil in Osage territory. In March 1923, Rita and Bill Smith (the sister and brother-in-law, respectively, of Mollie Burkhart) were killed when their house went up in an explosion. Myers, Collins, and Dion will play Mollie Burkhart’s sisters, Anna, Reta, and Minnie. ... Mollie who as an adult watched her Osage world evolve and change in ways no one could imagine during her lifetime. Because she spoke English and was married to a white man, Mollie Burkhart became the family’s natural liaison with the white authorities. The Osage Tribal Council suspected that Hale was responsible for many of the deaths. In order to maintain tribal control, shares of the oil money could not be sold by the Osage to white settlers, but they could be inherited. The great wealth lured not only desperadoes, bootleggers and criminals—but fantastic jealousy as well. Mollie Burkhart and her husband. Anna had been missing for three days, immediately sparking her family’s worst fears. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. In this state of absolute terror, she even gave her new baby, Anna, to a relative to raise. The Osage National Museum/ Courtesy of Doubleday View Slideshow2 of2 Mollie Burkhart: Survivor of Her Husband’s Osage Murder Plot. Anna’s immediate family included her sisters, Mollie Burkhart and Rita Smith, and her mother, Elizabeth Kyle. Mollie Burkhart (second from right) lost all three of her sisters under suspicious circumstances. To bolster their position against Hale, the prosecution decided to first seek a conviction of Ernest Burkhart. In “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Grann picks up the case and reveals the even wider conspiracy in the Osage murders, which may have numbered in the hundreds. Unlike state and local investigators, Hoover’s agents provided the Osage with some relief from their “Reign of Terror”—but also a bill for more than $20,000 for their services. Hale, meanwhile, packed the gallery with his supporters, who would hoot and cheer at every motion made by the defense and jeer and boo the prosecution. He had been at Anna Brown’s funeral and even vowed to the family that he would seek justice for Anna. One by one, Mollie Burkhart’s family turned up dead. Hale wasn't entitled to any Osage oil money, but as Mollie's husband, his nephew, Ernest, was. The beautiful and implacable faces of Mollie and her brown-eyed sisters gaze, as if in accusation, across the ages. During the trial, Hale’s team lied and blatantly tampered with the witness Ernest Burkhart and attempted to intimidate him into silence. “The Osage Indians are becoming so rich that something will have to be done about it,” reported Harper’s Monthly. Mollie Burkhart was married to a white man named Ernest Burkhardt, a native of Texas who had moved to Osage County as a young man. The former Texas Ranger put together an undercover team that included a Native American agent. Following the shooting of a … Neither man made any statement upon the conviction and sentencing. Outrageously, he claimed that Tom White’s agents had only obtained his confession through torture—a lie that was echoed by Hale and Ramsey. “They worked quickly and methodically. They released an outlaw named Blackie Thompson hoping he would work as an undercover informant, but he instead robbed banks and killed a police officer. Mollie’s 27-year-old sister Minnie was the first to be murdered. Tom White was sent from the FBI to investigate the crimes. As White studied the probate records dealing with the estates of murdered Osage, the outline of the murderous plot began to make sense. When all of this money came to Mollie, it would be easy for Hale to exercise control of it through his easily manipulated nephew Ernest—though it would be even easier if Mollie were to be killed, too. Hale and Burkhart now had power over Mollie’s headright and part of Lizzie Q.’s four headrights upon her death. Ernest Burkhart married Mollie Kyle, Anna’s sister. Jesse Plemons was also previously announced as a co-star. Rita and Anna had also married white men. That’s what makes these crimes so sinister and disturbing,” he says. Despite the political and social roadblocks, White and his team were undaunted. On one occasion, Hale openly berated Burkhart personally, in full view of the judge and jury. In fact, the Smith murders were done this way because it was critical that the two died at the same time. Bryan Burkhart was given immunity and testifies for the prosecution. Her sister Anna had been discovered in a ravine in May 1921 with a bullet wound to the back of her head. Mollie Burkhart, Ernest’s Osage wife, had a mother and several sisters, each with a headright. On October 29, 1926, both Hale and Ramsey were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Hoover instead turned the case over to Tom White, an experienced investigator who lived in the saddle. Shortform summary of "Killers of the Flower Moon", Hidden Figures: 6 Important Discrimination Examples, Buddha’s Hero’s Journey Toward Enlightenment, The NSA, Edward Snowden, and Agency Weaknesses, History of Capitalism: A Comprehensive Guide. Myers, Collins and Dion will play the roles of Mollie’s sisters — Anna, Reta, and Minnie. (Credit: David Grann). Burkhart’s mother Lizzie expires unexpectedly with the same symptomology as Minnie. Mollie Burkhart divorced Ernest shortly after he was sent to prison, revolted and outraged by what he and his family had done. “It’s a system rooted in racism, done under the pretense of enlightenment that the Osage needed protection,” Grann says. Lily Gladstone, an actress of Blackfeet and Nimii’puu Nez Perce heritage, was previously cast alongside Jesse Plemons, Robert Like this article? An anonymous letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs warned that Mollie’s life was in grave danger.