Historic but Obscure Killings Decimate Wealthiest Americans During the Early Twentieth Century

The primary interest of this book was in the horrendous crimes against the Osage. The newly established FBI seemed to be starting slowly and to be having “growing pains.” After the beginning explored in this book, it seems the FBI barely survived and only later became the powerful and important government law enforcement agency it has been over the past 60+ years.

Our discussion was about Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann. As Pam, who nominated and presented the book said, it was not so much a book to “enjoy” as one to learn from. Few of us had been aware of this ugly episode in history. Some of our discussion attempted to answer the question why we had so little background about this and why this hasn’t traditionally been included in school curriculums.

“Flower moon” in the title refers to the many flowers that bloom in Osage territory annually in April and are squeezed out and die after larger flowers take all the rain and block the light in May each year. Linda H. noted that the flowers symbolize what will happen to the Osage tribe during the time covered, and Ken said that the flowers bloom, die, and return to the earth. We talked about the deaths/murders that occurred while the mineral rights were legally passing to the next of kin among the oil-rich Osage.

Morna said that she had liked the pictures in the book. Pam said she had listened to an audiobook first and only later saw the photos and was impressed by them. Other readers agreed that they appreciated the photos. A picture is worth a lot of words, and the photos did clarify the history and somewhat reduce what was left to the imagination when reading the book. The book was a history, which ignited the imagination; as there were real people who the reader could imagine knowing beyond the photos that appeared of some, and there were horrible crimes and worries and stresses that the reader couldn’t help imagining.

We learned about the criminal acts and mind of Bill Hale, who Ken suggested would today be termed a sociopath. We talked about the crimes and the solving of the mystery as to who was committing the murders. Dennis praised the author for doing a lot of research among many pages of records. The story had to be put together from the many notes that had been taken, often perfunctorily. The high quality and detail of the research and presentation reminded Morna of Eric Larson’s books, which our Book Club has enjoyed and respected.

We also saw rampant corruption among government officials. Cindy T. felt that the most important message of the book was how corrupt the government can be. We were saddened to think about the effects of corruption among the historic American government. Today’s preponderance of poverty among Native Americans stems from the government discriminating against the Native Americans at every turn, from the infecting of blankets with smallpox in the 1800s, which Joyce said couldn’t be traced longer, to the assigning of native Americans to reservations on acreage that was among the least fertile and desirable and contained the fewest natural resources in the country. The oil fortunes of the Osage were an anomaly, certainly not planned by the government officials. Cindy V. said that when she visited an Indian reservation, she saw shocking poverty.

We debated whether Ernest Burkhardt was at all redeemable. Pam thought he showed some remorse, and Claudia agreed that it showed when he finally told the truth on the witness stand. Ken thought he purposely arranged to conserve Molly’s life, when he was privy to Hale’s arranging the deaths of her close relatives. There were detailed notes that helped Tom White to be the hero of the story and put together the clues to solve the mystery and prove the guilt of the perpetrator (traitor). The author also presented further interviews of descendants of the Osage alive at the time he was writing the book, bringing the story somewhat up to date. J. Edgar Hoover barely scraped by as one of the heroes of the book, mainly by his administrative ability in keeping the “bureau” functioning and hiring some good men during this complex first case.