The Washington times., 1936-04-25

before the 1920 oil boom. Possessed
of a domineering personality he
had managed to gain control OF
$4,000 acres Of select Usage graz
ing land though leases. He had
also acquired 5000 acres outright
in addition to controlling a bank
in Fairfax, Okla, and part owner
ship in a general store.
Grows Rich
He had married his nephew,
Ernest Burkhart, a weak specimen,
to Mollie, a full-blooded Usage
woman, who owned considerable
oil land. At the time Federal
agents entered the picture Hale
had grown wealthy and was well
on the way to becoming a million
aire. His power in the town was
so strong that citizens did not
dare to punish him for the many
crimes laid at his door. He was
suspected of having a hand in the
"a Indian murders but to mention
it meant q virtual death sentence.
Besides, nobody could prove 1t.
Then one day in June, 1921,
shortly after the arrival Of Fed
eral agents, an Usage woman.
Anna Brown, sister of Mollie Burk-
hart, was found dead in the bot
tom of a gully on Fairfax Farm.
There was a bullet hole from a
80 caliber revolver in the back
of her head and she had been
dead several days.
Fairfax Farm belonged to Hale,
called The King of the OsageS,"
and the autopsy was performed
on Annals body in the rear Of
Hale's store. And somehow or
other, when the coroner got
through, all that was left of
Anna were a few little pieces and
it was impossible to tell just how
she died.
Hale's alibi was alright and
so, apparently, were those Of his
friends. Weary agents working
day and night on the other muir
ders had gone on needless trips
through Old Mexico, New Mexico,
Colorado, Texas and Arizona on
tips" later found to have been de-
liberately circulated by Hale and
his associates. With the murder
Of Anna Brown they went into
action.
The insurance agents had man.
aged to gain the confidence Of his
customers. He sold legitimate life
insurance, too. The medicine
man, selling Sweetened water had
obtained access to the homes OF
the Indians and information they
refused to divulge to authorities,
and the Texas cowmen had hob
nobbed with Hale'S own employees.
They knew by this time that If
Hale had not actually committed
the murders himself he had in
stigated them-but they couldn't
prove it.
Two years later-with the muir
dererS of Anna Brown still at
large, another rich Indian was
murdered in the same manner.
The victim, a man known as
Henry Roam, was found one cold
January morning sitting upright
in his automobile frozen stiff. He
had been shot in the back of the
head with a .45-caliber revolver.
Roam, a tall picturesque Indian,
who wore his hair in plaits down
his back, was a heavy drinker. In
fact he stayed drunk most Of the
time. Agents learned that a year
prior to his death his good friend
Hale had had Henry insured for
$25, 900.
They learned also that Roan's
wife had been intimate for the
past year with one Roy Bunch,
Shortly after Roan's demise Bunch
married Mrs. Roam.
But despite the discriminating
evidence against Bunch, one of the
towns better-known citizens, Will
liam E. Smith, stated openly that
Hale was responsible, not only for
Roan'S death but for Anna
Browns death.
Net TightenS
Hale just laughed. He told Fed
eral men he and Smith had quar-
relied over $4,000 Smith claimed he
owed him. Smith admitted this to
be a fact, but insisted Hale was
responsible for the murders, and
that he could prove it.
Two months later his house
was blown to atoms. Smiths wife,
Rita, and their white servant girl,
Nettie Brookshire, were instantly
killed. Smith, horribly mangled,
sent for Federal agents and de-
nounced Hale as being responsible
for this latest crime. Then he
died.
le Times Monday