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Colorful Osage Hills Again Give up Secret* * *♦ ♦ *4 YEARS REQUIRED TO ASSEMBLE EVIDENCE WHICH BROUGHT CONVICTION* *♦ * *• ♦AsOsage Reignof TerroiUnraveledEditor'* Note: Thin resume *»f the mysterious murders which claimedthe live* of more than a score of wealthy Osage* Is written by amember of The Ncwa-Globc staffwho w»n himself horn and reared in the Osage Indian nation and intimately Acquainted with II. K. Ilalnand John Itamxry, conrirtt'd in federal court at Oklahoma C'it Friday on a charge of the murder of Henry Roan lie followed the ca*o from it* Inception, being Intimately acquainted with the principal witnesses and the department of justice operative* who unraveled the mystery. The story, perhapa detail* more of the “Inside” of the government probe than any other Mtory that might he written, for the writer alone of all newspapermen enjoyed the full confidence of the government operatives.BY GEORGE 8. FLY.The “Tragedy of the Oaagea,” world's richest Indian tribe has been avenged.Once more the purple Osage hills, rendezvous of outlaw gangs, has given up its secret and men have been brought .before the bar of justice and Irtrndemned to a felon’s cell. Once again has the long armdays when her body was discovered by a cowboy who had entered th# canyon searching for stray cows.The woman had been shot through the top of the head. A CO ro a era* Jury failed to find a clue to the murder anda subsequent investigation was without avail.On the morning of February fl, 1023, **n Indian youth, on n hunting trip, saw a car standing in a lonely canyon in a pasture six miles north of Fairfax. When he went to the car he found the dead body of Horry Roan, rich Osage Indian and cousin oh the slain Anna Brown, The Indian h#d been shot apparently from behind, the bullet entering just behind the left ear and coming out over the right eye. A shattered windshield and the position of the Indian’s body was muto evidence that ho had been shot by an unsuspected person.Again a coroners* jury was empaneled and again they failed to find a cluo.House Is Blown Up.Two weeks later the body of Charles V\ hitehorp, also an Osage, was found slain, and three weeks later the town of Fairfax was rocked by a terrific blast ! which destroyed the home of W. E. Wort, a squaw man who had married Rita, the daughter of Lizzie Q. Previously he had married another daughter of the wealthy Indian woman and now with tho death of Smith nrd his second wife tho 12,-000,000 fortune of the family inndc Mol-Iio Burkhart, wife of Ernest Burkhart, nephew of Hale, the sole heir.Tho next death was that of Georgesitfon that the government treaty with the Osage tribe promised this protection. Convinced by the Oklahoma attorney general, the probe wee renewed.T, B. \\ hite, coo I-eyed and clone-lipped, sagacious chief of the department of justice operatives whounraveled the Usage “reign of terror/* Is I. no a n to many Amarillo citizen*. He Is a brother-in-law of Tom Cooper of the Cooper-1 rr In Motor company, and several years ago was owner of several piecea of real estate property here. Ifo waa interested In the development of San Jacinto blit sold his holdings Ju*t before the phenomenal development of Amarillo and the Fan-began.of the government stepped out ... . ______ . _ ______to curb and exact an eye for an * BiSh?art» who died in an Oklahoma City/• j i * • l h f i e n i f n I f #» I I a tv i n ir n ivivfur aei ahlt;i ill}yc from those who dare transgress against the laws-of thoThla time, tho best men of tho department of justice were detailed to tho Osage and again for months they worked without avail.Pose* as Rum-Runner.Onco a federal agent drove Into tho Osage country with a car loaded with whisky from the Mexican border. Ho ! drovo to the ranch of ILg^ry Grammar, 1bandit of tho Osage Hitts, tertifitd rf Hale on one occasion visiting the notorious outlaw at his rendervous end attempting to secure Spencer to kill Smith and his Indian wife. This was ©orroho rated by Max Billingsley, u storekeeper, who furnished the Spencer bandit gang with supplies.