Individual Details

Sapulpa News & Views, Sapulpa, OK, 24 Aug 2019
Novel about Osage murders tapped by a source in Sapulpa
by Don Diehl, Sapulpa News & Views
Editor's Note: This Is Part One [abstracted]
David Grann making motion picture about the "reign of terror" in the Osage Hills of OK - from his book "Killers of the Flower Moon".
The great grandson of one of key figures in the novel lives at Sapulpa, Bill Howell, 84, became a consultant of sorts. He was in Texas at the time. Grann had been to Tahlequah on the trail of relatives with stories of the Osage murders when one being intervies suggested that A. W. Comstock's grandsons (Howell & half-brother Homer Fincannon) might be of help.
Howell, a native of Pawhuska, was about 3 when attorney A. W. Comstock died in 1935, but her remembers the man... there was about the aura of Comstock that struck young Billy. He didn't remember the relationship being much noted as he was growing up.
A. W., a Presbyterian, had felt called to the ministry and started to college as a divinity student before switching to law. His father & grandfather were also attorneys. A. W. 's law degree was from Drake., in 1902. He was attracted to NW Oklahoma with its cowboys & Indians, the need for legal counsel,, and joined the law office of John Palmer in Ponca City. The two were a formidable team in Fairfax, Greyhorse & Pawhuska.
[The article has the family relationships wrong but I will correct them here] A. W. Comstock's daughter Clarissa Beech married Gartheer Howell - and they were the parents of this William. Clarissa was the daughter of Everett Beech and Cleo Comstock, Cleo in turn the daughter of A. W.
The Osage were removed from Kansas in 1872 to land bought in Oklahoma from the Cherokee - a deal that included mineral rights.
Howell stated he believe the story that John Palmer was serving a term in prison when he earned his law degree, then argues his own appeal and won his freedom. The law firm had a big client in the Miller Brothers' 101 Ranch. Palmer & Comstock had their own ranches.
After they opened a office in Pawhuska Comstock became close to the Osage and those who needed legal guardians - he became the guardian of several.
In the 1920's the Osage were some of the richest people in the world as the Osage Indian Nation sat on deposits of oil - one by one they began to be killed off - at least 27 murders. Comstock was known by the Indian Nation as one of the "good Lawyers". Comstock traveled to Washington to meet J. Edgar Hoover and appealed to the newly-organized FBI to aid in the invetigations.

Birth	25 Aug 1935	Pawhuska, Osage County, Oklahoma
Death	24 Nov 2019	Sapulpa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma

Father	Gartheir Howell ( - )
Mother	Clarissa Beach (1917 - 2003)
Sibling	Living
Sibling	Living