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 1000+ images about Pretty Boy Floyd on Pinterest | Wallis, Pretty boy floyd and Days in Pinterest • The world’s catalog of ideas Pretty Boy Floyd This board is about Pretty Boy Floyd who was a bank robber. I always heard he stole from the rich and gave to the poor. He was from my home town of Sallisaw, OK, and was buried in the cemetery my family is buried in, and that I will be buried in some day. He also died on October 22 which is the day of my birth. 16 Pins89 Followers Pretty Boy Floyd (Bank Robber) - Pics, Videos, Dating, & News Pretty Boy Floyd Male Born Feb 3, 1904 Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd was an American bank robber.

He operated in the Midwest and West South Central States, and his criminal exploits gained heavy press coverage in the 1930s. Like most other prominent outlaws of that era, he was killed by policemen. He remains a familiar figure in American popular culture, sometimes seen as notorious, but at other times viewed as a tragic figure, partly a victim of hard times.… Read More related links Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Pretty Boy Floyd. CHILDHOOD 1904 Birth Charles Arthur Floyd was born in Bartow County, Georgia in 1904. 1911 7 Years Old His family moved to Oklahoma in 1911, and he grew up there. … Read More As a youth, he spent considerable time in nearby Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri.<br /><br /> Floyd was first arrested at age 18 after he stole $3.50 in coins from a local post office. Read Less TWENTIES 1925 21 Years Old Three years later he was arrested for a payroll robbery on September 16, 1925 in St. Louis, Missouri and was sentenced to five years in prison.

… Read More He served three and a half years before gaining parole.<br /><br /> When paroled, Floyd vowed that he would never see the inside of another prison. Entering into partnerships with more established criminals in the Kansas City underworld, he committed a series of bank robberies over the next several years; it was during this period that he acquired the nickname "Pretty Boy." According to one account, when the payroll master targeted in a robbery described the three perpetrators to the police, he referred to Floyd as "a mere boy â a pretty boy with apple cheeks." Like his contemporary Baby Face Nelson, Floyd despised his nickname. Read Less 1929 25 Years Old In 1929, Floyd was wanted in numerous cases. … Read More On March 9, he was arrested in Kansas City on investigation, and again on May 6 for vagrancy and suspicion of highway robbery, but he was released the next day. Two days later, he was arrested in Pueblo, Colorado, and charged with vagrancy. He was fined $50.00 and sentenced to 60 days in jail.

Read Less Show Less Floyd, under the alias "Frank Mitchell," was arrested in Akron, Ohio, on March 8, 1930, charged in the investigation of the murder of an Akron police officer who had been killed during a robbery that evening. The law next caught up with Floyd in Toledo, Ohio, where he was arrested on suspicion on May 20, 1930. He was convicted of the Sylvania Ohio Bank Robbery and sentenced on November 24, 1930, to 12â15 years in Ohio State penitentiary, but he escaped. … Read More Floyd was a suspect in the deaths of Kansas City brothers Wally and Boll Ash, who were rum-runners. They were found dead in a burning car on March 25, 1931. A month later on April 23, members of his gang killed Patrolman R. H. Castner of Bowling Green, Ohio. On July 22, Floyd killed federal agent Curtis C. Burke in Kansas City, Missouri.

Read Less 1932 28 Years Old In 1932, former sheriff Erv Kelley of McIntosh County, Oklahoma, was killed while trying to arrest Floyd on April 7. … Read More In November of that year, three members of Floyd's gang attempted to rob the Farmers and Merchants Bank in Boley, Oklahoma. Despite his life of crime, Floyd was viewed positively by the general public. When he robbed banks he allegedly destroyed mortgage documents, but this has never been confirmed and may be myth. He was often protected by locals of Oklahoma, who referred to him as "Robin Hood of the Cookson Hills". Read Less Show Less Floyd and Adam Richetti became the primary suspects in a June 17, 1933, gunfight known as the "Kansas City massacre" that resulted in the deaths of four law enforcement officers. … Read More Though J. Edgar Hoover used the incident as ammunition to further empower the FBI to pursue Floyd, historians are divided as to whether or not he was involved. Another more likely suspect was gang member Sol Weismann, who resembled Floyd.

Floyd adamantly denied his involvement in this fiasco (apparently a botched attempt to free bank robber Frank Nash, who was in police custody).<br /><br /> The gunfight was an attack by Vernon Miller and accomplices on lawmen escorting robber Frank "Jelly" Nash to a car parked at the Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri. Two Kansas City, Missouri, officers, Detective William Grooms and Patrolman Grant Schroder; McAlester, Oklahoma Police Chief Otto Reed; and FBI Special Agent Ray Caffrey were killed. Nash was also killed as he was sitting in the car, shot in the head by his would-be rescuers. Two other Kansas City police officers survived by slumping forward in the backseat and feigning death. As the gunmen inspected the car, another officer responded from the station and fired at them, forcing them to flee. Miller was found dead on November 27, 1933 outside Detroit, Michigan, beaten and strangled.

