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June 1923 was probably the deadliest month in Osage County, though the fatalities were not confined to the Osage or Osage supporters.

Two notorious Osage criminals would also die suspicious deaths that month, but the death that pained the Osage nation was that of George Bigheart.

George was the nephew of a truly legendary chief, James Bigheart. James was the chief of the Osage from 1875 until his death in 1906.

He led the tribe through all of those turbulent changes in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He helped in the rationing system that forced the tribe to rely on the US government for food and clothing.

He helped create a better allotment system for the Osage so they could keep all their land and divide it amongst their own people rather than have it taken away by the government and offered up to white settlers.

And he spearheaded the pivotal deal that allowed the Osage to keep their mineral rights. He passed away right before the first payment was made to his people, but he accomplished something historic.

It made the Osage wealthy beyond belief, but of course it also inadvertently led to the time period that was known as the reign of terror.

And in 1923, James's nephew George was suspected of being its newest victim. In late June, George was rushed to a hospital in Oklahoma City with some sort of sickness.

The common suspicion of poison whiskey immediately popped up, but no one knew for sure. All the doctors knew was that George's case was severe. He was dying and he didn't have long to live.

George was able to call his friend, WWVON, a white lawyer who was outraged by the corruption in Osage County. George said he had valuable information about the murders.

Vaughn had worked diligently with private investigators to solve the murders and he kept his notes and files stashed in a secret location.

When he received the call from George, Vaughn told his wife about the secret hiding spot. She had just given birth to their tenth child. And Vaughn said that if anything happened to him, she would find money for the family in the hiding spot and she should immediately take his information to the authorities.

Then he hurried to Oklahoma City and there are two conflicting stories about what happened next.

In one, Vaughn didn't make it in time and George Bigheart passed away before he could reveal his information about the murders.

In the other, more tantalizing version, Vaughn arrived in time and was able to sit with George for his last few hours.

George told Vaughn everything he knew and gave him some documents. Then Vaughn called the new sheriff of Osage County and said he was rushing home on the next train.

He said he knew who the killer was and had more information on top of that.

WWVon did hurry to the train station and board the next train to Pahuska, the Osage capital and his home in Osage County.

There's no conflict about that or about what happened next. Vaughn never made it to Pahuska. When the train arrived, he wasn't on it. He had vanished.

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