Killers of the Flower Moon (Adapted for Young Readers): The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

Ernest Burkhart is Mollie’s husband, Bryan’s brother, and William Hale’s nephew. He is described as “an extra in a Western picture show: short brown hair, slate-blue eyes, square chin” (15). He enjoys drinking and gambling but has a tenderness and insecurity underneath. He worships his uncle William Hale, who acts as his surrogate father. He begrudgingly helps Hale carry out the murders of his wife’s sisters and mother but, eventually overcome with guilt, confesses to the crimes. His confession becomes the linchpin to convicting Hale.

William Hale, referred to as the King of Osage Hills, appears in Osage with nothing but the clothes on his back and his Bible. He is described as having “an owlish face, stiff black hair, and small, alert eyes set in shaded hollows” (31). He finds work on a cattle ranch and works his way up until he owns over 45,000 acres and has amassed a small fortune. Once he achieves this elevated status, he swaps his dirty cattle clothes and cowboy hat for fancy suits and wire-rimmed glasses. Soon he becomes a reserve deputy sheriff, amassing more political power and influence. Before the Osage people became rich in oil, he donated to their schools and charities and paid for their medical support. He calls himself a true friend to the Osage people.

In reality, Hale is responsible for the deaths of many Osage people. He plots with his nephews Ernest and Bryan and employs a posse of criminals to poison, shoot, tamper with cars, plant bombs, and use other brutal means to kill Osage people and steal their oil money. Because of his unofficial title of king, he truly believes he is above the law. The Oklahoma state government and Osages alike both respect and fear him. Even after he is arrested for his involvement in some of the murders, he remains calm because he believes he is above the law. After he is convicted of these murders, he sends a letter from prison claiming that he will always be a true friend to the Osage population.

Tom White is “an old-style lawman” (107). He works for the Bureau of Investigation, which would later become the FBI. He was raised by a prison warden with his brood of brothers and came of age as a lawman on the frontier in Texas. After years of investigating the Osage murders with no results, Hoover assigns White to the case. Hoover believes that only an old-style lawman can properly infiltrate the lawless boomtowns of the Osage oil land. White, unsure if he should take the case, carries the lessons of justice he learned from his father and from his time as a Texas lawman and wants to solve the case.

White moves his family to Oklahoma. He assembles a team of other old-style lawmen to assist him in this case, furthering his distinction from many of the lawmen in the story. The Osage people did not trust the authorities because they faced so much prejudice and exploitation, but White treats them differently. After many highs and lows in the case, White successfully puts Ernest and Hale behind bars. Hoover believes Hale is the man behind the whole operation and declares the case a success. Hoover takes the credit for ending the Reign of Terror and never publicly thanks or mentions White. The Osage people, however, do publicly thank White and his team.

After his success, White became warden of a prison in Kansas. White wasn’t sure if he wanted to leave the bureau, but he wanted to provide stability for his family, and this job allowed him to follow in his father’s footsteps. As warden, White had Hale and Ernest as his prisoners. White was permanently injured in an attempted prison break, and after losing the function in his arm, he transferred to a lower-security prison. Before his death, White worked with an author to try to capture the details of the Reign of Terror against the Osage people and memorialize the atrocities in history. In contrast to Hoover, White did not want to center himself in the story. He wanted the events captured and wasn’t using justice for his own gain.