Read Less Shortly after the attack, Kansas City police received a postcard dated June 30, 1933, from Springfield, Missouri, which read: "Dear Sirs- I- Charles Floyd- want it made known that I did not participate in the massacre of officers at Kansas City. … Read More Charles Floyd". The police department believed the note to be genuine. Floyd also reportedly denied involvement in the massacre to the FBI agents who had fatally wounded him. In addition, a recent book on the massacre attributes at least some of the killing to friendly fire by a lawman who was unfamiliar with his weapon, based on ballistic tests. Read Less THIRTIES Show Less On October 22, 1934, Floyd was shot in a corn field behind a house on Sprucevale Road between Beaver Creek State Park in East Liverpool, Ohio, while being pursued by local law officers and FBI agents led by Melvin Purvis. … Read More Accounts differ on who shot him and the manner in which he was killed. Read Less Having narrowly escaped ambush by FBI agents and other law enforcement agencies several times after the Kansas City Massacre, Floyd had a stroke of bad luck.

On October 18, 1934, he and Richetti left Buffalo, New York, and slid their vehicle into a telephone pole during a heavy fog. … Read More No one was injured, but the car was disabled. Fearing they would be recognized, Floyd and Richetti sent two female companions to retrieve a tow truck; they planned to have the women accompany the tow truck driver into a town and have the vehicle repaired, while the two men waited by the roadside.<br /><br /> After dawn on October 19, motorist Joe Fryman and his son-in-law passed by, observing two men dressed in suits lying by the roadside. Feeling it was suspicious, he informed Wellsville, Ohio, Police Chief John H. Fultz. Three officers, including Fultz, investigated. When Richetti saw the lawmen, he fled into the woods, pursued by two officers, while Fultz went toward Floyd. Floyd immediately drew his gun and fired, and he and Fultz engaged one another in a gunfight, during which Fultz was wounded in the foot. After wounding Fultz, Floyd fled into the forest. The other two officers enlisted the help of local retired police officer Chester K.

Smith, a former sniper during World War I, and subsequently captured Richetti. Floyd remained on the run, living on fruit, traveling on foot, and quickly becoming exhausted. Read Less At least three accounts exist of the following events: one given by the FBI, one by other people in the area, and one by local law enforcement. The accounts agree that, after obtaining some food at a local pool hall owned by a friend Charles Joy, Floyd hitched a ride in an East Liverpool neighborhood on October 22, 1934. … Read More He was spotted by the team of lawmen, at which point he broke from the vehicle and fled toward the treeline. Local retired officer Chester Smith fired first, hitting Floyd in the right arm, knocking him to the ground. At this point, the three accounts diverge; the FBI agents later attempted to claim all the credit, denying local law enforcement were even present at the shooting. According to the local police account, Floyd regained his footing and continued to run, at which point the entire team opened fire, knocking him to the ground.

Floyd died shortly thereafter from his wounds.<br /><br /> According to the FBI, four FBI agents, led by Purvis, and four members of the East Liverpool Police Department, led by Chief Hugh McDermott, were searching the area south of Clarkson, Ohio, in two separate cars. They spotted a car move from behind a corn crib, and then move back. Floyd then emerged from the car and drew a .45 caliber pistol, and the FBI agents opened fire. Floyd reportedly said: "I'm done for. You've hit me twice." Read Less On July 23, 1934, following the death of John Dillinger, "Pretty Boy" Floyd was named Public Enemy No. 1. Original Authors of this text are noted on . Floyd, Charles Arthur | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture KeywordsOklahoma outlaw Charles Arthur Floyd Choc Pretty Boy John Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath Great Depression bank robber J. Edgar Hoover Cookson Hills Erv Kelley Melvin Purvis FLOYD, CHARLES ARTHUR (1904â1934).

Known as "Choc" Floyd or "Pretty Boy," Oklahoma's most notorious and glorified folk bandit, Charles Arthur Floyd also became one of the nation's most celebrated criminals. He was immortalized in song by Woody Guthrie and by the fictional Joad family in John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath. This Robin Hood figure, beloved of America's dispossessed and downtrodden of the Great Depression, was also a wanton bank robber and a man known to J. Edgar Hoover and the law enforcement establishment as "Public Enemy Number One." Born on February 3, 1904, near Adairsville in Bartow County, Georgia, Floyd was the second son and fourth of six surviving children of Walter Lee Floyd and Mamie Helena Echols Floyd. Descended from Georgia hill farmers, the Floyds traced their lineage through three centuries of Welsh settlers. Fleeing the hills of northwestern Georgia in 1911 in search of opportunities farther west, the Floyds, with young Charley in tow, joined family and friends in Sequoyah County, in eastern Oklahoma near the Arkansas border. The spirited and popular Charley proved to be a bright boy with mischief on his mind.

