Between 1929 and 1934, Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd carried out a daring crime spree across the American Midwest, robbing 30 banks and killing as many as 10 people before he was gunned down by FBI agents in an Ohio cornfield.
Public DomainCharles Arthur “ Pretty Boy ” Floyd , a notorious bank robber from the Prohibition epoch .
During the Great Depression , Pretty Boy Floyd rebel to prominence as one of the most notorious bank building robbers in story . Rumor had it that he was a generous gentleman who demolish mortgage document as he stuffed his cup of tea full of cash from bank vault , freeing scramble citizen from their bounteous debts . It may not be true , but the American public latched onto the mind , and Floyd became something of a ethnic music fighter .
Floyd begin his felonious vocation at an early age , but his infamous spree begin in 1929 . Over the next five year , he rob 30 banks and pop as many as 10 men across the Midwest , all while take flight from the police force . After John Dillinger died in July 1934 , Pretty Boy Floyd even became the FBI ’s “ Public Enemy Number One . ”
Public DomainCharles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd, a notorious bank robber from the Prohibition era.
But his lifetime of criminal offence came to an goal in October 1934 when federal agents finally caught up with him in Ohio . Floyd was gun down in a cornfield , and his last password were allegedly , “ I ’m done for ; you ’ve hit me doubly . ”
His funeral was the prominent in the history of Oklahoma , with more than 20,000 people in attendance , all gather to pay up their respect to “ the Robin Hood of the Cookson Hills . ”
Pretty Boy Floyd’s Early Criminal Career
Charles Arthur “ Pretty Boy ” Floyd was born in Georgia on Feb. 3 , 1904 , but his folk , like many others , moved to Oklahoma to start out a farm in the former years of the 20th century . And like many Oklahoma farmers , they were desperately misfortunate . Floyd , stock of living in impoverishment , move around to crime . He was first arrested for lilliputian thieving at age 18 after stealing $ 3.50 ( approximately $ 65 today ) from a local berth office .
Three years later , he graduated to more serious thievery and was get for paysheet looting in St. Louis . For this crime , Floyd was sentenced to five years in prison , but he served just three and a half before he was granted parole . Upon his spillage , Floyd drifted toward Kansas City , where he quickly catch himself involved with the city ’s criminal underworld .
FBIAn FBI recognition order for Charles Arthur Floyd .
FBIAn FBI identification order for Charles Arthur Floyd.
Floyd ’s specialty remain main road robbery . He and his accomplice would stop cars carrying money at gunpoint and demand all the valuables within . Between 1929 and 1930 , Floyd was arrested multiple times on suspicion of armed robbery , but the law could never prove anything conclusively .
Around this time , Floyd picked up the sobriquet he would have for the rest of his life : “ Pretty son . ” However , the story of how it came about varies . Some say it was started by co - proletarian who mocked the prissy dress he wore while doing manual parturiency . Others claim one of Floyd ’s robbery victim tell police “ a pretty boy with apple cheek ” had taken his money .
Regardless of where it originated , Floyd detest the name — but he could n’t seem to shake it . And he could n’t agitate his criminal tendencies , either .
Public DomainJ. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Bureau of Investigation, declared Pretty Boy Floyd “Public Enemy Number One” in 1934.
Pretty Boy Floyd’s Life Of Crime, From Bank Robberies To The Kansas City Massacre
Not long after Pretty Boy Floyd was resign from prison house in 1929 , he arise the talent he was well have it off for : robbing banking company .
He run with a number of unlike felon who lead off hitting fiscal origination throughout the Midwest and Oklahoma . His crimes made headline across the rural area , and reader could n’t get enough of Pretty Boy Floyd . His flair for the dramatic — he was particularly doting of summate around aTommy gun — and his ability to put off capture made him a media sense impression .
Public DomainJ. Edgar Hoover , Director of the Bureau of Investigation , declare Pretty Boy Floyd “ Public Enemy Number One ” in 1934 .
Public DomainThe aftermath of the Kansas City Massacre.
