his men were deeply suspicious of Burt. In a second report that I
found in the bureau files, agents described Burt as a “murderer.”
For days, I returned to the archive trying to find a financial
motive for the killing of Bigheart. I looked through probate
records to see who would have benefited from his death. In an e-
mail, Martha had written to me, “As Ol’ Pappy always said, ‘Follow
the money.’ ” There was no evidence that Hale or Burt or any other
white man had inherited Bigheart’s fortune, which was passed
down to Bigheart’s wife and his young daughter. Bigheart’s
daughter, however, had a guardian, and this man would have had
control of the money. I flipped through the records until I saw the
name of her guardian: H. G. Burt.
I felt my heart quickening as I reviewed the facts. I knew that
Burt had been a close associate of Hale’s who had been enmeshed
in the systematic exploitation of the Osage. I knew that Burt had
gained access to Bigheart’s fortune by becoming the guardian of
his daughter. I knew, from government records, that Burt had also
been the guardian of several other Osage, including one who had
died. I knew that Burt had been with Bigheart around the time he
succumbed to apparent poisoning—a local lawman had noted that
Burt and Hale had both visited with Bigheart shortly before he
died. And I knew that the bureau considered Burt a killer.
Other pieces of evidence also implicated Burt in a crime. Court
records showed, for instance, that Burt had stolen money that
Bigheart had intended for Vaughan, even though Burt purported to
be Vaughan’s close friend. Perhaps Vaughan, blind to his friend’s
machinations, had mentioned the investigation that he had been
pursuing and confided the location of the hideout containing his
money and evidence. And when Vaughan had gone to see Bigheart
on his deathbed, perhaps Bigheart had incriminated not only Hale