Kansas for check forgery sent a letter to Sheriff Freas claiming
that he had information concerning Anna’s murder. “Honorable
Sir,” he wrote, “I hope to be some assistance to you.” He didn’t
divulge what he knew, however, and upon receiving the message
the sheriff set out in what the press described as a “fast
automobile.” Hale, who had been tipped off regarding the potential
breakthrough, rushed to the jail as well. Under interrogation, the
forger, a fidgety twenty-eight-year-old man, claimed that Brown
had paid him $8,000 to murder Anna. He described how he’d shot
her in the head, then carried her body in his arms down to the
creek.
Soon after his confession, a posse of lawmen swept in and
seized Brown when he was in Pawhuska on business. The
Pawhuska Daily Capital heralded the news: ANNA BROWN SLAYER
CONFESSES CRIME. It added, “Oda Brown, Husband of Woman, Also
Arrested.” Mollie and her family were devastated by the notion
that Oda was responsible for Anna’s murder, but they could take
solace in the thought of his facing justice, perhaps the hangman’s
noose or the electric chair. But within days authorities had
conceded that there was no evidence to support the forger’s claims
—no evidence that he had been in Osage County at the time of the
murder or that Brown had ever contacted him. The authorities had
no choice but to release Brown. “There’s a lot of talk,” the sheriff
was quoted as saying. “But you have to have proof, not talk.”
Like many officials, the county prosecutor owed his election at
least in part to Hale. When he first ran for office, his advisers told
him that he had to get Hale’s endorsement, and so he made
several trips to Hale’s ranch. He could never find him, and finally a
cattle inspector told him, “If you want to see Bill Hale, you will
have to get to his ranch early—and I mean damned early.” So, at