A rumor — which was in all likelihood false — began to circulate that Floyd was destroying mortgage documents during his robbery . To many multitude who had seen their nursing home seize by depository financial institution , this made him a hero .
Then , on June 17 , 1933 , an incident occurred that put Pretty Boy Floyd in the newsprint once again . Today , however , many experts do n’t conceive he had anything to do with the crime .
That morning , a runaway named Frank Nash who had escape from federal prison house and been recaptured was set to travel through Kansas City on his way back to the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth , Kansas . Nash ’s friends caught wind of the route police force would be jaunt with the outlaw and decided to free him once again .
Public DomainMelvin Purvis, the agent who headed the takedown of Pretty Boy Floyd.
Public DomainThe aftermath of the Kansas City Massacre .
According to the FBI , Pretty Boy Floyd and his confederate Adam Richetti were enlisted to help . They purportedly join up with another criminal cite Vernon Miller and hide outside of the railroad train place in Kansas City to wait for Nash to go far . When they spotted police escort him from the construction and toward a waiting auto , they opened fire .
Within minutes , four law police officer and Nash himself were dead . The incident became known as the Kansas City Massacre , and the FBI was convinced that Floyd was involved . However , Floyd systematically deny his connector to the crime , so the accuracy may never be known .
Smith Archive / Alamy Stock PhotoPretty Boy Floyd lies dead after a shootout with federal agents.
Still , with the FBI against him , Floyd ’s days were numbered . AfterJohn Dillinger diedin July 1934 , J. Edgar Hoover declare Pretty Boy Floyd “ Public Enemy Number One , ” and the agency was determined to take him down .
The Final Days Of Public Enemy Number One
Hoping to stay forward of the FBI , Floyd and Richetti take flight first to Ohio , where they both picked up girlfriend . Together , the four travel to New York before finally determine to generate to Oklahoma . But while drive through Ohio , Floyd lose control of their car , crash it into a terminal . Floyd and Richetti shoot their guns and send their girlfriends into town to vivify the vehicle .
However , the local police got intelligence that there were suspicious men hanging around the outskirts of town and went to investigate . A shootout catch fire , though Floyd scat . Richetti , who had emptied his gun firing at the police force , was n’t so lucky . He was arrested and would later be execute in the gas chamber .
Public DomainMelvin Purvis , the agent who headed the takedown of Pretty Boy Floyd .
The constabulary contacted the FBI to tell them they had Richetti in detention , and they warned the bureau that Pretty Boy Floyd might have been injure in the gunfight . The FBI examine the area , stopping cars and questioning drivers . Floyd managed to slip another vehicle , but he was soon spotted by a squad of local police and FBI agents in the town of East Liverpool .
There are a few different versions of what happen next , but the accounting harmonize that Floyd ’s car was stopped by law enforcement officers who spotted him parked behind a clavus cribbage in an endeavour to obscure .
The FBI reports that Floyd descend out of the machine with his gun draw . The agent open fire , striking him at least double . As Pretty son Floyd place die , he managed to pant out his final words . “ I ’m done for , ” he say , according to theFBI . “ You hit me twice . ”
Smith Archive / Alamy Stock PhotoPretty Boy Floyd lie dead after a gunplay with federal agents .
He was idle within 15 minutes . In his pockets , FBI agents get hold a vigil and fob carve with 10 notch that supposedly tally the phone number of men Floyd had killed .
Interestingly , local law tell a altogether different story .
In an interview decennium subsequently , in 1979 , police military officer Chester Smith toldTIMEthat he shot Floyd in the arm , ping him down . The lead FBI agentive role hunting the outlaw , Melvin Purvis , then approached Floyd while he lay on the ground to ask him some query , but Floyd refused to answer . According to Smith , Purvis ordered one of his federal agent to carry through Floyd with a volley from a Tommy gun .
The agents on the scene altercate this tale , of line , reach it just one more of the mysterious item of Pretty Boy Floyd ’s living — and end .
After say about the rise and fall of Pretty Boy Floyd , discover 25 interesting facts aboutAl Capone . Then learn about the stale - blooded retaliation of Tennessee sheriffBuford Pusser .
