A Deadly Legacy by Pierce Kelley

Author:Pierce Kelley [Kelley, Pierce]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781475967609
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2012-12-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

The next day, while Hank and Tommy were shopping for furniture and appliances, after his daily adventure with Candy, Bones drove to Pawhuska. He took the southern route, on State Road 64,and then up 99 through Hominy and Wynona, rather than through Fairfax on 18, and then east on State Road 11.

Once in Pawhuska, he stopped to ask directions at the Dollar Store. He had no problem finding the museum, which was next to the Osage Nation’s Congress, on top of the hill, overlooking the town. When he walked inside, he saw hundreds of pictures of Indians on the wall. Most of the 2,229 original allottees from 1906 were pictured, which is when headrights were first assigned by the United States Government.

Bones walked up to the woman seated behind the counter and asked,

“Say, excuse me, but I was lookin’ to find out more about what happened to the Osage people back in the ‘20s. Some guy was tellin’ me some stuff the other night about it, and I wanted to check it out to see if it was true. Got anything?”

The woman responded, “The best book I can recommend to you is this one right here.”

She handed him a book entitled, “The Osage Murders.”

Bones said, “How much?”

“$19.95.”

He handed her a twenty-dollar bill.

“Plus tax.”

He gave her two more dollars, and asked,

“He said somethin’ about a woman named Lizzie Kile? Ever hear of her?”

“You must have been talking to Roscoe Whitehorn. He’s a distant cousin of hers. Yes, she was one of the ones who died during that period of time, but no charges were ever filed in that case. He thinks it was murder, but he can’t prove it. People say she was poisoned, but no autopsy was ever performed. He told you he’s hoping to get the headrights back, right?”

“Yeah, he did. Sounded like a pretty bad deal to me.”

“He tells anyone who will listen all about it. Her name is in that book you just bought. You can read all about it, but since Roscoe wasn’t somebody who would’ve inherited from her, he really doesn’t have much of a chance at getting her four headrights, but don’t tell him I told you that. He doesn’t want to hear that from anyone.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I won’t say a word to him about it, I promise.”

“You’re welcome. Any other questions?”

“No ma’am. Mind if I look around?”

“Not at all. Help yourself.”

“No charge to get in?”

“Nope.”

Bones walked around, and looked at all the pictures on the wall. He saw pictures of what was called the “Million Dollar Elm Tree,” where leases valued at well over a million dollars were signed back in the day. He asked if it was still around and was told that there was a monument where the tree once stood, but that tree had died many years ago.

After looking around for fifteen or twenty minutes, he left. He got what he came for. He went back to Pawnee the same way he came, not wanting to go through Fairfax, and run the risk of meeting up with Officer Bear again.

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