This law provided for trial in a federal court for crimes committed by an Indian against a non-Indian or vice versa.

[fn 4] In 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act,[7] which served to break up reservations and allot the land to tribal members.

First, land remaining after each enrolled tribal member received 160 acres (65 ha), so-called 'surplus land', was further divided among tribal members, not placed in the public domain for sale to the general public,[11] and second, mineral rights were retained by the tribe,[fn 5] and not in a trust status through the federal government.

[18] Congress also passed a law providing that an Osage Indian who was less than half blood, as determined by the Secretary of the Interior, did not have to wait to sell his or her land.

[22] In February 1923, Henry Roan, another Osage, was found in his car, shot once in the back of the head with a .45 caliber pistol.

[25] Ernest Burkhart was the nephew of a wealthy Texas rancher, William K. Hale,[fn 9] who had moved to the Osage area.

[25] Following these deaths and several others,[fn 10] the Osage Tribal Council requested federal assistance since local authorities were apparently making no effort to solve the crimes.

[31] The BOI responded by sending in undercover agents disguised as cattle buyers and cowhands and, through their investigation, determined that the murders had been planned and executed at the direction of Hale.

[fn 11][33] The BOI also discovered that Hale held a $25,000 insurance policy on Roan and noted that his nephew's wife had inherited all of the Kyle headrights.

Two weeks into the trial, realizing that he could not win, he changed his plea to guilty and became a witness for the state in exchange for a life sentence.

[fn 13] Hale and Ramsey were transferred to Guthrie, Oklahoma in 1926, where they stood trial in state court for the murder of Roan.

[38] The United States Attorney then transferred the case to Oklahoma City and indicted Hale and Ramsey for murder on federal land for the death of Roan.

He noted that the indictment was drawn under Revised Statute § 2145, which provides for federal jurisdiction of crimes committed in "Indian Country".

It was based on improper procedure in admitting Ernest Burkhart's testimony as to the Smith bombing and again on the contention that the federal government did not have jurisdiction to try the case.

[50] The court did find that the testimony as to the Smith bombing was not relevant to the Roan murder, was prejudicial against Hale, and required that the case be remanded for retrial.