Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd -- Akins Cem., Akins OK - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

A hard-working sharecropper's son who turned to a life of crime, Charley Floyd gained fame in the press as "Pretty Boy" Floyd, a daring bank robber romanticized in the press as an almost Robin Hood-like figure in the depths of the Great Depression.

The reality of his character was much darker, as shown on 17 Jun 1933 in Kansas City MO, when Floyd and two heavily-armed co-conspirators (Adam Richetti and Vernon Miller) ambushed seven lawmen who were transporting Frank Nash, one of Floyd's friends, to Federal prison. When the rat-a-tat of the Floyd gang's machine guns stopped, two Kansas City police officers, two federal officers, and Nash all lay dead in front of busy Union Station in downtown Kansas City Missouri.

Also killed off that day was the public's affection for bank robbers like Floyd and John Dillinger, who had been treated like heroes by the press for preying on the banks that so many Americans blamed for their suffering during the Depression.

After the smoke cleared, Floyd, Miller, and Richetti realized their friend was dead. They escaped from Kansas City and became fugitives, moving frequently around the country, trying to stay one step ahead of law enforcement and the FBI.

Miller was killed by gangsters a few months after the Kansas City Massacre, but Floyd and Richetti remained on the run for a year and a half.

On 20 October 1934, Floyd and Richetti were spotted acting suspiciously in a small Ohio town. When police responded, a gun battle ensued. Richetti was captured after emptying his gun, but Floyd, despite being shot, managed to escape capture.

Two days later Federal agents found Floyd in a corn field. After a brief gun battle in which Floyd was shot twice, he was captured. Floyd died of his wounds 15 minutes later.

Richetti was tried on four counts of murder in the first degree. He was executed by the state of Missouri in 1938.

For more on the Kansas City Massacre, see here: (visit link)

For more on Floyd, see here: (visit link)

Blasterz were struck by his laser-engraved modern tombstone, which is decades newer than 1934. A stone vase with the initial F is affixed to the headstone. The day Blasterz were there, the vase was filled with new artificial flowers, and more artificial flowers were inserted carefully along the bottom of his tombstone.

Description: Notorious bank robber and mass-murderer, part of the gang that carried out the Kansas City Massacre in 1933. Date of birth: 02/03/1904 Date of death: 10/22/1934 Area of notoriety: Crime Marker Type: Headstone Setting: Indoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: dawn to dusk daily Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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