Raised on small tenant farms near Sallisaw and Akins, the youngster worked long, arduous hours with his family in fields of cotton and corn. He grew weary of the drudgery of farm life and found solace in the many tales of heroic figures and outlaws spawned in the region, especially Missouri bandit Jesse James. Charley also learned the art of making corn liquor, or moonshine. By his early teens, he had earned the nickname "Choc," after his fondness for Choctaw beer, a popular home brew made of barley, hops, tobacco, fishberries, and a small amount of alcohol. At age sixteen, after a few minor scrapes with the law, Choc Floyd took to the road as a hired hand on the wheat-harvest circuit throughout Oklahoma and Kansas. Soon tiring of the hard work, he became involved in bootlegging operations and other illegal activities. In Wichita Floyd found a criminal mentor in John Callahan, a shadowy figure who operated one of the largest fencing operations in the Midwest. Floyd returned to his family and friends in Oklahoma, and in 1924 he married Ruby Hardgraves, the daughter of a tenant farmer.

Later that year, Ruby gave birth to a son, Jack Dempsey Floyd, named after the world-champion boxer. Devoted to his wife and son but still restless with life as a dirt farmer, Floyd traded five gallons of corn whiskey for a pearl-handled pistol. In 1925 he and a friend jumped a freight train headed east and left behind the Cookson Hills of Oklahoma. In St. Louis on September 11, 1925, he took part in a payroll robbery that netted $11,929 and earned him a five-year sentence in the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. On January 4, 1929, Ruby Floyd filed for divorce, charging her incarcerated husband with neglect. Floyd did not contest the action, and she took custody of their four-year-old son. Through the years Floyd continued to see his former wife and son and lived with them in both Fort Smith, Arkansas, and in Tulsa. In March 1929, following release from prison in Missouri, Floyd headed straight to Kansas City, ready to put to use the education in crime he had received from veteran convicts behind bars.

During a card game at Mother Ash's boardinghouse in Kansas City, Floyd met his future girlfriend, Beulah Baird, who gave him the colorful moniker "Pretty Boy." From almost immediately after leaving prison until his death in 1934, Floyd, usually accompanied by one or more accomplices, carried out a string of more than thirty successful bank robberies across the Midwest, primarily in Ohio and Oklahoma. Authorities also implicated him in several murders resulting from gun battles with law officers or rival criminals. It later became known that Floyd did not commit many of the crimes attributed to him. On April 9, 1932, Floyd shot and killed Erv Kelley, an Oklahoma lawman turned bounty hunter, during a foiled attempt to ambush Floyd near Bixby, Oklahoma. One of Floyd's most illustrious bank jobs occurred later that year in his hometown when he and his partner George Birdwell robbed the Sallisaw State Bank in broad daylight while friends and family watched. Floyd's whirlwind bandit career began to unravel on June 17, 1933, when he and Adam Richetti became the chief suspects in the infamous Kansas City Massacre.

This bloodbath at the Union Station resulted in the deaths of four law officers and allowed J. Edgar Hoover to further empower himself and the FBI. Although both Floyd and Richetti ultimately paid with their lives, it is now clear, based on new evidence, that neither was involved in the brutal slaughter. On October 22, 1934, local law officers and FBI agents led by Melvin Purvis shot and killed Floyd in a cornfield near East Liverpool, Ohio. Floyd's body was returned to the Oklahoma hills, and he was laid to rest on October 28, 1934, at Akins Cemetery. A crowd estimated at more than twenty thousand made it the largest funeral in Oklahoma history. Michael Wallis See also: COOKSON HILLS Bibliography Roger A. Bruns, The Bandit Kings: From Jesse James to Pretty Boy Floyd (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1995). Paul Kooistra, Criminals as Heroes: Structure, Power, Identity (Bowling Green, Ky.: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1989). Robert Unger, The Union Station Massacre: The Original Sin of J.

Edgar Hoover's FBI (Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1997). Michael Wallis, Pretty Boy: The Life and Times of Charles Arthur Floyd (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992). Copyright and Terms of Use No part of this site may be construed as in the public domain. Copyright to all articles and other content in the online and print Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History is held by the Oklahoma Historical Society. This includes individual articles (copyright to OHS by author assignment) and corporately (as a complete body of work), including web design, graphics, searching functions, and listing/browsing methods. Copyright to all of these materials is protected under United States and International law. Users agree not to download, copy, modify, sell, lease, rent, reprint, or otherwise distribute these materials, or to link to these materials on another web site, without authorization of the Oklahoma Historical Society. Individual users must determine if their use of the Materials falls under United States copyright law's "Fair Use" guidelines and does not infringe on the proprietary rights of the Oklahoma Historical Society as the legal copyright holder of The Encyclopedia and part or in whole.

