Pretty Boy Floyd

untitled (13)On October 22, 1934 Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd was shot and killed by FBI agents in a cornfield in East Liverpool, Ohio.  After giving up on trying to farm in a drought, Floyd left Oklahoma and became a bank robber.  His first conquest was a St.Louis payroll delivery in Missouri, where he spent time in prison until he got out on parole in 1929.  Shortly after, Floyd learned that Jim Mills had shot his father to death and was never charged- Mills was never heard from again.

Moving on to a bigger game, in Kansas City, Floyd became friendly with the criminal community.  There, a local prostitute nicknamed him, “Pretty Boy”, and with a few prison friends he robbed a handful of banks in Missouri and Ohio.  But this pretty boy got caught for that one too, as he was sentenced to 12-15 years.  However he never did pay his time for the crime.untitled (15)  On the way, he kicked out a window and jumped out of a speeding train.  Eventually he made it to Toledo and met up with Bill “The Killer” Miller and went on a nation wide crime spree until Miller was killed in a crossfire in 1931.

Floyd went back to Kansas City and became a nationally known criminal figure, after he killed a federal agent during a raid.  He fled to his home state of Oklahoma, where everyone was poor and suffering from the Great Depression.  Naturally, no one was going to turn in a fellow native for robbing banks.  After all they all needed money too.  Charles Floyd became a form of Robin Hood in the eyes of many natives to Oklahoma.  At least, most natives.  The governor of Oklahoma issued a $6,000 bounty for Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd dead or alive.

June 17, 1933 the urgency to capture Floyd grew, as authorities grew even more impatient, after law officials were ambushed by a machine-gun attack in a Kansas City train station while transporting, Frank Nash, to prison.  Whether Floyd was responsible or not was unclear, but either way the FBI and news media blamed him.  As a result, surveillance was stepped up and the fugitive was finally caught on October 22, 1934.

 

All of my info was taken from this site.

Check out this site for more info from the FBI on Pretty Boy’s Kansas City Massacre: Famous Cases & Criminals

Newseum

Newseum

On Saturday October 18, 2014 myself along with twenty-four other Discover House members took on D.C.. Our second stop of a 4 hour bus ride, but main attraction was the Newseum! A fantastic place, filled with history and culture of every aspect, from (almost) every country, filled literally every room and every corner! And what better place to read about history, changing culture, and current events, then in the news?  This museum had it all.

Berlin wallWhile I definitely didn’t see every exhibit of the seven floor museum, every single one is worth your time.  Some of the exhibits I loved, included: 1964: Civil Rights at 50, 9/11 Gallery, Berlin Wall Gallery, The Boomer List (NEW), COX First Amendment Gallery, the FBI Exhibit, Make Some Noise, Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery, and Today’s Front Pages Gallery; where I actually got to see the Asbury Park Press (a paper from New Jersey), and a cover story about my high school football team!

Newly on display, the Boomer List features large portraits of iconic celebrities, comedians, and hosts, who were born each year of the baby boom from 1946-1964.  boomer listPhotographer, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, chose his boomers based on those who illuminated the “diversity and talent of their generation”.  Some of those featured include: Billy Joel,  Tommy Hilfiger, Kim Cattrall, and Rosie O’Donnell.

Personally, I thought the FBI Exhibit was THE coolest!  It included 200 artifacts, and photographs of the most media covered events over the past centuries.    One of the coolest artifacts there, was the Unabomber’s actual cabin where he hid out.  This exhibit, provides an inside look to the love-hate relationship between the FBI and media.

Last but certainly not least, the Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery was absolutely breathtaking.  The amazing moments captured with the click of a button, shutter of a lens, and flash of a bulb were incredible.  There really are no words to pulitzerexplain, how they make you feel.  And the stories behind the photographs are even more incredulous.  What many of photographers have gone through and experienced just to get the shot, is unimaginable to much of our society.  This photo gallery, and each picture in it, literally says a thousand words.  Of all the exhibits the Newseum contains, this gallery was one you NEEDED to visit.

Our trip to the Newseum gave us a glimpse into the reality of what is behind the news we hear, see, and read on television, social media sites, and the old school newspaper every day.

 

For more info on exhibits, to see what will be coming soon, or the overall Newseum itself, click here.  Also click the link if your interested in arranging a visit of you own!

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