1000+ images about Gangsters_Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd on Pinterest | Pretty boy floyd, Robin hoods and Days in Forward Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd - Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd, shot and killed by FBI agents a year after the Kansas City Massacre; the Bureau insisted that he was one of the killers, but Floyd denied being one of the killers with his dying breath. See More Hidden Secrets: Gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s - Top Documentary Films Top Documentary Films Ratings: 7.39/10 from 67 users. Storyline Pretty Boy Floyd. Born in 1904, Charles Arthur Floyd, an American robber, was raised in his father's dust fields. He was just 21 when he robbed a bank for the first time. The reason he chose this life was his bitterness and frustration of living a low class life. After a meeting with local gangsters in Kansas City, he was given the nickname of "Pretty Boy", which he hated to be called.

He had a positive reputation in public, and was known as the " Robin Hood of the Cookson Hills ", despite being hunted down by the cops for several robberies. He was finally gunned down in a corn field by local officers and FBI agents. Machine Gun Kelly. A famous bootlegger, Machine Gun Kelly, was born in 1897. He was known to be a harmless gangster until he married Kathryn Thorne. She encouraged him to rob banks and commit crimes and later on, Kathryn convinced him to kidnap a millionaire oilman, Charles F. Urschel. This turned out to be his last criminal activity because he was caught and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1933. He died behind the bars 21 years later. Legs Diamond and Dutch Schultz. Raised in tough streets of Philadelphia, Legs Diamond was born in 1896. Shortly after his teenage years, he served in the U.S. Army during the First World War. By 1927, he was known as a powerful figure in the underworld along with Dutch Schultz. In 1929, Legs and Schultz conflict was too much for either of them to bear and in no time Legs was shot down.

Dutch Schultz was suspected of ordering the murder of Legs for which few years later he himself was brutally gunned down in New Jersey. John Dillinger. He spent most of his adult life in prison for robbing 4 police stations and 2 dozen of banks. Just 11 days after the East Chicago bank robbery, he was captured and sent to Crown Point Jail. The jail was acknowledged to be escape-proof, but a month later he escaped. He was killed by FBI agents outside a theatre. Bonnie and Clyde. The most wanted crime figures of 1930s, Bonnie and Clyde, were recognized as 'public enemies'. These American robbers had killed several civilians along with a number of police officers. After the killing of police officers, the police were left with no other choice than fighting them with stronger firepower. They were attacked by five policemen and were slain as the bullets went through their bodies. Al Capone. The first mobster to be featured on the cover of Times Magazine was a Chicago gangster, Al Capone. Nicknamed Scar Face for his scars on his left cheek, he was known for his brilliant mind that distinguished him as a force to be reckoned with in the criminal underworld.

Gangsters, Mobsters & Outlaws of the 20th Century - Page 2 C Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone (1899-1947) - American gangster who led a crime syndicate dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging of liquor and other illegal activities during the Prohibition era. See Full Article HERE. Robert Carey (1894-1932) - A Midwestern armed robber and contract killer responsible for many crimes during the Prohibition era. He was considered as a suspect in the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929. Tommy Carroll (1901-1934) -A member of the Dillinger Gang , Carroll was killed at Waterloo, Iowa on June 7, 1934 by police officers. Gerald Chapman (1888-1926) - Known as the "Count of Gramercy Park." he was once considered one of America's top ten criminals. He was convicted of murdering police officer James Skelly and sentenced to hang on April 6, 1926.

John Paul Chase (1901-1973) - After a crime spree of two years with partner, George "Baby-Face" Nelson, a shootout occurred with FBI agents, in which Nelson and two agents were killed. Chase was captured and sent to Alcatraz , where he served from 1935 to 1954. He was then transferred to Leavenworth, where he was imprisoned until 1966. He died of cancer on October 5, 1973. Vivian Chase (1902-1935) - A Midwestern gangster of the 1920s and 1930s, she was the associate of several robbers, including her husband, George Chase, and Charlie Mayes. She is best known for her role in the kidnapping of banker August Luer. She was found shot to death on November 3, 1935 in a parked car outside St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri . The Chicago Outfit (1910-Present) - A crime syndicate based in Chicago , Illinois, this mafia gang dates back to the early 1900s.