“Blackie” Thompson, lift form prisoner in McA tester, also testified of being approached by Burkhart and Halo to bomb the Smith residence or dispose of the family In any matter ho ‘‘sawtit.Hick Gregg, also n former outlaw and now serving a 26-year sentence In the Kansas penitentiary, Ustifled of how he had been approached to slay Smith and had gone so far as to look over the Smith house in view of accepting Hale's alleged offer of 66,000.Hound Over l or Trial.Other evidence tended to corroborate this with the ultimate result that Hale and Ramsey wort bound over without bond for trial. A few day* later Burkhart was also bound over.But at the preliminary it waa revealed that Burkhart had made a confession implicating himself, Ilale and RamTtjTCthe “bootlegging king” of the Osage, ! ir . , A1 .and disposed of his stock in order that U'°y, , mbmg of the . mith heme- , * , astit* niu a i . . 4 l . —«. — —ho might again have access to the innerland.A man branded by federal prosecutors as a “freebooter of death” and the “master mind” of a gigantic murder conspiracy; another declared a “pawn in the hands of the arch conspiracy/' are doomed to .spend the rqst of their lives behind the grim, gray walls of the federal prison at Leavenworth.With tho conviction of W. K. Hale, millionaire cattle and land barun, and John Ramsey, cowboy, comes the climax of four years of intensive Investigationhospital, following a mysterious illness, lie was taken to Oklahoma City by Burkhart and later at his death bed n quarrel ensued between Hale, J. H. Vaughn and an unidentified person.The details of this quarrel have nevercircles of a band of criminals who made tho Grammar ranch their headquarters.He fared well until ore night he refused to join in a plot to rob a bank and then ho was looked upon with suspicion. With this agent’s efforts fruitless, another plan was decided upon. A trusted operative from Texas was sent to tho Osage and he posed as u cattle buyer.Ho became acquainted with Halo and for months rode about tho country with the wealthy cattleman and sought to worm from him evidence which might be of value. But Hale rebuffed him andbeen known but two days after Big- not onco during the long probe and evenhearts death the dead body of tho at- . up to the hour that Halo heard the fataltorney, Vaughn, was found along the railroad right-of-way, some 45 miles out of Oklahoma City. He had apparently been murdered and thrown from tho train. ,Then came a series of other mysterious deaths, most of which occurredwords of the jury foreman did he give an intimation in the slightest that be knew of the mysterious deaths,But what little evidence tho governand also u statement of tho Roan murder. Ramsey, too, it was revealed, nad made similar statement*.Burkhart’s trial followed within a few weeks and taking tho stand denied categorically contents of his alleged confession to federal agents, asserting that it had been made at tho point of a gun.The btate had rested its case against Burkhart and the defense had proceeded! to introduce evidence. But on the second day of the defense Burkhart .suddenly discharged his attorneys in open court and entered a plea of guilty and was given a life sentence in theOklahoma penitentiary.Almost simultaneous with this dramatic situation or me news from Washington that the Unite ! States i upreme court had reversed Judge Cotteral and heldthat the govrenment had jurisdiction toco th.Spf th. 15reiPrlt;whprtofDo h i s oftoep r(netmenfc obtained it pointed directly to try Hale and Ramsey.Ilale and most of this centered around the $25,000 Insurance policy that theunder mysterious circumstances. None (cattle king held on tho life of the dead was slain, but died suddenly and of Indian, Roan.apparent poisoning.Operations to Osage*.Tho county authorities were powerless to find clues to tho mysterious deaths and at last in desperation an appeal waa made to tho federal government for aid.Early in 1921 a squad of operatives of tho department of justice came to the CUage. Somcworked in tho open but others urder cover in the guise of rum runners, cowboys and as criminals seeking association with outlaws who held forth on the canyons of the mysterious