On Jan. 16, 1935, FBI brokers engaged in an epic six-hour gunfight with Kate “Ma” Barker and her son Fred in tiny Ocklawaha, Florida, successfully ending the prison reign of the notorious Ma Barker crime household and finally leading to Tallahassee’s brush with Public Enemy No. 1.
At the peak of the J. Edgar Hoover “Public Enemy No. 1” heyday, FBI brokers tracked down infamous financial institution robbers and kidnappers Ma and her son Fred, to Ocklawaha, a sleepy little hamlet on the banks of Lake Weir in Marion County, Florida. There was no fast arrest.
After approaching the rented home on Jan. 16, 1935, at 5 a.m., and making their presence identified, a gun battle ensued till 11 a.m. When the mud cleared, the 2 suspects had been killed ensuing within the longest shootout in FBI history.
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Against the law household develops
Ma Barker was born Arizona Clark in Ash Grove, Missouri, in 1873. In 1892 she married George Barker and the couple had 4 sons: Herman (1893-1927), Lloyd (1897-1949), Arthur (1899-1939), and Fred (1901-1935).
Her sons grew to become concerned in crimes that developed into theft and homicide. Herman died in 1927 in Wichita, Kansas, after a theft and homicide of a police officer. He killed himself to keep away from arrest after being significantly wounded.
In 1928, Lloyd was incarcerated within the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. Arthur was within the Oklahoma State Prison, and Fred was within the Kansas State Prison. At a while throughout this era, George, the daddy, left the household. He was later buried in Oklahoma in 1941 when he died of pure causes.
Chasing Public Enemy No. 1
Fred Barker was launched from jail in 1931. He had change into acquainted with Alvin Karpis, one other inmate, whereas serving time in Kansas. After their launch, they had been arrested for jewellery theft that very same yr. On Nov. 8, 1931, they encountered Night Marshal Manley Jackson in Pocahontas, Missouri, who they took hostage and later murdered.
During a collection of robberies, Barker and Karpis killed Sheriff C. Roy Kelly in West Plains, Missouri, on Dec. 19, 1931, and fled the realm alongside with Ma. Arthur Barker was launched from jail in 1932 and joined the gang.
While persevering with with their robberies, the gang moved into the massive time in June, 1933, once they kidnapped William Hamm, inheritor to the Hamm Brewery in Minnesota. After receiving a $100,000.00 ransom, he was launched safely. In January, 1934, they kidnapped Edward Bremer, a financial institution president and son of Adolf Bremer, the president of the Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company, receiving a $200,000 ransom.
This was the equal of about $4,360,000 as we speak. The Bremer household was linked to President Franklin D. Roosevelt who quickly introduced the Justice Department in to research. George “Shotgun” Ziegler, a member of the gang who had been instrumental in planning the Bremer kidnapping, started bragging in regards to the kidnapping. He was shot to dying as he got here out of a restaurant in Cicero, Illinois, on March 22, 1934. Justice Department brokers discovered names, addresses, and different helpful information in his pockets.
The longest shootout
On Jan. 8, 1935, brokers led by Melvin Purvis captured Arthur Barker in Chicago. He had in his possession a map of Florida with Lake Weir, close to Ocala, circled. This led brokers to the tiny village of Ocklawaha and finally to the rented home occupied by Ma and Fred Barker at 13250 East Highway C-25.
Around 5 a.m. on Jan. 16, brokers led by Agent Earl Connelly, surrounded the home. After making his presence identified, Agent Connelly informed the occupants that in the event that they got here out nobody could be damage. Ma Barker shouted out “Well, go ahead!” Tear fuel was fired into the residence and gunfire was returned.
Agents and the occupants shot at one another over the course of the following six hours with reportedly anyplace from 950-1,500 rounds being exchanged. By all accounts, it was a sluggish gunfight with sporadic firing. Finally, round midday, brokers entered the home and located Ma and Fred each useless. Agents discovered machine weapons, rifles, pistols, and $14,293 in money.
The story doesn’t finish there
Alvin Karpis was finally captured and despatched to Alcatraz however not earlier than he had squirreled away untold sums of cash in several banks. He was launched on parole in 1969, wrote a e book, and moved to Spain. He died on Aug. 26, 1979, in Spain of both an overdose of sleeping tablets or pure causes, relying on completely different accounts.
The our bodies of Ma and Fred had been taken to Sam Pyle’s Funeral Home in Ocala by undertaker Harold Martin. The our bodies had been embalmed and placed on show within the funeral dwelling for the following eight months. The excessive quantity of curious viewers wore the carpet out.
After being on public show, preparations had been made by a Joplin, Missouri, lawyer named Claude Kenney to bury their stays within the Timber Hill cemetery close to the Oklahoma city of Miami. While enroute to Oklahoma, the hearse stopped in Tallahassee on Sept. 25, 1935. The driver boasted that he had a couple of actual bandits with him. “Oh, don’t worry,” he continued, “they’re dead.”
The home the place the shootout occurred was moved to the Carney Island Recreation Area, at Lake Weir, in 2018. It is now a museum.
And so, whereas we have now been visited by presidents, celebrities, and a serial killer, that was our brush with a despair period Public Enemy No. 1.
David Brand, Law Enforcement Coordinator of the Florida Sheriffs Association, is an occasional visitor columnist for the Tallahassee Democrat and lives in St. Teresa.