It is distinct from the New York City crime families, though all Italian-American crime families are ruled by The Commission. James "Oklahoma Jack" Clark - A bank robber who stole more than $15,000 from a bank in Clinton, Indiana, he was captured and sent to prison where he met John Dillinger , Harry Pierpont, and others. He escaped using pistols smuggled in by a visitor, but was recaptured shortly thereafter and died in prison. Jim Clark (1890-1929) - See Albert Kachellek Russell "Boobie" Clark (??-1968) - One of the original Dillinger Gang members after escaping from the Indiana State Prison, Clark was captured in Tucson with other several other gang members sentenced to life in prison for murder. After spending 34 years in prison, he was released after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died four months later. Theodore "Ted" Cole - Convicted of kidnapping in Oklahoma , Cole was sent to Alcatraz. Along with a man named Ralph Roe, the pair escaped on December 16, 1937 and were never seen again.

James "Big Jim" Colosimo, aka: Diamond Jim (1878ï¿½1920) - An early Chicago mob boss who built an empire based on prostitution, gambling, and racketeering. It was suspected that his own gang member and nephew, Johnny Torrio , had him killed because Colismo resisted getting into the lucrative alcohol distribution business during prohibition. The Commission (1931-Present) - The governing body of the Italian-American Mafia crime families in the United States. The bosses of the New York Five Families provide the core membership. Cookson Hills Gang (1932-1934) - Led by Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd, the gang blazed a path of robbery and murder through Oklahoma , Kansas , Nebraska and Arkansas for 18 months Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd (1904 - 1934) - Find A Grave Memorial Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd Columbiana County Ohio, USA Bank Robber. He was nicknamed "Pretty Boy Floyd" by the press, a name that he personally hated.

The name came from his first major robbery, when the robbed paymaster described him as a "pretty boy with apple cheeks" to an interviewing reporter, and the nickname stuck. Born Charles Arthur Floyd in Adairsville, Georgia, he was the fourth child of eight to Walter Lee and Minnie Echols Floyd, a hard working tenant farm couple with deep Southern roots. From an early age, young Charles learned the work ethic of farming; children were expected to join in the hard farm labor almost as soon as they could walk. Raised in the Baptist faith of hard work, Charles did his part in supporting his family. Hearing that good money could be made in the cotton fields of Oklahoma, in 1911, Walter moved his family to the Cookson Hills of Oklahoma, where they settled in the town of Hanson. There, Charles learned to make corn liquor during the Prohibition years of the 1920s, to supplement the family income. Like most of his siblings, Charles completed sixth grade and then dropped out of formal schooling to learn a real trade in farming.

It was during his work as a teenaged laborer in the cotton harvest fields of Kansas and Oklahoma that he learned about stealing from lawless robbers who worked part-time as harvest laborers; to young Floyd they represented real life and an easier means of earning a living. In 1921, at the age of 17, Floyd married 16-year-old Ruby Lee "Bobbie" Hardgraves, and they soon had a son, Jack Dempsey Floyd, named for the famous boxer. They would divorce four years later when Floyd was jailed for robbery. Pressed to meet ends for his family, he robbed a US Post Office of $350 in coins, although he was acquitted when a witness failed to appear at his trial. In 1923, at a harvest, he met 19 year old John Hilderbrand, who boasted of robbing a $1900 payroll. From Hilderbrand, Charles learned how to rob stores, service stations, and a Kroger grocery store of $11,500 in payroll cash in St. Louis, Missouri. Quickly caught by police just days later, he was sentenced to five years in prison.

