Hale and Ramsey appeared shocked. The judge said to them, “A
jury has found you guilty of the murder of an Osage Indian, Mr.
Hale and Mr. Ramsey, and it becomes my duty to pass sentence.
Under the law the jury may find you guilty and that carries the
death penalty in a first-degree murder case. But this jury has
qualified it with life imprisonment.” The jurors were willing to
punish the men for killing an American Indian, but they would not
hang them for it. The judge told Hale and Ramsey, “Stand before
the bench.” Hale rose quickly, Ramsey hesitantly. The judge
declared that he was sentencing them to the penitentiary for the
“period of your natural lives.” He then asked, “Have you anything
to say, Mr. Hale?”
Hale stared straight ahead, vacantly. “No, sir,” he said.
“And you, Mr. Ramsey?”
Ramsey simply shook his head.
Reporters rushed out of the courtroom to file their stories,
proclaiming, as the New York Times put it, “KING OF OSAGE HILLS”
GUILTY OF MURDER. The attorney Leahy would hail the outcome as
“one of the greatest indications of law and justice that has been
realized in the country.” Mollie welcomed the verdict, but, as
White knew, there were some things that no successful
investigation, no system of justice, could restore.
A year later, when Anna Brown’s murder was prosecuted, Mollie
attended the trial. By then, Morrison had recanted his confession,
shifting his allegiance yet again in the hope of securing
compensation from Hale. Authorities had seized a note that he
had sent to Hale in prison, in which he had promised to “burn”
down the authorities “if I ever get the Chance.” Prosecutors gave
Bryan Burkhart immunity, believing that it was necessary to
obtain Morrison’s conviction. During the trial, Mollie listened
again to the gruesome details of how Bryan, her brother-in-law,