As depicted in Killers of the Flower Moon, Ernest Burkhart and his uncle William Hale perpetrated a number of brutal murders against the Osage people throughout the 1920s in order to inherit their lucrative oil headrights.
Wikimedia CommonsErnest Burkhart in the late 1920s.
In the 1920s, members of the Osage Nation living in Oklahoma faced a terrifying series of brutal killings. Known as the Osage Indian murders, these crimes were driven by greed, as the perpetrators sought to inherit the oil wealth of the Osage people and the land they called home. One of the main perpetrators was a man named Ernest Burkhart.
Burkhart’s uncle, William King Hale, was well aware that each tribal member had been granted “headrights” for the oil that had been discovered beneath their land. Hale encouraged Burkhart to marry into one of the Osage families and then, systematically and violently, began to eliminate its members.
For a time, it even seemed as if they were going to get away with it. But though Ernest Burkhart and his uncle would eventually be found out, it was not before they caused terrible devastation to the Osage people.
How Ernest Burkhart Became Involved With The Osage Indian Murders
Ernest George Burkhart was born on Sept. 11, 1892, in Greenville, Texas. Though his father was a poor cotton farmer of little means, Burkhart’s uncle William King Hale was more ambitious. And when Burkart was 19, he decided to follow his uncle into Osage territory. Burkhart lived on Hale’s ranch and made ends meet by running errands and working as a taxi driver.
As David Grann wrote in Killers Of The Flower Moon,, it was in his capacity as a driver that Burkhart first crossed paths with Mollie Kyle, a full-blooded Osage woman. The two became close and, with encouragement from Burkhart’s uncle, got married and had three children.
Indeed, it was not lost on Hale what a marriage between Mollie and his nephew meant. Osage oil headrights were hereditary — when their legal owner died, the headrights would pass onto the next heir. And many members of Mollie’s family had headrights.
Wikimedia CommonsErnest Burkhart and his wife Mollie Kyle.
Hale, Burkhart, and others began to develop a murderous plot. They would focus on Mollie’s family members, allowing Burkhart to consolidate their headrights under his control — and therefore, under Hale’s control.
The murders began in May 1921 with the murder of Anna Brown, Mollie’s sister
The Osage Indian Murders And The Plot To Get Rich
In May 1921, Mollie’s sister, Anna Brown, was found shot to death in a ravine. Around that same time, another Osage member named Charles Whitehorn was also found shot to death. It was unclear who had committed the crimes — but it soon became clear that members of the Osage were in danger.
Two months later, in July, Lizzie Q. Kyle, Mollie’s mother, also died under mysterious circumstances. She was likely poisoned, and her death further consolidated her family’s headrights under Burkhart.
Wikimedia CommonsVictims of the Osage Indian murders.
The next death in the family came in January 1923, when Mollie’s cousin Henry Roan was found shot dead in his car. (As it turned out, William Hale had recently taken out a $25,000 life insurance policy on Roan, naming himself as the beneficiary.) A few months later on March 10, 1923, Mollie’s sister Rita, her brother-in-law William E. Smith, and their housekeeper were killed when a bomb went off at their house.
“They got Rita,” William said, as he was pulled dying from the rubble, “and now it looks like they’ve got me.”
By then, it was clear that the Osage were being targeted. Within the community, this string of violent deaths became known as the “Osage Reign of Terror.” Members of the tribe kept their lights on throughout the night and warned their children to stay in groups. Yet despite hiring their own private investigators to look into the matter, they were no closer to getting to the bottom of the mystery. And the violence continued.
Indeed, it wasn’t just Mollie’s family who was targeted. In all, more than two dozen members of the Osage were killed in the early 1920s. Methods of execution included shooting, stabbing, beating, and bombing.
Finally, by 1925, the federal government could not ignore the killings any longer. Utilizing the resources of the the Bureau of Investigation (the precursor to the Federal Bureau of Investigation), director J. Edgar Hoover sent former Texas Ranger Tom White to investigate — and White unraveled the tangled web of conspiracy and murder.
An Investigation Shines A Light On The Osage Indian Murders
White quickly made the connection between the murder victims and Mollie Burkhart, and as he followed the money trail of oil headrights, it led him right back to none other than her husband, Ernest Burkhart. But investigators didn’t find the “weak-willed” Burkhart to be the masterminding type. Rather, they pieced together that he had been operating under orders from his uncle, William Hale — the “King of the Osage Hills.”
Mollie, meanwhile, had also begun to suffer from a mysterious illness, likely brought on by the same sort of poison used in the other murders. Grann wrote that Hale suspected his nephew was too weak-willed to poison his wife, and though Burkhart did give Mollie whiskey laced with poison, it’s unclear whether or not Burkhart knew it was poisoned.
Wikimedia CommonsWilliam Hale (second from left) and John Ramsey (third from left) flanked by federal marshalls.
In any case, according to the FBI, Burkhart eventually broke. He started to talk, admitting that he and several others had worked with Hale to commit the murders and claim the headrights for themselves. While he was being questioned, Mollie, now away from her husband, also began to recover, providing further evidence of her husband’s involvement.
Although it is likely that several people involved in the scheme may have escaped any punishment, Burkhart, Hale, farmhand John Ramsey, and a petty criminal named Kelsie Morrison were all sentenced to life in prison for their roles in the Osage Indian murders. Mollie Kyle also divorced her husband following his confession — and would “recoil in horror” whenever his name was mentioned, according to Grann.
To Hale, it was his nephew’s fault that the entire conspiracy fell apart. According to The Oklahoman, Hale would later remark, “If that damn Ernest had kept his mouth shut we’d be rich today.”
Ernest Burkhart’s Life After His Conviction
Wikimedia CommonsErnest Burkhart in 1959.
In 1937, after serving 11 years of his life sentence, Ernest Burkhart was granted parole. However, in 1940, he and a woman named Clara Mae Goad burglarized the home of his former sister-in-law, Lillie Morrell Burkhart, stealing $7,000 worth of valuables. They were swiftly apprehended and convicted on federal burglary charges. A year later, Burkhart’s previous parole was revoked and he received a separate seven-year prison sentence.
He was paroled again in October 1959. During the parole hearing, he also downplayed his own role in the murders, referring to himself as his uncle’s “unwitting tool.” In 1966, however, Burkhart became embroiled in another controversy — though not one of his own making.
Shockingly, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, citing Burkhart’s cooperation during the initial investigation, voted three-to-two in favor of granting him a full pardon, which was subsequently issued by Governor Henry Bellmon.
Following his release, Burkhart returned to Osage County, residing with his brother Byron. Later in life, he moved to Cleveland, Oklahoma, where he lived in a trailer. He passed away on Dec. 1, 1986, at the age of 94 — which, if she had still been alive, would have been Mollie Kyle’s 100th birthday.
In Ernest Burkhart’s will, he expressed a desire for his ashes to be spread around the Osage Hills. Instead, the son he’d had with Mollie, James, reportedly tossed the ashes over a bridge.
After learning about Ernest Burkhart and his involvement in the Osage Indian murders, read all about Richard Chase and the horrifying story of the “Vampire of Sacramento.” Then, explore the shocking, sad story of the Atlanta Child Murders.