Name: Floyd Garland Hamilton
Ethnicity: White
Birth Date: 13 Jun 1908
Birth Place: Henrietta, OK
Father's name: John Henry Hamilton
Mother's name: Sarah Alice Bullock
Death Date: 24 Jul 1984
Death Place: Dallas, TX
Date Recieved at Alcatraz: 9 Jun 1940
Incarceration Reason: NATIONAL BANK ROBBERY, ASSAULT & DYER ACT
Place of Incarceration: Alcatraz, San Francisco, California
Transferred From: L
Old Box Number: H-02
New Box Number: 530 - 531
Shelf Location: 3136D
Inmate Number: 523
Case File Screened: Yes
Pages in Case File: 400
Remarks: ATT ESC 04-13-43 (hid for 3 days) / TX DEATH RECORDS; PARDONED BY LBJ 12-23-1966; ca. 400 pp.
Chapman Seen with Hamilton in Bandit Team
Date: Thursday, June 9, 1938
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: I
Page: Nine
Chapman Seen With Hamilton In Bandit Team
Two Robberies In Two Days Blamed on Desperadoes
Minden, La. June 8
Authorities Wednesday night believed former building contractor Charles Chapman, No. 1 badman of the Southwest, within twenty-four hours had engineered two smooth bank robberies in Arkansas and Louisiana, netting him and desperado Floyd Hamilton more than $18,000.
Sheriff's Officers thought the region's two most desperate outlaws--probably with a woman and other men companions--had robbed the Bradley (Ark) bank of $700 Tuesday and the Minden Bank & Trust Company of $18,000 Wednesday morning. In each case the bandits pried into the bank and bound incoming employees until the time lock permitted opening the vault.
This was the method Chapman, a fugitive from Texas penitentiary, used most often.
The officers believed the outlaws fled from Minden in two automobiles and a dark, heavy-set man driving one of the getaway cars at Sikes Ferry, in North Webster Parish, was thought to have been Chapman. The two cars separated from Plain Dealing, twenty-five miles from here, one going toward Arkansas, the other south toward Plain Dealing.
Chapman was known to have a hideaway near Fouke, Ark and was familiar with swamps along Dorcheat Bayou. Hamilton was familiar with the tri-state Rodessa oil field, extending into Texas and Arkansas. Officers therefore streamed into the vague sideroads in Northwest Louisiana.
Ted Walters, fugitive who had broken out of a Texas jail with Hamilton, was identified as his companion at Bradley. The third man at Bradley-was-unidentified.
As the robbers filed out of the Minden bank one of them filled Miss Dorothy Hadwin's purse with nickels from the vault and handed it back to her. It was all the bank salvaged.
A customer identified Hamilton's picture as that of a man he had seen in the bank two weeks ago and officers believed the gunman had been in to get the lay of the land.
The Minden bank was a Federal Reserve member and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents joined heavily armed parish and State officers in the manhunt for the bandits.
After looking at pictures of the outlaws, both Cashier Jack W Meek of Bradley and J E Harper, president of the Minden bank, said Hamilton was one of the bandits in each of the raids.
It was believed Jewel Crenshaw, paroled after a robbery of the Bradley bank several years ago. was a companion of the outlaws in these most recent holdups. She reportedly was with Hamilton when he was recognized by a former schoolmate near Monroe several weeks ago.
Search for the bandits was concentrated in this section, but officers in Texas and Arkansas were maintaining a close lookout.
G-Men Name Hamilton as Bank Robber
Date: Saturday, June 11, 1938
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: I
Page: Three
G-Men Name Hamilton As Bank Robber
Shreveport, La June 10
The Federal Bureau of Investigation entered the search Friday for Floyd Hamilton, brother of the late Raymond Hamilton.
Charges of bank robbery and transporting a stolen car across a state line were filed by the FBI against Hamilton, Ted Walters, John Doe and Richard Roe.
W. L. Thompson, a G-man, filed the charges. Authorities said the identities of Doe and Roe were known but were being withheld for obvious reasons.
The charges were filed in connection with the robbery of the Bradley (Ark) bank early this week and the use of a car stolen from V. P. Clements Jr. of Vivian, La., in the bank holdup.
Hamilton was believed to have joined Charles Chapman, Arkansas badman, for the robbery of the Bradley Bank and the Minden (La.) Bank & Trust Company.
Louisiana and Arkansas State police had practically withdrawn from the search for Hamilton and Chapman. Arkansas national guard planes used in the search returned to their hangers.
Date: Tuesday, June 14, 1938
Paper: Greensboro Record (Greensboro, NC)
Page: 1
Robbery Suspects Held in New York
Bradley, ark June 14
Jack Meek, assistant cashier of Bradley, Ark bank said today he had been notified by Sheriff Griffith, of Lewisville, Ark, that New York City police captured Charles Chapman, Floyd Hamilton and Ted Walters, notorious desperados suspected of robbing the Bradley bank, June 7, of $685.
The next day, June 8, a group of bank robbers invaded the Minden, La, Bank and Trust company and escaped with more than $18,000 of the bank's money.
The Hamilton gang, all escaped convicts or wanted for a series of crimes in Texas and Arkansas, also was suspected in the Minden robbery.
The president of the Minden bank and employees were overpowered and tied up as they entered by the men who had broken into the bank at an early hour.