Upon his parole in March 1929, he vowed that he would never return to prison again. A fellow paroled con named Alfred "Red" Lovett taught him the art of bank robbing, and introduced him to numerous criminals. Over the next three years, Floyd would reinvent himself into a self-styled robber of the rich, helping the poor by buying groceries for old people, and purchasing Christmas gifts for the poor, all from the proceeds of his thefts. Newspapers soon reported that he was generous to children and old people, and were helping to feed more than a dozen poor families. During this time, he robbed over a dozen banks, but nearly every bank robbery near Oklahoma and neighboring states was attributed to him. Floyd died in October 1934, when FBI agents and local police shot him near East Liverpool, Ohio. Local police and FBI agents were searching for Floyd near south Clarkson, Ohio, when they spotted a car behind a farm corncrib. Floyd emerged from the car, pistol in hand, and the FBI agents opened fire. Hit at least twice, Floyd died about fifteen minutes later.

His final moments are in dispute, with one story that the FBI intentionally murdered him while he lay wounded and helpless on the ground, and another story saying that the wounded Floyd pulled out a concealed pistol and was killed before he could shoot at the police. Since his death, Floyd has often been depicted in books and movies as a latter-day Robin Hood, forced by the 1930s social conditions during the Great Depression to hit back at the wealthy, stealing for his family and for other poor families. (bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson) Gangsters, Mobsters & Outlaws of the 20th Century << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next >> If the Old West Outlaws get a lot of historic attention, a close second are the gangsters of the 1920ï¿½s Prohibition era and the 1930's Depression period. Feared and revered, these American gangsters often controlled liquor sales, gambling, and prostitution, while making popular, silk suits, diamond rings, guns, booze and broads. These many men, though often murderers and outright robbers, were sometimes also involved in the political, social, and economic conditions of the times.

Infamous names of the era included people such as Al Capone , Vito Genovese, Dutch Schultz, Jack "Legs" Diamond, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, John Dillinger , and Bugsy Siegel . The Depression created yet another type of outlaw, fed by both need and greed. Though not as "revered" as the 1920's gangsters, Depression era outlaws with names like Bonnie and Clyde, "Baby Face" Nelson, Ma Barker, and "Pretty Boy" Floyd, also became legends, as their deeds included some of the wildest and deadliest stories ever to hit newspaper front pages. Much like the days of the Old West following the Civil War , these were difficult times for the vast majority of Americans and like the gunmen before them, the outlaws of the 1920s and '30s gained fame among those who dreamed of individuality and fast money. The "romanceï¿½ of the lifestyle and resistance to the socially imposed rules of the times led numerous men and a few women into a criminal life that included bank robberies, illegal sales of alcohol, gambling, prostitution, and black market drugs.

Five Notorious Gangsters of the Great Depression - 1723 Articles - A Barrel Full of Trivia A Barrel Full of Trivia Weird Five Notorious Gangsters of the Great Depression The time was the 1930s – the Great Depression was in full swing – and bank robbers turned to the streets of the heartland of America. While prominent mobsters, like Al Capone and Lucky Lusciano, were running the crime families of the large cities, others were attacking the Midwest, killing “G-Men” and becoming a target of J. Edgar Hoover, who named some of these people by the moniker of “Public Enemy Number One”. Here are five of the most notorious gangsters to victimize the U.S. BONNIE AND CLYDE Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were two of the most dangerous outlaws of the Great Depression. They roamed the central United States between 1931-1934 on a vast crime spree. The gang was mainly known for the many banks they robbed, but preferred to rob gas stations and smaller stores. During their crime spree, they are responsible for the deaths of nine police officers and several civilian murders.

There is some controversy over whether Bonnie Parker ever fired a gun. One of the gang members later commented that he never saw her fire at anyone, but she was a “hell of a loader”. Clyde Barrow was a life-long criminal who was first arrested for failing to return a rental car. In prison for stolen goods, he was sexually assaulted repeatedly by another inmate. Later in life, Barrow was known to have commented that his crime spree wasn’t to gain fame or fortune, but rather to pay back the Texas penal system for the abuse he suffered. A posse, led by famous Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, was set up to stop the gang who had gone through Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas. As they were driving down a road in Louisiana, they were ambushed by Hamer and five others wielding Browning Automatic machine guns – the favorite weapon of Clyde Barrow. It is said that Parker (age 23) and Barrow (age 25) were hit by 50 bullets. It is possible that no warning was given to the couple, but rather the posse just opened up fire on them. It was the wish that the two be buried together, but the Parker family refused.

