had not managed to produce any evidence that would be
admissible in a court of law.
As White strove to be a modern evidence man, he had to learn
many new techniques, but the most useful one was timeless:
coldly, methodically separating hearsay from facts that he could
prove. He didn’t want to hang a man simply because he had
constructed a seductive tale. And after years of bumbling,
potentially crooked investigations into the Osage murders, White
needed to weed out half facts and build an indubitable narrative
based on what he called an “unbroken chain of evidence.”
White preferred to investigate his cases alone, but given the
number of murders and leads to follow, he realized that he would
need to assemble a team. Yet even a team wouldn’t overcome one
of the main obstacles that had stymied previous investigators: the
refusal of witnesses to cooperate because of prejudice, corruption,
or, as an agent put it, an “almost universal fear of being ‘bumped
off.’ ” So White decided that he would be the public face of the
investigation, while most of the agents operated undercover.
Hoover promised him, “I’ll assign as many men as you need.”
Recognizing the limits of his college boys, Hoover had kept on the
rolls a handful of other Cowboys, including White’s brother Doc.
These agents were still learning scientific sleuthing, still adjusting
to completing their reports on a typewriter. But White decided that
these men were the only candidates who could handle such an
assignment: infiltrating wild country, dealing with outlawry,
shadowing suspects, going days without sleep, maintaining cover
under duress, and handling deadly weapons if necessary. White
began putting together a squad of Cowboys, but he didn’t include
Doc: since serving in the Rangers, he and his brother had avoided
being assigned to the same cases, in order to protect their family