On this day in Labor History the year was 1934.
That as the day that the bank robber known as Pretty Boy Floyd was gunned down by federal agents in Ohio.
He was born Charles Arthur Floyd in 1904 in Georgia.
His family moved to Oklahoma when he was a boy.
Like many Oklahomans during this era, he fell on hard economic times.
Floyd turned to crime.
He did a four year stretch in a Missouri prison for a payroll robbery.
When he got out, he tried to get a job in the Oklahoma oil fields.
Unable to find work, Floyd took up bank robbing.
He robbed banks in Kentucky, Ohio and Missouri.
He got caught and convicted in Ohio, but escaped on his train trip to prison.
He made his way back to Oklahoma.
There he became a folk hero.
Locals called him the “Robin Hood of The Cookson Hills.”
Legend had it that Floyd destroyed mortgage papers when he robbed banks, winning him friends among farmers reeling from the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.
Floyd became a national fugitive when he was accused of killing federal agents in Kansas City.
He denied he was involved in the killings.
Finally, the law caught up with Floyd in an Ohio cornfield.
His body was returned to Oklahoma, where as many as 40 thousands came to his funeral.
Woody Guthrie remembered Floyd in song.
April 1 - The Promise of 1946
March 31 - Hospital Workers Stand United
March 30 - 15th Amendment Adopted
March 29 - West Coast Hotel v Parrish Decided
March 28 - Partial Meltdown at Three Mile Island
March 27 - FE Strikers Battle Police at Harvester
March 26 - Police Attack UE Amid ‘46 Strike Wave
March 25 - Centralia Coal Mine #5 Explodes
March 24 - Exxon Valdez Runs Aground
March 23 - Texas City Refinery Explosion Kills 15
March 22 - ERA Passes the Senate
March 21 - Truman Signs Loyalty Order
March 20 - Another Deadly Explosion
March 19 - Wartime President Pushes for Labor Peace
March 18 - Wartime Workers Betrayed
March 17 - The Hoggs Hollow Tragedy
March 16 - Big Bill Haywood Talks General Strike
March 15 - The Grapes of Wrath Opens in Theaters
March 14 - Remembering Walter Crane
March 13 - Ending Jim Crow on the Job
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Meaningful Life with Andrew G. Marshall
The No-Frills Teacher Podcast
Heal, Survive & Thrive!
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
The Mel Robbins Podcast