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te i et ed meee TSR Ea Dar! mein Seu a a dll Eel le OR ee a ’ ary BS. — i { Iabsiation _— : Bepartment of Justice os ae “" - \.. April 26, 1933. A WILLIAM KING HALE: JOHN RAMSEY MURDER ON INDIAN RESERVATION | + . . “hy sterious Murders of Several Osage Indians Solved. “Hale and Three Confederates Given Life Sentences. . i - - Be .* . . - © . rte * From 1921 to 1923, ‘several Osage Indians died under nysterious ¢ circum~ stences on the Qsage Indian Reservation in Oklehoma. Four Indiens end a =! white girl were ‘thought to have been murdered kt the instigation cf Willian . “King (Big Bill) Hale, sometimes referred to as "King of the Osage", in order to collect insurance and to make two of Hale's nephews sole“heirs to valuable oil properties of the ordered Indians. Investigation by Speciel Agents of x the United States Bureau of Investigation was extremely difficult, due to Halets power in the community and the fear in which he was held. Special Agents worked under the guise of medicine men, cattlemen, and insurance seles- men. ‘They “established that Hele had had the white girl and tvo Indigns . olown up by dynamite and two other Indians shot. Hele anc John Ramsey, . ' ‘his henchman, were convicted of murder efter a spectaculer trisi in ’ Federal Court and each sentenced to life imprisonment in the Unitel States - Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Ernest Burkhart, a nephew of Hale, and Kelsey. Morrison, a hireling of Hale, each received life sentences in the State... _ Courts for murders in which they participated at Hale's instige thon, | tet : _which did not occur on the Indian Reservation. ee RBECORDBD ua op ede | MAY 30 1935 | wat 0198 ‘. 1 4 + ; : “Ge. pile ROR es ce