The Osage Indian murders were a series of murders of Osage Native Americans in Osage County, Oklahoma, during the 1910s–30s.
Newspapers described the increasing number of unsolved murders and deaths among young adults as the Reign of Terror. Most took place from 1921 to 1926. Some sixty or more wealthy, full-blood Osage persons were reported killed from 1918 to 1931. Newer investigations indicate that other suspicious deaths during this time could have been misreported or covered-up murders, including those of individuals who were heirs to future fortunes. Further research has shown that the death toll may have been in the hundreds.
The tribe had retained mineral rights to the land of their reservation. Each tribal member had what were known as headrights to the mineral rights on communal land. When valuable oil was found on their land and leases were sold for oil production, each member with headrights was paid a share of the lucrative annual royalties for leases by oil companies.
The United States Congress passed a law requiring half or full-blood Osage to have white guardians to oversee their management of wealth from the oil. They had to get approval for expenses and management of their own affairs. Many such guardianships became means for whites to exploit the Osage and gain control of their wealth.
During this period numerous white men married Osage women. Some of the murders were committed in order for some whites to take over the headrights of Osage members when inheriting property after deaths.
The Osage found little assistance from local law enforcement to investigate the deaths, as it was dominated by powerful whites working in their own interests. Later investigation, including that of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI, the precursor to the Federal Bureau of Investigation) revealed extensive corruption among local officials involved in the Osage guardian program, including lawyers and judges. Most of the murders were never prosecuted.
Some perpetrators were convicted and sentenced, including William Hale, a powerful rancher who ordered the murders of his nephew's wife and other members of her family to gain control of their headrights and oil wealth. Two other men implicated with Hale, Henry Grammer and Asa Kirby, died under suspicious circumstances during the BOI investigation. Grammer died in a car crash on June 14, 1923. Kirby was killed while robbing a store on June 23, 1923. Another man, Kelsie Morrison, was also convicted. His conviction was overturned on appeal since he had been promised immunity in exchange for his testimony for the prosecution against others involved in the murders. He was killed in a shootout with police in 1937.
In 1925, the United States Congress changed the law to prohibit non-Osage from inheriting headrights from Osage with half or more Native American ancestry, in an effort to protect the Osage. The U.S. government continued to manage the leases and royalties from oil-producing lands. Over decades, the tribe became increasingly concerned about these assets.
In 2000, the Osage Nation filed a suit against the Department of the Interior, alleging that it had not adequately managed the assets and paid people the royalties they were due. The suit was settled in 2011 for $380 million and commitments to improve program management.
Background
In 1897, oil was discovered on the Osage Indian Reservation (present-day Osage County, Oklahoma). The U.S. Department of the Interior managed leases for oil exploration and production on land owned by the Osage Nation through the Bureau of Indian Affairs and later managed royalties, paying individual allottees. As part of the process of preparing Oklahoma for statehood, the federal government allotted to each Osage on the tribal rolls in 1907. Thereafter, they and their legal heirs, whether Osage or not, had headrights to royalties in oil production, based on their allotments of lands. The headrights could be inherited by legal heirs, including non-Osage. The tribe held the mineral rights communally and paid its members money from leases by a percentage related to their holdings.