They are both buried in Dallas, Texas, though separately. BABY FACE NELSON Born Lester Gillis, Nelson was a bank robber and murderer who often teamed up with John Dillinger (see below). He is known to have killed at least three people. Nelson started his life of crime at the age of 13, by stealing a car and joy riding. He tried to be a member of the Al Capone gang, but his behavior was even too violent for Chicago kingpin. His crime spree was rather minor until he joined up with Dillinger in 1934. Nelson was known as a fellow who shot first and then worried about running. Unlike Dillinger, he had no problem with peppering an area with his Thompson machine gun. He became a Public Enemy only two weeks after joining the Dillinger gang when he killed a civilian and an FBI agent. He was killed by Federal Agents at the “Battle of Barrington” near Chicago. The ensuing fight was witnessed by more than thirty people and in the end, Nelson had been shot nine times and died later in a local safe house. His body was later found in a ditch, wrapped in a blanket.

Nelson has the dubious honor of killing more FBI agents than any man in history. MACHINE GUN KELLY Born George Kelly Barnes, “Machine Gun” was a bootlegger, armed robber, and kidnapper. Despite his name, he was not a killer. Unlike most gangsters of the time, Machine Gun Kelly was born to a wealthy family and was well educated, going to Mississippi State University where he was expelled for demerits and poor grades. While most of his criminal career was involved with petty bootlegging, the most notorious crime was the kidnapping of Charles Urschell by Kelly and his wife, Kathryn Thorne. She had purchased his first machine gun and did everything to associate his name with the weapon. When he was arrested in 1933, he supposedly shouted “Don’t shoot, G-Men” which eventually became the nickname of Federal agents. However, this appears to be only a rumor and his wife was later attributed to the nickname. He spent the remaining years of his life in Alcatraz prison where he was renamed “Pop Gun Kelly” for being a model prisoner. He is the only gangster who was not killed by peace officers.

PRETTY BOY FLOYD Charles Arthur Floyd was a bank robber and killer. At the age of 18, he robbed a post office of $3.50 in pennies. Three years later, he had moved onto large payroll robberies and murder. He hated the nickname of “Pretty Boy” that had been given to him by a witness to one of his crimes. He had made a name for himself in the Kansas City and central Ohio areas. It was here that he killed FBI and ATF agents. It is unknown how many people Floyd eventually killed, but he was implicated in an ambush and massacre in Kansas City. Now fleeing the FBI, Floyd made his way back into Ohio. As bad luck would have it, Floyd’s vehicle was involved in a minor accident near East Liverpool, Ohio. Thinking that a man, dressed in a suit just sitting by the road, looked suspicious, local police were called. A gunfight ensued and Floyd was killed by two bullets. JOHN DILLINGER Possibly the best known of the 1930 gangsters, Dillinger was a notorious bank robber, though not really a killer, who stole throughout the Midwest.

While he didn’t necessarily kill, his gang was responsible for the deaths of several officers and he made daring escapes that enamored him with the press. He was considered a modern-day Robin Hood by the Depression-era people of the day who often helped him. The press loved him and the FBI considered him Public Enemy Number One. It is estimated that he stole more than $300,000 in his lifetime. After getting his dubious honor of being named Public Enemy, Dillinger spent more than a year on the run. Dillinger was finally caught while exiting the Biograph Theater in Chicago after, ironically, viewing a gangster film called, Manhattan Melodrama, starring Clark Gable. As he exited the theater, the FBI opened fire on him as he ran away. He was struck by three bullets in the back. His death, and the betrayal by his girlfriend, Polly Hamilton (the “lady in red”) went down as part of American folklore. Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd | Carnegie Public Library Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd Robin Hood of the Cookson Hills You can see the whole story of Pretty Boy Floyd by visiting our pages about his life and death.