Osage hills.Early in 192’, a court of inquiry was called by tho attorney general to be held at Pawhuska. The state official 'arrived as did several government agentsbut the “court” vanished thin airwith no explanation forthcoming from the government or stati?.Brown In Charge.By this time the citizens of the Osage bad become resigned that no amount of investigation would unravel the mystery.But in June of that year Edwin Brown, a Kansas lawyer, was sent to Guthrie, Oklahoma, arid ordered to direct activities of the federal agents and againThrough a writ of habeas corpus the two men were taken from the Osage county jail by tederal officers and their trial set immediately.The trial started at Guthrie In July and lasted over o period of five weeks being a bitter legal battle from the outset. The government centered their case on Ramsey’s confession which said that Ramsey had killed Roan at the behc-t of Hale and for the sum of $500 and ancerinancbe i jur twety jatRoy St. Lewis, youthful United States district attorney for flu* western district of Oklahoma, who directed the grand jury which indicted Hale and Ramsey, and who ledin their prosecution.St. Louis, an ex-service man, wan i merciless prosecutor and much of the credit for conviction of the two men is credited to his Intensive efforts.and relentless prosecution by tho federal government of the Osage “Reign of 'iVrror.” during which more than a score lt;f wealthy Usages met mysteriousdeaths.Tho “terror reign” started early inby candlelight and the dim light of rooming houses, wrote reports to their superiors and it seemed that the investigation must be abandoned.Men and women of the Oaago Iliils wcro close-lipped for there had been times before when men had talked and they had not lived long.Another Blast.As if a warning to those who “talked !n midst of the investigation, citizens of Fairfax were startled one right early in 1925 by another blast and it was discovered that a tomb had been dynamited in the Fairfax cemetery.Two weeks later, a man who also had given the government valuable evidence disappeared and has never again beenseen alive.This was taken by residents of the Osage country a* a solemn warning from tho “master mind” that those who dared to speak might find solace only in death, and they closed up to say ro more, j Attorney General George Short of Oklahoma entered the investigation whenquietly, andtogether evi-he thought,late in December of 1925, to call a fed-| cral grand jury. - , *A grand jury was called by Federal j Judge John 11. Cotteral to meet on Jan- j uary C, 1926,On the fourth day of January, Attorney General Short journey to Paw-huska and there in the district court filed an information charging Halo and hia nephew*, Ernest Burkhart, with tho murder of VV. E. Smith, his wife and servant girl.The same day tho two men wcro taken to Guthrie where the federal grand jury was in session. An air of secrecy sur-that both Ilale and Burkhart were questioned.Silence Prevailed.No w'ord was forthcoming from theprobers for several days andHale, termed by Id* attorney* aa a “gambler with fate” was not halted In his extensive cattle operations despite hi* long confinement In jail before being placed on trial. During tho ten months he languished in the federal and slate jails he directed employe* in handling hi* vast herds of cattle and made more than 3612.000 during this period. Ilo and Ramsey will not be taken to prison until November 10. a delay being allowed In order to permit his closing up business affairs.eve for at a the al i veil ebb ficilowTh«metdonMait heBarwas announced that federal agents hud left for Fairfax to take John Ramey, a cowboy in cuatoday.automobile, ami that Hale sought hit death to collect a 125,000 insurance policy he held on the life of Roan.The defense offered an alibi for Ramsey to disprove hia alleged confession in addition to Ramsey's repudiation of the instrument which he signed in presence of federal agents. They also sought to shift the blame for tho murder onto the shoulders of Roy Bunch, illicit lover of Roan’s wife during the dead Indian s lifetime and present husband of his widow.j they