Evening star., 1932-05-19
OKLAHOMA HUNTS
BOLD DESPERADOES.
"Pretty Boy" Floyd and
George BirdWeII Believed
Hiding in Hills.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla, May 10
The most intensive manhunt Oklahoma
has seen since the days Of AL Jennings
and the Dalton brothers is on in the
hills for Charles Pretty Boz Flovd.
will o. the wisp desperado, and his tall
lieutenant, George Birdwell, wanted for
murders, kiGnapings and bank rob-
berries.
Scores of State, county and city Off
GERS for months have sought without
success to capture the elusive, steel
jacketed Pretty Boy" who frequently
darts into Oklahoma villages, holds
citizens at bay with a machine gun,
robs banks. kidnapS officials and escapes
in a speedy car.
Deaths of two peace officers already
have resulted from the hunt for the
phantom bandit and his companion.
Patrolman Ralph Castner Of Bowling
Green. Ohio. was slain there when he
attempted to arrest a man believed to
have been Floyd for questioning IN con-
nection with two Kansas City murders
Veteran Officer Slain.
Erv Kelley, veteran Oklahoma Off
Ger, fell before machine gun as he and
two farmer possemen tried to halt two
men at the farm home OF Floyds
father -in-law in the hills OF Eastern
Oklahoma.
Rewards totaling $4,000 have been
offered by the State, counties and
bankers association for the capture OF
Floyd, dead or alive.
More than a dozen bank robberies
have been charged to the outlaw.
The latest robbery occurred early in
May when Southern Oklahoma bank
was looted by men identified as Floyd
and Birdwell A youth on a motor cycle
was kidnapped when he approached the
robbers on a highway.
Officers rushed to the scene from all
parts of the State by motor car and
airplane. and highways were patroled
by posses. but no trace of the bandits
was found.
Hid Car in Brush.
The boy. released next dav, said the
bandits, after running gun battle With
deputy sheriffs. had driven into
thicket and covered their car with
brush for the night. The outlaws
treated him kindly, he said.
Born at Sallislaw, Okla, Floyd has
made his headquarters in and around
the oil town of Earlsbgo. Birdwells
wife and children live near there.
When Floyd visited friends at Earls-
boro one time the chief Of police con-
fiscated the outlaws car and placed 1t
in his garage When the outlaw dis
covered it he forced a Negro to accom-
pany him to the chiefs home, where,
using the Negro as shield, he forced
the chief to put the car on the street.
Disarming the officer Floyd emptied
his gun, handed it back, and fed.
Held Guards at Bay.
Officers kept close watch over an
Earlsboro morgue when Birdwells
father died this Spring. Floyd and
BirdwelI suddenly appeared, held Off
GERS back with pistols while Birdwell
viewed his fathers body, then escaped.
Ambushing Floyd near Sallislaw sew
eral months ago, sheriff reported he
fired point blank at Floyd without ef-
feet This led officers to believe the
outlaw wears a steel jacket.
Floyd usually carries a submachlne
gun, and has machine gun mounted
on the back of his automobile While
one man holds the crowd outside at
bay the other enters the bank. robs it,
ki6naps one of the bank officials, and
uses him as a shield in making his
escape
Floyds wife and child have been
located in Tulsa. living under an as
sumed name. Though Floyd had been
there also while the search for him was
going on in rural districts. he had es-
capped when the discovery of his fam
Ny's whereabouts was made.