Here you will find some of the myths and legends that abound about this 1930's gangster from Oklahoma who became "public enemy # 1" and met his demise here in the East Liverpool, Ohio area. Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd was born out of the trials of being a poor farmer in the times of the Great Depression. He was raised in a small farming community of Akins, Oklahoma, close to the Cookson Hills which later would become his refuge from the arm of the law. The people throughout the area were losing their farms to the banks. The banks wanted the land for the expansion of farming and its profits. Small farms were unprofitable. The people had done everything that they could to keep their homes even holding off the bank's tractors with shot guns, daring then to take what was rightfully theirs. Into this story comes Charles Floyd, poor, out of work, with a young family. He would take odd jobs but that did not help. Many of the younger generation would not go hungry. They became armed bandits. Floyd was one of such people.

He would rob the banks that were robbing them and whilst he was in the banks taking their money he would destroy or steal the mortgages to the local farms. With no record of a mortgage how could the banks take the land? He would also use his ill gotten money by buying food and distributing it to the members of the community. In return they protected him, became his communication system, fed him and welcomed him to their homes when he "dropped by". Of all the bandits who hung-out in the Cookson Hills, some of whom were Ford Bradshaw, Troy Love, Aussie Elliott and Ed Newt Clanton, Charles "Pretty-Boy" Floyd's name is the best known. He was never called "Pretty-Boy" by any who knew him well, most called him "Chock". In 1931 and 1932 he robbed so many banks in Oklahoma that the bank insurance rates doubled. He even robbed two banks in one day at Paden and Castle, Oklahoma on December 12, 1931. He used a submachine gun and a bullet proof vest. Most of the time he worked alone but occasionally had one companion or fellow thief.

He rarely concealed his identity and often introduced himself to his victims. Often it was said that when he left the scene of a robbery he would make the bank officials ride on the running boards of his car so that he was protected. During his crimes however he did manage to get 10 notches on his lucky piece which always carried with him. He was so well thought of by the community that he could walk around in public unmolested and even went to church in Earlsboro. The newspapers called him the "Robin Hood of the Cookson Hills". He was pleased with this nickname and once stated that, " I have robbed no-one but moneyed men" "Pretty-Boy" Charles Floyd always hated the nickname "Pretty-Boy". The Kansas City Massacre: Was Floyd there or not? "Dear Sirs, I----Charles Floyd---- want it made known that I did not participate in the massacre of officers at Kansas City. Charles Floyd" Captain Higgins received this message on a plain business postcard in the mail. It was post marked, Springfield, Missouri. The debate still rages about whether or not Floyd took part in what was the event that would make him "Public Enemy # 1".

In his book "The Bad Ones" (1968) Lew Louderback writes about this major event that would change Floyd's reputation. Floyd was wanted for a possible murder in Oklahoma (it is thought that he killed John Mills, the man who was tried and then acquitted of the murder of Floyd's father.) so he set out for "Tom's Town" (Kansas City) where he quickly disappeared into the criminal underworld. He moved around the country his reputation growing as a violent criminal even though it is thought that some of the events that are attributed to him were not of his doing. In 1933 Frank Nash, a veteran bank robber, had been arrested in Hot Springs, Arkansas by FBI agents and was being transported via train through Kansas City back to Leavenworth, from where he had escaped three years earlier. Word was fast spreading through the "underworld" of what was happening. Verne Miller decided that he would try to facilitate his escape before Nash reached his destination. Floyd and Adam "Eddie" Richetti were also traveling toward Kansas City with two hostages in the back of their car, Sherriff Killingsworth and Walter Griffith. Upon arriving in the city they stopped and Floyd confered with some people.

Upon returning to the car he told Richetti to get their guns and change cars. He told the hostages to drive to Lee's Summit, eat dinner and then head home. The next day, June 7, the train, the Missouri Pacific Flyer, was to arrive at Union Station at 7:15 am. Later a Lottie West was to describe the events that would take place. She arrived for work and found a man sitting at her chair in her booth at the station. She described him as "round-faced, rather fleshy, weighing about two hundred pounds." He yielded the chair to her and was later seen loitering at the entrance as if he was waiting for someone. Outside a car carrying Special Agents Raymond Caffrey and R.E. Vetterli arrived. They would be taking Frank Nash to Leavenworth. There was also an armored police car with two city detectives, W.J. "Red" Grooms and Frank Hermanson. Around 7:20 am the police and Nash were spotted coming up the stairs from the platform wearing a white shirt and his hands cuffed in front of him.

