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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. J. Edgar Hoover often repeated the maxim "You either improve or" (167) do what?
(a) Deteriorate.
(b) Fail.
(c) Disappear.
(d) Disprove.

2. When Tom White married in 1908, whom did he marry?
(a) Anna Brown.
(b) Rita Smith.
(c) Bessie Patterson.
(d) Martha Mattingly.

3. When Pike, the private detective from Kansas, revealed that he had not really been hired to solve Anna's murder, what did he reveal his true purpose to be?
(a) He was hired to conceal Bryan's whereabouts on the night of Anna's murder.
(b) He was hired to kill Kelsie Morrison.
(c) He was hired as a bodyguard for Tom White.
(d) He was hired to find the mole with the Reign of Terror investigation.

4. Before joining the Justice Department, J. Edgar Hoover had been a clerk at what location?
(a) The Department of Transportation.
(b) The Treasury Department.
(c) The Smithsonian.
(d) The Library of Congress.

5. To what event did the euphemism "necktie party" (139) refer?
(a) Lynchings.
(b) Communal dinners.
(c) Legal hangings.
(d) Black tie affairs.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who served as a guardian to both Anna and Lizzie before their deaths?

2. Who lit the fuse to the bomb under the Smiths' home?

3. In what town were John Ramsey and William Hale tried for murder?

4. Which one of Tom White's brothers was gunned down when he went to arrest a pair of deserters in East Texas?

5. In 1926, Ernest Burkhart was sentenced to what punishment for his crimes?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the meaning of the title of Chapter 12, A Wilderness of Mirrors?

2. What did the men on the list of witnesses for the prosecution of William Hale have in common?

3. What were the reasons for William Hale's certainty that he would not be convicted of murder?

4. What does the author mean when he describes Mollie Burkhart during the trial, saying that she was "cast out from the two worlds that she'd always straddled" (202)?

5. To what plan is the author referring when he states, "the plan was so brazen, so sinister, that it was hard to fathom" (162)?

6. What was Tom White's reaction to discovering that so many possible witnesses could no longer testify because they were dead?

7. How were the Texas Rangers viewed differently by white Texans than they were viewed by people of color?

8. What was the reaction of the public to the news of how deep the conspiracy against the Osage had actually gone?

9. What evidence does the author provide to support his claim that Tom White "was feeling pressure not just from Hoover" (171)?

10. When William Hale responded to John Ramsey's panic at being tried for the murder of Henry Roan, what did William Hale say to reassure him?

(see the answer keys)

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