$1,200 Hamilton Robbery up for Hearing Tuesday
Date: Tuesday, August 23, 1938
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: II
Page: One, Seven
relatives visit (photo of family)
Mrs Mattie Strait his mother in law
his wife Mildred
Mrs Lily Brown his sister
Mrs Alice Davis his mother
did not get to see his two children: John William Hamilton age 6 and Betty Joyce Hamilton age 9
at right Finley Donica, charged with chauffeuring the auto used by Hamilton and Ted Walters in a $1200 robbery on July 22,
Hamilton and Walters (two west dallas men) last survivors of the famous Clyde Barrow gang,
Friday, November 4, 1938
Paper: Morning Star (Rockford, IL)
Page: 10
Floyd Hamilton and Walters Admit Robbery
Fort Smith, Ark Nov 3
Floyd Hamilton and Ted Walters, southwestern outlaws captured recently near Dallas, Texas today pleaded guilty in U. S. district court to robbing the bank of Bradley (Ark) of more than $600 and were sentenced to 30 years each in prison.
Bank Robber to Fight Bid for Return
Date: Saturday, December 15, 1956
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: Part 3
Page: 1
Dist Atty Henry Wade's office said Friday it appears a legal fight will be necessary to gain custody of Floyd Hamilton, 48 notorious Texas bank robber of the mid 30's when he is paroled Dec 29 from federal prison at Leavenworth, Ks
given 25 year term in Dallas, Texas in 1938
1940 Kickapoo Township, Leavenworth, Kansas, April 25, U S Penitentiary
Floyd Hamilton 32 Oklahoma res 1935 Texas
Reformed gangster recalled as fine man
Date: Saturday, July 28, 1984
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Page: 33A, 39A
Grand Prairie
When 76 year old Floyd G Hamilton died Tuesday at a hospital in Grand Prairie, there was no funeral or public notice to mark the passing of a former "Public Enemy No 1"
His body was cremated and the ashes were quietly spread near the grave of his wife in Irving because Hamilton--who used to run with the notorious Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker gang--knew how he would be remembered, said Dallas auto dealer W. O Bankston.
"He didn't want people to remember just the bad about him," said Bankston, who hired Hamilton as a night watchman when Hamilton got out of prison in 1958. "He was a good man who just had problems early in his life."
Bankston said Friday that none of his memories of Hamilton, who worked for Bankston for 16 years, are marked by guns or bank robberies.
"From the time he got out of prison to the time he died, he was one of the finest men I've ever known," Bankston said.
Things were different though, in the 1930's. At that time, Hamilton ran with the Barrow gang, bringing them food and clothing while they were hiding from lawmen and arranged meetings with family members. He also committed a series of armed robberies that earned him the FBI's "Public Enemey No. 1" designation in 1938.
In 1934, Hamilton was accused of helping his brother, Raymond, break out of the Eastham Unit of the Texas Department of Corrections. During the breakout, Raymond Hamilton shot and killed a prison guard. He was later executed for the killing.
Hamilton served 18 years in the Leavenworth and Alcatraz prisons for armed robbery. When he was released in 1958, he began working with the International Prison Ministry to help other prison parolees find jobs and a fresh start.
His work earned him a pardon from President Lyndon B Johnson and former Gov John Connally in the 1960's. He later traveled throughout the country, giving speeches about his past and how he reformed.
Hamilton, who spent the last years of his life in the West Dallas neighborhood where he grew up in the 1920's with Barrow and Miss Parker, once described his life as an outlaw as "anything but glamourous."
Friends recalled him Friday as a quiet, private man who seldom reminisced about his days as an outlaw.
Bankston said Hamilton, who suffered from diabetes, declined rapidly after his wife, Mildred, died four months ago. "He was very devoted to her," Bankston said.
Bankston said that when Hamilton was released from prison in 1958, Bankston agreed to hire him as a night watchman on the recommendation of former Dallas County Sheriff Bill Decker.
Although Hamilton had admitted his complicity in several bank robberies, Decker believed that Hamilton had reformed while in Alcatraz and had become a Christian, Bankston said.
Bankston said he wasn't disappointed in Hamilton.
"He worked for me for a number of years, and if he told you he would do something, he did it," Bankston said. "He helped boys and girls throughout the country (during speaking engagements) and never asked anything for it."
Hamilton was born June 13, 1908, in Okmulgee County, Okahoma.
In his autobiography, Public Enemy No 1, Hamilton wrote: "I've always believed your word is your bond. It's the one thing you own that no one can take away from you, no matter how poor you are. I've believed that, come thick and thin."
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Saturday, July 28, 1984
Deceased Name: FLOYD HAMILTON, NOTORIOUS BANDIT OF '30S
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas -- Floyd Garland Hamilton, a childhood friend of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow who himself was named the FBI's Public Enemy No. 1 in the 1930s, has died at age 76.
Although Hamilton spent more than 20 years in prison and his brother Ray died in the Texas electric chair in 1935 for murdering a prison guard, his prison ministry work later won him pardons from President Johnson and former Texas Gov. John Connally.
