Pretty Boy Floyd

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Pretty Boy Floyd

AKA Charles Arthur Floyd

Born: 3-Feb-1904
Birthplace: Adairsville, GA
Died: 22-Oct-1934
Location of death: East Liverpool, OH
Cause of death: Justifiable Homicide
Remains: Buried, Akins Cemetery, Akins, OK

Gender: Male
Religion: Christian
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Criminal

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Bank robber

Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd (a.k.a. Choc Floyd, a.k.a. Frank Mitchell, a.k.a. George Sanders) was an American gangster who teamed with John Dillinger toward that outlaw's last days. Floyd was famous for a series of daring bank robberies, shootouts, and escapes at the height of the Great Depression, and sometimes demanded and destroyed mortgage papers while robbing banks, which made him a folk hero to some poor farmers (and led to a doubling of banks' insurance rates). According to legend, he routinely sprinkled cash from his car window as he and his gang sped away from the scene of their crimes, and he occasionally attended church, even while he was on the run. Still, he was a cold-blooded killer who carried a .45 automatic, and his crimes put at least ten and perhaps as many as dozens of men in their graves.

The FBI believed that Floyd masterminded the infamous Kansas City Massacre of 17 June 1933, an armed ambush intended to free his friend Frank Nash from police custody, which instead left Nash and four police officers dead. Floyd, however, always maintained that he was not involved in that particular day's bloodshed, and he was not a man known for his modesty. In one instance he arranged to have his proud grandfather witness one of his bank robberies from a bench across the street, and he once robbed two banks in adjacent Oklahoma towns on the same day. Floyd was killed in a gunfight with federal agents in an Ohio cornfield on 22 October 1934. He was believed to be a nephew of noted outlaw Belle Starr.

Father: Walter Lee Floyd (tenant farmer/bootlegger, b. 2-Nov-1878, d. 14-Nov-1929)
Mother: Mamie Helena Echols Floyd (b. 13-Mar-1881, m. 19-Dec-1897, d. 16-Jun-1978)
Brother: Carl Bradley Floyd (b. 7-Nov-1898, d. 1-Oct-1987)
Sister: Rossie Ruth Floyd Wofford (b. 17-Sep-1900, d. 1-Oct-1984)
Sister: Ruby Mae Floyd Spear (b. 2-May-1902, d. 26-Oct-2002)
Sister: Emma Lucille Floyd Lessley (b. 28-Aug-1905, d. 1-Nov-1986)
Brother: E. W. Floyd (b. 13-May-1908, d. 20-Aug-1970)
Wife: Ruby Hardgraves Floyd (b. 6-Fev-1907, m. 28-Jun-1924, div. 1929, d. 29-Jul-1970)
Son: Charles Dempsey Floyd (b. 29-Dec-1924, d. 23-Mar-1999)
Girlfriend: Beulah Baird Ash (prostitute)

Ran Away From Home 1920
Attempted Robbery 1922
Armed Robbery St. Louis, MO (11-Sep-1925)
Armed Robbery St. Louis, MO (16-Sep-1925)
Inmate Missouri State Penitentiary, Jefferson, MO (8-Dec-1925 - 7-Mar-1929)
Armed Robbery Kansas City, MO (9-Mar-1929)
Vagrancy Kansas City, MO (6-May-1929)
Armed Robbery Kansas City, MO (6-May-1929)
Vagrancy Pueblo City, CO (9-May-1929)
Bank Robbery Akron, OH (8-Mar-1930)
Murder Akron, OH (8-Mar-1930)
Bank Robbery Toledo, OH (20-May-1930)
Escaped from Prison Ohio State Penitentiary (24-Nov-1930; escaped en route to prison)
Bank Robbery Earlsboro, OK (9-Mar-1931)
Bank Robbery Shamrock, OK (4-Aug-1931)
Bank Robbery Morris, OK (8-Sep-1931)
Bank Robbery Maud, OK (29-Sep-1931)
Bank Robbery Earlsboro, OK (14-Oct-1931)
Bank Robbery Paden, OK (5-Nov-1931)
Bank Robbery Konowa, OK (12-Dec-1931)
Bank Robbery Castle, OK (12-Dec-1931)
Bank Robbery Morris, OK (23-Dec-1931)
Bank Robbery Castle, OK (14-Jan-1932)
Murder Bixby, OK (9-Apr-1932)
Shot by Police 9-Apr-1932 (shot in ankle)
Bank Robbery Stonewall, OK (21-Apr-1932)
Bank Robbery Sallisaw, OK (1-Nov-1932)
Bank Robbery Henryetta, OK (7-Nov-1932)
Bank Robbery Boley, OK (23-Nov-1932)
Murder 17-Jun-1933 (four men killed)
Shot by Police 17-Jun-1933 (according to witnesses)
Bank Robbery Tiltonsville, OH (19-Oct-1934)
Shot by Police 22-Oct-1934 (shot twice; fatal)
Welsh Ancestry

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