Charles Whitehorn, Brown’s cousin, was discovered shot to death near Pawhuska the same day. Two months later, Lizzie Q. Kyle, who had rights for herself and had inherited the rights from her late husband and two daughters, was murdered.

On February 6, 1923, Henry Roan, another cousin of Brown, was found in his car on the Osage Reservation, dead from a shot in the head. Hale fraudulently arranged to make himself the beneficiary of Roan’s $25,000 life insurance policy.

On March 10, 1923, a bomb destroyed the Fairfax home of Brown’s sister Rita Smith, killing her and Nettie Brookshire. Smith’s husband, Bill, died four days later from injuries sustained in the blast.

On June 28, 1923, George Bigheart went to an Oklahoma City hospital after drinking poisoned whiskey. He called attorney William “W.W.” Watkins Vaughan of Pawhuska, asking him to come to the hospital as soon as possible for an urgent meeting, which he did.

Bigheart said he knew who was behind the murders and had incriminating documents proving his claim.

After the meeting, Vaughan boarded a train that night to return to Pawhuska and vanished. Found with his skull crushed, he lay beside the railroad tracks south of Pawhuska.

Bigheart died that same morning.

My Cousin Elmo says, “The CDC has announced you can stop wearing your socks with sandals.”

Some background before going any further…

On the first page of Chapter 1, “The Vanishing,” in Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, author David Gann explains the story behind the title of the book:

“In April, millions of tiny flowers spread over the blackjack hills and vast prairies in the Osage territory of Oklahoma. There are Johnny-jump-ups and spring beauties and little bluets.”

“The Osage writer John Joseph Mathews observed that the galaxy of petals makes it look as if the “gods had left confetti.” In May, when coyotes howl beneath an unnervingly large moon, taller plants, such as spiderworts and black-eyed Susans, begin to creep over the tinier blooms, stealing their light and water.”

“The necks of the smaller flowers break and their petals flutter away, and before long they are buried underground. This is why the Osage Indians refer to May as the time of the flower-killing moon.”

As for Pawhuska, it is the county seat of Osage County, Oklahoma. It was named after the 19th-century Osage chief, Paw-Hiu-Skah, which means “White Hair” in English.

The town, originally known as Deep Ford, was established in 1872. The Osage Indian Agency was located along Bird Creek. 

Traders followed, building stores during 1872 and 1873. The Midland Valley Railroad reached the town in September 1905. 

I began my newspaper article with, “It was midmorning, Wednesday, May 5, when Virginia & Truckee Engine 29, better known as the “Robt. C. Gray” pulled out of Virginia City with four 1920-era Pullman cars in tow.”

“The train, the cars, and her crew headed for Pawhuska, Oklahoma, and the movie set of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo Dicaprio and Robert De Niro. The movie is about the murders of Osage Indians following the discovery of oil on their reservation.”

The story was supposed to be about a local steam train film appearance, I fell down the rabbit hole, saving what I’d written before rewriting the newspaper article…

On May 27, 1921, local hunters discovered the decomposing body of 36-year-old Anna Brown in a remote ravine of Osage County. Brown was divorced, so probate awarded her estate to her mother, Lizzie Q. Kyle.

Kelsie Morrison, a petty criminal, later admitted to murdering Brown and testified that William Hale, a prominent local cattleman, had asked him to do so. He also implicated Bryan Burkhart in her murder, testifying that they had taken Brown to Three Mile Creek, where Morrison shot her.

Burkhart was Hale’s nephew and Brown’s former boyfriend.

Sometime one’s timing is jus’ right. One of the neighbors’ boys out in a storm floating a paper boat in the gutter.

To top it off, I jus’ learned that my cellphone will allow me to video-tape in black and white, or edit color shots into monochrome. Makes me think of my childhood memories.

My Cousin Elmo says, “What with the price of ammo, lumber and gas, being a Redneck is getting to be expensive.”

The evening Bill learned his wife Jana had cancer, he dropped to his knees and begged God, knowing it was wrong. God heard his cries, and Jana was cured.

Satan complained, “That is not how it works.”

“I saw into his heart, his motives were pure,” God countered. “You can see only his mind.”

“Well, he broke the rules,” Satan continued. “Now, he’s mine.”

“Don’t you touch him,” God commanded.

In a huff, Satan answered, “Fine.”

A month later, as Bill lay sleeping in bed next to Jana, Satan slipped into their room and whispered in Bill’s ear. That morning Bill did not awaken, having died of a heart attack.

Bill didn’t mind because he went to Heaven believing that God had answered his prayer.

God and Satan attended Bill’s funeral, where God whispered in Satan’s ear, “You lose again.”

The inflation rate in the U.S. between 1956 and today is 872.36 percent meaning that 100 dollars in 1956 are equivalent to $972.36 in 2021.

We’ve been taught wrongly into believing that inflation is part of a natural cycle in a healthy economy. The keywording is ‘healthy,’ and we haven’t had a healthy economy in decades.

What we have had since 1956 is over-inflation, an economic killer.

Think of it this way: you are at your favorite beach when the tide suddenly drains, rushing out to sea, you can expect a Tsunami. When the ocean floor settles, that tide will become a wall of water, drowning everything from the shoreline to the deeper inland.

Within this last year, we’ve seen a 1.41 percent increase in the inflation rate. Soon, we’ll reach three percent or more, especially if the latest rounds of Congressional money talk, which includes a $220 billion stimulus package, become a reality.

Remember all those stimulus dollars the Fed pumped into the banking system? Those dollars aren’t being used for loans but invested in the stock market.

Once the stimulus monies run dry, we’ll see a financial crash and the U.S. dollar disappear. No country, not even Allied nations, will be willing to trade on our currency.

My Cousin Elmo says, “Someone should start a rumor about a shortage of jobs, that way everyone will rush out to get one.”

My Cousin Elmo says, “I never half-ass anything. I either go full-ass or nothing.”