She said, "That must be Pretty-Boy Floyd." The man who had been waiting around darted across the station ahead of the group of police. Outside the station they headed for the green Chevrolet driven by the FBI agents. Three men came by on the running boards of a car, each with a Thompson submachine gun. They opened fire on the men. If this had been an attempt to rescue Nash it was a dismal failure as he was killed along with many of the police involved. Some have wondered whether it was not an attempt at rescue but more likely retribution in pay-back for events that had transpired throughout Nash's colorful criminal career. Agent Lackey was seriously injured, Vetterli was shot in the arm, Caffrey, Grooms, Hermanson, Chief Reed and Nash were dead and Agent Frank Smith escaped unharmed. It was called the "Kansas City Massacre" and the unidentified gunmen the "MadDog Killers of KC." Into the investigation Sheriff Thomas B. Bash of Jackson County interjected his theory that Floyd and Richetti were involved because they had arrived in Kansas City the night before and their hostages had seen them talking with two other men and they had driven off with them.

Kansas City Captain of Detectives, Thomas J. Higgins, scoffed at the idea. He had been tracking Floyd for 4 years and felt that he knew him fairly well and that this was definitely not Floyd's style. Bash would not be deterred and during his investigation he interviewed Lottie West and showed her photograph's. She identified Floyd as the man who was sitting in her chair and whom she had seen across the street operating a machine gun. By morning every newspaper in the country was running a headline that Floyd was part of the Massacre. However much he protested Floyd was never able to shake the suspicions and accusations of his part in the event. Many historians now believe that he was not involved although he may have been in Kansas City at the time. Blackie Audett even named the killers as Verne Miller, Maurice Denning and Solly Weisman. He stated." I knowed better, (that it wasn't Floyd and Richetti) because I seen with my own eyes who was in that car.

Both of them that was in it got clean away." At another time he said, "Me and Mary McElroy watched the whole thing from less than fifty yards away." Being the right-hand man of Johnny Lazia, the man he says recruited the men for the job, he had advanced notice and was on hand to watch. Blackie also states that the mob hunted down and killed the men involved because they "botched" the job. Floyd and Richetti were left alone and able to live peacefully amongst them for at least a year after the event. Solly Weisman was built like Floyd and could have been confused with him. Floyd and Richetti parted ways for a while but were later spotted in Wellsville, Ohio. Richetti was shot but not killed and Floyd was killed a few days later in the area of the Beaver Creek near Sprucevale. (But that's another story). Early Life: Charles Arthur Floyd, soon to be called "Chock" Floyd, was born on February 3, 1904 in Georgia, one of seven children, but moved to a small farming community in Oklahoma, which he was to call home. His parents had a small farm, they were dirt-poor.

His father spent most of his time trying to stay one step ahead of foreclosure. Droughts, plagues and dust storms brought farm production down to a crawl. In an attempt to help keep themselves fed, the family became involved in the bootlegging business. In 1921 he married 16 year old Ruby Hargrove, they eventually had a son, Jack Dempsey Floyd. Money was scarce. Looking for a better life he left his home and traveled north looking for harvest work. Many nights were spent in hobo camps. Charles was ready to work but there just wasn't any available. Eventually he gave up looking and brought his first gun. It wasn't long after that, at the age of 18, he pulled his first crime. He held up a post office for $350 in pennies. This was "easy money". He was arrested on suspicion of the crime but his father gave him an alibi. He took the train to St. Louis where he robbed a Kroger store of approximately $16,000. The money kept them for a few weeks but after spending it on expensive clothes and big meals they were broke again.

