1 00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:07,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren 2 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:12,039 Speaker 1: Vogelbaum here. Up until June seventeenth of nineteen thirty three, 3 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:16,279 Speaker 1: Pretty Boy Floyd led a relatively unremarkable life in and 4 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:19,960 Speaker 1: out of jail as a Midwestern hoodlum. He was robbing 5 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,840 Speaker 1: banks and payrolls, stealing cars, and murdering rival thugs, all 6 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: while escaping police custody by jumping from trains and hiding 7 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: out in the Trustee Cooks and Hills of Oklahoma. But 8 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: on that particular June day in Kansas City, his humdrum 9 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: career took a spectacular turn for the worse. At least 10 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:43,840 Speaker 1: that's what Jay Edgar Hoover's Bureau of Investigation decided. And 11 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:47,279 Speaker 1: in those bad old days, you really didn't want to 12 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:51,280 Speaker 1: antagonize the organization soon to become the FBI. It'd be 13 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: renamed in nineteen thirty five. According to the FBI, events 14 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:01,840 Speaker 1: unfolded as follows. On October ninetheteenth of nineteen thirty a 15 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 1: murderous crook named Frank Nash was in the United States 16 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: Penitentiary at Levenworth, Kansas, serving his third long term sentence 17 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 1: after being pardoned twice before when he escaped. Less than 18 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: a year later, Nash managed to help seven other prisoners 19 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 1: bust out of Levenworth as well. In the meantime, the 20 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,840 Speaker 1: Bureau of Investigation mounted a giant man hunt that spanned 21 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:27,119 Speaker 1: the continent. They finally tracked down Nash in Hot Springs, Arkansas. 22 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,040 Speaker 1: It was then just a simple matter of getting there 23 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 1: fellon back to Kansas via train, but some of Nash's 24 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: buddies got wind of the transport and cooked up a 25 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:40,399 Speaker 1: scheme to free him when the train showed up. The 26 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: story goes that Floyd and his sidekick, one Adam Ritchetti 27 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:46,280 Speaker 1: happened to drive into Kansas City the day before the 28 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 1: train was due. They met up with Nash's pals and 29 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: offered to help with their scheme to free him. When 30 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 1: Nash arrived, seven agents and officers escorted him to a 31 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:59,280 Speaker 1: waiting vehicle. They were getting seated inside when from out 32 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: of nowhere, gunmen opened fire on them. Only one of 33 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: the officials escaped unscathed, but two were badly injured, and 34 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:10,200 Speaker 1: everyone else, including Nash, the very person the crooks were 35 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:13,920 Speaker 1: trying to free, was shot dead. The gunmen fled, and 36 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:19,080 Speaker 1: Floyd and Richetti were identified as they ran. Pretty Boy Floyd, 37 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: who made a habit of boasting about his crimes, maintained 38 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 1: to the very end of his life that he had 39 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:27,000 Speaker 1: nothing to do with what became known as the Kansas 40 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: City massacre. But that didn't matter. JEdgar Hoover had already 41 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: eliminated John Dillinger, whom he had previously dubbed Public Enemy 42 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: Number one, and now he turned his sights on pretty 43 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:42,960 Speaker 1: Boy Floyd. Charles Arthur Floyd was born in Georgia on 44 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:45,799 Speaker 1: February third of nineteen oh four, and his family moved 45 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: to Hanson, Oklahoma, in nineteen eleven, an area that had 46 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:51,919 Speaker 1: been just a few years earlier part of the Cherokee Nation. 47 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:55,079 Speaker 1: The family settled down on the edge of the Cooks 48 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 1: and Hills, a territory of thick scrubby brush which had 49 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:00,959 Speaker 1: served to hide many famous outlas laws of the decades, 50 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: as it would Floyd himself in later years. A But 51 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: if proximity to this law breaking heritage inspired Floyd's subsequent career, 52 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: he showed no signs of deviance in his early life. 53 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 1: On the contrary, he was known as a kid who 54 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:17,800 Speaker 1: loved his mother, looked up to his father, protected his 55 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 1: siblings and helped out around the farm, and although the 56 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,360 Speaker 1: Floyds worked hard, it was difficult to spraate more than 57 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: a meager living from their acreage. At the age of fourteen, 58 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: Floyd went off to work as a harvest hand on 59 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 1: larger farms, and there he met other traveling workers who 60 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: exposed him to a rougher, tougher mode of existence. When 61 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: he returned home, his family felt he had changed. There 62 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: seems to be no agreement as to how Floyd acquired 63 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: