This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“But in 1921, just as the government had once adopted a ration system to pay the Osage for seized land – just as it always seemed to turn its gospel of enlightenment into a hammer of coercion – Congress implemented even more draconian legislation controlling how the Osage could spend their money. Guardians would not only continue to oversee their wards’ finances; under the new law, these Osage Indians with guardians were also “restricted,” which meant that each of them could withdraw no more than a few thousand dollars annually from his or her trust fund. It didn’t matter if these Osage needed their money to pay for education or a sick child’s hospital bills.” – David Grann, Chapter 6: Million Dollar Elm, Page 79
“The official death toll of the Osage Reign of Terror had climbed to at least twenty-four members of the tribe. Among the victims were two more men who had tried to assist the investigation: one, a prominent Osage rancher, plunged down a flight of stairs after being drugged, the other was gunned down in Oklahoma City on his way to brief state officials about the case.” – David Grann, Chapter 7: This Thing of Darkness, Page 94
“This so-called Indian business, as White discovered, was an elaborate criminal operation, in which various sectors of society were complicit. The crooked guardians and administrators of Osage estates were typically among the most prominent white citizens: businessmen and ranchers and lawyers and politicians. So were the lawmen and prosecutors and judges who facilitated and concealed the swindling (and, sometimes acted as guardians and administrators themselves.)” – David Grann, Chapter 14: Dying Words, Page 154
Elaborate Description
Is This An Overview?
The Osage, like other Native American tribes, have been
coerced to relocate. The Osage settled
on presumably worthless Oklahoma land.
The worthless land that was unfit for cultivation, was thought to
prevent other people from coveting the land and harming the Osage again. Although forced to relocate to a desolate
region, the area turned out to have a coveted natural resource, oil. The Osage did have rights to the oil, which
enabled the Osage to become wealthy by selling leases to extract the oil. The income from leases were divided by the
community with a hereditary right to the income, a headright.
Law and race were intertwined, as the Osage were deemed
unfit to take care of the money, and therefore assigned a guardian. A guardian who was supposed to be responsible
for the money, by distributing the money appropriately to their ward, but had
dire consequences. The guardians exploited
the Osage by forcing the Osage to pay exorbitant prices on everything, and
restricted how much the Osage could receive.
Guardians denied vital services to the Osage such as health care and
education. Guardians protected by
lawyers, judges, and politicians. Corrupt
guardians misallocating money was only part of the problem. The Osage community was experiencing a spree
of murders, what became known as the Osage Reign of Terror. Murders that gave the guardians more control
of Osage money.
Local investigators could not find the culprits, partly
because the investigators were later found to be complicit in the murders. As the Osage murders became a legislative
public scandal, a reformed federal investigation agency, the Federal Bureau of
Investigations, took on the case. The
FBI agents had access to more systematic and methodological approaches, but had
to overcome corrupt officials and the death of witnesses. The FBI was eventually able to find a few
murderers. But bringing the murderers to
justice, did not stop the murders of the Osage.
The murderers who were caught, were not an anomaly. Many Osage were still being killed, without
obtaining justice.
Caveats?
Due to how the book was organized, and to maintain the
mystery of the crime, related information is separated. The FBI is mainly represented by the team
handing the Osage case, with some references to the FBI generally.
Book Details
Pages to read: 287
Publication: 2017
Format: Hardback
Ratings out of 5:
Readability 5
Content 5
Overall 5