Photo credits: All photographs presented in the published and online Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture are the property of the Oklahoma Historical Society and are held in the agency's Research Division Photo Archives. Citation The following (as per The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition) is the preferred citation for articles: Michael Wallis, "Floyd, Charles Arthur," The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, (accessed January 18, 2017). © Copyright Oklahoma Historical Society 2009. Bandit in Boley | This Land Press - Made by You and Me NON-FICTION George Birdwell, right, and Wade W. Birdwell, the author's great-great grandfather and great-grandfather, respectively. Image courtesy of Robert Birdwell. The air was cold and bitter the day George Birdwell robbed the Farmers and Merchants Bank in Boley, Oklahoma. Normally bustling, the town was quiet the morning of November 23, 1932, the day before Thanksgiving. Birdwell and his accomplices, Charles Glass and C.C. Patterson, ate breakfast at a farmer’s house before heading toward Boley on Highway 62 in their roadster.

The men were silent as they drove into town. Birdwell was the accomplice and “chief lieutenant” to Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd, the infamous outlaw who wreaked havoc on American banks in the early 20th century. That morning, though, Floyd was not with his trusty sidekick. After pulling off a string of robberies in Earlsboro, Maud, Mill Creek, Roff, and Henryetta, Birdwell set his sights on robbing the Farmers and Merchants Bank in Boley, despite Floyd’s warnings against it. Friends had warned Floyd of the dangers of robbing a bank in Boley. Floyd knew that Birdwell, who was part Irish and six feet tall, would stand out in the all-black town and that it could be too risky. Birdwell ignored his advice. The criminal sauntered into the bank, taking the five or six steps to the white marble counter. Pointing his gun, he barked orders at bank president D.J. Turner to hand over the money in the till. When Turner retrieved the last dollar, an alarm sounded. Birdwell was furious. He asked Turner if he pulled the alarm.

Defiant, Turner said he had; Birdwell shot him in the chest with his .45 pistol. George Birdwell murdered a prominent citizen in Boley, and, in an instant, changed the history of Boley forever. I know this story, not because I read it in a book, but because George Birdwell was my great-great-grandfather. LISTEN: Jamie Birdwell Branson talks about living with her great-great-grandfather’s legacy. *** Birdwell grew up in Oklahoma and was Irish, Cherokee, and Choctaw. He married a woman named Flora, who was always referred to as “Bob” by friends and family, and they had four children together. Birdwell worked in the oil field and moved to Earlsboro, Oklahoma, with his family when he got a job with Magnolia Oil. Birdwell befriended his neighbor, Bradley Floyd, who later introduced him to his brother Charles Floyd. In early 1930, Birdwell was laid off at his job at Magnolia and desperately needed a way to feed his wife, four children, and two nephews who lived with the family. He began bootlegging whiskey and had some poker winnings, but it wasn’t enough.

He started robbing banks with Pretty Boy and soon became known as a Robin Hood figure, frequently doling out $20 to friends and neighbors in need. “I don’t really think that he would have turned out like that if the times hadn’t been what they were,” Birdwell’s grandson, Robert Birdwell Sr. — my grandfather — told me. “When you’ve got a family to feed, there isn’t money or jobs — that’s just what he felt like he could turn to.” Birdwell’s life reads like a John Wayne script. A story in The Daily Oklahoman on October 17, 1931, details an account of Birdwell kidnapping a deputy sheriff in Earlsboro and detaining him so that Birdwell could go to a funeral home to view his father, who had recently died. If Birdwell had attended his father’s funeral, he would have been arrested for robbing banks in Earlsboro, Maud, Mill Creek, and Roff, Oklahoma. After Birdwell saw his father’s body, he returned the deputy sheriff’s gun on the outskirts of town, and rode into the sunset with Pretty Boy Floyd. But Birdwell and Floyd’s days were numbered.

Their names and faces were routinely in the papers, and the FBI was just waiting for one of them to make a mistake. Boley was Birdwell’s biggest mistake. “Pretty Boy told the gang, ‘Go anywhere else, but do not rob Boley. The people there need their money and they do not have much of it in the bank,’ ” said Henrietta Hicks, Boley municipal judge and unofficial historian. “They just would not listen. You know how Napoleon met his Waterloo? Well, George Birdwell met his Boley-loo.” Boley was one of about 50 all-black towns in Oklahoma settled by former slaves of Native Americans. After the Civil War, the U.S. government forced tribes in Indian Territory to free their slaves and give them all the rights of a tribe citizen, which included land ownership. From this land ownership, black “freedmen” settled together and became business owners, creating a haven in the South that acted as a shelter from the harsh reality of Jim Crow. Boley was incorporated in 1905 and built on land that was given to Abigail Barnett, the daughter of a Creek freedman. Boley boasted a thriving economy and even dazzled the famous Booker T.

