Follow the money

“Follow the money” is a compact investigative maxim that redirects attention from speculation about who inherited George Bigheart’s fortune to the person who controlled it. In the search for a financial motive in Bigheart’s death, that shift leads through probate records to H. G. Burt, a guardian of Bigheart’s daughter and an associate of William K. Hale.

Advice Passed Along

Martha invokes the phrase in an email, recalling that Ol’ Pappy used to say, “Follow the money.” The advice is presented not as a verdict about Bigheart’s death but as a practical instruction: examine who could benefit financially, and trace the records that show where control actually lay.

From Inheritance to Control

Applying the maxim, the investigation turns to probate records to identify who benefited from Bigheart’s death. They show that his fortune passed to his wife and young daughter, rather than to Hale, Burt, or another white man. But the inheritance did not settle the question of access: Bigheart’s daughter had a guardian, and the guardian controlled the money. The name in the records was Burt’s.

That discovery gives the phrase its force in the account. The trail does not establish, by itself, that Burt killed Bigheart; it reveals a consequential financial relationship that a simple list of heirs would miss. The maxim shifts the inquiry from who received the estate to who had authority over it, turning a familiar piece of advice into a means of finding a new lead.