Summary Of The Fbi's First Big Case: The Osage Murders

minimum of 640 acres of land and one share of oil. With the discovery of oil on the land this meant each Osage was entitled to and would receive royalty payments for the oil (Gross). The discovery of oil and the royalty payments that came along with it were going to introduce the Osage to a whole new world, a world of wealth. In Christopher Klein’s historical article “The FBI’s First Big Case: The Osage Murders”, he describes for us in detail the wealth the Osage people received. Klein says “Each member of the Osage tribe received quarterly royalty payments, and as the years progressed, so did the number of digits on their check, growing into the hundreds and then the thousands of dollars. In 1923 alone, the 2,000 tribe members collectively

Some tribal members worried this wealth was going to cause problems, and they certainly were not wrong. It was only a matter of time before outsiders started to form their own opinions on the Osage. They became jealous of the abundance of money they knew these “savages” were acquiring. Many white people who worked as personal servants to the Osage started to become envious of the money they saw their bosses for freely spending. In David Grann’s book “Killer of the Flower Moon”, he shares a quote taken from the New York Weekly Outlook during the years of the Osage wealth that states “The Indian, instead of starving to death…enjoys a steady income that turns bankers green with envy” (Grann, Killer of the Flower Moon 6). This statement shows the relation between Native American’s having the right to natural resources and wealth and the jealousy that is felt by outside people. The kind of jealousy that often leads to mistreatment. This statement from the New York Weekly Outlook was the first of many envious as well as prejudice comments that were aimed toward the Osage people at the

Information from Klein’s article shows how the good fortune of the Osage people quickly turned to bad when outsiders became envious of their wealth. People outside of the tribe wanted to obtain the headrights that were responsible for making the Osage people wealthy. Desperate measures were taken by outsiders to find a way in and obtain these headrights. The Osage wealth lured desperadoes, bootleggers, and criminals to their land. These people were fueled by jealousy and greed and would stop at nothing to gain the headrights and wealth of the Osage people. The United States did not know how to handle the wealth of the Osage either. Congress held hearings concerning the Osage people and what they should do to “control” their wealth. Lawmakers appointed a white man to each full-blooded Osage. These white-men served as “guardians” to the Osage people’s headrights, monitoring and approving the money they spent but also manipulating and stealing from them along the way. The appointment of these guardians was the United States way or attempting to control something that was not theirs to control. It took away the Osage people’s full rights to their own money, and for what solid reason? None. The Osage people were struggling to hold onto their rights of their own land and natural resources. Although the tribe legally had rights to their oil shares white people still