Crazy Larry

July 8, 1936 saw the bloody demise of Depression Era desperado Lawrence DeVol. A member of the Barker-Karpis gang, DeVol was known as an especially trigger happy psycho who had killed a number of police officers.

DeVol became an associate of Karpis when they both escaped from Kansas State Reformatory in 1929. In 1933 DeVol was arrested after participating in a bank robbery that resulted in the death of three people. DeVol pleaded guilty and was sent away to a prison for the criminally insane. In June of 1936 he lead an escape of fifteen inmates. By early July he and another escapee, Donald Reeder, had robbed a few banks in Kansas and were laying low in Enid, Oklahoma planning future robberies. 

On July 8, DeVol and Reeder stopped into a beer parlor with a couple of dates. The proprietor didn't like the looks of them and thought they might be there to rob him. (Later he would state that a few weeks prior he heard DeVol's description given over the radio on the show Gang Busters and recognized him) Either way, the saloonkeeper called the cops. 

Two police men, officers Cal Palmer and Ralph Knarr, entered and approached DeVol's table and asked him to leave with them. "Let me finish my beer and I'll go with you." DeVol responded. As he drained his stein with one hand, DeVol drew a gun from his pocket with the other and opened fire on the cops, Palmer died immediately and Knarr was seriously wounded. 

DeVol and his companions fled from the place. Other police in the vicinity started to chase the desperado who jumped onto the running board of a car in an attempt to escape but the car came to a halt. Officers opened fire on the gunman who returned the fire as he tried to getaway on foot. After a few rounds the lawmen's bullets found their mark and DeVol dropped to the street dead.

Lawrence DeVol

Ford Not So Tough

On this date back in 1934, Oklahoma desperado and psychopath Ford Bradshaw met his end. He first appeared on police radar three years previously when his bullet riddled body was dumped from a car on the streets of Muskogee, but he refused to say who had shot him. The following year he was involved in a car jacking that resulted in the death of a woman. He was also accused of killing a gambler in 1933.

Bradshaw reportedly joined fellow Oklahoma bad man Wilbur Underhill a.k.a. the Tri-State Terror on some bank robberies. His exploits led to the Sooner-States National Guard being sent out to the Cookson Hills to bring him to justice. Bradshaw managed to elude them.

Bradshaw's downfall was a result of his own violent behavior. On March 3, he and his moll Stella "Boots" Moody patronized a roadhouse in Arkoma, Oklahoma. During their visit, Bradshaw lost a hundred bucks at gambling and then became belligerent, He wrecked a couple of slot machines and sent "Boots" out to their car to get his bullet-proof vest. She left his automatic shotgun in the car.

Back inside, Bradshaw threatened the other patrons and bartender, who happened to be a deputy sheriff and the owners brother, with a pistol and forced them to drink with him. Meanwhile, the proprietors wife and another patron snuck out and alerted the police. Officers came and surrounded the place. Once the police were their, the bartender drew his gun on Bradshaw who raised his hands. The police came in and disarmed the desperado and took his bullet proof vest. As they were escorting him out the back, he tried to make a dash for his car. A number of people tried to stop him and as they were wrestling about, the proprietor arrived with a gun and fired half a dozen shots into the thug.

"Don't do that!" Bradshaw groaned before rolling over dead.

Ford Bradshaw

Show Time In Branson

October 14, 1930 saw justice brought down on mid-west desperado Jake Fleagle. Along with his brother Ralph and two other confederates, Fleagle robbed a bank in Lamar, Colorado in 1928. It didn't go well. The bank president opened fire on the gang, and before they made their getaway, the president and his son, also a bank employee, were dead. One of the Fleagle gang had been shot in the face. The bandits did manage to get away with thousands of dollars in cash and securities. For safety, they also brought a hostage.

After the robbery, the gang fled to Fleagle's ranch in Kansas. A doctor was summoned for the wounded bandit. After he treated the wounded man, the doctor and the hostage were taken into a secluded area and executed by Fleagle. During the murders, Fleagle got some of the doctor's blood on a finger and left a smudge on the physician's car window, which they abandoned. The print was sent to to the FBI and it was identified as Fleagle's.

Over the course of two years Ralph Fleagle and the two confederates were captured but Jake was able to remain at large. Finally the law was able to track Jake to Missouri. They learned that he was going to meet an acquaintance in Branson, and set a trap. When Fleagle boarded the train to leave town they were waiting for him and approached him as he took a seat. As they shouted for him to raise his hands, Fleagle went for his gun and was shot through the stomach. The bandit was removed from the train in cuffs and leg irons and taken to a hospital where he died the following day.

Jake Fleagle

Clipped in a Barber Shop

Russell Hughes was a Midwest desperado who robbed banks and was said to be an associate of Handsome Jack Klutas, head of band of kidnappers who preyed primarily on Chicago gamblers.

Hughes, who was involved in a number of bank robberies, was loitering in the doorway of a Peoria, Illinois barber shop on this date in 1933.  Peoria's Chief of Detectives Fred Montgomery along with detectives Robert Moran and Gay Dusenberry were cruising town in the former's sedan when Montgomery noticed Hughes, who was wearing a fake mustache. Montgomery told Moran that he thought the guy was ringer for Hughes so they pulled over to check him out.

Hughes noticed the detectives pullover and retreated back into the barber shop. The detectives followed him in. "All right Hughes; put 'em up!" Montgomery ordered. Hughes pulled his hands. from his coat pockets. He had a gun in each and the firefight was on.

Moran fell with a wound that would prove fatal and Montgomery also dropped with a shot in his shoulder. Though wounded, Montgomery was able to keep firing. Mortally wounded, Hughes finally crumbled. "I think every shot I fired hit that fellow," Montgomery later stated, "but he just wouldn't drop. Before I knew it, my gun was empty."

Russell Hughes