Despite the raging criminal activity of her young sons, Ma Barker continued to defend them vehemently, with unrelenting requests for their release. However, Ma did not extend the same loyalty to her husband George, whom she had married when she was only fifteen. In 1927 Ma Barker left her husband for a man known as Arthur Dunlop. He carried a low reputation in the community as a drunkard and an arrogant and illiterate nomad. It was further rumored that the Barker Boys were resentful of Dunlop, who apparently did little more than freeload and boast about the criminal escapades of his youth.
Herman Barker had also found himself deep in the criminal life, roaming the Southwest with the Kimes-Terril Gang, robbing banks, stores, and other establishments. In late January of 1928, Herman and several accomplices broke into an Oklahoma bank, and under the cover of night, made off with a cash safe containing nearly $45,000. On a tip from a witness, police quickly raided their hideout in Carterville, Missouri. A fierce gun battle ensued and Herman and the others were forced to surrender. Herman was sent to Arkansas to stand trial for another robbery and he later managed to escape by sawing through the bars of his jail cell.
In early August, Herman and his wife were pulled over by Deputy Sheriff Arthur Osborne and before the officer was able to draw his gun, Herman fatally shot him. Less than a month later Herman engaged in another gun battle with police while attempting to escape a roadblock, and he was severely wounded. Bleeding profusely from his bullet wounds and with no hope of escape, Herman turned the gun on himself and committed suicide. Herman likely had pondered the certain fate of death by electrocution that would await him if he surrendered to police. His wife would later be convicted as an accomplice to Osborne’s murder, but was released only a few years later. She subsequently became a prostitute and the mistress of Alvin Karpis, another notorious Alcatraz inmate.
Alvin “Creepy” Karpis
Alvin “Creepy” Karpis became known in the 1930’s as America’s “Public Enemy Number One.” Karpis would spend twenty-five hard years at Alcatraz.
Alvin Karpowicz was born in Montreal, Canada in 1908, and his father moved the family to Topeka, Kansas when Alvin was still a young boy. It was an elementary school teacher who decided to shorten his name to simply Alvin Karpis and he would later be given the nicknames “Creepy Karpis” and “Old Creepy” by fellow inmates. Alvin would have the unique distinction of enduring a twenty-five year residence at Alcatraz (the longest term served on the Rock by any inmate) and he was designated as “Public Enemy Number One” by J. Edgar Hoover himself. He would live a quarter of a century in a place where he would never be allowed to walk astray and would never see many areas that were only a few yards from his cell. In his memoir published in Canada in 1980, Karpis claimed that his first encounter with crime had occurred when he stole a gun at only ten years of age. Like many other criminals of his day, his first arrest was for illegally hopping trains. He was sentenced to a Florida chain gang and after release he was again arrested for robbery. He subsequently escaped from prison and returned to his fugitive status.
Karpis joined the Barker gang after meeting Fred Barker in 1930 at the Kansas State Penitentiary in Lansing. Karpis and Fred had formed a close relationship in prison while working together in the coalmines. Karpis had made arrangements to buy himself an early release. Prisoners who worked in the mines were required to dig a specified amount of coal, and each day that they dug over their quota, they were given special “good time” credits that they could apply toward their release. Karpis paid other inmates to turn over their coal to him, which helped him to secure an early release in May of 1931. Only a month later, Karpis and Fred Barker were arrested for robbing a jewelry store. Both managed to pay restitution and were paroled.
Continuing their escapades in crime, on December 18, 1931 Karpis and Fred Barker robbed another store using a new 1931 DeSoto as their getaway car, and several witnesses were able to identify the vehicle. The following day an officer named C.R. Kelly was sent to investigate a sighting of the car at the Division Motor Company in West Plains, Missouri. Alvin and Fred had stopped there to have a flat tire repaired. When the officer approached the car to question the two occupants, Karpis opened fire on him, inflicting fatal gunshot wounds to the chest. Not long after the murder the two were identified, and on a tip from a witness Dunlop’s cottage in Thayer, Missouri was raided by the police. The fugitives had already fled, but the police discovered stolen merchandise from other robberies, and thus were able to identify the players.