His first arrest came in 1934 when he was accused of robbing a bank. The charge was dropped, but federal officials accused him of aiding Barrow and Parker and helping his brother flee a state prison in an escape in which a guard was killed
Ethnicity: White
Birth Date: 13 Jun 1908
Birth Place: Henrietta, OK
Father's name: John Henry Hamilton
Mother's name: Sarah Alice Bullock
Death Date: 24 Jul 1984
Death Place: Dallas, TX
Date Recieved at Alcatraz: 9 Jun 1940
Incarceration Reason: NATIONAL BANK ROBBERY, ASSAULT & DYER ACT
Place of Incarceration: Alcatraz, San Francisco, California
Transferred From: L
Old Box Number: H-02
New Box Number: 530 - 531
Shelf Location: 3136D
Inmate Number: 523
Case File Screened: Yes
Pages in Case File: 400
Remarks: ATT ESC 04-13-43 (hid for 3 days) / TX DEATH RECORDS; PARDONED BY LBJ 12-23-1966; ca. 400 pp.
Chapman Seen with Hamilton in Bandit Team
Date: Thursday, June 9, 1938
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: I
Page: Nine
Chapman Seen With Hamilton In Bandit Team
Two Robberies In Two Days Blamed on Desperadoes
Minden, La. June 8
Authorities Wednesday night believed former building contractor Charles Chapman, No. 1 badman of the Southwest, within twenty-four hours had engineered two smooth bank robberies in Arkansas and Louisiana, netting him and desperado Floyd Hamilton more than $18,000.
Sheriff's Officers thought the region's two most desperate outlaws--probably with a woman and other men companions--had robbed the Bradley (Ark) bank of $700 Tuesday and the Minden Bank & Trust Company of $18,000 Wednesday morning. In each case the bandits pried into the bank and bound incoming employees until the time lock permitted opening the vault.
This was the method Chapman, a fugitive from Texas penitentiary, used most often.
The officers believed the outlaws fled from Minden in two automobiles and a dark, heavy-set man driving one of the getaway cars at Sikes Ferry, in North Webster Parish, was thought to have been Chapman. The two cars separated from Plain Dealing, twenty-five miles from here, one going toward Arkansas, the other south toward Plain Dealing.
Chapman was known to have a hideaway near Fouke, Ark and was familiar with swamps along Dorcheat Bayou. Hamilton was familiar with the tri-state Rodessa oil field, extending into Texas and Arkansas. Officers therefore streamed into the vague sideroads in Northwest Louisiana.
Ted Walters, fugitive who had broken out of a Texas jail with Hamilton, was identified as his companion at Bradley. The third man at Bradley-was-unidentified.
As the robbers filed out of the Minden bank one of them filled Miss Dorothy Hadwin's purse with nickels from the vault and handed it back to her. It was all the bank salvaged.
A customer identified Hamilton's picture as that of a man he had seen in the bank two weeks ago and officers believed the gunman had been in to get the lay of the land.
The Minden bank was a Federal Reserve member and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents joined heavily armed parish and State officers in the manhunt for the bandits.
After looking at pictures of the outlaws, both Cashier Jack W Meek of Bradley and J E Harper, president of the Minden bank, said Hamilton was one of the bandits in each of the raids.
It was believed Jewel Crenshaw, paroled after a robbery of the Bradley bank several years ago. was a companion of the outlaws in these most recent holdups. She reportedly was with Hamilton when he was recognized by a former schoolmate near Monroe several weeks ago.
Search for the bandits was concentrated in this section, but officers in Texas and Arkansas were maintaining a close lookout.
G-Men Name Hamilton as Bank Robber
Date: Saturday, June 11, 1938
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: I
Page: Three
G-Men Name Hamilton As Bank Robber
Shreveport, La June 10
The Federal Bureau of Investigation entered the search Friday for Floyd Hamilton, brother of the late Raymond Hamilton.
Charges of bank robbery and transporting a stolen car across a state line were filed by the FBI against Hamilton, Ted Walters, John Doe and Richard Roe.
W. L. Thompson, a G-man, filed the charges. Authorities said the identities of Doe and Roe were known but were being withheld for obvious reasons.
The charges were filed in connection with the robbery of the Bradley (Ark) bank early this week and the use of a car stolen from V. P. Clements Jr. of Vivian, La., in the bank holdup.
Hamilton was believed to have joined Charles Chapman, Arkansas badman, for the robbery of the Bradley Bank and the Minden (La.) Bank & Trust Company.
Louisiana and Arkansas State police had practically withdrawn from the search for Hamilton and Chapman. Arkansas national guard planes used in the search returned to their hangers.
Date: Tuesday, June 14, 1938
Paper: Greensboro Record (Greensboro, NC)
Page: 1
Robbery Suspects Held in New York
Bradley, ark June 14
Jack Meek, assistant cashier of Bradley, Ark bank said today he had been notified by Sheriff Griffith, of Lewisville, Ark, that New York City police captured Charles Chapman, Floyd Hamilton and Ted Walters, notorious desperados suspected of robbing the Bradley bank, June 7, of $685.
The next day, June 8, a group of bank robbers invaded the Minden, La, Bank and Trust company and escaped with more than $18,000 of the bank's money.
The Hamilton gang, all escaped convicts or wanted for a series of crimes in Texas and Arkansas, also was suspected in the Minden robbery.
The president of the Minden bank and employees were overpowered and tied up as they entered by the men who had broken into the bank at an early hour.
