Osage murders timeline July 15, 1870

An act of Congress provides for the Osage tribe to buy 1,570,059 acres from the Cherokees in modern-day Osage County. The Osage becomes the only American Indian nation to buy its own reservation.

October 1897
Oil is discovered in the Osage Nation. During the next two decades, oil discovered in the Osage Nation produces more wealth than all of the American gold rushes combined.

June 28, 1906

Congress passes the Allotment Act of 1906 specifying that property and mineral income be distributed equally among the 2,229 members of the Osage tribe. One equal share is known as a headright.

June 30, 1920

About 5,900 oil and gas wells are producing on Osage land.

May 22, 1921

Anna Kyle Brown is slain.

July 1921

Lizzie Q. Kyle dies.

June 30, 1922

About 8,600 producing wells are on Osage land.

Jan. 26, 1923

Henry Roan is slain.

March 10, 1923

Rita Kyle Smith, W.E. Smith and Nettie Brookshire are killed in an explosion that destroys the Smith home.

March 1923
The Osage tribe sends a contingent to Washington, D.C., requesting help from the federal government to investigate the numerous suspicious deaths of their people.

April 1923

U.S. Bureau of Investigation sends agents to Pawhuska.

May 1923

Asa Kirby dies in an attempted robbery.

May 10, 1924

J. Edgar Hoover becomes director of the U.S. Bureau of Investigation.

Jan. 8, 1926
William K. Hale, Ernest Burkhart and John Ramsey are arrested for the murders of Henry Roan and the Smith family.

April 30, 1926

Byron Burkhart is arrested for the murder of Anna Brown. Kelsey Morrison is serving time at the state penitentiary at McAlester for a robbery. Byron Burkhart later turns state's evidence and never serves time for the crime.

May 18, 1926

Kelsey Morrison confesses to the murder of Anna Brown and is given a life sentence.

June 1926
Ernest Burkhart receives a life sentence for the murders of Rita Smith, W.E. Smith and Nettie Brookshire.

January 1929

W.K. Hale receives a life sentence for the murder of Henry Roan.

November 1929

John Ramsey receives a life sentence for the murder of Henry Roan.

1931

Kelsey Morrison is paroled from prison in McAlester.

May 1937

Kelsey Morrison dies in a gunbattle with Fairfax police.

1937

Ernest Burkhart is paroled from prison in McAlester.

April 1941

Ernest Burkhart is imprisoned at the federal penitentiary at Atlanta on a theft conviction.

August 1946
Ernest Burkhart is paroled from Atlanta federal prison.

July 1947
William K. Hale is paroled from federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan.

November 1947
John Ramsey is paroled from Leavenworth.

February 1966
Ernest Burkhart is given a full pardon by Oklahoma Gov. Henry Bellmon for his part in the murders of Rita Smith, W.E. Smith and Nettie Brookshire.