Killers of the Flower Moon
David Grann
Contributed by Shemika Thormahlen
Chapter 2
Summary

Even years after the American Revolution, people stood in objection to the creation of police departments. Before, people used to chase after suspects in case criminal activities occurred. With the introduction of police departments occurring later, some regions still incorporated traditional ways of maintaining order. An inquest, led by a justice of the peace, seeks to unravel the cause of Anna’s death — caused by either an act of God or the actions of man; several white jurors have the duty to determine the cause. Mollie’s family doctors examine the body and conclude that Anna was shot and killed in cold blood.

Harve M. Freas is the Osage County Sheriff at the time, but is preoccupied with the murder case of Whitehorn. He therefore sends his untrained deputy to collect evidence from the scene. The town marshal joins the deputy, and the two lawmen conclude that Anna was sitting on a rock drinking when someone shot her from behind. They also locate two separate car tracks indicating that the assailants came from the south-east. However, the bullet that killed her is nowhere to be found. Someone retrieves Anna’s earrings and takes them to her mother, Lizzie; her health deteriorates upon the grief experienced through the death of her eldest daughter.

Ernest supports Mollie in the preparation of Anna’s burial, a costly event for the Osage Indians. The funeral follows both the family and Catholic traditions, and the body is laid at Gray Horse Cemetery close to the plots where their father and their sister, Minnie, are buried.

Analysis

The traditional methods of enforcing justice and order and the introduction of police departments indicate the tremendous changes that occur over time. For example, the choice of conducting an inquest portrays how the people in Oklahoma, and the Osage in particular, still held to their own methods and traditions. Furthermore, the lawmen have inadequate knowledge of justice delivery and crime scene analysis, which indirectly portrays the underdeveloped nature of the world during the 1920s.

The means through which the assailants killed Anna, a shot from behind, shows that it might have been someone she knew, and the murder was premeditated. Her killer knew that she was getting drunk at the ravine, and had no trouble following her there. The impact of her death on Lizzie, her mother, clearly indicates how she loved her daughter profoundly, despite her unappreciated behavior. In arranging for her burial, the costs had conformed to the financial capabilities of the Osage Indians, with the undertakers exploiting such an opportunity for their own financial gain. Anna was ultimately laid to rest close to her family, which affirms her ties with them (before she died, she always returned home after having spent several nights away).

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