explaining, “You have got the wrong pig by the tail.” (Later,
Lawson admitted to White, “All that story I told was a lie. All I
know about the Smith blow-up was just what I heard in jail....I
done wrong and lied.”) In fact, Burkhart indicated that Hale had
gone with Grammer to Fort Worth so they would have an alibi.
Before leaving, Hale told Burkhart to deliver a message to John
Ramsey, the cow thief and bootlegger who worked for Henry
Grammer. The message was for Ramsey to tell Kirby that it was
time to carry out “the job.” Burkhart delivered the message and
was home with Mollie on the night of the explosion. “When it
happened I was in bed with my wife,” he recalled. “I saw a light on
the north side. My wife went to the window and looked out.” She
said that she thought somebody’s house was on fire. “As soon as
she said that I knew what it was.”
Burkhart also provided crucial details about how Hale had
arranged the murder of Roan for the insurance money. “I know
who killed Henry Roan,” Burkhart said, and he identified Ramsey
—the cow thief—as the triggerman.
The case had broken wide open. White placed a call to Agent
Wren, who was out in the field. “There’s a suspect up there named
John Ramsey,” White told him. “Take him into custody right
away.”
Ramsey was picked up and brought into the box. He wore
overalls over his tall, thin frame; his black hair was greasy, and he
walked with a slight, menacing limp. A reporter said he seemed
“like a nervy and, perhaps, a dangerous man.”
According to the accounts of White and other agents, he looked
at the agents warily, insisting he didn’t know a thing. Then White
laid Burkhart’s signed statement in front of Ramsey, who stared at
the paper, as if trying to assess its authenticity. Just as White and
Smith had presented Burkhart with Blackie, they now brought in