Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann

 

Chronicle One
Osage Indians	White people
Mollie Burkhart Lizzie – mother, died Anna Brown – sister, killed in ravine Minnie – sister, died Rita – sister, died in house explosion   Mollie sent to boarding school at age 7 to learn “white men’s ways”   Mollie and Ernest’s children: Elizabeth, James “Cowboy”, and Anna   Henry Roan “Roan Horse” – shot, briefly married to Mollie in an arranged marriage   Charles Whitehorn – disappeared before Anna   James Bigheart – chief, held off allotment system   William Stepson – poisoned   Allotment System – each person given rights to a certain size plot of land and could sell surface rights.  The Osage kept the oil, gas and mineral rights under the land; could not buy or sell, only inherited	Ernest Burkhart – Mollie’s husband Bryan and Horace – brothers   Oda Brown – Anna’s ex husband   Bill Smith - Minnie’s husband, then Rita’s   Scott Mathis – owned Bill Hill Trading Co., financial guardian for Anna and Lizzie         William Hale – Ernest’s uncle, mastermind of many killings   William Burns – private detective   Barney McBride – white oilman, murdered   W. W. Vaughan – attorney, called by George Bigfoot, murdered Rose - wife   A.W. Comstock – lawyer, guardian for several Osage, part of conspiracy?
Chronicle Two: The Evidence Men
J. Edgar Hoover – Bureau of Investigations   Tom White – special agent, Bureau of Investigation in 1917, in command of field office in Oklahoma City 1925 J. C. “Doc” White – younger brother, former Texas Ranger, joined bureau Dudley White - brother   Emmett White – father, in charge of county jail in Austin, Texas, lived next door with the children   Others on team: John Burger Frank Smith John Wren – American Indian   Roy St. Lewis – U.S. Attorney John Leahy – local attorney
Chronicle Three – The Reporter 2012
David Grann   Kathryn Red Corn – Director, Osage Nation Museum, grandfather poisoned 1931   Margie Burkhart – granddaughter of Mollie and Ernest Andrew Low – husband, Creek Seminole   Martha Vaughan – granddaughter of W. W. Vaughan   H. G. Burt – bank president in 1923 Collected money Bigheart owed Vaughan, guardian of Bigheart’s daughter   Mary Lewis killed in 1918 – one of first

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Pages are from the paperback edition.

1.       Did you enjoy one section of the book more than the other two?  Why?

2.       Were you surprised that the Osage had white servants, such as Rita and Nettie Brookshire?

3.       In chapter 26, the author lists some of the number of Osage wards who died.  For example, one guardian had 11 wards and 8 of them died.   Why do you think no one ever became aware of this and investigated?

4.       According to the author’s research, the killings happened over a period of 13 years, from 1918 (Mary Lewis) through Red Corn’s grandfather in 1931.   How did this remain undetected?

5.       Tom White’s story was one of the main focuses of the second part of the book.  Why do you think the author decided to make his story such a large part of the book?

6.       In April 1931 Molly was declared to no longer be a ward of the state and was “restored to competency.”    She “could finally spend her money as she pleased, and was recognized as a full-fledged American citizen” (page 248).  Were you surprised to learn that it had taken so long?

7.       How have things changed that Native Americans now feel proud of their heritage?  Do you think this book and the movie based on it have helped?

8.       Would you recommend this book to a friend?  Why or why not?