$1,200 Hamilton Robbery up for Hearing Tuesday
Date: Tuesday, August 23, 1938
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: II
Page: One, Seven
relatives visit (photo of family)
Mrs Mattie Strait his mother in law
his wife Mildred
Mrs Lily Brown his sister
Mrs Alice Davis his mother
did not get to see his two children: John William Hamilton age 6 and Betty Joyce Hamilton age 9
at right Finley Donica, charged with chauffeuring the auto used by Hamilton and Ted Walters in a $1200 robbery on July 22,
Hamilton and Walters (two west dallas men) last survivors of the famous Clyde Barrow gang,
Friday, November 4, 1938
Paper: Morning Star (Rockford, IL)
Page: 10
Floyd Hamilton and Walters Admit Robbery
Fort Smith, Ark Nov 3
Floyd Hamilton and Ted Walters, southwestern outlaws captured recently near Dallas, Texas today pleaded guilty in U. S. district court to robbing the bank of Bradley (Ark) of more than $600 and were sentenced to 30 years each in prison.
Bank Robber to Fight Bid for Return
Date: Saturday, December 15, 1956
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: Part 3
Page: 1
Dist Atty Henry Wade's office said Friday it appears a legal fight will be necessary to gain custody of Floyd Hamilton, 48 notorious Texas bank robber of the mid 30's when he is paroled Dec 29 from federal prison at Leavenworth, Ks
given 25 year term in Dallas, Texas in 1938
1940 Kickapoo Township, Leavenworth, Kansas, April 25, U S Penitentiary
Floyd Hamilton 32 Oklahoma res 1935 Texas
Reformed gangster recalled as fine man
Date: Saturday, July 28, 1984
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Page: 33A, 39A
Grand Prairie
When 76 year old Floyd G Hamilton died Tuesday at a hospital in Grand Prairie, there was no funeral or public notice to mark the passing of a former "Public Enemy No 1"
His body was cremated and the ashes were quietly spread near the grave of his wife in Irving because Hamilton--who used to run with the notorious Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker gang--knew how he would be remembered, said Dallas auto dealer W. O Bankston.
"He didn't want people to remember just the bad about him," said Bankston, who hired Hamilton as a night watchman when Hamilton got out of prison in 1958. "He was a good man who just had problems early in his life."
Bankston said Friday that none of his memories of Hamilton, who worked for Bankston for 16 years, are marked by guns or bank robberies.
"From the time he got out of prison to the time he died, he was one of the finest men I've ever known," Bankston said.
Things were different though, in the 1930's. At that time, Hamilton ran with the Barrow gang, bringing them food and clothing while they were hiding from lawmen and arranged meetings with family members. He also committed a series of armed robberies that earned him the FBI's "Public Enemey No. 1" designation in 1938.
In 1934, Hamilton was accused of helping his brother, Raymond, break out of the Eastham Unit of the Texas Department of Corrections. During the breakout, Raymond Hamilton shot and killed a prison guard. He was later executed for the killing.
Hamilton served 18 years in the Leavenworth and Alcatraz prisons for armed robbery. When he was released in 1958, he began working with the International Prison Ministry to help other prison parolees find jobs and a fresh start.
His work earned him a pardon from President Lyndon B Johnson and former Gov John Connally in the 1960's. He later traveled throughout the country, giving speeches about his past and how he reformed.
Hamilton, who spent the last years of his life in the West Dallas neighborhood where he grew up in the 1920's with Barrow and Miss Parker, once described his life as an outlaw as "anything but glamourous."
Friends recalled him Friday as a quiet, private man who seldom reminisced about his days as an outlaw.
Bankston said Hamilton, who suffered from diabetes, declined rapidly after his wife, Mildred, died four months ago. "He was very devoted to her," Bankston said.
Bankston said that when Hamilton was released from prison in 1958, Bankston agreed to hire him as a night watchman on the recommendation of former Dallas County Sheriff Bill Decker.
Although Hamilton had admitted his complicity in several bank robberies, Decker believed that Hamilton had reformed while in Alcatraz and had become a Christian, Bankston said.
Bankston said he wasn't disappointed in Hamilton.
"He worked for me for a number of years, and if he told you he would do something, he did it," Bankston said. "He helped boys and girls throughout the country (during speaking engagements) and never asked anything for it."
Hamilton was born June 13, 1908, in Okmulgee County, Okahoma.
In his autobiography, Public Enemy No 1, Hamilton wrote: "I've always believed your word is your bond. It's the one thing you own that no one can take away from you, no matter how poor you are. I've believed that, come thick and thin."
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Saturday, July 28, 1984
Deceased Name: FLOYD HAMILTON, NOTORIOUS BANDIT OF '30S
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas -- Floyd Garland Hamilton, a childhood friend of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow who himself was named the FBI's Public Enemy No. 1 in the 1930s, has died at age 76.
Although Hamilton spent more than 20 years in prison and his brother Ray died in the Texas electric chair in 1935 for murdering a prison guard, his prison ministry work later won him pardons from President Johnson and former Texas Gov. John Connally.
