- Hale: self made man. Cowboy. Learned the trade. Got one cow. Then many. Then had 25,000 acres.
- Ally. Used his position as a white guy to advocate on behalf of the Osage.
- Cherokee nation parceled and “first come first serve” over 42,000 acres. Brawl.
- “my people will only be happy once the money is gone”
- Wild West: private eye 1921 > than local sheriff
- 1850 Alan Pinkerton - private eye.
- guardians - Osage couldn’t spend their own money without approval
- criminal’s secret eats away at him
- judicial execution is a challenge of taming the evils within even those on the “right side of the law” calling for justice. Do we really need to execute someone? What if they’re actually innocent?
Earnest Burkheart’s confession: - similar to The Tell Tale heart. Someone feels better letting go of lying and coming clean. He was a happy man, even living in prison the rest of his life. - Why doesn’t Hale feel this way?
They were the happiest people because they didn’t own anything and nobody owned them.
Storytelling: - Zoom out of the big picture, get to some conclusion of Earnest’s story, then get back to the main plot. Wrap up the branches, perhaps with some summary or quip. - focused on one storyline, but revealed other side stories and off shoots. - the mystery is in the known details, unknown at the tkme
Takeaways: - Different types of people. Earnest - has somewhat of a conscience to tell the truth. - FBI agents died destitute. No glory. Hoover took it all
Tom White is incredible. Was shot and left for dead but forgave his captors.
Questions: - how many descendants today with money stolen from the Osage? - how many crimes like this continue to happen today?
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Bryan lives somewhere at the intersection of faith, fatherhood, and futurism and writes about tech, books, Christianity, gratitude, and whatever’s on his mind. If you liked reading, perhaps you’ll also like subscribing: