Earl Smith, who was found dead at Indian Hills Country Club in Catoosa. 10, 1932.Ī month before his release, Barker’s family was suspected in the death of Tulsa attorney J. Sherrill two months after Barker’s release from prison.īarker was again sent to prison, and set free on Sept. Spear added somberly, "We prayed the Lord would take care of him and that he would eventually be saved.”ĭoc Barker and his partner, Volney Davis, were involved in the murder of Tulsa night watchman Thomas J. The family never spoke of Floyd’s criminal life, but followed his exploits through newspapers. Spear, who died five months later, said she chose to remember Floyd as the brother who played horseshoes with his six siblings on the farm, attended weekly Baptist church services with his family and eagerly rode to Sallisaw in a horse-drawn wagon to shop. In a 2002 interview with The Oklahoman, Ruby Spear, Floyd’s last surviving sibling, recalled the painful memories of her famous brother on her 100th birthday. All the time a man tries to keep the world straight, he has been forgotten, and the guy who kills him gets all the recognition.”įloyd also left his own family with sorrow. "Why is it that an outlaw can be so glorified?” James Kelley told the writer. 22, 1934, in a shoot-out near Clarkson, Ohio. Within seconds, Kelley lay dead.įour days later, an estimated 3,000 people attended Kelley’s funeral at the Greenlawn Cemetery in Checotah - a large turnout, but not as large as the number to turn out for Floyd’s funeral two years later. Gunshots pierced the air in rapid succession - 21 in all. The ex-sheriff stepped from behind a chicken coop on April 7, 1932, into the blinding beams of an idling Chevrolet sedan and aimed at the men stepping through a farm gate. "He wanted to tell us goodbye just in case.” "He wanted us to know he was on a special assignment to catch ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd and that something was about to happen and we may never see him again,” James recalled. James remembered his uncle’s chilling words on a visit to his family’s home, two weeks before his death. Lured by a bounty, Kelley left no doubt that he knew about the dangers he might encounter. "Erv” Kelley had served more than a decade as McIntosh County sheriff and Checotah police chief when he donned his white hat one more time in pursuit of the famed fugitive. The reality of their deeds painted an entirely different portrait of their characters. Outlaws such as George "Machine Gun” Kelly, Kate "Ma” Barker, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, and of course, Floyd were all lured by Oklahoma’s rural banks, remote hide-outs and often sympathetic population. If Oklahoma weren’t a breeding ground for the greatest gangsters of that time period, it was often a stage for their notorious adventures. The human drama that became the "public enemy” era is now forever rooted in Oklahoma history. "You will either withdraw that $1,000 reward at once or suffer the consequences no kidding.
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