Editing Osage Indian murders (section)

==Background==
The Osage tribe was forcibly relocated by the US government from their home in Kansas to a reservation in Oklahoma in the 1870s.{{sfn|Grann|2017|loc=The Vanishing|ref=Grann2017a}} In 1897, oil was discovered on the [[Osage Nation|Osage Indian Reservation]], present-day [[Osage County, Oklahoma|Osage County]], [[Oklahoma]]. The [[United States Department of the Interior|US Department of the Interior]] managed leases for [[Hydrocarbon exploration|oil exploration]] and [[Extraction of petroleum|production]] on land owned by the Osage Nation through the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] and later managed [[royalty payment|royalties]], paying individual allottees.{{sfn|Fixico|2012|pp=47–48}} As part of the process of preparing Oklahoma for statehood, the federal government allotted {{convert|657 |acres}} to each Osage on the tribal rolls in 1907. Thereafter, they and their legal heirs, whether Osage or not, had [[Osage headright|headrights]] to royalties in oil production, based on their allotments of lands.{{sfn|McAuliffe|1994|p=?}} The headrights could be inherited by legal heirs, including non-Osage. The tribe held the [[mineral rights]] communally and paid its members money from leases by a percentage related to their holdings.

By 1920, the market for oil had grown dramatically and brought much wealth to the Osage. In 1923 alone, the tribe took in more than {{US$|30 million|long=no}} (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|30000000|1951|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|USD}}).<ref name="grann">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-marked-woman |first=David |last=Grann |author-link=David Grann |title=The Marked Woman |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=March 1, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129002249/https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/david-grann-the-osage-murders-and-the-birth-of-the-fbi |archive-date=November 29, 2023 |access-date=August 18, 2024}}</ref> People across the U.S. read about the Osage, called "the richest nation, clan, or social group of any race on earth, including the whites, man for man".<ref name="Jefferson" /> Some Osage used their royalties to send their children to private schools. Others bought luxury cars, clothes, jewelry, and travels to Europe, and newspapers across the country covered their activities.<ref name="Jefferson" /> Along with tens of thousands of oil workers, the [[oil boom]] attracted many white opportunists to Osage County. As the writer [[Robert Allen Warrior]] characterizes them, some were entrepreneurial, and others were criminal, seeking to separate the Osage from their wealth by murder if necessary.<ref name="Warrior" />

Believing the Osage would not be able to manage their new wealth, the [[United States Congress|US Congress]] passed a law in 1921 which required that courts appoint [[Legal guardian|guardians]] for each Osage of half-blood or more in ancestry, who would manage their royalties and financial affairs until they demonstrated "competency".<ref>{{cite web |last=Solly |first=Meilan |date=October 18, 2023 |title=The Real History Behind 'Killers of the Flower Moon' |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-real-history-behind-killers-of-the-flower-moon-180983086/ |access-date=November 7, 2023 |website=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209053227/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-real-history-behind-killers-of-the-flower-moon-180983086/ |archive-date=December 9, 2023}}</ref>{{sfn|Brignell|2022|p=88}} Under the system, even minors who had less than half-Osage blood were required guardians, regardless of living parents. The courts appointed the guardians from local white lawyers or businessmen. The incentives for criminality were overwhelming. Such guardians often maneuvered legally to steal Osage land, their headrights, or royalties. Others were suspected of murdering their charges to gain the headrights.{{sfn|McAuliffe|1994|p=?}}<ref name="Warrior" />

At that time, eight lawyers were working in [[Pawhuska, Oklahoma|Pawhuska]], the Osage County [[County seat|seat]], which had 8,000 residents. The number of lawyers was said to be the same in [[Oklahoma City]], which had 140,000 residents.{{sfn|McAuliffe|1994|pp=146–147}} In 1924, the Department of the Interior charged two dozen guardians of Osage with corruption in the administration of their duties related to their charges. All avoided punishment by [[legal settlement]] out of court. These guardians were believed to have swindled their charges out of millions of dollars. In 1929, {{US$|27 million|long=no}} was reported as still being held by the Guardian System, the organization set up to protect the financial interests of 883 Osage families in Osage County.<ref>{{cite book |first=Garrick |last=Bailey |title=Art of the Osage |location=Seattle |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |date=2004 |page=142}}</ref>