whether the witnesses and the jury became tainted. At Ernest
Burkhart’s trial, the first panel of prospective jurors had been
dismissed after evidence surfaced that Hale had attempted to bribe
them. Now, before selecting a jury, prosecutors probed prospective
candidates to ascertain whether anyone had approached them. The
judge then asked the twelve chosen jurors to swear that they
would render a true verdict according to the law and the evidence
—“so help you God!”
There was one question that the judge and the prosecutors and
the defense never asked the jurors but that was central to the
proceedings: Would a jury of twelve white men ever punish
another white man for killing an American Indian? One skeptical
reporter noted, “The attitude of a pioneer cattleman toward the
full-blood Indian...is fairly well recognized.” A prominent member
of the Osage tribe put the matter more bluntly: “It is a question in
my mind whether this jury is considering a murder case or not.
The question for them to decide is whether a white man killing an
Osage is murder—or merely cruelty to animals.”