his nicknames. Some say it was applied in his teenage 64 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: years due to his carefully tended pompadour, Others that he 65 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: earned it by working in the oil fields in a 66 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: white dress shirt. Floyd himself allegedly hated the name and 67 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: preferred to by Chalk, which was a reference to his 68 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: passion for a local Oklahoma beer called Choctaw. On May 69 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 1: sixteenth of nineteen twenty two, Floyd was arrested for the 70 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: first time. The crime was the theft of three dollars 71 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: and fifty cents in dimes, nichols, and pennies from a 72 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: local post office. Although he was later acquitted due to 73 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: a lack of witnesses. It was the beginning of a 74 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:27,560 Speaker 1: long hostile relationship with the law. In the months that 75 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: followed the Kansas City massacre, the Bureau mounted a giant 76 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: man hunt for its new public Enemy number one. Floyd 77 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: was doing a decent job of laying low in evading 78 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:40,039 Speaker 1: police ambushes until he and Richetti wrecked a car in 79 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:44,600 Speaker 1: rural Ohio on October twentieth of nineteen thirty four. Their 80 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: two lady companions drove the car to the nearest town 81 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:49,719 Speaker 1: for repairs while Floyd and Richetti reclined on the side 82 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: of the road to wait. A passing motorists spotted Floyd 83 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:57,039 Speaker 1: and Richetti in suits, snapping next to their guns and 84 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 1: reported their incongruous appearance to the local police chief, who 85 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: went to have a look. But when the police chief 86 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:05,839 Speaker 1: showed up with his team and approached the two men, 87 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:10,039 Speaker 1: the gangsters opened fire. Floyd scrambled up the embankment and 88 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 1: managed to flee in a hail of police bullets, but 89 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:16,360 Speaker 1: Richetti was out gunned before he could escape. Once Richetti 90 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 1: was identified, the police realized that the escapee was none 91 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:23,479 Speaker 1: other than the Bureau's Public Enemy Number one. By that evening, 92 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,080 Speaker 1: famed FBI agent Melvin Purvis who had been instrumental in 93 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: capturing Dillinger, arrived with his team. In the meantime, Floyd 94 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: had flagged down a passing car, which then ran out 95 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:37,839 Speaker 1: of gas. Floyd, with that driver in tow, commandeered a 96 00:05:37,839 --> 00:05:40,600 Speaker 1: second car and its driver, but when the three men 97 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: encountered a roadblock, Floyd ordered the car turned around and 98 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 1: they fled, Pursued by the police. At a critical juncture, 99 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: Floyd jumped from the car and escaped into the woods, 100 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: firing behind him as he ran. He wandered the woods 101 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:55,359 Speaker 1: for nearly forty eight hours until he stumbled across a 102 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:59,480 Speaker 1: farmhouse inhabited by a widow named Ellen Conkle. Claiming to 103 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:02,560 Speaker 1: be a lost Floyd managed to get an excellent hot 104 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:05,720 Speaker 1: meal from Conkle, but it was to be his last. 105 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:09,679 Speaker 1: A local farmer had spotted Floyd and phoned the cops. 106 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 1: When they showed up, Floyd ran across a field of 107 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 1: corn stubble, heading for the tree line, but nine officials 108 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 1: opened fire. Floyd fell wounded. The officials caught up and 109 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:23,480 Speaker 1: Purvis questioned him about the Kansas City massacre, but Floyd 110 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,679 Speaker 1: refused to talk, and in just minutes he was dead. 111 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 1: Floyd's funeral was massive. More than twenty thousand people showed 112 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: up to pay their respects or gawk, as the case 113 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:38,840 Speaker 1: may be. In the years after his death, the legend 114 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:42,599 Speaker 1: of pretty Boy Floyd continued to grow. Like many outlaws, 115 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 1: he developed a reputation as a robin hood of sorts 116 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:49,360 Speaker 1: who would destroy mortgage documents whenever he robbed a bank, and, 117 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: as is the case with most other alleged robin hoods, 118 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 1: this generosity has never been proven, but that hasn't diminished 119 00:06:56,640 --> 00:07:04,240 Speaker 1: his fame nor his reputation. Today's episode is based on 120 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:07,279 Speaker 1: the article how pretty Boy Floyd became the FBI's Public 121 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: Enemy Number One on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by a 122 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: Scene Quran. Brain Stuff It's production of iHeartRadio in partnership 123 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: with how Stuffworks dot Com, and it is produced by 124 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,880 Speaker 1: Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the 125 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 126 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:24,840 Speaker 1: favorite shows.