Karpis was quickly accepted as one of the Barker family, and he almost seemed to replace Herman. Doc was released from prison in 1932, and as a condition of his parole, he was directed by authorities never again to return to Oklahoma. Once more the Barker gang went into full swing, pulling various bank and business heists. The family rented a house with Karpis and Dunlop at 1301 South Roberts Street in West St. Paul, Minnesota, but the landlady soon became suspicious on seeing them frequently entering and leaving the house carrying violin cases. Her son also recognized Fred Barker and Alvin Karpis from a detective magazine which featured a story about the killing of Officer Kelly. On April 25, 1932 the police raided the house, only to find that it had just been abandoned. The following morning, the body of Arthur “Old Man” Dunlop was found on the shores of Lake Frendsted near Webster, Missouri. Dunlop had been stripped of his clothing and shot three times at close range. Not too far away, the police found a bloodstained woman’s glove that was believed to belong to Ma Barker. The FBI later contended that Alvin and Fred had shot Dunlop to death, believing that he had been the one who tipped off the police.
The FBI had now started to close in on the Barker gang, which forced the outlaws to flee to Kansas City. Karpis posed as one of Ma’s sons, and the family bought a luxury home in an exclusive residential district known as Country Club Plaza. They attempted to masquerade as an upstanding family that worked in a successful insurance firm. The men ultimately teamed up with convicts Francis Keating, Thomas Holden, and Harvey Bailey (later an accomplice of “Machine Gun” Kelly), who had all escaped from Leavenworth Penitentiary. Another accomplice was Bernard Phillips, a corrupt police officer who had become a professional bank robber. The family started to move from one location to another, attempting to evade the FBI. On July 7th the FBI apprehended Bailey, Holden and Keating while they were playing golf at the Old Mission Golf Course in Kansas City. Phillips was also with the men, but he happened to be inside the country club, and watched from afar as the others were handcuffed and shoved into law enforcement vehicles. Phillips carried the news back to the gang, and Alvin and Fred quickly packed their belongings and fled. When the FBI raided the apartment they found cooked meals on the table, indicating an unplanned and rapid departure.
In July of 1932 Karpis, Phillips, Fred and Ma Barker, and another accomplice named Jess Doyle fled together from Kansas City to White Bear Lake in Minnesota, where they rented a summer cottage in a small resort. The gang maintained a low profile with the exception of frequenting a small nightclub called the Hollyhocks, which was owned by an associate named Jack Peifer. Their crime spree continued with a daring daylight robbery of the Cloud County Bank in Concordia, Kansas, where they secured over $240,000 in bonds and thousands of dollars in cash.
The family paid for the services of a private detective named Jack Glynn to help negotiate the release of Doc, who was imprisoned at Leavenworth at the time. Glenn conducted independent investigations, and managed to win Doc’s release on September 10, 1932. Glynn had also attempted to achieve the release of Lloyd Barker, who was likewise imprisoned at Leavenworth. But the authorities were unmoved by Glynn’s attempts, and denied Lloyd’s appeal. Doc spent a short time visiting with his father and a small stint attempting to make an honest living as a glass blower, and then reunited with Ma and the others back in Minnesota. Volney Davis was also successful in getting paroled, and he soon joined up with Doc.
On December 16, 1932 the Barker-Karpis Gang robbed the Third Northwestern Bank of
Minnesota, and the violent aftermath left one bystander and two police officers dead in a hail of machine gun bullets. The gang had thought that the bystander was attempting to get their license plate number, and had therefore shot him to death. Gang member Larry DeVol was captured, and he was found to have $17,000 in his possession from the Third Northwestern Bank robbery. The others took flight once again, this time making their way to Reno, Nevada, where they stayed for only a short period.