His first arrest came in 1934 when he was accused of robbing a bank. The charge was dropped, but federal officials accused him of aiding Barrow and Parker and helping his brother flee a state prison in an escape in which a guard was killed
Name: Floyd Garland Hamilton
Ethnicity: White
Birth Date: 13 Jun 1908
Birth Place: Henrietta, OK
Father's name: John Henry Hamilton
Mother's name: Sarah Alice Bullock
Death Date: 24 Jul 1984
Death Place: Dallas, TX
Date Recieved at Alcatraz: 9 Jun 1940
Incarceration Reason: NATIONAL BANK ROBBERY, ASSAULT & DYER ACT
Place of Incarceration: Alcatraz, San Francisco, California
Transferred From: L
Old Box Number: H-02
New Box Number: 530 - 531
Shelf Location: 3136D
Inmate Number: 523
Case File Screened: Yes
Pages in Case File: 400
Remarks: ATT ESC 04-13-43 (hid for 3 days) / TX DEATH RECORDS; PARDONED BY LBJ 12-23-1966; ca. 400 pp.
Chapman Seen with Hamilton in Bandit Team
Date: Thursday, June 9, 1938
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: I
Page: Nine
Chapman Seen With Hamilton In Bandit Team
Two Robberies In Two Days Blamed on Desperadoes
Minden, La. June 8
Authorities Wednesday night believed former building contractor Charles Chapman, No. 1 badman of the Southwest, within twenty-four hours had engineered two smooth bank robberies in Arkansas and Louisiana, netting him and desperado Floyd Hamilton more than $18,000.
Sheriff's Officers thought the region's two most desperate outlaws--probably with a woman and other men companions--had robbed the Bradley (Ark) bank of $700 Tuesday and the Minden Bank & Trust Company of $18,000 Wednesday morning. In each case the bandits pried into the bank and bound incoming employees until the time lock permitted opening the vault.
This was the method Chapman, a fugitive from Texas penitentiary, used most often.
The officers believed the outlaws fled from Minden in two automobiles and a dark, heavy-set man driving one of the getaway cars at Sikes Ferry, in North Webster Parish, was thought to have been Chapman. The two cars separated from Plain Dealing, twenty-five miles from here, one going toward Arkansas, the other south toward Plain Dealing.
Chapman was known to have a hideaway near Fouke, Ark and was familiar with swamps along Dorcheat Bayou. Hamilton was familiar with the tri-state Rodessa oil field, extending into Texas and Arkansas. Officers therefore streamed into the vague sideroads in Northwest Louisiana.
Ted Walters, fugitive who had broken out of a Texas jail with Hamilton, was identified as his companion at Bradley. The third man at Bradley-was-unidentified.
As the robbers filed out of the Minden bank one of them filled Miss Dorothy Hadwin's purse with nickels from the vault and handed it back to her. It was all the bank salvaged.
A customer identified Hamilton's picture as that of a man he had seen in the bank two weeks ago and officers believed the gunman had been in to get the lay of the land.
The Minden bank was a Federal Reserve member and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents joined heavily armed parish and State officers in the manhunt for the bandits.
After looking at pictures of the outlaws, both Cashier Jack W Meek of Bradley and J E Harper, president of the Minden bank, said Hamilton was one of the bandits in each of the raids.
It was believed Jewel Crenshaw, paroled after a robbery of the Bradley bank several years ago. was a companion of the outlaws in these most recent holdups. She reportedly was with Hamilton when he was recognized by a former schoolmate near Monroe several weeks ago.
Search for the bandits was concentrated in this section, but officers in Texas and Arkansas were maintaining a close lookout.
G-Men Name Hamilton as Bank Robber
Date: Saturday, June 11, 1938
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: I
Page: Three
G-Men Name Hamilton As Bank Robber
Shreveport, La June 10
The Federal Bureau of Investigation entered the search Friday for Floyd Hamilton, brother of the late Raymond Hamilton.
Charges of bank robbery and transporting a stolen car across a state line were filed by the FBI against Hamilton, Ted Walters, John Doe and Richard Roe.
W. L. Thompson, a G-man, filed the charges. Authorities said the identities of Doe and Roe were known but were being withheld for obvious reasons.
The charges were filed in connection with the robbery of the Bradley (Ark) bank early this week and the use of a car stolen from V. P. Clements Jr. of Vivian, La., in the bank holdup.
Hamilton was believed to have joined Charles Chapman, Arkansas badman, for the robbery of the Bradley Bank and the Minden (La.) Bank & Trust Company.
Louisiana and Arkansas State police had practically withdrawn from the search for Hamilton and Chapman. Arkansas national guard planes used in the search returned to their hangers.
Date: Tuesday, June 14, 1938
Paper: Greensboro Record (Greensboro, NC)
Page: 1
Robbery Suspects Held in New York
Bradley, ark June 14
Jack Meek, assistant cashier of Bradley, Ark bank said today he had been notified by Sheriff Griffith, of Lewisville, Ark, that New York City police captured Charles Chapman, Floyd Hamilton and Ted Walters, notorious desperados suspected of robbing the Bradley bank, June 7, of $685.
The next day, June 8, a group of bank robbers invaded the Minden, La, Bank and Trust company and escaped with more than $18,000 of the bank's money.
The Hamilton gang, all escaped convicts or wanted for a series of crimes in Texas and Arkansas, also was suspected in the Minden robbery.
The president of the Minden bank and employees were overpowered and tied up as they entered by the men who had broken into the bank at an early hour.
