“They got Rita”: Report by Frank Smith, James Alexander Street, Burger, and J. V.
Murphy, Sept. 1, 1925, FBI.
“He just kind”: Grand jury testimony of Robert Colombe, NARA-FW.
“I tried to get”: Grand jury testimony of David Shoun, NARA-FW.
“beyond our power”: Osage Chief, March 16, 1923.
“should be thrown”: Report by Wren, Dec. 29, 1925, FBI.
“loose upon”: Indiana Evening Gazette, Sept. 20, 1923.
Amid this garish corruption: Details of Vaughan’s investigation and murder were drawn
from several sources, including FBI records, newspaper accounts, the Vaughan family’s
private papers, and interviews with descendants.
“parasite upon”: Advertisement for Vaughan’s candidacy for county attorney, Vaughan
Family Papers.
“help the needy”: Student file of George Bigheart, accessible on Dickinson College’s
Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center website and held in Record Group 75,
Series 1327, at NARA-DC.
“OWNER VANISHES”: Tulsa Daily World, July 1, 1923.
“Yes, sir, and had”: Grand jury testimony of Horace E. Wilson, NARA-FW.
“shot in lonely”: Literary Digest, April 3, 1926.
“dark and sordid”: Manitowoc Herald-Times, Jan. 22, 1926.
“bloodiest chapter”: John Baxter, “Billion Dollar Murders,” Vaughan Family Papers.
“I didn’t want”: Grand jury testimony of C. A. Cook, NARA-FW.
“WHEREAS, in no”: Report by Frank V. Wright, April 5, 1923, FBI.
part-Kaw, part-Osage: Charles Curtis would later serve as vice president of the United
States during the administration of Herbert Hoover.
“Demons”: Palmer to Curtis, Jan. 28, 1925, FBI.
“Lie still”: Testimony of Frank Smith, included in Ernest Burkhart’s clemency records,
NARA-CP.
“a horrible monument”: Bureau report titled “The Osage Murders,” Feb. 3, 1926, FBI.
“in failing health”: Mollie Burkhart’s guardian records, Jan. 1925, NARA-CP.
8: DEPARTMENT OF EASY VIRTUE
“important message”: White to Hoover, Nov. 10, 1955, FBI/FOIA.
“as God-fearing”: Tracy, “Tom Tracy Tells About—Detroit and Oklahoma.”
“bureaucratic bastard”: Quoted in Gentry, J. Edgar Hoover, 112.
“In those days”: Transcript of interview with Tom White, NMSUL.
“rough and ready”: James M. White (Doc White’s grandnephew), interview with author.
“bullet-spattered”: Hastedt, “White Brothers of Texas Had Notable FBI Careers.”
During the Harding: For more information on J. Edgar Hoover and the early history of