Washington, who called the town “the most enterprising, and in many ways the most interesting, of the Negro towns in the U.S.” The town eventually grew large enough that it needed its own banks, one of which was the Farmers and Merchants Bank, managed by David Johnson Turner (or D.J., as he was known). Turner was an influential businessman who owned a pharmacy in Boley and was instrumental in starting one of the only black-owned banks in the country at the time. Birdwell didn’t know this, and didn’t anticipate the preparation of Boley’s citizens against the attack. You know how Napoleon met his Waterloo? Well, George Birdwell met his Boley-loo. “They [Birdwell and his gang] came in on the first day of bird-hunting season,” Hicks said. The townspeople were armed with rifles, shovels, picks, and hoes. “They had known Pretty Boyd Floyd was robbing these banks, so they were on alert,” Hicks said. “They had rigged an alarm system in the bank, and when the last dollar was pulled out, the alarm would go off.” Birdwell didn’t get the opportunity to make a clean getaway. Just moments after he killed Turner, bank bookkeeper H.C.

McCormick took a shot at Birdwell from the safety of the bank vault. It was a clear and fatal one. Birdwell’s ragtag team of bandits didn’t fare well, either. C. C. Patterson, who had run to his leader’s aid after he heard the commotion, was greeted by the townspeople, who were armed with guns intended for the birds. Charles Glass, driver of the getaway car, tried to speed out of town but was quickly caught by the gunfire of Langston McCormick, the town sheriff. He survived and was driven to the hospital. Hicks said that Langston McCormick chose not to kill Patterson because he didn’t want to incite a race riot. “We were not looking for a militia,” she said. “The town was looking to protect their assets. The assets they had belonged to only black folk, whereas black folk at one time could not even put their money in some banks. We had our own bank, and that’s what they were trying to protect.” If you visit Boley today, you can see a glimmer of the gem that this town must have once been.

The wilting brick buildings and the bullet holes in the broken windows lend to a deep sense of sadness for a decaying town. Sadness turns into hopefulness, however, when powerful group of Boley ladies — Municipal Judge Henrietta Hicks, Mayor Joan Matthews, and Chamber of Commerce President Fran Shelton — huddle together to figure out who to call to patch up the broken window. “Boley is still alive and will stay alive based on those who continue to know its history,” Shelton said. Although George Birdwell’s robbery was traumatic for the town, it wasn’t crippling. Hicks said they tell the story of the Boley robbery, not because the story is great, but because it shows the strength and tenacity of African American people. “There’s no way [the robbery] could have been debilitating,” Hicks said. “They had come from slavery. The people in Boley were a loving group and were so glad to be away from the oppressive regime of Southern white folk.” *** The robbery at the Farmers and Merchants Bank may not have been debilitating for the town of Boley, but was life-changing for Birdwell’s young family.

Wade Birdwell, my great-grandfather, George’s son, lost his father when he was just 13 years old and was forced to support his three younger siblings and mother while completing his education. “I think my dad always had an inferiority complex because of what his dad did,” my grandfather told me. “I know it bothered him a lot. It put a big hardship on my dad because he was the sole supporter of the family. I always admired my dad for that.” The Birdwell family moved to California after George’s death, and his wife eventually remarried. My great-grandfather Wade moved back to Oklahoma shortly after his first son was born. I believe he struggled over whether or not his father was a good man. Though he suffered the traumatic loss of his father, Wade was able to raise a family and lead a somewhat normal life. Wade obliged a few of the historians who dropped by his house to interview him, but he rarely spoke of his infamous father to his family. He granted Michael Wallis a rare interview for his book Pretty Boy: The Life and Times of Charles Arthur Floyd.

Wade was still willing to defend his father’s name, even after his classmates had teased him mercilessly in school for being the son of a bank robber, and after he was forced to support his entire family off a grocery store clerk and paper route salary when his father died. He never spoke a bad word about his father, even though his family was looked down upon by those who knew the story. He wanted so badly to believe his father was a good man and shared some of his father’s advice to Michael Wallis, saying: “He said way back then that there were two kinds of people who robbed — some who did it with a gun and some with an ink pen.” I just wish he hadn’t chosen the gun. Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd (1904 - 1934) - Genealogy Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd Also Known As: in East Liverpool, Columbiana, OH, USA Cause of death: Akins, Sequoyah, Oklahoma, United States Immediate Family: NewspaperARCHIVE.com Text: ... Orchestra in a Musical Short EXTRA! Authentic death pictures of "Pretty Boy" Floyd. See hit bullet-torn body. JUNIOR; BRONTE HAS ... MEE...