$1,200 Hamilton Robbery up for Hearing Tuesday
Date: Tuesday, August 23, 1938
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: II
Page: One, Seven
relatives visit (photo of family)
Mrs Mattie Strait his mother in law
his wife Mildred
Mrs Lily Brown his sister
Mrs Alice Davis his mother
did not get to see his two children: John William Hamilton age 6 and Betty Joyce Hamilton age 9
at right Finley Donica, charged with chauffeuring the auto used by Hamilton and Ted Walters in a $1200 robbery on July 22,
Hamilton and Walters (two west dallas men) last survivors of the famous Clyde Barrow gang,
Friday, November 4, 1938
Paper: Morning Star (Rockford, IL)
Page: 10
Floyd Hamilton and Walters Admit Robbery
Fort Smith, Ark Nov 3
Floyd Hamilton and Ted Walters, southwestern outlaws captured recently near Dallas, Texas today pleaded guilty in U. S. district court to robbing the bank of Bradley (Ark) of more than $600 and were sentenced to 30 years each in prison.
Bank Robber to Fight Bid for Return
Date: Saturday, December 15, 1956
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: Part 3
Page: 1
Dist Atty Henry Wade's office said Friday it appears a legal fight will be necessary to gain custody of Floyd Hamilton, 48 notorious Texas bank robber of the mid 30's when he is paroled Dec 29 from federal prison at Leavenworth, Ks
given 25 year term in Dallas, Texas in 1938
1940 Kickapoo Township, Leavenworth, Kansas, April 25, U S Penitentiary
Floyd Hamilton 32 Oklahoma res 1935 Texas
Reformed gangster recalled as fine man
Date: Saturday, July 28, 1984
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Page: 33A, 39A
Grand Prairie
When 76 year old Floyd G Hamilton died Tuesday at a hospital in Grand Prairie, there was no funeral or public notice to mark the passing of a former "Public Enemy No 1"
His body was cremated and the ashes were quietly spread near the grave of his wife in Irving because Hamilton--who used to run with the notorious Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker gang--knew how he would be remembered, said Dallas auto dealer W. O Bankston.
"He didn't want people to remember just the bad about him," said Bankston, who hired Hamilton as a night watchman when Hamilton got out of prison in 1958. "He was a good man who just had problems early in his life."
Bankston said Friday that none of his memories of Hamilton, who worked for Bankston for 16 years, are marked by guns or bank robberies.
"From the time he got out of prison to the time he died, he was one of the finest men I've ever known," Bankston said.
Things were different though, in the 1930's. At that time, Hamilton ran with the Barrow gang, bringing them food and clothing while they were hiding from lawmen and arranged meetings with family members. He also committed a series of armed robberies that earned him the FBI's "Public Enemey No. 1" designation in 1938.
In 1934, Hamilton was accused of helping his brother, Raymond, break out of the Eastham Unit of the Texas Department of Corrections. During the breakout, Raymond Hamilton shot and killed a prison guard. He was later executed for the killing.
Hamilton served 18 years in the Leavenworth and Alcatraz prisons for armed robbery. When he was released in 1958, he began working with the International Prison Ministry to help other prison parolees find jobs and a fresh start.
His work earned him a pardon from President Lyndon B Johnson and former Gov John Connally in the 1960's. He later traveled throughout the country, giving speeches about his past and how he reformed.
Hamilton, who spent the last years of his life in the West Dallas neighborhood where he grew up in the 1920's with Barrow and Miss Parker, once described his life as an outlaw as "anything but glamourous."
Friends recalled him Friday as a quiet, private man who seldom reminisced about his days as an outlaw.
Bankston said Hamilton, who suffered from diabetes, declined rapidly after his wife, Mildred, died four months ago. "He was very devoted to her," Bankston said.
Bankston said that when Hamilton was released from prison in 1958, Bankston agreed to hire him as a night watchman on the recommendation of former Dallas County Sheriff Bill Decker.
Although Hamilton had admitted his complicity in several bank robberies, Decker believed that Hamilton had reformed while in Alcatraz and had become a Christian, Bankston said.
Bankston said he wasn't disappointed in Hamilton.
"He worked for me for a number of years, and if he told you he would do something, he did it," Bankston said. "He helped boys and girls throughout the country (during speaking engagements) and never asked anything for it."
Hamilton was born June 13, 1908, in Okmulgee County, Okahoma.
In his autobiography, Public Enemy No 1, Hamilton wrote: "I've always believed your word is your bond. It's the one thing you own that no one can take away from you, no matter how poor you are. I've believed that, come thick and thin."
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Saturday, July 28, 1984
Deceased Name: FLOYD HAMILTON, NOTORIOUS BANDIT OF '30S
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas -- Floyd Garland Hamilton, a childhood friend of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow who himself was named the FBI's Public Enemy No. 1 in the 1930s, has died at age 76.
Although Hamilton spent more than 20 years in prison and his brother Ray died in the Texas electric chair in 1935 for murdering a prison guard, his prison ministry work later won him pardons from President Johnson and former Texas Gov. John Connally.
