Murders

The New Yorker, Anna Brown

Not only was the 1921 Reign of Terror filled to the brim with murder cases, but it was also filled with hate, greed, prejudice, racism, and so much more. Let's break this down a little bit; approximately 24 Native Americans were killed, but this did not get any highlight in the news, and it was practically ignored. Because most white people at the time were too focused on their race, why could the Osage have so much money as "savages". Just wait, it gets worse; sure, the government gave the Osage their riches, right? They did not even let them spend the money freely; they assigned white guardians to manage EVERY expense, like going to the doctor, buying gas for their car, etc. A lot of the time, these "guardians" would steal money from the Osage. So while all these murders were going on, these people were being killed and used, stolen, and ignored.

William Hales's first murder was of a woman named Anna Brown, a woman he was distantly related to by marriage. She was shot and left for dead in the woods, only to be found a few weeks later by local hunters. Just a month later, her mother, Lizzie, and the inheritor to Anna Brown's headright, suspiciously died, most likely by poison. From there, the fortune was passed down onto Lizzie's two remaining daughters, Mollie Burkhart and Rita Smith.

In 1923, about two years later, Henry Roan was found dead at the bottom of a canyon in an abandoned car. It was at this murder where Willaim Hale received his first sum of money from his murders; not only was he the beneficiary of Henry Roan's life insurance check, gaining around $25,000, but Willaim Hale also helped carry the casket at Henry Roan's funeral. After this, Rita Smith, Anna Brown's sister, was dead

“Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center.” Henry Roan, Raymond Buffalo Meat, and Thomas Perrier, C.1900 | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center, carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/images/henry-roan-raymond-buffalo-meat-and-thomas-perrier-c1900.

famous trials. Rita Smiths house after the bombing

About a month after the funeral, when her house exploded, she was not the only one who died in the bombing. Everyone killed in the bombing is as follows; her housemaid, an adolescent, and her husband, who was gaining suspicion over the deaths. Willaim Hale's foster son and nephew, Ernest Burkhart, and his wife, Mollie, Anna Brown's sister, received large amounts of money as they were beneficiaries of both Lizzie's and Anna's estates. William and Ernest were then planning on killing Mollie but were brought into custody before they could