Date: NewspaperARCHIVE.com Text: ... fig- ures an printed cloth. ONi; THKY ing to keep funeral of Charles "Pretty Hoy" Floyd ''private and more ..." Date: NewspaperARCHIVE.com Text: ... condition, and the wireless had been thoroughly tested. CAREER ENDED Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd ad- mitted his identity just before he d... Date: NewspaperARCHIVE.com Text: ... criminal career which ended in a federal death trap ID Ohio, "Pretty Boy" Floyd will rest ID the old Aldus, Okla ... Coin II of yeouls o... Date: Feb 3 1904 - Folsom, Bartow, Georgia, United States Death: Text: ".... Notorious U.S.A. Gangster. VANCOUVER, October 22. Charles ("Pretty Boy") Floyd. who succeeded John Dillinger as Public Enem... Publication: Oct 24 1934 - Longreach, Queensland, Australia Page: Australian Newspapers Text: ... Successor (Special to 'The Daily News') NEW- YORK. October 22. Charles ('Pretty Boy') Floyd, who succeeded' John Dillinger as public ene...

Publication: Oct 23 1934 - Perth, Western Australia, Australia Page: Australian Newspapers Text: ... 1 ' ™' ? ^4,0^ ANOTHER MEMBER KILLED 'NTpw Vrvrlr. Orb 22. Charles 'Pretty Boy' Floyd, one of- the last survivors of Dillinger's gang, w... Publication: Oct 25 1934 - Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Australia Page: Australian Newspapers Text: ... * Bandit's Fate SHOT DEAD AFTER LONG CHASE NEW YORK, Monday Charles ('Pretty Bob') Floyd, who succeeded Dillinger as 'Public Enemy No. 1... Publication: Oct 26 1934 - Scone, New South Wales, Australia Page: Australian Newspapers Text: ... marked, as water was provided on long dry stages. A SHORT REIGN. Charles Floyd Killed. NEW YORK. October 22. Charles ('Prettyboy') Floyd... Publication: Oct 24 1934 - Townsville, Queensland, Australia Page: Australian Newspapers Text: "...will arise- Charles tMt LATE CHABLtS ('PRETTY SOT') FLOYD.

('Pretty Boy') Floyd won the title for himself e-oon after John Dll llnger... Publication: Oct 26 1934 - Townsville, Queensland, Australia Page: Australian Newspapers Text: "..., Monday. Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd, one of the last Survivors of the Dillinger gang, who is reputed to be respon- sible for many ba... Publication: Oct 24 1934 - Shepparton, Victoria, Australia Page: Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd (February 3, 1904 – October 22, 1934) was an American bank robber. He operated in the Midwest and West South Central States, and his criminal exploits gained heavy press coverage in the 1930s. Like most other prominent outlaws of that era, he was killed by policemen. He remains a familiar figure in American popular culture, sometimes seen as notorious, but at other times viewed as a tragic figure, partly a victim of hard times. Life of crime Floyd was born in Bartow County, Georgia.

He grew up in Oklahoma after moving there with his family from Georgia in 1911, and spent considerable time in nearby Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri. He was first arrested at age 18 after he stole $3.50 in coins from a local post office. Three years later he was arrested for a payroll robbery on September 16, 1925 in St. Louis, Missouri and was sentenced to five years in prison, of which he served three and a half. When paroled, Floyd vowed that he would never see the inside of another prison. Entering into partnerships with more established criminals in the Kansas City underworld, he committed a series of bank robberies over the next several years; it was during this period that he acquired the nickname "Pretty Boy." According to one account, when the payroll master targeted in a robbery described the three perpetrators to the police, he referred to Floyd as "a mere boy — a pretty boy with apple cheeks." Like his contemporary Baby Face Nelson, Floyd hated his nickname. In 1929, he faced numerous arrests.

On March 9, he was arrested in Kansas City on investigation and again on May 6 for vagrancy and suspicion of highway robbery, but he was released the next day. Two days later, he was arrested in Pueblo, Colorado, charged with vagrancy. He was fined $50.00 and sentenced to 60 days in jail. Floyd under the alias "Frank Mitchell" was arrested in Akron, Ohio, on March 8, 1930, charged in the investigation of the murder of an Akron police officer who had been killed during a robbery that evening. The law next caught up with Floyd in Toledo, Ohio, where he was arrested on suspicion on May 20, 1930; he was sentenced on November 24, 1930, to 12–15 years in Ohio State penitentiary for the Sylvania Ohio Bank Robbery, but he escaped. Floyd was a suspect in the deaths of bootlegging brothers Wally and Boll Ash of Kansas City. They were found dead in a burning car on March 25, 1931.

A month later on April 23, members of his gang killed Patrolman R. H. Castner of Bowling Green, Ohio, and on July 22 Floyd killed ATF Agent C. Burke in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1932, former sheriff Erv Kelley of McIntosh County, Oklahoma, tried to arrest Floyd; he was killed on April 7. In November of that year, three members of Floyd's gang attempted to rob the Farmers and Merchants Bank in Boley, Oklahoma. Kansas City massacre Floyd and Adam Richetti became the primary suspects in a June 17, 1933, gunfight known as the "Kansas City massacre" that resulted in the deaths of four law enforcement officers. Though J. Edgar Hoover used the incident as ammunition to further empower the FBI to pursue Floyd, historians are divided as to whether or not he was involved. Another, more likely, suspect, was gang torpedo Sol Weismann, who resembled Floyd.