His first arrest came in 1934 when he was accused of robbing a bank. The charge was dropped, but federal officials accused him of aiding Barrow and Parker and helping his brother flee a state prison in an escape in which a guard was killed
Ethnicity: White
Birth Date: 13 Jun 1908
Birth Place: Henrietta, OK
Father's name: John Henry Hamilton
Mother's name: Sarah Alice Bullock
Death Date: 24 Jul 1984
Death Place: Dallas, TX
Date Recieved at Alcatraz: 9 Jun 1940
Incarceration Reason: NATIONAL BANK ROBBERY, ASSAULT & DYER ACT
Place of Incarceration: Alcatraz, San Francisco, California
Transferred From: L
Old Box Number: H-02
New Box Number: 530 - 531
Shelf Location: 3136D
Inmate Number: 523
Case File Screened: Yes
Pages in Case File: 400
Remarks: ATT ESC 04-13-43 (hid for 3 days) / TX DEATH RECORDS; PARDONED BY LBJ 12-23-1966; ca. 400 pp.
Chapman Seen with Hamilton in Bandit Team
Date: Thursday, June 9, 1938
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: I
Page: Nine
Chapman Seen With Hamilton In Bandit Team
Two Robberies In Two Days Blamed on Desperadoes
Minden, La. June 8
Authorities Wednesday night believed former building contractor Charles Chapman, No. 1 badman of the Southwest, within twenty-four hours had engineered two smooth bank robberies in Arkansas and Louisiana, netting him and desperado Floyd Hamilton more than $18,000.
Sheriff's Officers thought the region's two most desperate outlaws--probably with a woman and other men companions--had robbed the Bradley (Ark) bank of $700 Tuesday and the Minden Bank & Trust Company of $18,000 Wednesday morning. In each case the bandits pried into the bank and bound incoming employees until the time lock permitted opening the vault.
This was the method Chapman, a fugitive from Texas penitentiary, used most often.
The officers believed the outlaws fled from Minden in two automobiles and a dark, heavy-set man driving one of the getaway cars at Sikes Ferry, in North Webster Parish, was thought to have been Chapman. The two cars separated from Plain Dealing, twenty-five miles from here, one going toward Arkansas, the other south toward Plain Dealing.
Chapman was known to have a hideaway near Fouke, Ark and was familiar with swamps along Dorcheat Bayou. Hamilton was familiar with the tri-state Rodessa oil field, extending into Texas and Arkansas. Officers therefore streamed into the vague sideroads in Northwest Louisiana.
Ted Walters, fugitive who had broken out of a Texas jail with Hamilton, was identified as his companion at Bradley. The third man at Bradley-was-unidentified.
As the robbers filed out of the Minden bank one of them filled Miss Dorothy Hadwin's purse with nickels from the vault and handed it back to her. It was all the bank salvaged.
A customer identified Hamilton's picture as that of a man he had seen in the bank two weeks ago and officers believed the gunman had been in to get the lay of the land.
The Minden bank was a Federal Reserve member and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents joined heavily armed parish and State officers in the manhunt for the bandits.
After looking at pictures of the outlaws, both Cashier Jack W Meek of Bradley and J E Harper, president of the Minden bank, said Hamilton was one of the bandits in each of the raids.
It was believed Jewel Crenshaw, paroled after a robbery of the Bradley bank several years ago. was a companion of the outlaws in these most recent holdups. She reportedly was with Hamilton when he was recognized by a former schoolmate near Monroe several weeks ago.
Search for the bandits was concentrated in this section, but officers in Texas and Arkansas were maintaining a close lookout.
G-Men Name Hamilton as Bank Robber
Date: Saturday, June 11, 1938
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: I
Page: Three
G-Men Name Hamilton As Bank Robber
Shreveport, La June 10
The Federal Bureau of Investigation entered the search Friday for Floyd Hamilton, brother of the late Raymond Hamilton.
Charges of bank robbery and transporting a stolen car across a state line were filed by the FBI against Hamilton, Ted Walters, John Doe and Richard Roe.
W. L. Thompson, a G-man, filed the charges. Authorities said the identities of Doe and Roe were known but were being withheld for obvious reasons.
The charges were filed in connection with the robbery of the Bradley (Ark) bank early this week and the use of a car stolen from V. P. Clements Jr. of Vivian, La., in the bank holdup.
Hamilton was believed to have joined Charles Chapman, Arkansas badman, for the robbery of the Bradley Bank and the Minden (La.) Bank & Trust Company.
Louisiana and Arkansas State police had practically withdrawn from the search for Hamilton and Chapman. Arkansas national guard planes used in the search returned to their hangers.
Date: Tuesday, June 14, 1938
Paper: Greensboro Record (Greensboro, NC)
Page: 1
Robbery Suspects Held in New York
Bradley, ark June 14
Jack Meek, assistant cashier of Bradley, Ark bank said today he had been notified by Sheriff Griffith, of Lewisville, Ark, that New York City police captured Charles Chapman, Floyd Hamilton and Ted Walters, notorious desperados suspected of robbing the Bradley bank, June 7, of $685.
The next day, June 8, a group of bank robbers invaded the Minden, La, Bank and Trust company and escaped with more than $18,000 of the bank's money.
The Hamilton gang, all escaped convicts or wanted for a series of crimes in Texas and Arkansas, also was suspected in the Minden robbery.
The president of the Minden bank and employees were overpowered and tied up as they entered by the men who had broken into the bank at an early hour.