sought through a reties of cir-thcn it cumatances to show that tho last dayBonn wart seen alive was at the ranch of Henry Cornett, a bootlegger, and th.it a few minutes after he left there Bunch19-2 when the body of Anna Brown, federal authorities began to give up hopeI I (f 1 1 C# It f A VI) A w T I » 1 A f I If n n V m il m I n « m . . . . . _daughter of Lizzie Q, was found slain in a lonely canyon north of the town of Fairfax, a small community in the fastness of the western half of the Osago reservation. ‘ ^8hot Through Head.Tho woman had been deadthat the probe of the mysterious murders would be a failure. They argued with the attorney general that even though the investigation would be successful that little grounds existed upon which prosecution might be made in several (federal courts. But Fhort took the po-Again silence prevailed and then the and Roan’s wife drove up, had a conver-grand jury reported. Their report con- hation w ith “Curley” Johnson, an outlaw, taincd two significant true bills. John and that the three left in the wake of Ramsey and W. K. Hale were indicted Roan and in the general direction of the for the murder of Henry Roan. 1 pasture where Hoar/s body waa found.Four days later tho state chorgo of j The jury, however, was unconvinced murder against Halo and Burkhart waa j end after 52 hours* deliberation, weredi. missed and Burkhart disappeared.Wright and Soul Mate JailedHale’s attorney immediately attacked the validity of the indictment and o demurrer was sustained on grounds that the proper location of the crime was not made in the true bill. This demurrer Judge Cotteral sustained but the grand jury waa immediately empaneled again and this error rectified.Again tho indictment was attacked with attorney*s for Halo and Ramsey charging the government was without jurisdiction to try the case. This viewwas upheld by Judge Cotteral and theindictment quashed.I discharged.A new trial was set down October 20wet thothai edmaltalso a getWOsai then m oavaiT!powi | presi **y-geneinal of tl I .(• w:Johnneyand Th arra; formI. UHow,TuIsj RamOur Boarding HouseFACTS ABOUT THE I*MORE.62*0.000 spent in making the probe, t hree years required to uaacmble TMNgfl#LFrobe extended over 27 states. Estimated coat of trial. 6200,000.127 witnesses railed by guv re n-nient.101 witnesses used by defense,I *rt trial lasted five weeks.Last trial continued only H du\*. Ilale and Ramsey denied relief by S. Supreme* court.«Mf=, 0) HAT M A/i AHTomfoolery is qfiis?.dfar maTor,Vou ARE. ELECTED TftE PEACE. . EHCLOCathe*Frank Lloyd Wright, famous Chicago architect, and his “soul mate/* Mm«.Olga Mllaiioff, Bulgarian dancer, were arrested at L.*’e M nnctonka, Minn.,and taken to Minneapolis. Thin shows them on their wuy to jail. T he arrowsindicate Mnu. Milanoff and Wright. Between them is a Minneapolis police woman.Hope *»f freedom for the two men vanished, however, with the ruling of Judge Cotteral for the Oage county sheriffU.'U waiting in the court room and i!.mediately served a warrant on Hale and Ramsey charging them with the muof W. E, Smith and his Indian wife?- and servant girl.A hitter preliminary waa waged with the result that the activities of federal agents came to light. Ernest Burkhart appeared to testify at tho trial as state witnesaca, but upon taking stand refused to testify. It was then re vcalej hi^ whereabouts since the mur der charge against him had been diemissed. Ho had been in the custody federal agents and lad been taken various places ill T.xas and New Mexico. /,Following his refusal to testify went to his home in Fairfax, but was arrested the next day on a state warrant chargD.g him jointly with Hale and Kamsi y of bombing the Smith!home. *Ah the preliminary trial proceededcame startling evidence. Ike Dgg, f. j.A get of 6purs fcYour shoes from lt;OFF THE DESKL*A/I66AD,«~ThAT A1broad humor, butI Vo SI6/4IF/C.N*i00tm OOrtoho/ftItja Armcr iver.sbcrCi A! Spoarer, pbuat
Newspaper Details
Amarillo Sunday News Globe
Amarillo, Texas, US
Sun, Oct 31, 1926
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Michael S.
USA 03 Jan 2019
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