He was arrested because local police found it suspicious that he had new clothes and a new Ford. When they searched his house they found some of the money still in it's wrapper. He was sentenced to 5 years in the Jefferson City Penitentiary. During his incarceration his wife gave birth to their son, Jackie, and divorced him. He was released after 3 years and vowed never to be locked up again. Later life and criminal history: On a visit to his parents farm he discovered that his father had been shot to death in a family feud with J. Mills. The accused was acquitted of the crime. Charles took his father's rifle went into the hills and J. Mills was never seen again. In the mid 1920's Floyd lived and operated in the East Liverpool, Ohio area as a hired gun for the bootleggers and rum-runners along the Midland, PA and Steubenville, OH stretch of the Ohio River. He became most notorious after he left the East Liverpool area. He headed west and found refuge in "Tom's Town" ( now Kansas City ), a town run by Tom Pendegast. Hired guns, murderer's and successful gangsters hung out here.

It was here that he learned to use a machine gun and acquired the nickname "Pretty Boy". It was a name given him by a madam, Beulah Baird Ash, in a brothel and he hated it. However, it stuck and made him into a colorful criminal. Floyd is reputed to have maintained relationships with both Ruby and Beulah throughout the rest of his life even posing as their husbands under assumed names. During the next 12 years he robbed as many as 30 banks, killing 10 men. During his crime sprees in Oklahoma the bank insurance rates doubled. He filed a notch in his pocket-watch for everyone he killed. His first bank robbery is reported to have been the Farmers and Merchants bank in Sylvania, Ohio. Floyd was arrested at his Akron, Ohio hideout for this crime. He was tried and convicted but escaped by jumping out of the train window near Kenton, Ohio while on his way to the Ohio Penitentiary. The first person he killed was a police officer, Ralph Castner, who stopped him from robbing a Bowling Green, Ohio bank on April 16, 1931.

At this time Floyd was accompanied by William (Willis) Miller, known as "Billy the Killer", Beulah and her sister Rose. A clerk in a store recognized them when they were purchasing dresses for the women. The clerk alerted the police who arrived as the group were walking down the street. As they ordered the group to stop, Floyd and Miller opened fire. Castner was killed, Chief Carl Galliher dropped to the ground, killing Miller and injuring Beulah, 21. Rose Baird, 23 was captured but Floyd escaped in a car. On June 17, 1933 Floyd and an associate, Adam Richetti were reported as the culprits behind the " Union Station Massacre " in Kansas City where 5 men including FBI agent, Raymond Caffrey were gunned down in an attempt to free Frank "Gentleman" Nash a notorious underworld figure. Floyd maintained to his death that he was never involved in this crime. During the next 17 months Floyd and Richetti were hunted by every law enforcement officer in the country.

After the capture and death of John Dillinger, Floyd was named as Public Enemy No.1 with a $23,000 dollar dead or alive reward on his head. Floyd's reign of terror brought him back to the East Liverpool area. Folk Stories and Quotes about his life: Jack Floyd, although he saw his father infrequently, said in an article for the San Francisco Examiner June 20, 1982, "He was a fun guy to be around. He was like a regular father. He always had some puppies or other presents for me. What I knew about him didn't keep me from loving him." He was a folk hero to the people of Oklahoma who perceived him as a "Sagebrush Robin Hood" or the "Robin Hood of the Cookson Hills", stealing from the rich banks to help the poor eat by buying them groceries and tearing up their mortgages during the robberies. He has been written into legend through song, in Woody Guthrie's "Pretty Boy" Floyd. He was never part of a gang. He worked with a few trusted accomplices. Boldly entering banks in broad daylight and never wearing a mask.

He was a gentleman even in his crimes, always well groomed, immaculately dressed and courteous to his victims. Final Days: On October 19, 1934 he was spotted after three men dressed as hunters and carrying shotguns robbed the Tiltonsville Peoples Bank. Both Adam Richetti and "Pretty Boy" Floyd were positively identified as two of the men involved. Police and FBI were put on alert throughout Ohio for the suspects. The following day a shoot-out between two criminals and the Wellsville, Ohio Police ended in the capture of Richetti. Floyd escaped, kidnapping a Wellsville florist and stealing his car. On October 22, 1934 things would finally come to a fatal end for "Pretty Boy" Floyd. The local police were called out, including Chief McDermott and patrolman Chester Smith. Firearms were issued, but Smith refused a weapon, instead, he kept his 32-20 Winchester Rifle. He told everyone that if they found Floyd he would be running. They checked all the back-roads in the area that Floyd had been reported. Finally they came to the Conkle farm on Sprucevale Rd.

