Thomas Bruce White Sr. (March 6, 1881 – December 21, 1971) was an American law officer and prison warden. He is known for solving the complex and notorious Osage murder case and later being warden of

Leavenworth Prison The Federal Correctional Institution, Leavenworth is a medium-security federal prison for male inmates in northeast Kansas. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. It also includes ...

in Kansas.

Biography

White was born on March 6, 1881, in Oak Hill, Texas, the son of the Travis County, Texas sheriff Robert Emmet White and Margaret White. His mother died when Thomas was six. He attended

Southwestern University Southwestern University (Southwestern or SU) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Georgetown, Texas. Formed in 1873 from a revival of collegiate charters granted in 1840, Southwester ...

in Georgetown, Texas. Leaving school early, White traveled the country holding various jobs in Oklahoma and California. He enlisted in the Texas Rangers from 1905 to 1909 with three of his four siblings. He resigned from the Rangers and worked as a special agent for the

Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Railroad classes, Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight tra ...

and the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

until 1917. He then worked as a Bureau of Investigation (BOI) agent until 1926. During that time, he was in charge of the Houston office and was head of the Osage murder investigation; his use of undercover agents to gather information without tipping off the corrupt lawmen and officials linked to the murders brought about several major convictions. After the Osage investigation, White left the BOI (which later became the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935) and took charge as Warden of the

until 1931, when he was seriously injured after being held hostage by armed prisoners and shot in a prison escape attempt. Afterwards, the

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for all List of United States federal prisons, federal prisons ...

decided that White should be given a less demanding assignment and transferred him to La Tuna Federal Correctional Institution (1932–1951), near

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

. After his retirement from the penitentiary system, Tom served on a three-man board overseeing pardons and parole hearings for incarcerated persons in Texas until 1957. He remained in retirement until his death on December 21, 1971.

In popular media

A composite version of Thomas White played by

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...

named John Michael "Chip" Hardesty is the main character of the 1959 film ''

The FBI Story ''The FBI Story'' is a 1959 American crime drama film starring James Stewart, and produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay by Richard L. Breen and John Twist is based on a book by Don Whitehead. Plot John Michael ("Chip") Hardes ...

'', which features a fictionalized version of the Osage murders and White's investigation. In the 2023 film '' Killers of the Flower Moon,'' White is portrayed by actor

Jesse Plemons Jesse Plemons (; born April 2, 1988) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and achieved a breakthrough with his role as Landry Clarke in the NBC drama series '' Friday Night Lights'' (2006–2011). He subsequently portra ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Thomas Bruce, Sr. 1881 births 1971 deaths American prison wardens American federal law enforcement officials Law enforcement officials from Texas Osage Indian murders