Death to outlaw's seemed to be the calling card of the thirties. It's true that in the beginning law official's had to pay for their own transportation and weapons which wasn't easy with the wages of a policeman. To make matters worse many outlaws of the nineteen thirties carried high powered automatic weapons and drove fast cars. Many of them frequented speakeasies of the time as well, with no worries about needing a Houston DWI attorney on hand...after all this was a different time, and law enforcement agencies were just no match for these criminals in any case. However this would soon change, and law enforcement would grow in fire power and numbers. This changed the odds for outlaws like John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson. Soon outlaws found themselves having to battle armies of heavily armed lawmen with death awaiting in the forecast.
Lester Gillis, alias
Baby Face Nelson
It was said that committing suicide was much safer than trying to capture Baby Face Nelson, and perhaps alot less painful. Where Dillinger would give up if surrounded, Nelson would go for his weapon and kill everyone who dared to stop him.
Two FBI agents killed by Nelson
Left to right: Samual Cowley and W.Carter Baum. Two of Nelson's victims who went down with lead. W.Carter Baum was killed on April 23,1934 in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Agent's Cowley and Herman Hollis met their fate on November 27th in a shootout with Nelson Near Barrington, Illinois.
Nelson in the Morgue
26 year old Baby Face Nelson lays dead on a slab in the morgue with seventeen bullets in his body. Nelson walked completely in the open and confronted death as federal agents pumped several rounds into his body. Nelson succeeded in killing both agents before he escaped, stealing their car. The outlaw bled to death that evening with his wife Hellen Gillis and his good friend John Paul Chase by his side.
Alvin Karpis
Alvin Karpis was a close friend and crime partner of Freddy Barker in a string of bank robberies, kidnapping's and murder. The Barker gang would soon become the Barker/Karpis gang. Alvin Karpis moved quickly up the ladder to become the FBI's fourth and last man to become Public Emeny Number One in 1934. Karpis was captured in 1936 and sentenced to life in prison. He was only 28 years old at the time.
Arthur "Doc" Barker
Doc Barker's capture in Chicago on January 8, 1935 led to the deaths of his to Mom and brother, Kate and Freddy Barker. Federal agents found a map in Doc's Chicago apartment which led them directly to Kate and Fred Barker's hideout in Florida. Doc was later killed during an attempted escape from Alcatraz on June 13,1939.
Kate "Ma" Barker
She wasn't the leader of the gang, nor did she plan the robberies as the FBI claimed. She was Kate Barker, and the only crime she ever committed was just being the mother of her boys. In fact she had no criminal record on file, because she never committed a crime in her whole life. She became "Ma Barker," only after federal agents shot her to death along with her son Freddy. Shooting an old lady wasn't the image the FBI was trying to portray so they simply gave Kate the title "Ma Barker," and made her leader of the gang to justify their actions.
Kate and her son Fred Barker
