knowing that they couldn’t win without his blessing. He
outworked and outwitted his rivals, making plenty of enemies who
wanted him dead. “Some did hate him,” a friend admitted. Still,
Mollie Burkhart and many others considered him Osage County’s
greatest benefactor. He aided the Osage before they were flush
with oil money, donating to charities and schools and a hospital.
Assuming the mantle of a preacher, he signed his letters “Rev. W.
K. Hale.” A local doctor said, “I couldn’t begin to remember how
many sick people have received medical attention at his expense,
nor how many hungry mouths have tasted of his bounty.” Later,
Hale wrote a letter to an assistant chief of the tribe, saying, “I
never had better friends in my life than the Osages....I will always
be the Osages true Friend.” In this last remnant of the American
frontier, Hale was revered as the “King of the Osage Hills.”
William Hale competing in a roping contest when he was a
cowboy Credit 7