Legends of America

 

Follow the links to the various pages of Legends of America

The Old West Legends of America Outhouse Madness Ghostly Legends Outlaws Old West Saloons Rocky Mountain General Store Legends Photo Store The Book Store Make your travel reservations here! Route 66 Native Americans The Old States - Back East

 

  Search Our Sites

Custom Search

Google

 Legends Of America's Facebook PageLegends Of America's Twitter Page

Legends Home

Site Map

What's New!!

 

Content Categories:

American History

Destinations-States

Ghost Towns

Ghostly Legends

Historic People

Native Americans

Old West

Route 66

Travel Center

Treasure Tales

 

Legends Of America's

Rocky Mountain General Store

 

 

 

 

 

 


Old West Mercantile
Route 66 Emporium
TeePee Trading Post

Book Shelf

DVDs
Postcard Rack

Tin Signs

and Much More!

 

  Legends Of America's Rocky Mountain General Store - Cart View

 

Legends Of America's Photo Print Shop

Legends Of America's Photo Print Shop
 

Ghost Town Prints

Native American Prints

Old West Prints

Route 66 Prints

and Much More!!
 

Legends Of America's Photo Print Shop - Cart View

 

About Us

Advertising

Article/Photo Use

Copyright Information

Blog

Forum

Guestbook

Links

Newsletter

Privacy Policy

Writing Credits

 

We welcome corrections

and feedback!

Contact Us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gangsters & Outlaws of the 1920-30's - M

 

 

Index:   A  B  C  D  E  F G  H  I J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

M

 

Henry Methvin (1912-1948) - A Barrow Gang member, Methvin was born on April 8, 1912. He hooked up with the Barrow Gang and was one of the men freed by Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker in the Eastham Prison Raid in Texas in 1934. Methvin, on the run with Bonnie and Clyde, went on a crime spree with the pair and immediately following the murders in Grapevine, Texas of two highway patrolmen, the trio's vehicle became stuck in the mud near Commerce, Oklahoma. When they attempted to flag down a passing motorist at gunpoint, the driver stepped on the gas and notified authorities. Police Chief Percy Boyd and Constable Cal Campbell went to the location to investigate and in the gun battle that ensued, Campbell was killed and Boyd shot in the head, but survived.  

 

Henry Methvin

As the outlaws continued to run, Henry's father made a deal with the police that he would help set up an ambush for Bonnie and Clyde, if  Henry would be pardoned in Texas. The police agreed and Bonnie and Clyde were killed on May 23, 1934. It is likely that Henry knew or at least suspected the ambush as his father specifically told him not to go with them that morning. The police kept their word and Methvin was was pardoned in Texas. However, he was not pardoned in Oklahoma for the death of Constable Cal Campbell. He was given the death sentence for the murder but after an appeal in 1936, his sentence was reduced to life. After ten years he was released, and made his way to Sulphur, Louisiana. On April 19, 1948 he was cut in half by a railroad train. The circumstances of how he made his way to the railroad tracks are unknown. He was buried at the Social Springs Cemetery in Hall Summit, Louisiana.

 

Joseph P. Moran (1905-1934) - A physician known for treating Depression-era gangsters and a peripheral member of the Barker-Karpis Gang, Moran, an Illinois native, briefly operated a successful medical practice after graduating from medical school. However, Moran was a severe alcoholic and soon drove most of his business away. He then moved onto performing illegal abortions, during which time he made a number of contacts in the Chicago underworld. He was eventually caught and sent to prison. After he was paroled he was appointed as the official physician of the Chicago Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers Union despite his alcoholism. He also became the emergency care physician for much of the Chicago underworld. Stitching cuts and removing bullets from wounded gangsters, he soon also began to practice plastic surgery on outlaws, in order to change their faces and remove their finger prints. It was in this capacity that he became associated with the Barker-Karpis Gang. In March, 1933, the doctor performed plastic surgery on gang members Fred Barker and Alvin Karpis for a fee. His removal of Karpis' fingerprints was so successful that the gangster later had trouble obtaining a passport. However, his facial work was deemed judged a dismal and painful failure. He was most likely last doctor to see or treat the mortally wounded John Dillinger.

 

When the Barker Gang kidnapped and ransomed Minnesota banker Edward J. Bremer in 1934, he helped the gang to launder the money through his practice in Chicago. However, some six months later, while drinking with the gang in in Ohio, he drunkenly bragged about the power he held over them, saying "I have you guys in the palm of my hand." Very soon afterwards, Moran disappeared. The next year in September, 1935, a badly decomposed body washed up on the shores of Crystal Beach, Ontario, without its hands and feet. The FBI later identified the body through dental records as Moran's.

He was thought to have been murdered by Alvis Karpis and Fred Barker.

 

Edna "Rabbits" Murray (??-1966) - A depression-era outlaw and partner of Volney Davis during the early 1930s, she was popularly known to the press as the "Kissing Bandit" for her habit of kissing male robbery victims. However, she was better known , in the underworld as "Rabbits" for her skill as an escape artist. Murray and her boyfriend, Davis, robbed a series of banks before her arrest. She escaped in early May, 1927 and returned to her boyfriend for more crimes. She was next arrest in a Chicago raid and sentenced to 25 years in prison at Jefferson City, Missouri. However, in November, 1931, she and a couple of other inmates escaped by climbing over a fence. they were quickly apprehended and returned to the prison. But Murray was determined and on December 13, 1932 she escaped again. She soon rejoined Davis, and the pair continued their crime spree before settling down in Aurora, Illinois.

On April 23, 1934, outlaws John Dillinger, Homer Van Meter and John "Red" Hamilton arrived at the couple's home seeking a hideout after being anearly captured by the FBI near Rhinelander, Wisconsin. John Hamilton, who had been badly wounded during the  shootout with the FBI, died of his injuries several days after arriving at their Aurora home. But with the FBI hot on her tail, she was recaptured an on January 22, 1935, she was indicted along with several members of the Barker-Karpis Gang for a conspiracy to kidnap wealthy Minnesota banker Edward Bremer in January 1934. She fled and was soon in Wichita, Kansas with Jess Doyle, a member of the Barker-Karpis Gang, and her sister's boyfriend. She was apprehended there on February 7, 1935. She was convicted with several others in the kidnapping conspiracy and sentenced to federal prison on May 6, 1935. Paroled from the Women's Prison at Jefferson City, Missouri on December 20, 1940, she eventually made her way to California. She died in San Francisco in 1966.

 

 

Continued Next Page

Index:   A  B  C  D  E  F G  H  I J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

From the Rocky Mountain General Store

Route 66 Print Shop - Travel the virtual road of Route 66 at our Mother Road Print Shop, where you can "take home" dozens of photographs of this vintage path.

 

               

 

                                                              Copyright © 2003-2012, www.Legends of America.com