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3 ro roe ano HOOVER , an oa a Department of Iustice "© Buren of Anvestigation - .t -‘Washington, B. C. . , Decanber Z, 1925. - - . “ \oRDER OF OSAGE INDIANS. William K. Hale, John Ramsey, etal. ae " oe * BoLiowing the @iscovery’ of “ol in the Osege country of: Se Oklahoma, the “black gold rusk" brought many of the worst : ““exriminals in the nation to that section to pray apon the newly - rich Indians and, if profitable, to marry them. During a ‘period of recenf years many wealthy Osagp Indians ceme to their * ‘death in a tysterious manner, and these outrages came tc a > glimax with the deaths of Anna Brow, ‘Henry Roan, and W. E. -*Bili" Gmith and family. The Osage Tribal Council aud many ~ business dn ‘began to offer rewards for the golution of tha | ” ‘mysterious “murders, and amateur detectives and many..co-called °° “"sloutha" made fruitless investigations which resulted in nothing more than a destruction of many valuable *leads™ and the loss of the confidence and cooperation of the citizens in any kind of investigation. Such was the situation that con~ fronted Special Agents of the Bureau of Investigation, U. 5S, Department of Justice, wien they began the investigation of the alleged murders. ht ew OH It was developed that a hinting party found the body of Anna Brown in a ravine near Fairfax, Oklahoma, a crude autoncy ' indicating that she had been shot through the craniw. from the rear; that Henry Roan, an Osage Indian, whose body was found _ on the front seat of his car in a amall canyon, had come to his death as a result of a gunshot wound; and that the home of “Ww, E. "Bill" Smith had been completely demciished during the - night by a chargd of high explosive, which resulted in the™ death of Smith, his wife, who_was: an Indian, and a servant girl. The attention of the Agents, who were searching for motives -for the crimes, was directed toward W. K. "3111" Haie, an "_unserupulous prospector, who was known to wave had in hia enploy “many reckless characters. It was learned thet anna Grown was “i the deughter of the Squaw, Lizzie q, who hed two othor daughtarz,:! Mollie and Rite. Tho intter was the wife of 3111 Snith ane Mollie was _warried to Earnest Burkhart, a nephew of 211) jinle. , Lizzie Q. had acquired a large fortune, as had her children, ~ 2nd eho aha tb = 3 ee and when s'*% became seriously 111 a joint wiil was mace by bu “and her davgiier, Anna Brown, providing that the muvivor of * the - ‘two won? inherit the bulk bel the other's estate. It vasa tat Fan - ” .