The reign of terror would continue as the Barker-Karpis Gang raged through the Midwestern States, eventually ending up in Chicago, where they murdered another police officer. The gang split up and kept separate residences, Ma living on the exclusive South Shore Drive, and Alvin cohabiting with Dolores Delaney, the sister-in-law of Pat Riley, a mobster from the Dillinger Gang. In 1933 the Barker-Karpis Gang had returned to St. Paul and was keep a low profile while they began to meet and plan the kidnapping of William A. Hamm, Jr., the President of Hamm’s Brewing Company. On June 17, 1933 the gang abducted Hamm, demanding a $100,000 ransom from his family and threatening his certain death if they tried to involve police. The ransom money was paid two days later and Hamm was released unharmed.
The gang’s next victim was Edward G. Bremer, a prominent community leader and President of the Commercial State Bank in Minnesota. Edward Bremer was the son of Adolph Bremer, one of the most well known figures in Minnesota, who owned his own brewing company. On the morning of January 17, 1934 Bremer drove his nine-year-old daughter to school, as part of his normal daily routine. After dropping her off, he proceeded to a crossroad and stopped to check for oncoming traffic. Volney Davis approached the Lincoln Sedan and held a pistol to Bremer’s head, directing him to “move over.” Another man then entered on the passenger side and struck Bremer over the head several times with a blunt object, then covered his eyes with a pair of goggles that had black electrical tape over the lenses.
At 10:40 a.m. Walter Magee, a very close friend of the Bremer family, received a call at his St. Paul office from a man who called himself Charles McGee. The caller explained that Bremer had been kidnapped, and that a note could be found on the side of the building providing further instructions. Under a side door, Magee found a note which read:
You are hereby declared in on a very desperate undertaking. Don't try to cross us. Your future and B's are the important issue. Follow these instructions to the letter. Police have never helped in such a spot and won't this time either. You better take care of the payoff first and let them do the detecting later. Because the police usually butt in, your friend isn't none too comfortable now so don't delay the payment. We demand $200,000. Payment must be made in 5 and 10-dollar bills - no new money - no consecutive numbers - large variety of issues. Place the money in two large suit box cartons big enough to hold the full amount and tie with heavy cord. No contact will be made until you notify us that you are ready to pay as we direct. You place an ad in the Minneapolis Tribune as soon as you have the money ready. Under the personal column you must write: We are ready Alice. You will then receive your final instructions. Be prepared to leave at a minutes notice to make the payoff. Don't attempt to stall or outsmart us. Don't try to bargain. Don't plead poverty; we know how much they have in their banks. Don't try to communicate with us; we'll do the directing. Threats aren’t necessary - you just do your part - we guarantee to do ours.
Magee promptly notified the FBI, and they began a full-fledged investigation. Bremer’s abandoned car was discovered with bloodstains on the steering wheel, the gearshift, and all of the car seats. It was clear that a struggle had taken place, and the Bremer family feared that Edward was already dead. The gang quickly learned that the police had been summoned, and sent several more letters warning of the outcome if the family didn’t pull the police off the case. The gang also devised a new signal, which would be to place a special sticker on the office window when the money was ready, and they warned again that they would kill Bremer if the family failed to come through with the ransom. On January 25, 1934 another note and a key were found inside a can of Hills Brothers coffee. The note instructed Magee to open a locker at the Jefferson Lines Bus Station, located in downtown St. Paul, and stated that additional instructions would be found inside this locker. Magee complied fully with their demands, assuming the name of John B. Brakesham and boarding a bus that departed at 8:40 p.m. for Des Moines, Iowa. But despite Magee’s efforts, the payoff failed to transpire as planned, and officials later found another note canceling the whole thing.
The kidnapping finally came to an end on February 6, 1934, when Magee received new instructions to locate a vehicle that had a note hidden in the glove box. Magee followed the additional instructions, which eventually led him down a dark dirt road at night, where he was to drop off the money. The FBI allowed the transaction to take place according to the wishes of the family, but they carefully recorded the serial numbers of the five and ten dollar bills. The following day, Bremer was released in the middle of an intersection near Rochester, Minnesota, and was told to stand with his back to the car and to count to fifteen before removing the large bandage covering his eyes.
