Journal Notes

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When the suggestion to kidnap Edward Bremer was presented to Ma, she ordered her crew to meet and discuss the proposal. In the summer of 1933, the Barker-Karpis Gang had kidnapped William Hamm, Jr., the president of Hamm’s Brewing Company. The caper was successful, yielding the gang $100,000 in cash for the return of the millionaire. News of the kidnapping was reported throughout the country. “Money or death was the ultimatum laid down by the culprits that absconded with Hamm’s Brewing Company executive,” the June 17, 1933, edition of the Albert Lea Evening Tribune read.

William had been captive near the same location in Bensenville, Illinois, where Edward Bremer was secured away. The police had withdrawn from the case at the request of the family. They were frightened of what might happen to William if law enforcement interfered. The ransom note from the abductors warned the Hamms that William would be shot and killed if the police were allowed any involvement. A note sent to William’s father instructed him to deliver the ransom money in “$5, $10, and $20 bills.” Payment of the ransom for the release of William, the kidnappers directed, was to be made using one of the company’s beer trucks. Not only did the Barker-Karpis Gang get the full amount they were asking in ransom, but when the authorities did begin investigating the kidnapping, a rival gang was arrested for the crime.

“J. Edgar Hoover himself announced from Washington that his men had put together a solid case against the Touhy gang,” Alvin Karpis wrote in his memoirs. “The scientific evidence left no doubt at all,” Hoover said, “that the Touhys were behind the kidnapping of William Hamm.”

The ease with which the Barker-Karpis Gang was able to get away with taking William and collecting the ransom was an argument for kidnapping Edward Bremer. In late December 1933, Ma’s boys convened at William Weaver’s apartment in St. Paul to talk through the details of the abduction. Who would trail Edward to learn about his habits, routine, friends, and work associates, who would write the ransom notes, who would deliver those notes to what contact, and when the job would be done were all determined. With the exception of Arthur, whom Ma suggested might have been a little too rough with the victim, everyone performed his duties as planned.

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Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother

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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.

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 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 the Barker boys read

Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother

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Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother

Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother tells of the notorious mother of several criminals who oversaw the Barker gang during the Depression years. Kate Barker’s thirst for the finer things in life was challenged by the economic pressures of her times, and her image has been virtually set in stone from FBI records depicting her as a controlling mother figure. Was she really as terrible as history claims? Two entertainment industry writers survey the real facts of not only Ma Barker’s life and participation in family and crime, but the milieu of her era, and the reality of her situation. History and biography readers will find this a lively and different exploration.

Midwest Book Review

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Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother

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Was Arizona Donnie Clark, AKA Kate “Ma” Barker the mastermind behind the Barker gang terrorizing the Midwest during the early years of the great Depression? Or was she a terrible mother who urged her sons to criminal behavior for her own financial gain? Or does the truth lie somewhere in between. This lively retelling of the legend of Ma Barker and her boys is full of action, intrigue, and the answers to mysteries that have lingered for more than 70 years.

I spent three years researching and writing about Ma and her boys and before the book was submitted a fact checker was paid $35 an hour to make sure all was correct. Still, there were those who said Ma Barker couldn’t have been a crook. Seems like many of the books I write are controversial. I’m writing about George “Machine Gun” Kelly and his wife Kathryn now and I’m sure the title will be just as debated.

Here’s what some on Goodreads had to say about Ma Barker: America’s Most Wanted Mother:

“This one puts a new spin on the phrase, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. This was an interesting book about the criminals Ma Barker, her sons and their other partners in crime. Remorseless, self-entitled, manipulative, cold hearted are words that I’d use to describe Ma “Kate” Barker. She was the master mind and influence of the crimes her sons committed. This was indeed…a good read!”

“Ma looked out for her boys. She often chastised them, not for doing wrong, but for getting caught. Some who knew something of the criminal activity of the Barker boys believed that Ma was a bystander who just wanted what was best for her sons. The truth, according to authors Howard Kanzanjian and Chris Enss, was that Ma Barker was at the center of the gang’s non-stop illegal rampages. Richly detailed, a page turner, a wild ride, a good read.”

“I loved the history of an early mob family. The first chapter grabbed me instantly, highlighting robbery, kidnapping and murder. Ma Barker and her four sons were as notorious as Capone, Bonnie & Clyde, and Dillinger. The gangsters of the 30’s ran right along with the crooked police and lawyers. I liked that at the end of the book the authors listed the aliases and crimes of the Barker family.”

Spent some of the day making plans to travel to Deadwood in a couple of months to launch the new book An Open Secret. Preston and Harriet Lewis will be in Deadwood, too, promoting their book More Cat Tales of the Old West. And Carol Markstrom will be a part of the tour. More information to come.

June 16: History on the Lawn: An Open Secret: The Story of Deadwood’s Most Notorious Bordellos – The official launch of American author Chris Enss’ latest book, An Open Secret, focuses on infamous cat houses like the Beige Door, those individuals who managed the businesses, their employees, their well-known clientele, the various crimes committed at the locations, and their ultimate demise. Bring a lunch and enjoy the Historic Adams House lawn; 12:00 noon; free for members and $5 for non-members. In case of inclement weather, the lecture will be moved to the Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center (HARCC).

June 17: An Open Secret: The Story of Deadwood’s Most Notorious Bordellos Official Book Launch with Chris Enss – Chris Enss is a New York Times Best Selling author, scriptwriter, and comedienne. Enss will be signing copies of her book, An Open Secret, from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at The Brothel Deadwood. This event is open to the public. Donations are appreciated. Stop by to meet Chris Enss and tour The Brothel. Snacks and beverages will be served throughout the day.

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According to Kate:

The Legendary Life of Big Nose Kate, Love of Doc Holliday

Featured Reviews

Julie L, Reviewer

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Sunday A, Reviewer

Lori S, Librarian

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The Legendary Life of Big Nose Kate, Love of Doc Holliday

“As a keen reader and student of western American history, it was a pleasure reading this book. Chris Enss has done a true service in documenting fact and debunking fiction in the many tales about “Big Nose Kate.” The book is able to vividly portray not only the life of Kate, but to put in the perspective of the often-difficult struggles of living in the new and expanding raw west of her times. It includes excellent descriptions of the various towns springing into existence with minimal social constraints during this dramatic time in our history. It is well worth adding to your library of western lore!”  Dave Vickery – Goodreads

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According to Kate:

The Legendary Life of Big Nose Kate, Love of Doc Holliday

In According To Kate, Chris Enss sorts through the facts and the myths surrounding Kate Elder (aka Big Nose Kate) one of the west’s most mysterious figures.  Enss constructs a clear and credible time line as Kate and Doc Holliday made their way across the country and into history.  This is a must for studies on Kate and Doc Holliday.

Thomas Cobb— author of Crazy Heart and Darkness the Color of Snow

Oftentimes in western history, the women have been left behind. Fortunately for that history—and for us—author Chris Enss repeatedly chips away at stone, delivering one passionate account after another of the West’s women. In her latest work, According to Kate, Enss provides a picture of Kate Elder’s life, including her decades after Doc Holliday and the Gunfight at the OK Corral, as she continued to make her own way on her own terms in the bawdy West.

Deborah Morgan, award-winning author in both the western and mystery fields

Kate Elder believed her story was worth a small fortune, and Chris Enns proves she was right. Chris has won a galaxy of awards for her storytelling and earned every one of them. As one of the most reliable researchers in the trade, she traces Maria Izabella Magdolna from her birth Hungary in 1850 to her death as Mary Cummings at the Arizona Pioneers’ Home at Prescott only five days shy of her ninetieth birthday. As Chris writes, Kate Elder mostly left historians “only the legend to draw from—and that’s a fact.”

Wister Award Winner, Best Selling Author, Will Bagley

Once again, master story-teller Chris Enss has enriched the annals of American history with her blockbuster chronicle of “Big-Nose” Kate Elder, a woman whose life over nearly a century intertwined with such noted Western figures as Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers. From Kate’s birth in Hungary in 1850, through her sometimes risqué exploits across the United States, to her death in Prescott, Arizona in 1940, Kate Elder led a most interesting life, and Chris Enss reveals it all in this meticulously-researched and well-documented biography.

Wister Award Winner, Best Selling Author, James Crutchfield

To learn more read According to Kate

Coming Soon!

Between 1847 and 1858, more than 600 women teachers traveled across the untamed frontier to provide youngsters with an education, and the numbers grew rapidly in the decades to come, as women took advantage of one of the few career opportunities for respectable work for ladies of the era. Enduring hardships, the fifteen women whose stories are told in the pages of Frontier Teachers: Stories of Historic Women of the Old West, demonstrated the utmost dedication and sacrifice necessary to bring formal education to the Wild West. As immortalized in works of art and literature, for many students their women teachers were heroic figures who introduced them to a world of possibilities—and changed America forever.