Friday 10 May 2013

Arthur Barker Killed Alcatraz escape: The Barker Gang



Arthur R. "Doc" Barker (June 4, 1899 – January 13, 1939) was an American criminal, the son of Ma Barker and a member of the Barker-Karpis gang along with Alvin Karpis.

Arthur Barker, better known as Doc Barker, was born in Aurora, Missouri to George Elias Barker and Ma Barker née Clark and was one of seven children. Through the 1920s and 1930s, Barker, with his brother Fred and Alvin Karpis, committed numerous crimes such as theft, robbery, murder, and kidnapping. On July 18, 1918 Doc Barker was arrested for stealing a car on the highway and was sent to serve prison time in Joplin, Missouri. On February 19, 1920 Arthur Barker escaped prison in Joplin, Missouri. After the escape he committed many armed robberies and murdered two people.

On January 15, 1922, Doc Barker robbed a bank in Muskogee, Oklahoma and was sent to the Oklahoma State Prison but was released five months later on June 21, 1922. On December 16, 1932 Doc Barker participated in the robbery of the Third Northwestern Bank in Minneapolis. Two policemen were killed in that robbery and a civilian was murdered during the getaway. Doc Barker also helped the gang kidnap two wealthy St. Paul, Minnesota men: William Hamm in June 1933 and Edward Bremer in January, 1934. The FBI arrested Doc Barker on the streets of Chicago on January 8, 1935 and he was subsequently convicted of the Bremer kidnapping.

On January 16, 1935, Fred and Ma Barker were killed by the police and a year later Arthur Barker with Alvin Karpis were sent to Alcatraz. Barker became Alcatraz inmate 268-AZ in 1936. Barker with Henri Young and Rufus McCain attempted escape from Alcatraz on the night of January 13, 1939. The attempt failed. Barker was shot and killed by the guards; Young and McCain were recaptured and sent to solitary confinement. Ma Barker Florida house on the market, Lloyd Barker Herman Barker