◆ SpookStack

sooner. Oil was flowing faster and faster from the Osage wells, and the - “bead rights” were as good as a diamond mine in 2 man’s back —-that is, if a man could get control over a few of them. There was old Lizzie Q. She was a full-blooded Osage worth ma a $330,000. Lord knows how much more she would be worth m another... # few years. That old squaw had three “head rights” herseif; and her daughters held one and one-sixth “head rights” each. ‘ Now, Hale mused, suppose old Lizzie O. should die. And just sup- pose that two of her daughters, Anma Brown and Rita Smith, should dic along with Rita's husband. Who would inherit ail that money, “maybe half a million dollars or more? The dngwer was simple. The fortune—most of it, anyway—would go to the third daughter, Mollie. And Mollie was married to Hale’s - nephew, Ernest Burkhart. Then if Mollie should die, there would be no- trouble |handling Ernest. He was a weak-willed. chucklehead anyway. ‘Hunters found Anna Brown's decomposed body-in a ravine near Fairfax in May, 1921. She had been shot in the head. Her estate was worth $100,000. Old Lizzie Q. died two months later, apparently of natural. causes; her estate was divided between Rita Smith and Mollie Burkhart. And just as the verse said, now there were only two little Indians, : Hale was a methodical man. He was in no hurry about rounding up Lizzie Q.’s family estate. Before any more moves in that direction, there was another murder job to be done. Aana Brown had a cousin—a picturesque full-blooded Osage In- dian named Henry Roan Horse who liked to wear his hair down his back in plaits. On February 6, 1923, Roan Horse's body was found out- side Fairfax, stumped in the front seat of his car. Henry’s brains had been blown out for reasons known best to Hale. Two months later, while Hale was at the Texas Fat Cattle Show, Fairfax was shaken by the explosion which killed Bill and Rita Smith - and their maid. After this, there remained only one little Indian— Mollie Burkhart, But the blast that shook Fairfax also shook the Osage Tribal Coun- cil to action. In desperation, the Indians appealed to Washington. A lawyer composed their resolution, which said: WHEREAS, several members of the Osage Tribe have been murdered . . .: and many other crimes committed against members of the tribe . . . aE ; Tr... RESOLVED that the Honorable Secretary of the Interior be] | ee Tequested to obtain the services of the Department of Justice in ne capturing and prosecuting the murderers of the members of the Osage 7 Tribe... . ~~ | Page 116 of "The FAI Story, « oO — A Report to the People” by’; Don Whitehead og Boe