Floyd adamantly denied his involvement in this fiasco (apparently a botched attempt to free bank robber Frank Nash, who was in police custody), and as he never bothered to deny many of his other crimes, including murders of policemen, it seems unlikely that he was a participant in the "massacre" at Kansas City.[citation needed] The gunfight was an attack by Vernon Miller and accomplices on lawmen escorting robber Frank "Jelly" Nash to a car parked at the Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri. Two Kansas City, Missouri, officers, Detective William Grooms and Patrolman Grant Schroder; McAlester, Oklahoma Police Chief Otto Reed; and FBI Special Agent Ray Caffrey were killed. Nash was also killed as he was sitting in the car. Two other Kansas City police officers survived by slumping forward in the backseat and feigning death. As the gunmen inspected the car, another officer responded from the station and fired at them, forcing them to flee. Miller was found dead on November 27, 1933, outside Detroit, Michigan, beaten and strangled. Floyd and Richetti were alleged to have been Miller's accomplices.

Factors weighing against them included their apparent presence in Kansas City at the time, eyewitness identifications (which have been contested), Richetti's fingerprint said to have been recovered from a beer bottle at Miller's hideout, an underworld account naming Floyd and Richetti as the gunmen, and Hoover's firm advocacy of their guilt. Fellow bank robber Alvin Karpis, an acquaintance of Floyd's, claimed that Floyd confessed involvement to him. On the other side of the issue, the bandit alleged to have been Floyd was supposed to have been wounded by a gunshot to the shoulder in the attack, and Floyd's body showed no sign of this injury when examined later. The underworld account identifying Floyd and Richetti as the killers was offset by equally unreliable underworld accounts proclaiming their innocence or identifying others. The Floyd family has maintained that while Floyd owned up to many other crimes, he vehemently denied involvement in this one, as did Richetti. It has also been contended that this crime would have been inconsistent with Floyd's other criminal acts, as he was not otherwise known as a hired gun or (especially) a hired killer.

Shortly after the attack, Kansas City police received a postcard dated June 30, 1933, from Springfield, Missouri, which read: "Dear Sirs- I- Charles Floyd- want it made known that I did not participate in the massacre of officers at Kansas City. Charles Floyd". The police department believed the note to be genuine. Floyd also reportedly denied involvement in the massacre to the FBI agents who had fatally wounded him. In addition, a recent book on the massacre attributes at least some of the killing to friendly fire by a lawman who was unfamiliar with his weapon, based on ballistic tests. Death On July 23, 1934, following the death of John Dillinger, "Pretty Boy" Floyd was named Public Enemy No. 1. On October 22, 1934, Floyd was killed in an apple orchard on Sprucevale Road between Beaver Creek State Park and Clarkson near East Liverpool, Ohio, while being pursued by local law officers and FBI agents led by Melvin Purvis. Varying accounts exist as to who shot him and the manner in which he was killed.

Having narrowly escaped ambush by FBI agents and other law enforcement agencies several times after the Kansas City Massacre, Floyd had a stroke of bad luck. On October 18, 1934, he and Richetti left Buffalo, New York, and slid their vehicle into a telephone pole during a heavy fog. No one was injured, but the car was disabled. Fearing they would be recognized, Floyd and Richetti sent two female companions to retrieve a tow truck; the women would then accompany the tow truck driver into a town and have the vehicle repaired while the two men waited by the roadside.[citation needed] After dawn on October 19, motorist Joe Fryman and his son-in-law passed by, observing two men dressed in suits lying by the roadside. Feeling it was suspicious, he informed Wellsville, Ohio, Police Chief John H. Fultz. Three officers, including Fultz, investigated. When Richetti saw the lawmen, he fled into the woods, pursued by two officers, while Fultz went toward Floyd. Floyd immediately drew his gun and fired, and he and Fultz engaged one another in a gunfight, during which Fultz was wounded in the foot.

After wounding Fultz, Floyd fled into the forest. The other two officers enlisted the help of local retired police officer Chester K. Smith, a former sniper during World War I, and subsequently captured Richetti. Floyd remained on the run, living on fruit, traveling on foot, and quickly becoming exhausted. At least three accounts exist of the following events: one given by the FBI, one by other people in the area, and one by local law enforcement. The accounts agree that, after obtaining some food at a local pool hall owned by Charles Joy, a friend of Floyd's, Floyd hitched a ride in an East Liverpool neighborhood on October 22, 1934. He was spotted by the team of lawmen, at which point he broke from the vehicle and fled toward the treeline. Local retired officer Chester Smith fired first, hitting Floyd in the right arm, knocking him to the ground.

