Remember Saturday-morning cartoons? Two minutes of filler between commercials for supersoakers and sixteen thousand forms of sugar, including salted sugar. I think advertising is necessary because it often imparts vital information to the consumer. For example, paper towels with two plies are more absorbent. Wider gaps in tire treads help prevent hydroplaning. Fluoride fights tooth decay. Visiting some foreign countries might make your body react negatively. And then you’re back to the two-ply thing. It’s the circle of life.

I consider this advertisement for the book Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother necessary. I don’t think you’d know about it any other way.

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Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.

In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.

To learn more about Ma Barker and the Barker-Karpis Gang read

Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.

　Supersoakers Not Included.

Enter to win a copy of the new book

Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.

In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.

A cold breeze pushed past the dilapidated frame around the only window in the dank, stark room where Edward Bremer was being held hostage in the winter of 1934. Blindfolded and bruised, Edward attempted to turn the chair he was tied to away from the frigid air. In a gruff tone, Arthur Barker warned him to keep still as he pulled the collar of his coat closely around his neck. The winter in Bensenville, Illinois, was particularly cold that year. Temperatures dipped well below zero. The Barker boys and their associates made little effort to keep their kidnapped victim comfortable. With the exception of the time when Edward was forced to sign his own ransom notes, the ties around his hands were seldom removed.

On January 22, 1934, Edward was instructed to sign a second note to the Bremer family physician with instructions regarding the ransom money demanded. The first note was not taken seriously. In spite of the Barkers’ warning not to involve law enforcement, the police came in full force to search for Edward. Note number two was much more forceful and ominous:

Edward remembered hearing a woman’s voice from down the hall of the warehouse building where he was held captive. “It was a strong, authoritative voice,” he informed federal agents once the incident was over. “In spite of the rough treatment and the frantic move to replace the blindfold and retie my hands, I heard some of what she said.” In addition to encouraging the outlaws on the job they were doing, she told them they were “too good for small time,” Edward told authorities. “This is where the big dough is made and you don’t have to stick your neck out every day.”

To learn more about Ma Barker and the Barker-Karpis Gang read

Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.

Make Ma Happy.  Enter to win a copy of the new book

Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.

The cemetery where the Barkers are buried.

In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.

The monument placed on Herman Barker’s grave was a massive, granite stone that stood more than four feet high. The deceased’s name was carved into the marble along with his date of birth and the date he died. In the beginning, Ma regularly visited the site near Welch, Oklahoma, bringing flowers and some of Herman’s belongings from when he was a boy. She laid his things neatly on the mound of dirt that covered his remains. Detective Harrison Moreland, a writer for the Master Detective magazine, reported that Ma “turned her back entirely on morality once Herman was gone.” There had been a time when she might have lied to George about their sons’ criminal activities or tried to dispel the rumors she was spending time with other men, but that all stopped when she saw Herman’s bullet-ridden body lying on a slab at the morgue.

George Barker had taken time away from his job at the filling station in Webb City, Missouri, to attend Herman’s funeral. Ma paid little attention to her estranged husband. Any comfort she needed during her time of grief was handled by the man who accompanied her to the cemetery, Arthur W. Dunlop, also known as George Anderson. Ma had met Arthur at a club in Tulsa. He had been a carpenter and painter for Sommers Sign System. Ma never let Arthur stray too far from her side; even when George approached her for what he hoped would be a private conversation about where the money for Herman’s headstone came from, Arthur was milling around close behind the pair.

Ma dismissed George’s question about the headstone but informed the timid, grieving man that Herman and their other boys regularly sent money home for her support. She gushed over how considerate the Barker boys were and cursed those who argued that her sons were anything less. “If the good people of this town don’t like my boys,” Ma was often heard saying, “then the good people know what to do.” George returned to Missouri with the full knowledge that he and his wife would never reconcile and that his sons could never be respectable citizens.

To learn more about Ma Barker and the Barker-Karpis Gang read

Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother.

Enter to win a copy of the new book

Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother

In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.

