Killers of the Flower Moon (Adapted for Young Readers): The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

In 2012, Grann visited Pawhuska to research the Osage murders. While there, the author remarks that “so much is gone now” (236) and describes how many of the town’s buildings are abandoned. The oil has mostly dried up, and with it, the boomtowns have been deserted. Pawhuska still has a small town, including the courthouse where Ernest was tried, as well as the Osage Nation Museum. Grann visits the museum and stares at the photos filling the walls. One photo has been cut to remove William Hale; “the Osage had removed his image, not to forget the murders, as most Americans had, but because they cannot forget” (239).

Grann attends Osage ceremonial dances, I’n-Lon-Schka, that honor the lands the Osage settled in the late 1800s. There, the author meets Margie Burkhart, Mollie Burkhart’s granddaughter. Her father is James “Cowboy” Burkhart. Cowboy, his sister Elizabeth (Liz), and Mollie have all died, but Margie says that Cowboy always spoke very highly of Mollie and couldn’t understand how Ernest could have done what he did. Ernest is released from prison the year Mollie dies. After his release, he robs an Osage man and goes back to prison. During Ernest’s second sentence, Hale is released from prison.