{"id":1282,"date":"2013-10-21T04:01:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1282"},"modified":"2014-12-23T18:47:48","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T18:47:48","slug":"the-death-of-pretty-boy-floyd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/10\/21\/the-death-of-pretty-boy-floyd\/","title":{"rendered":"The death of Pretty Boy Floyd"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Police <\/a>
Police mugshot of Floyd. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Two <\/a>
Two guns found on Floyd when he was killed. (Photo credit: Unknown) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Deputy <\/a>
Deputy C.E. Potts was wounded in a shootout with Floyd. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Floyd <\/a>
Floyd with wife Ruby and son Jack Dempsey Floyd II. (Photo credit: Unknown) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The body of Pretty Boy Floyd lies on display in a morgue in East Liverpool, Oh. Photo credit: Acme photo <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Oct. 22, 1934:<\/strong> Ellen Conkle was alone in her isolated farmhouse when she heard a knock at the door. Ellen was a 41-year-old widow who lived in a rural section of Ohio, about 40 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. She was unaware that a man described as a desperate and dangerous criminal had been spotted in the area.<\/p>\n

So Ellen answered the door. Standing before her was a disheveled man, about 30 years old, wearing a blue suit covered in thistles. He wore scuffed black oxfords and needed a shave.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m starving lady,\u201d the young man said. \u201cCan\u2019t you help me out with some food?\u201d<\/p>\n

At first, the man said he had been hunting squirrels the night before and had gotten lost, but Ellen knew that was a lie. No one hunted squirrels at night, especially not in a business suit. Then the man admitted he\u2019d been drunk.<\/p>\n

Ellen thought the man had a wild look about him. He wasn\u2019t wearing a hat \u2014 what kind of man didn\u2019t wear a hat? Still, Ellen felt she couldn\u2019t refuse the man some food.<\/p>\n

What would you like? she asked.<\/p>\n

Meat, the man replied. All he\u2019d been eating was apples, he said. He had a few in his pockets.<\/p>\n

Ellen noticed bulges under the man\u2019s jacket and suspected he might be carrying guns. This made her a bit nervous. She wished her brother Stewart would arrive at the house. \u00a0In the kitchen, Ellen prepared a meal while the man sat on her porch and read the Sunday newspaper.<\/p>\n

Ellen served the man spare ribs, rice, pumpkin pie and coffee.<\/p>\n

A meal fit for a king, the man said. He offered to pay but Ellen refused. Then he pulled out a large roll of bills. Ellen accepted a dollar.<\/p>\n

The man said he needed a ride to either Youngstown or a bus station. Ellen said she couldn\u2019t take him, but perhaps her brother Stewart could do the favor once he arrived. So the man climbed into Stewart\u2019s Model A Ford, parked in front of the house. There he waited.<\/p>\n

Finally Stewart arrived. Ellen was relieved. Stewart agreed to give the man a ride. As the two men prepared to pull out onto the road, two carloads of lawmen arrived.<\/p>\n

The man jumped from Stewart\u2019s vehicle and ran.<\/p>\n

Inside the farmhouse, Ellen heard gunshots.<\/p>\n

Lawmen carried the young man back into Ellen\u2019s house and placed him on a living room couch. The young man\u2019s body was riddled with bullet holes. His clothes were soaked with blood. \u201cGet a doctor, get a doctor,\u201d someone yelled.<\/p>\n

But it was too late for Charles Arthur \u201cPretty Boy\u201d Floyd, Public Enemy No. 1. At 4:25, he died.<\/p>\n

Floyd is buried in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. Buildings on the Conkle farm were destroyed by two different fires in the 1950s and 60s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ellen Conkle was alone in her isolated farmhouse when she heard a knock at the door.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesThe death of Pretty Boy Floyd<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[947],"tags":[959,1036,1048],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/tumblr_muvexdwxlO1rr5swxo3_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C953&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7293,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2017\/03\/15\/a-near-disaster-ends-in-a-moment-of-joy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1282,"position":0},"title":"A near disaster ends in a moment of joy","date":"March 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Ellen Kline was pregnant when a bank roof collapsed around her.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Digs.PNBRoofCollapse003.jpg?fit=1200%2C671&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":139,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/10\/22\/1903-the-nixon-theater-for-nearly-50-years-the\/","url_meta":{"origin":1282,"position":1},"title":"The Nixon Theater, beginning to end","date":"October 22, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"For nearly 50 years, the Nixon Theater was Pittsburgh\u2019s premiere playhouse.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/tumblr_ndt61iB1xp1rr5swxo7_r1_1280.jpg?fit=915%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8942,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2018\/06\/25\/antwon-rose-ii-and-the-mothers-who-bury-their-sons\/","url_meta":{"origin":1282,"position":2},"title":"Antwon Rose II and the mothers who bury their sons","date":"June 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I see mothers bury their sons I want my mom to never feel that pain Antwon Rose II wrote those lines for his 10th grade honors English class in 2016. 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