Ma Barker removed a tattered handkerchief from the navy–blue pocketbook cradled in her lap and dabbed away a fake tear. The guards on duty at the Oklahoma prison were disinterested in her supposed grief. Their job was to make sure the inmates at the facility moved efficiently from the visitor’s area back to their cells. Ma watched a pale-faced, stupefied guard escort her son Arthur out of the room. It was mid-February 1920, and mother and son had concluded a short visit. A thick, long glass separated the convicts from the civilized world. Here, communication was done using plain, black phones minus a dial wheel, wired from one side of the glass to the other. Arthur and Ma each had their own receiver to talk through, as did several other families and friends visiting their loved ones through the glass partition.

The iron-barred doors clanged shut as the last prisoner was ushered out of the room. Ma sat stock-still until she heard the guard lock the door behind the inmates. As she turned to get up from her assigned seat, a heavyset guard approached her, and with flinty eyes, looked her up and down. She looked more frumpy than menacing. The coat she wore was big and bulky, frayed in spots, and a few buttons were missing. The tan, bell-shaped hat on her head had seen better days, and her hair underneath it was pinned back in a haphazard fashion. “My boys would be all right if the law would leave them alone,” she told the guard. He had no response and simply led her to the exit of the room, and she shuffled along as little old ladies do.

Two short siren blasts issued from the main building of the jail as Ma exited the complex. She glanced back at the other visitors following after her and at the stone walls topped with snaky concertina wire overhead. Once every guest had left the jail, the heavy steel doors were closed behind them.

To learn more about Ma Barker and the Barker-Karpis Gang read

Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother

Enter to win a copy of the new book

Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother

In a time when notorious Depression-era criminals were terrorizing the country, the Barker-Karpis Gang stole more money than mobsters John Dillinger, Vern Miller, and Bonnie and Clyde combined. Five of the most wanted thieves, murderers, and kidnappers by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s were from the same family. Authorities believed the woman behind the band of violent hoodlums that ravaged the Midwest was their mother, Kate “Ma” Barker.

Kate Barker marched her fifteen-year-old son, Herman, through the remains of a cornfield outside Webb City, Missouri. Using the collar of her boy’s shirt as a lead, she steered him past bent and weathered stalks of corn. It was a hot, humid, September afternoon, all white light and glare. Herman chanced a look back at his mother, hoping the scowl on her face had softened. Kate wore a gray sweater embellished with rhinestone buttons and a blue- and- white plaid rayon dress with a sashed belt and bow collar. Her hair was nicely coiffed with spit curls on each temple in the style of the times. Although she had been born and raised in the rural Ozark Mountains and married a miner from a nearby town, she was no house Frau. She carried her plump, five-foot four-inch frame with a confidence generally relegated to those with a wealthy, sophisticated background.

Herman was dressed in jeans and an old shirt two sizes too big for him. He was barefoot and occasionally grimaced when his toe connected with a jagged rock on the ground. His mother was furious with him and disinterested in how uncomfortable their fast-paced walk made him. Herman had been caught with a few wallets he’d stolen from the deacons of the local Presbyterian church. The preacher had graciously contacted Kate about the matter after he had informed the police. Mother and son now had an appointment with the Jasper County judge, and Kate was determined not to be late. Herman stumbled a time or two, but his mother jerked the boy to his feet and urged him on.

Webb City in 1910 was a rough and wild mining community with a population of more than eleven thousand. The majority of the people living there were excavators who worked in the numerous galena ore mining companies in the area. Galena is the chief ore of lead. Wages were low but steady. There was nothing opulent about the businesses and homes in Webb City. They were modest in design, dusty, and uninspired. Among the enterprises that flourished in town were the mercantile businesses, courthouse, and numerous taverns that lined the main thoroughfare. Railroad tracks cut through the center of town, and trains announced their passing with loud blasts from their horns.

A train was making its presence known as Ma and Herman reached the courthouse. Without saying a word, she pulled open the door of the building and escorted her son inside. She led Herman to a pair of empty chairs in the courtroom, and the two sat down to wait for the judge.

To learn more about Ma Barker and the Barker-Karpis Gang read

Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother