Ace Atkins - Infamous

Kelly faced the rear of the train, Jones in the seat opposite him, toward the engine.

The men both took turns staring out the barred windows at the lonely landscape. One view forward, one behind.

“You want to trade places?” Jones asked, checking his gold timepiece.

“Not on your life.”

Background information provided by: Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34 , Bryan Burrough; Machine Gun Kelly’s Last Stand , Stanley Hamilton; A Man Named Jones , George Ellis; Crimes’ Paradise , E. E. Kirkpatrick; Robbing Banks Was My Business: The Story of J. Harvey Bailey , J. Evetts Haley; American Agent , Melvin Purvis; Inside the F.B.I. , John J. Floherty; The Texas Rangers and the Mexican Revolution: The Bloodiest Decade, 1910-1920 , Charles H. Harris III and Louis R. Sadler; “King of the Wildcatters”: The Life and Times of Tom Slick, 1883-1930 , Ray Miles; John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crooks’ Tour of Crime and Corruption in St. Paul, 1920-1936 , Paul Maccabee; Cars of the 30s , Editors of Consumer Guide; and The 1933 Chicago World’s Fair: A Century of Progress , Cheryl R. Ganz. I’m very grateful to the assistance of the FBI Archives for providing nearly ten thousand pages of files. As always, thanks to the University of Mississippi library for their interlibrary loan program and to the great reporters of 1933 for their top-shelf coverage of the Kansas City Massacre and the Charles Urschel kidnapping in the Kansas City Star , Daily Oklahoman , and the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

An extra special thanks to Jack Ruleman at the Shelby County Archives in Memphis, who put me onto this story and tracked down invaluable records on the Kellys’ arrest. The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco provided terrific background on the Ranger days of Jones and White. As always, Esther and Neil make this work possible and give it purpose. My ultimate thanks for our fourth book together.

Also a great deal of appreciation to Sara Minnich at G. P. Putnam’s Sons for her consistent and sharp eye. I’d also like to thank the continued support year after year of the following folks: Maggie Griffin at Partners & Crime, Cody Morrison and Slade Lewis at Square Books, David and McKenna Thompson at Murder By The Book, Patrick Milliken and Barbara Peters at the Poisoned Pen, Mary Gay Shipley at That Bookstore in Blytheville, Thomas and Cheryl Upchurch at Capitol Book & News, Jake Reiss at the Alabama Booksmith, and Ted O’Brien at the Garden District Book Shop.

The usual suspects played a huge role of support while I was working on this project: Larry and Dean Wells for their friendship and knowledge of bridge, former political boss Richard Howorth for insightful comments, Tim Green for years of support, and, of course, my entire family.

This book is better thanks to the wife, Angela, who always gives it to me on the level, a woman who might’ve taught Kathryn Kelly a thing or two. And most of all, to my son, who constantly reminds me that the world is a funny place.

Ace Atkins

Oxford, Mississippi, 2009