$1,200 Hamilton Robbery up for Hearing Tuesday
Date: Tuesday, August 23, 1938
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: II
Page: One, Seven
relatives visit (photo of family)
Mrs Mattie Strait his mother in law
his wife Mildred
Mrs Lily Brown his sister
Mrs Alice Davis his mother
did not get to see his two children: John William Hamilton age 6 and Betty Joyce Hamilton age 9
at right Finley Donica, charged with chauffeuring the auto used by Hamilton and Ted Walters in a $1200 robbery on July 22,
Hamilton and Walters (two west dallas men) last survivors of the famous Clyde Barrow gang,
Friday, November 4, 1938
Paper: Morning Star (Rockford, IL)
Page: 10
Floyd Hamilton and Walters Admit Robbery
Fort Smith, Ark Nov 3
Floyd Hamilton and Ted Walters, southwestern outlaws captured recently near Dallas, Texas today pleaded guilty in U. S. district court to robbing the bank of Bradley (Ark) of more than $600 and were sentenced to 30 years each in prison.
Bank Robber to Fight Bid for Return
Date: Saturday, December 15, 1956
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Section: Part 3
Page: 1
Dist Atty Henry Wade's office said Friday it appears a legal fight will be necessary to gain custody of Floyd Hamilton, 48 notorious Texas bank robber of the mid 30's when he is paroled Dec 29 from federal prison at Leavenworth, Ks
given 25 year term in Dallas, Texas in 1938
1940 Kickapoo Township, Leavenworth, Kansas, April 25, U S Penitentiary
Floyd Hamilton 32 Oklahoma res 1935 Texas
Reformed gangster recalled as fine man
Date: Saturday, July 28, 1984
Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
Page: 33A, 39A
Grand Prairie
When 76 year old Floyd G Hamilton died Tuesday at a hospital in Grand Prairie, there was no funeral or public notice to mark the passing of a former "Public Enemy No 1"
His body was cremated and the ashes were quietly spread near the grave of his wife in Irving because Hamilton--who used to run with the notorious Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker gang--knew how he would be remembered, said Dallas auto dealer W. O Bankston.
"He didn't want people to remember just the bad about him," said Bankston, who hired Hamilton as a night watchman when Hamilton got out of prison in 1958. "He was a good man who just had problems early in his life."
Bankston said Friday that none of his memories of Hamilton, who worked for Bankston for 16 years, are marked by guns or bank robberies.
"From the time he got out of prison to the time he died, he was one of the finest men I've ever known," Bankston said.
Things were different though, in the 1930's. At that time, Hamilton ran with the Barrow gang, bringing them food and clothing while they were hiding from lawmen and arranged meetings with family members. He also committed a series of armed robberies that earned him the FBI's "Public Enemey No. 1" designation in 1938.
In 1934, Hamilton was accused of helping his brother, Raymond, break out of the Eastham Unit of the Texas Department of Corrections. During the breakout, Raymond Hamilton shot and killed a prison guard. He was later executed for the killing.
Hamilton served 18 years in the Leavenworth and Alcatraz prisons for armed robbery. When he was released in 1958, he began working with the International Prison Ministry to help other prison parolees find jobs and a fresh start.
His work earned him a pardon from President Lyndon B Johnson and former Gov John Connally in the 1960's. He later traveled throughout the country, giving speeches about his past and how he reformed.
Hamilton, who spent the last years of his life in the West Dallas neighborhood where he grew up in the 1920's with Barrow and Miss Parker, once described his life as an outlaw as "anything but glamourous."
Friends recalled him Friday as a quiet, private man who seldom reminisced about his days as an outlaw.
Bankston said Hamilton, who suffered from diabetes, declined rapidly after his wife, Mildred, died four months ago. "He was very devoted to her," Bankston said.
Bankston said that when Hamilton was released from prison in 1958, Bankston agreed to hire him as a night watchman on the recommendation of former Dallas County Sheriff Bill Decker.
Although Hamilton had admitted his complicity in several bank robberies, Decker believed that Hamilton had reformed while in Alcatraz and had become a Christian, Bankston said.
Bankston said he wasn't disappointed in Hamilton.
"He worked for me for a number of years, and if he told you he would do something, he did it," Bankston said. "He helped boys and girls throughout the country (during speaking engagements) and never asked anything for it."
Hamilton was born June 13, 1908, in Okmulgee County, Okahoma.
In his autobiography, Public Enemy No 1, Hamilton wrote: "I've always believed your word is your bond. It's the one thing you own that no one can take away from you, no matter how poor you are. I've believed that, come thick and thin."
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Saturday, July 28, 1984
Deceased Name: FLOYD HAMILTON, NOTORIOUS BANDIT OF '30S
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas -- Floyd Garland Hamilton, a childhood friend of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow who himself was named the FBI's Public Enemy No. 1 in the 1930s, has died at age 76.
Although Hamilton spent more than 20 years in prison and his brother Ray died in the Texas electric chair in 1935 for murdering a prison guard, his prison ministry work later won him pardons from President Johnson and former Texas Gov. John Connally.
His first arrest came in 1934 when he was accused of robbing a bank. The charge was dropped, but federal officials accused him of aiding Barrow and Parker and helping his brother flee a state prison in an escape in which a guard was killed
