For the Osage Nation, the betrayal of the murders depicted in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ still lingers

Shannon Toll

This article contains plot spoilers of “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

The sheriff disguised her death as whiskey poisoning.

Because, when he carved her body up, 

he saw the bullet hole in her skull.

Because, when she was murdered, 

the leg clutchers bloomed.

But then froze under the weight of frost.

During Xtha-cka Zhi-ga Tze-the, 

the Killer of the Flowers Moon.

The excerpt is from the poem “Wi’-gi-e,” or “Prayer,” which Osage author Elise Paschen wrote in 2009 to honor Anna Kyle Brown, who was thought to be the first victim of the Osage Reign of Terror.

Brown’s body was found at the bottom of a ravine near Fairfax, Oklahoma, in 1921, with the cause of death ruled as “whiskey poisoning.” In truth she’d been murdered for her share of the hereditary mineral rights that had made her wealthy. Years later, a widespread investigation would reveal that Brown