After the kidnapping was safely resolved, U.S. special agents immediately embarked on an intensive investigation. Bremer had not been kept blinded folded all of the time, and he told agents that he could hear children playing outside of the hideout and two dogs barking frequently close to the house. Bremer had also studied his surroundings with great care. He had memorized the wallpaper and furnishings in the house, and the FBI searched for matching samples using old store receipts and other investigative means. Bremer had also heard traffic, and he told agents that when buses approached he could hear the drivers apply their brakes. Magee took agents to where he had dropped off the ransom money, and they found four flashlights that had been left behind. A young girl at a local store later identified photographs of Alvin Karpis and Doc Barker as the ones who had purchased the flashlights in downtown St. Paul. Bremer also remembered that his captors had thrown away a gas can that had been used to refuel the car during his kidnapping. The FBI recovered the gas can and it was found to have Doc’s full hand and fingerprints all over it.
The bills that had been used to pay in the ransom soon started surfacing in various banks around the Chicago area. Officials also later confirmed that Karpis and Fred Barker had met with Dr. J.O. Moran, a physician with close ties to Capone and the Chicago Crime Syndicate. Both of the criminals had received surgery to alter their facial features, and had also attempted the removal of their fingerprints. The operations were apparently severely painful, and the FBI later documented that Fred became a “raving maniac” from the acute distress. Volney Davis and Doc later underwent similar surgery, also attempting to conceal their identity. The Barker-Karpis Gang then started to split up to avoid apprehension, since word was growing stronger that the FBI was closing in on them.
Karpis moved to Cleveland, Ohio with Dolores Delaney, taking enough funds to live happily for several years. Soon thereafter Fred Barker followed them, and rented a home in a nearby housing development. Doc and several of the others also moved to Cleveland and led a fairly quiet existence. According to FBI reports, the gang still had about $100,000 of the original ransom money in their possession. The idyll was soon disrupted however, when a few of the female members were arrested for being drunk and disorderly in a hotel, and were quickly linked to the Barker-Karpis Gang. Karpis moved around the states, ending up in Miami, Florida, and then he and Dolores made their way to Havana, Cuba, where Alvin felt confident that agents would not find them. But Alvin Karpis would not be granted any rest, as his picture was already being circulated in the newspapers of Havana. He fled back to Miami, where once again several of the other gang members were starting to reassemble.
The FBI noted that during this period, Doc Barker spent time hiding in Toledo, Ohio, where he became infatuated with a woman named Mildred Kuhlman. Until then, many of Doc’s associates had termed him as a woman hater, who spurned femal
e companionship with the exception of his frequent visits to houses of prostitution. He persuaded Mildred to accompany him back to Chicago, where he promised a life of luxury and riches. When she agreed to go with him, the FBI had already put her under surveillance. On January 8, 1935 special agents surrounded the Barker house on Pine Grove Avenue in Chicago and took them both into custody. Agents also found a Thompson submachine gun, and the crime lab determined that it had been used in a robbery on August 30, 1933, in which a policeman had been killed with that very weapon. Also found in the house was a map with a street in Ocala, Florida circled in pencil. Doc received a life sentence for his role in the Bremer kidnapping, and was sentenced to serve his time at Alcatraz. He was shipped to the Rock in October of 1935.
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The hunt intensified even with the capture of Doc and special agents quickly descended on the town of Ocala and began an extensive investigation, believing that the map found in Chicago indicated the whereabouts of other Barker-Karpis gang members. Their hunch was right and they soon learned that Fred and Ma were living in a remote cottage located on Lake Weir at Ocklawaha, Florida. At 5:30 a.m. on the morning of January 16, 1935, special agents surrounded the cottage and told Fred and Ma to surrender. No answer or movement was detected for nearly fifteen minutes, and then finally the voice of Ma Barker was heard shouting: “all right, go ahead.” This was interpreted as indicating that they were going to surrender, but still no one emerged from the cottage. Seconds later the true meaning of the message was clear – the agents were forced to take cover under an intense bombardment of machine gun fire. The agents returned fire with a heavy barrage of machine gun rounds, rifle shots and tear gas grenades, and finally everything became quite.
Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years Page 30