At this point, the three accounts diverge; the FBI agents later attempted to claim all the credit, denying local law enforcement were even present at the actual shooting.[citation needed] According to the local police account, Floyd regained his footing and continued to run, at which point the entire team opened fire, knocking him to the ground.[citation needed] Floyd died shortly thereafter from his wounds. According to the FBI, four FBI agents, led by Purvis, and four members of the East Liverpool Police Department, led by Chief Hugh McDermott, were searching the area south of Clarkson, Ohio, in two separate cars. They spotted a car move from behind a corn crib, and then move back. Floyd then emerged from the car and drew a .45 caliber pistol, and the FBI agents opened fire. Floyd reportedly said: "I'm done for. You've hit me twice."[citation needed] However, Chester Smith, the retired East Liverpool Police Captain and sharpshooter, described events differently in a 1979 interview for Time magazine. Smith, who was credited with shooting Floyd first, stated that he had deliberately wounded, but not killed, Floyd.

He then added: "I knew Purvis couldn't hit him, so I dropped him with two shots from my .32 Winchester rifle." According to Smith's account, after being wounded, Floyd fell and did not regain his footing. Smith then disarmed Floyd. At that point, Purvis ran up and ordered: "Back away from that man. I want to talk to him." Purvis questioned Floyd briefly, and after receiving curses in reply ordered agent Herman "Ed" Hollis to "Fire into him." Hollis then shot Floyd at point-blank range with a submachine gun, killing him. The interviewer asked if there was a cover-up by the FBI, and Smith responded: "Sure was, because they didn't want it to get out that he'd been killed that way." FBI agent Winfred E. Hopton disputed Chester Smith's claim in a letter to the editors of Time Magazine, that appeared in the November 19, 1979, issue, in response to the Time article "Blasting a G-Man Myth." In his letter he stated that he was one of four FBI agents present when Floyd was killed, on a farm several miles from East Liverpool, Ohio.

According to Hopton, members of the East Liverpool police department arrived only after Floyd was already mortally wounded. He also claimed that when the four agents confronted Floyd, Floyd turned to fire on them, and two of the four killed Floyd almost instantly. Additionally, while Smith's account said that Herman Hollis shot the wounded Floyd on Purvis's order, Hopton claimed that Hollis was not present. Hopton also stated Floyd's body was transported back to East Liverpool in Hopton's personal car. Floyd's body was embalmed and briefly viewed at the Sturgis Funeral Home in East Liverpool, Ohio, before being sent on to Oklahoma. Floyd's body was placed on public display in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. His funeral was attended by between 20,000 and 40,000 people and remains the largest funeral in Oklahoma history. He was buried in Akins, Oklahoma.

Legacy Music In March 1939, five years after Floyd's death, Woody Guthrie, a native of Oklahoma, wrote a song romanticizing Floyd's life, called "The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd." The song has the form of a Broadside "come-all-ye" ballad opening with the lines: "If you'll gather 'round me, children, a story I will tell 'Bout Pretty Boy Floyd, an Outlaw, Oklahoma knew him well. The lyrics play up Floyd's generosity to the poor, and contain the famous lines: As through this world you travel, you'll meet some funny men/ Some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen. This song has been performed by many country and folk musicians and has been recorded many times, including Bob Dylan (on the Smithsonian's 1988 Folkways: A Vision Shared (A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly) album), The Byrds (on their Sweetheart of the Rodeo album), Joan Baez on her 1962 In Concert album, and Melanie Safka on her album Madrugada.

A reference to Pretty Boy Floyd is also made near the end of the Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five rap song "The Message". Guthrie's son Arlo Guthrie (on his album Precious Friend with Pete Seeger), Ghost Mice (on their split EP with Defiance, Ohio), The Duhks (on their album Your Daughters & Your Sons), and Christy Moore (on his album Live in Dublin with Donal Lunny). The American post-hardcore band A Bullet For Pretty Boy is also named off Pretty Boy Floyd. Literature In John Steinbeck's 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, the character Ma Joad refers several times to Pretty Boy Floyd as a young man driven to a tragic fate by the Great Depression. Pretty Boy Floyd, a fictionalized account of Floyd's life by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana was published in 1995. (ISBN 0671891650) Film A film, Pretty Boy Floyd, was made in 1960 by Herbert J. Leder, starring John Ericson. Robert Conrad played Floyd in the 1965 film Young Dillinger.

Another film, A Bullet for Pretty Boy, was released in 1970, starring Fabian. Floyd was played by Steve Kanaly in the 1973 film Dillinger. Martin Sheen took the title role in the 1974 TV movie, The Story of Pretty Boy Floyd. Floyd was portrayed by Bo Hopkins in the 1975 TV movie, The Kansas City Massacre. Floyd was portrayed by Channing Tatum in the 2009 film Public Enemies, starring Christian Bale and Johnny Depp. Video Games In the video game Team Fortress 2, the Scout class has a weapon named the Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol. 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 American bank robber Charles Floyd?
Answer: Pretty Boy