Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

by David Grann

that the galaxy of petals makes it look as if the “gods had left confetti.”

Beautiful description

This is why the Osage Indians refer to May as the time of the flower-killing moon.

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson purchased, from the French, the Territory of Louisiana, which contained lands dominated by the Osage.

When an Osage chief was asked why he didn’t adopt the white man’s ways, he replied, “I am perfectly content with my condition. The forests and rivers supply all the calls of nature in plenty.”

An Indian Affairs agent said, “The question will suggest itself, which of these people are the savages?”

This is such a fair point. How can natives be judged for being "wild" or "animalistic" when whites are the ones mass murdering them to take away their land?

vehement

In a headline, the Post noted what seemed to be increasingly clear: CONSPIRACY BELIEVED TO KILL RICH INDIANS.

one congressional hearing, another Osage chief named Bacon Rind testified that the whites had “bunched us down here in the backwoods, the roughest part of the United States, thinking ‘we will drive these Indians down to where there is a big pile of rocks and put them there in that corner.’ ”

So would another agent, Frank Smith, a Texan who listed his interests thus: “Pistol and rifle practice—Big game hunting—Game fishing—Mountain climbing—Adventures—Man hunting.”

White’s team included a former Texas Ranger who was said to be suited for “any element of danger.”

As the Bible said, “For dust you are and to dust you will return.”

“The human cry of this…woman is a call to America.”

As Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesar: Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy: Hide it in smiles and affability.

according to several people close to Anna Brown, Hale had had an affair with Anna and was the father of her baby. If true, it meant that Hale had killed his own unborn child.