Fleagle Gang Time Line

     1900 Ralph and Jake Fleagle lived in the San Francisco Bay area and work as card sharks.

1916 Jake Fleagle was arrested for second degree burglary in Oklahoma and spent one year in an Oklahoma State Penitentiary where his fingerprints were taken.

1919 Jake Fleagle is credited with his first bank robbery, in Haynes, Oregon. The take was $2,500 dollars.

1920’s The Fleagle gang is credited with 60% of all bank robberies in and around Kansas and California.

Robberies at McPherson, Kansas; Marysville, Kansas; Ottawa, Kansas; Kingsley, Kansas; and Larned, Kansas were believed to be committed by the Fleagle gang.

Time Line Continued:

   1928, May 23. The Fleagle gang rob the First National Bank in Lamar Colorado. The robbery goes wrong when the bank president fires at the suspects. The bank president and his son are killed, and a gang member is shot during the gunfire exchange. The gang took two tellers hostage to ensure their escape. One teller was later released and the other was killed as a Sheriffs pursued the gang. After the escape, the gang later called a prominent local doctor to tend to the wounded suspect at a hide out near by. After the doctor treated the suspect he was murdered. This was the first robbery where the gang fired their Tommy guns. Jake Fleagle was credited with all the killings. The take was $210, 000 dollars.

1929 The Fleagle gang robs the same bank in Haynes Oregon again. The take was $2,000 dollars.

1929, June 22. Jake Fleagle robs Southern Pacific Railroad in Bay Point (McAvoy) with an unidentified accomplis. The take was $17,000 dollars. The Hudson getaway car was found burned at a lime quarry off Old Bailey Road. This was one of the last train robberies in California.

The Lamar Robbery Victims  A. M. Parrish, elderly Lamar bank president who shot Royston with a 45 colt revolver (Veteran of the Indian Wars)  J. F. Parrish, cashier and son of the bank president who came to his aid  E. A. Cosigner, bank teller who was taken hostage and used as a shield during getaway  Dr. W.W. Weininger, the prominent local doctor called to the Fleagle ranch to treat Royston

Purchased on E Bay JAKE FLEAGLE WANTED POSTER From the Lamar Robbery

The MURDER SITE WHERE DOCTOR WINEINGER’S BODY WAS FOUND

Time line Continued:

 1929, (Between June 22 and September 26) William Harrison Holden was arrested and fingerprinted by the Stockton Police. His fingerprint was sent to the FBI, but he was released before detectives were informed he was in fact Jake Fleagle.

 1929 There was more than a $100,000 dollars reward for Jake Fleagle’s arrest.

This was the first finger print used by the FBI to identify a murder suspect, and the suspect was Jake Fleagle.

THE FINGER PRINT THAT IDENTIFIED JAKE FLEAGLE

STOCKTON POLICE MUGSHOT OF JAKE FLEAGLE

Time Line Continued:  1929 July. With FBI confirmation by finger print, Jake Fleagle is identified as the suspect from Lamar Bank Robbery. The Fleagle family Ranch is located in Marienthal, Illinois. After watching the family’s mail, Police arrest Ralph Fleagle in Kankake, Illinois. Jake was said to have escaped only a few minutes prior.

Time Line Continued:     Ralph Fleagle Squealed on his brother Jake, Herbert Royston, and W.

C. Abshier (AKA Messick) in exchange for immunity from the death penalty.

1929 August. Herbert Royston is arrested in San Andreas California.

1929 August. W. C. Abshier arrested in Grand Junction, Colorado.

1929 September 26. The Rodeo branch of the Bank of Pinole is robbed. Jake Fleagle and Joseph Miller are later identified as the suspects. Pinole Constable Arthur McDonald is killed during the robbery after wounding one suspect in the gun fight. He was shot with a Colt 45 Tommy gun. The take was $25,000 dollars.

Picture taken after Pinole Police Officer John Sellers killing in 1972 Ethel McDonald Holding The Original Newspaper from 1929 Reporting her Fathers Death.

WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM OF THE DEATH NOTICE TO ETHEL MCDONALD

Richmond Independent Newspaper Several of the Pall bearers have streets in Pinole named after them: Henry Ellerhorst, Henry Von Dollen, T. W. Hutchinson, Jean Shea, and Manual Marcus.

Grave Location  Arthur McDonald was cremated. He is inurned at the Sunset Mausoleum in Kensington, California. Niche No.

24, Sec. 3-F, West Corridor of Lawn Terrace.

Continued:

 1930 July 10, Royston and Abshier hanged at the Colorado State Penitentiary in Cannon Colorado.

 1930 July 17, Ralph Fleagle hanged at the Colorado Colorado.

State Penitentiary in Cannon  1930 October 14, Jake Fleagle is shot by LA Police Detectives on a train in Branson, Missouri.

Photo of Jake Fleagle after he was killed by the police

Lower Left: Royston and Abshier JAKE FLEAGLE WAKE PHOTO

Front row left to right:

F.M. McConnell

(Post Office Inspector Fayetteville, AR)

C.H. Baker

(Post Office Inspector Springfield, MO)

E.H. Kline

(Los Angeles, CA)

Lt. Harry White

(Unknown City) Standing row left to right:

Unknown name

(Postmaster Hollister, MO)

Ed Manroe

(MO Pacific Railroad Unknown City) Inspector Joplin, MO)

D.F. Elliot H.H. Goodwin

(Postal (Postal Inspector Jonesboro, AR)

Lt. E.K. Nelson

(Kansas City PD, Kansas City, MO) PD Cardin, OK)

H.A. Roland Joe Anderson

(Cardin (Postal Inspector Kansas City, MO)

Lt. C.A. Lloyd

(Los Angeles PD Los Angeles, CA)

O.V. King

(Kansas City PD Kansas City, MO)

Fleagle Gang Members  Jake Fleagle, AKA William Holden, later shot dead in Branson Missouri  Ralph Fleagle informed on other gang member and was hung in Colorado  Herbert (Heavy) Royston, shot in the jaw by Lamar bank manager, hung in Colorado.

 W. C. Abshier, AKA Messick, hung in Colorado.

Members

    Crazon Gagullio, a San Quentin escapee, left the gang prior to Lamar robbery and was later killed by the FBI.

Beatrice Gramps, Jake’s wife “Gun Moll” and getaway driver in train robbery and Bank of Pinole robbery, sent to women’s prison.

George “Doc” Demoss, rented the car used in train robbery and harbored Jake, unknown.

Joe Miller, Jake’s partner in the McAvoy train robbery, believed to have shot McDonald with the Tommy gun. He was later killed by police in Oregon during a robbery.

References

      Richmond Independent News Paper: Circa 1929

Kathy Weiser / Legends of America , © December, 2004 Lundington Daily News - Nov 4, 1930 Outlaw for My Neighbor The Jake Fleagle Story Compiled by Kathleen Van Buskirk; Volume 7, Number 1, Fall 1979. White River Valley Historical Quarterly The Evening Independent - Oct 12, 1931 N.T. Betz. 2005. The Fleagle Gang, betrayed by a finger print.