will improve so that he can go to Dallas the last of October to
attend the National Convention of Ex-FBI Agents.” Even in his
ailing state White assisted Grove with the book, as if he were
consumed by an unsolved case, until the manuscript was
completed. In a letter to Grove, White wrote, “I am hoping that all
the good luck in the world will come our way from a good
publisher,” adding that he would be keeping his fingers crossed.
But publishers found the account less than captivating. And
though Grove would eventually release a fictionalized version
called The Years of Fear, the original historical account was never
published. “I am sincerely sorry this letter couldn’t bring better
news,” an editor said.
On February 11, 1969, Doc, who was staying on the ranch where
he and Tom had grown up, died at the age of eighty-four. In a
letter, White shared the news with Hoover, noting that he and his
four siblings had been “born on this land.” He added wistfully,
“And now I am the only one left.”
In October 1971, White collapsed from an apparent stroke. He
was ninety and had no more miraculous escapes. On December 21,
in the early morning hours, he stopped breathing. A friend said,
“He died as he had lived, quietly and with a calm dignity.” An agent
urged Hoover to send condolences to White’s widow, emphasizing
that there was nothing in White’s files to “militate against such
action.” And so Hoover sent a bouquet of flowers, which was laid
upon the casket as it disappeared into the ground.
For a moment, before he receded from history, too, White was
eulogized as a good man who had solved the murders of the Osage.
Years later, the bureau would release several of its files on the
Osage investigation in order to preserve the case in the nation’s
memory. But there was something essential that wasn’t included