Pretty Boy Floyd - Prohibition Era Robber and Robin Hood

One of the most famous historic cases listed on the FBI website is the story of the Kansas City Massacre and Pretty Boy Floyd. There are historians that claim that although Floyd as a gunman and gangster, he was not involved in the Kansas City Massacre that turned out to be his undoing.

Charles Arthur Floyd was born in 1904 in Adairsville, Georgia and grew to become one of the most famous bank robbers of the Prohibition era. Unlike his more dangerous contemporary, Baby Face Nelson, Floyd was more of a Robin Hood type.

In 1911 his father moved the family to Oklahoma; where he had heard you there was a good living to be made in the cotton fields. Charley, often called Choc, was a good boy who was well liked by his neighbors.

When Choc was 20 years old he married 16 year old Roby Hargraves and the couple had a son, named Charles Dempsey Floyd later that year. As he settled into family life, Choco spent months toiling in the cotton fields. He realized that he wanted more out of life than working in the fields.

The following year met a thief and met John Hilderbrand and his life of time was launched. The partners went on a crime spree; robbing food stores and services stations.

Floyd, who was often called Choc, was dubbed "Pretty Boy" after a store manager described the robber as having a pretty face and the label stuck.

Choc was captured and ended up in Missouri State Penitentiary at the end of 1925. He kept to himself while in prison, anticipating the time that he could rejoin his wife and son. When he got out of prison he learned that his wife had divorced him for desertion.

Floyd was released from prison and soon became a bank robber. When he returned home in 1931, he quickly found out the people in his home county loved him. He realized that people would not betray his whereabouts to law enforcement.

It was the Great Depression and the economies of the small towns dwindled and entire towns went bankrupt. Pretty Boy Floyd found a new mission. He started to rob banks to help people instead of for pleasure. According to the article Charles Arthur Floyd: Pretty Boy from Cookson Hills; Floyd sent a message to Uncle Sam that read, "If you ain't gonna do nothing to help the little guy, "Pretty Boy" Floyd will!

The legend of Pretty Boy Floyd took off as he and his band of bandits robbed banks, tore up unrecorded mortgages and gave enough money back to the poor to be called the "Robin Hood of Oklahoma." The public adored the new folk hero.

Floyd had a reunion with his wife and child and they lived together for about six happy months, until law enforcement caught up with him and he went back on the run.

Floyd continued his crime spree, and robbed some banks along with Public Enemy Number One, John Dillinger.

The Kansas City Massacre was an incident that took place on June 17, 1933. In an attempt to free a killer,

named Frank Nash, from police custody, there was a shootout and four policemen were and the prisoner were left dead. The FBI blamed Pretty Boy Floyd for taking part in the killing and pursuit of him intensified.

Although the FBI listed Floyd as one of the gang members, there are scholars who believe that Pretty Boy Floyd had nothing to do with the Kansas City Massacre.

Robin Hood or robber, or a combination of the two, Pretty Boy Floyd's life came to an end when he was shot by FBI agents who were in pursuit of him on October 22, 1934.

Resources

FBI website

Tru TV - Charles Arthur Floyd: Pretty Boy from Cookson Hills; by Joseph Geringer

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