Mollie Kyle (also known as Mollie Burkhart and Mollie Cobb; December 1, 1886 – June 16, 1937) was an Osage woman known for surviving the

Osage Indian murders The Osage Indian murders was a serial killing event that took place in Osage County, Oklahoma, United States, during the 1910s–1930s. Newspapers described the increasing number of unsolved murders and deaths among young adults of the Osage Nat ...

. She gained initial prominence in newspaper coverage during the trial of

William King Hale William King Hale (December 24, 1874 – August 15, 1962) was an American murderer and political and crime boss in Osage County, Oklahoma, who was responsible for the most infamous of the Osage Indian murders. He made a fortune through cattle ...

and gained renewed prominence in the 21st century when she was portrayed by

Lily Gladstone Lily Gladstone (born August 2, 1986) is an American actress. Raised on the Blackfeet Reservation, Gladstone is of Piegan Blackfeet, Nez Perce, and European heritage. She earned critical acclaim for portraying Mollie Kyle, an Osage woman who sur ...

in the film '' Killers of the Flower Moon'' (2023). Kyle was born in the Osage Nation in 1886 and attended

Catholic school Catholic schools are Parochial school, parochial pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest parochial schools, religious, no ...

, eventually converting. She married

Ernest Burkhart Ernest George Burkhart (September 11, 1892 – December 1, 1986) was an American murderer who participated in the Osage Indian murders as a hitman for his uncle William King Hale's organized crime, crime ring. He was convicted for the killing o ...

in 1917 and afterward most of her family was murdered in an inheritance scheme led by Burkhart's uncle. Kyle, a

diabetic Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

, survived a poisoning attempt on her life and divorced Ernest in 1926. She remarried in 1928 and died in 1937.

Early life

Mollie Kyle was born on December 1, 1886, in the

Osage Nation The Osage Nation ( ) () is a Midwestern Native American nation of the Great Plains. The tribe began in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 1620 A.D along with other groups of its language family, then migrated west in the 17th cen ...

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

(now

Osage County, Oklahoma Osage County () is the largest county by area in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Created in 1907 when Oklahoma was admitted as a state, the county is named for and is home to the federally recognized Osage Nation. The county is coextensive with t ...

) to James Cue Kyle and Lizzie Q. Kyle. She grew up in

Gray Horse A gray horse (or grey horse) has a coat color characterized by progressive depigmentation of the colored hairs of the coat. Most gray horses have black skin and dark eyes; unlike some equine dilution genes and some other genes that lead to dep ...

and was forced to attend

Pawhuska Pawhuska ( Osage: 𐓄𐓘𐓢𐓶𐓮𐓤𐓘, ''hpahúska'', lit.: ''White Hair''; Chiwere: ''Paháhga'') is a city in and the county seat of Osage County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,984 ...

. She was

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and spoke both English and Osage. By the 1900s, Mollie was wealthy from her

Osage headright An Osage headright is a type of headright in the United States. There are 2,229 Osage headrights, one for each member of the Osage Nation enrolled in 1906. Osage headrights entitle the owner to a quarterly share of the Osage Mineral Estate. Osage ...

, but deemed incompetent due to federal laws regulating Native Americans requiring her to have an appointed

legal guardian A legal guardian is a person who has been appointed by a court or otherwise has the legal authority (and the corresponding duty) to make decisions relevant to the personal and property interests of another person who is deemed incompetent, ca ...

. Kyle married Henry Roan when she was 15 in a traditional and arranged Osage marriage, but both were sent to

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

shortly afterward and eventually married other people.

Osage Indian Murders

In 1917, Mollie married

, a nephew of

. The couple had three children: Elizabeth, James, and Anna. Anna died of

whooping cough Whooping cough ( or ), also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable Pathogenic bacteria, bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common c ...

as a child. After their marriage, Ernest and Hale conspired to kill Mollie's family in order to gain control of their Osage headrights in what would become the most famous of the

. In 1918 her sister, Minnie Smith, died of a "wasting illness" now believed to have been poisoning. Anna Brown, another sister, was shot and killed in May 1921. The next month her mother died. Another sister, Rita Smith, was killed in an explosion alongside her husband, Bill Smith, and housekeeper in 1923. Her cousin, Henry Roan, was killed the same year. Investigators eventually tied the deaths to Ernest and Hale and the pair were arrested. After her husband's arrest, she recovered from a " wasting illness", now widely believed to have been poisoning. She divorced Ernest in 1926 after he confessed to his role in the murders.

Later life and death

She married John Cobb in 1928. In 1931, Mollie successfully sued to end her guardianship and gained control of her family's wealth. She died on June 16, 1937, and is buried at the Greyhorse Indian Village Cemetery in Osage County.

In popular culture

Mollie is portrayed by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

's 2023 film '' Killers of the Flower Moon'', which focuses on the murders.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kyle, Mollie 1886 births 1937 deaths 19th-century American people 19th-century Native American people 19th-century Native American women 20th-century American people 20th-century Native American people 20th-century Native American women Native American people from Oklahoma Native American Roman Catholics Osage Indian murders Osage people Native American genocide survivors