Show by REX COLLIER copyright 1936 by the north american newspaper alliance inc 77 7 7 F p lm N room in the florida house in W aich ala barker was killed MA BARKER HE G men killed a woman T THE a mother in their famous siege of the karpis barker gangs hideout on lake weir florida but what a woman As a mother she had taught her four boys how to rob kidnap and murder she had given them private lessons in the fine art of loading and firing a thompson submachine gun she had plotted crimes for them obtained paroles for them chided them when they bungled a job patted them on the back when they carried out her carefully planned outrages screaming with rage she had turned a machine gun on agents of the federal bureau of investigation who called on her to surrender at lake weir and she died with that gun still smoking in her hands such was the untimely end of kate barker known to the underworld of the midwestern crime corridor few years back as ma ma barker died with her bank robbing son fred in in a palatial eight room frame house rented by the karpis barker gang near Ok lawaha OMa waha fla from the agent who led the raid on that house and from data in the files of the F B I 1 this writer has obtained a firsthand first hand official account of the spectacular end of kate and fred barker and of the incidents which led to discovery by the G men of the florida fortress the trail leading to the barkers began when experts in the technical laboratory of the F B 1 I identified fingerprints found on gasoline cans in the bremer as those of arthur doc barker paroled murderer and son of kate doc barker had a sweetheart in chicago whose name was learned by the F B 1 I agents investigating associates of the gang for six weeks agents shadowed her finally the long vigilance was rewarded doc barker arrived at the girls apartment one day but the agents waited in the hope that other members of the gang also would appear for four days thereafter it the h e agents trailed barker and the girl on pleasure jaunts and shopping tours about chicago and on several occasions they were seen to enter another apartment not far away from the girls agents were planted to watch the second apartment on pine grove avenue they saw two men and two women come and go from this apartment at various times but the men were not known to the L t men on january 8 after doc barker had been seen in his girls apartment and the other quartet had been checked in at the pine grove avenue place it was decided to raid both apartments simul or nearly so just before the hour for the raids barker and the girl emerged from the batters lat apartment and waiting agents with drawn guns closed in on them doc barker started to run slipped on some ice fell to the ground and was seized before he could arise the girl was taken without a struggle it was not necessary to fire a shot the couple was taken to the F B I 1 office quietly and the agents hurried to aid their fellow officers at the pine grove avenue flat the inspector in charge went into the lobby and called over the house telephone to the apartment upstairs in in which it was believed members of the gang were living A woman answered he asked for mr bolton meaning byron bolton known to be a member of the karpis barker mob the woman asked who was calling 0 and the inspector thereupon identified him sel seu as a federal agent and demanded that everyone in the apartment come down the steps with uplifted hands thre there was a frightened outcry as the phone was hung up A moment later the door of the apartment was opened and two women aomen cami came down the stairs with hands raised high above their heads they were followed by byron bolton likewise evidencing submission sion the trio was asked why the other man did not come down the inspector warned that resistance would mean gunfire and that the apartment building was completely surrounded by armed agents one of the women frightened by this warning shouted a plea to daddy to surender daddy was russell gibson alias slim gray gibson meanwhile put on a bullet 1 root roof vest picked up a browning automatic rifle turned the lights out in the kitchen and stepped onto the back porch agents saw him and called on him to surrender instead gibson opened fire with the rifle in an effort to clear the way and started to run down the back steps an agent stationed at th the e r rear ear returned the fire and gibson fell the remainder of the way down the steps fatally wounded in the apartment were found three browning automatic rifles two t w 0 automatic rifles four automatic pistols a sawed off shotgun steel vests and a large quantity of ammunition most important of all however was a torn letter found in the apartment the salvaged portion of the letter was not signed and had no address but it referred to the pleas tnt life the writer was leading in florida it mentioned a lake with a houseboat on it and an alligator in in it the alligator it said was named old joe with no more clues to follow than these F B a agents ants began a search for a lake in florida with a houseboat and an alligator known as old joe believe it or not the third lake visited by the agents answered the description given in the letter completely ely houses fronting on this lake were investigated discreetly and one was found that had aroused suspicions of neighbors because of strange goings on the occupants were described as a stout old woman of disreputable appearance her son and daughter in law mr and mrs blackburn and two 0 other t h e r couples the other couples it was learned had departed in an automobile that morning the description of the old woman and her son fitted ma and fred barker more agents were rushed to okla waha by plane and automobile and plans were made to raid the house the next morning at dawn at 7 a m it was light enough to see the figure of a man sleeping on a cot at the front door the inspector in charge of the raid stepped forward toward the front porch and shouted a demand that the occupants come out of the house hands raised fred barker jumped from the cot and ran upstairs the agents heard ma barkers raucous voice yell all right go ahead the inspector shouted 0 K come on fred first come out first fred if you have the nerve immediately ma barker was seen to step to a window and open fire with a machine gun on the inspector who jumped behind a shed fred simultaneously began firing a powerful automatic rifle at an agent who had taken refuge behind a small tree ma and fred began to concentrate cen their fire on the agent behind the tree near the shed seeing that the agent a trusted companion would soon be killed by the rifle bullets which were easily capable of penetrating the tree the inspector deliberately dashed from behind the shed to draw the fire away from the agent running and dodging across the lawn for a few feet the inspector threw himself headlong toward the front porch of the house and rolled over and over as bullets from mas alas machine gun threw dirt in his eyes and whistled around his cars by getting close to the house he was able to get out of range of fire as the barkers would have had to expose themselves in the window in order to aim at him before long the firing from within the house ceased and nd after several hails had gone unanswered the agents entered the bullet riddled house fred barker had fallen on his face with a 45 caliber automatic in his hand ma barker lay on the floor still caressing her machine gun which she had reloaded with a shot drum the drum had been partly used up in the house the agents found another machine gun three rifles three automatic pistols a number of bulletproof bullet proof vests and a large quantity of ammunition the two couples who had departed not long before the G men arrived it developed later were vere alvin karpis and harry campbell and their women A few days later they shot their way out of a police trap at atlantic city only to be hunted down and captured eventually without gunfire by J edgar hoover and his men in in sensational raids at new orleans and toledo |