The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1936-11-12

l Viz CoNh ROtSiis hSCibS SdW thAAA
and called on him to surrender.
Instead, Gibson opened fire with
the rife in an effort to clear the
way and started to run down the
back steps. An agent stationed at
the rear returned the fire, and Glib
son fell the remainder of the way
down the steps-fatally wounded.
In the apartment were found three
Browning automatic rifles, two
1851 automatic rifles, four auto
matte pistols, sawed-off shotgun,
steel vests and large quantity Of
ammunition
Most important of all, however,
was torn letter found in the apart
ment. The salvaged portion of the
letter was not signed and had no
address, but it referred to the pleas
ant life the writer was leading in
Florida. 1t mentioned lake with
houseboat on it and an alligator
in it. The alligator, it said. was
named "Old joe"
With no more clues to follow than
these, F. B. :. ag nts began a
search for lake in Florida with
a houseboat and an alligator known
as "Old joe"
Believe it or not, the third lake
visited by the agents answered the
description given in the letter, COM
| pletely.
Houses fronting on this lake were
investigated discreetly and one was
found that had aroused suspicious
of neighbors because of strange
goings-on." The occupants were de-
scribed as a stout old woman of
disreputable appearance, her son
and daughter-in-law-"Mr. and Mrs.
| Blackburn" - and two OF er
| couples. The other couples, it was
learned, had departed in an auto
mobile that morning. The descrip-
ton of the old woman and her son
fitted "Ma" and Fred Barker.
More agents were rushed to Okla
waha by plane and automobile and
plans were made to raid the house
the next morning at dawn.
AT Z a. M, it was light enough
tc see the figure of man sleeping
on a cot at the front door. The
Inspector in charge of the raid
stepped forward toward the front
porch and shouted demand that
the occupants come out of the house,
hands raised.
Fred Barker jumped from the cot
and ran upstairs.
The agents heard ma" Barker's
raucous voice yell:
"All right-go ahead!"
The inspector shouted: 90. K,
come on. Fred first. You'll come
out first, Fred. if you have the
nerve!"
Immediately, INA" Barker was
seen to step to window and open
fire with a machine gun on the
Inspector, who jumped behind
shed.
Fred simultaneously began firing
a powerful automatic rifle at an
agent who had taken refuge behind
small tree.
Ma" and Fred began to con-
centrate their fire on the agent be-
hind the tree near the shed. Seeing
that the agent a trusted COM
panion would soon be killed by
the rifle bullets, which were easily
capable of penetrating the tree, the
inspector deliberately dashed from
behind the shed to draw the fire
away from the agent.
Running and lodging across the
laxt-y1 for q
threw himself headlong toward the
front porch of the house and rolled
over and over as bullets from
MAS" machine gun threw dirt in
his eyes and whistled around his
ears. BY getting close to the house,
he was able to get out of range
of fire, as the Bankers would have
had to expose themselves in the
window in order to aim at him.
Before long, the firing from with
in the house ceased, md, after sew
eral halls had gone unanswered,
the agents entered the bullet-riddled
house.
Fred Barker had fallen on his
face, with a AS caliber automatic
in his hand.
"Ma" Barker lay on The floor,
still caressing her machine gun,
which she had reloaded with a 100
shot drum. The drum had been
partly used up.
In the house, the agents found
another machine gun, three rifles,
three automatic pistols, number
of bullet-proof vests and large
quantity of ammunition.
The two couples who had departed
not long before the Omen arrived,
it developed later, were Alvin
Karpis and Harry Campbell and
their women.
A few days later, they shot their
way out of police trap at Atlantic
City-only to be hunted down and
captured eventually - without gum
fire - by j. Edgar Hoover and his
men in sensational raids at New
Orleans and Toledo.
wNU Service.