Floyd had knocked on the Conkle farm door posing as a lost hunter and had asked for a ride to the bus line. Ellen Conkle took pity on him and welcomed him into her home, feeding him a meal for which he paid $1. After eating, Mrs. Conkle volunteered her brother, Stewart Dyke, to drive Floyd to the bus station. The Dyke's and Floyd were getting into the car when two police cars were spotted speeding along the narrow dirt road. Floyd jumped from the car to hide behind a corn crib. As the police approached the farm they spotted a man behind the corn crib. Chester Smith recognized the face. Floyd started to flee. After being told to halt and not doing so Smith fired a shot from his rifle hitting Floyd in the arm. Floyd dropped his gun, grabbed his right forearm where he had been hit, but still jumped up and continued to run, darting for cover in the wooded area nearby. After another call to halt which also went unheeded Floyd was shot again, in his back right shoulder. The federal agents and local police all started firing at this time. Floyd fell to the ground, his gun by his side.

Smith checked the body, he was not yet dead, and noticed that Floyd had another weapon in his belt. He had two Colt .45 automatics but never fire a single shot. Patrolmen Smith, Roth and Montgomery carried Floyd to the shade of an apple tree. "He was alive when we carried him to the apple tree. But he died then within minutes." Smith said. A call was placed to J. Edgar Hoover. Smith recalls, "Floyd was dead before Purvis returned (about 4:25 p.m.). We put Floyd's body in the back seat of the local police car, propping him up between me and Curly. That's how we hauled him to East Liverpool and turned him over to the Sturgis Funeral Home." Floyd had $120 in his pockets. There is much speculation about the actual events of the fateful day. One report states that Agent Purvis of the FBI ordered Floyd shot whilst he was sitting under the apple tree because he refused to answer when asked if he was involved in the Kansas City Massacre.

Smith's daughter said that Smith took the days events in a matter-of-fact way, coming home late for supper and just stating that he didn't have time to eat because he had just shot "Pretty Boy" Floyd. He washed up, changed and went back to work. At the Funeral Home: Although Floyd's mother did not want her son's body viewed by the public, by the time Chief McDermott had received her wire there were thousands of people wanting to view the notorious criminal. He would be later shipped back to Oklahoma but in the mean time over 10,000 people passed by the body from 8:30 p.m. and 11:15 p.m., about 50 per minute. The mob had stormed the Funeral home and in the space of three hours, the porch railing had been torn off, shrubbery trampled and the lawn completely ruined. Final resting place: At 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday October 23, 1934 Charles Arthur " Pretty Boy " Floyd's body left East Liverpool in a baggage car.

One year before at the Akins Cemetery in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, Floyd had told his mother, "Right here is where you can put me. I expect to go down soon with lead in me. Maybe the sooner the better. Bury me deep. " 20,000 people attended his funeral. His head stone has been desecrated by souvenir hunters and was stolen in 1985. A new headstone now marks his grave. Marker Erected: A marker along Sprucevale Road between East Liverpool and Rogers, Ohio has been erected in the location of the Conkle farm to mark for all time the place where America's Public Enemy No.1 was shot. This marker, erected in 1993 by the East Liverpool Historical Society and the Ohio Historical Society was stolen in August, 1995 and recovered about two weeks later in a wooded lot on Bank Street, East Liverpool. It was later re-erected on the same site. Resources: Most of the material for this page are from existing old papers and microfilm on record at the Carnegie Public Library of East Liverpool and from Records and Photographs in the possession of the Dawson Funeral Home.

Michael Wallis has also written a very good in depth book called "Pretty Boy" if you would like more reading.

Question: What was the nickname of the American gangster and bank robber Charles Floyd?
Answer: Pretty Boy