name, and referred to him by the alias “E. J. Ernest.” White later
told Hoover, “We think that it is likely that they will endeavor to
kill Burkhart. Of course, every precaution is being taken to prevent
such a step, but there are many ways that this could be done, for
friends of Ramsey and Hale could probably slip poison to him.”
Mollie, meanwhile, still didn’t believe that Ernest was
“intentionally guilty.” And when he did not return home for days,
she became frantic. Her whole family had been decimated, and
now it appeared as if she’d lost her husband, too. An attorney
assisting the prosecution asked whether she’d feel better if agents
brought her to see Ernest.
“That is all I wanted,” she said.
Afterward, White and Mollie met. He promised her that Ernest
would be back soon. Until then, White said, he would make sure
that they could correspond.
After Mollie received a letter from Ernest saying that he was
well and safe, she replied, “Dear husband, I received your letter
this morning and was very glad to hear from you. We are all well
and Elizabeth is going back to school.” Mollie noted that she was
no longer so sick. “I feel better now,” she said. Clinging to the
illusion of their marriage, she concluded, “Well Ernest I must
close my short letter. Hoping to hear from you soon. Good by from
your wife, Mollie Burkhart.”
On March 1, 1926, White and the prosecution received a
devastating setback. The judge, agreeing with a defense motion,
ruled that even though Roan’s murder had occurred on an
individual Osage allotment, this was not the equivalent of tribal
lands, and therefore the case could be adjudicated only in state
court. Prosecutors appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme