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Gangsters &
Outlaws of the 1920-30's - M
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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.
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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.
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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
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Index:
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B
C D
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F
G
H
I J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
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T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
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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.
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