The Daily Alaska empire., 1935-03-12
By WILLIAM vOIGT, Jr.


 TULSA. Okla. March 12.--Kat< Ma Barker, who died at the busi- ness end of a machine gun as tht reputed brains" of her brood, spent her early years apologizing to tht law for her crine-stained young.
 When Arthur Doe Barker, ons Of the four sons born to her, goel to trial in St. Paul, Minn.. charged with Kidnapping Edward G. Bremen Commercial State Bank president Ma" Barker will not be there tS plead for him as she did when llt was a youngster.
 When Lloyd, the only other sor living, is released from federal pris- on, Ma" will not be around te welcome him into the gang which for several years has been on the federal blacklist of predatory criminal bands.
 And all because Ma" at some time in her life, decided to tradt pleas and apologies for a chop per- Perhaps discouraged by ths persistence of her boys, Ma" Bark eI joined them.
 Ma" Fell Too
 When Freddie Barker, the ont with the sharp, rat-like features fell in that rainstorm of lead that poured through the windows anc doors and siding of house ir Oklawaha, Fla, re e n tly, Ma Barker fell at his side. The 1O0- shot drum of the machine gur which she clutched in death, was more than half empty.
 She died at the hands of the law she had wheedled and cajoled for more than 20 years, then open ly defied
 In that period she had schooled herself in the black art of har- boring criminals and held a key position in a broad underworld communications network.
 After making the final transition she presented the strange picture of grandmother Hitting about the countryside with an outlawed wea- ron in her hands, skirted menace to society.
 Married At 20
 Born Arizona Clark in the little Ozark mining town of Aurora, Mo. she married George Barker of Au- rora when she was 20. In 1906 the family moved to Tulsa, then a he'll roaring young town that had begun to feel the magic touch of oil.
 Barker. himself, was a steady worker. For IA years he was em- ployed as custodian of building here.
 He lives now in Joplin, a worn and lonely little old man, caretak- CT of a tourist camp, On his sick bed, recently, he was informed of the death of his former wife and che of his sons.
 There's nothing for me to say,i' he said weakly. T don't know any, thing. All I want is to be kept out of it. A long time ago I decided to go it alone"
 And go 1t alone, he did, leaving Ma" to entangle her life inextri- ca5ly with the lives of her outlaw sons, Fred. Lloyd. Arthur and Her man, who was the first of the family to die as result of outlaw ". t4
 Not Always Wanted"
 The sons were not always high iii the governments public enemy list. Once upon time they were boys playing in old Central Park, in Tulsa, with their crowd.
 The crowd however, developed into a gang. and in short time Iburglaries and thievery and small robberies were marked against them.
 Ma" Barker became a familiar figure at police headquarters, where she seemed always to be pleading the fines and sentences be suspend ca. Her eternal song was:
 My boys would be all right If the law would let them alone
 When the boys grew up they grew deeper in the mire of outlaw ry.
 Herman, bank robber and killer, wanted for Cheyenne, Wyo., slay- ins, killed himself rather than be
 NFf| af !.