A Gun Battle in Bowling Green, Ohio
HEADLINE from THE DAILY SENTINEL-TRIBUNE - Friday, April 17, 1931 - FRONT PAGE NEWS
I happened upon a GUN BATTLE that took place in Bowling Green, Ohio in 1931 with characters named “Billy the Baby-Faced Killer” and “Pretty Boy Floyd” along with a damsel in distressed who went by the name Rose Baird.
This was a history that I had no knowledge of before I started digging and I have a feeling that YOU might not know about this dark part of history of Bowling Green, Ohio either… so it’s time to SHED SOME LIGHT on this case.
While working on some history posts for social media, I was research Police Chief Carl “Shorty” Galliher, who was chief from 1928 - 1940. He was said to be “afraid of nothing” and this was put to the test on the 16th of April 1931 when at the age of 36, Chief Galliher was a key player in a shootout on South Prospect Street, just north of Clough Street in Bowling Green, Ohio.
William “Billy the Baby-Faced Killer” Miller died at the scene. The other convict, Frank “Pretty Boy Floyd” Mitchell ended up fleeing and got away. The police officer that was driving the cruiser when Chief Galliher was on the running board, Ralph “Zibe” Castner, was shot and ended up dying of his wounds a week later. He had been on the force for just over two years and is the ONLY police officer in Bowling Green’s HISTORY to have been killed in the line of duty.
Who was “Billy the Baby-Faced Killer” and was crimes had he committed?
“Billy the Baby-Faced Killer” a.k.a. William Miller was formerly of Ironton, Ohio. Billy had flouted the law in big cities in the mid-west during his day. He was only 25 years old when the incident in Bowling Green, Ohio happened, marking him as one of Toledo’s most dangerous gunman, with newspaper articles citing him as “a pink-cheeked, quiet lad, beaten down by the bullets of a plump little chief of police.”
So, who was Billy? And how was he remembered as one of Toledo’s most dangerous gunman at the early age of 25?
Citation: https://www.newspapers.com/image/882983525/
Billy’s career (if I may) began when he was just 17 years old. He shot and killed his own brother, Joseph Miller, at their home in Beaver County, Pennsylvania on the 8th of September 1925. I ask then, WHY was he not arrested, charged? Well, that is the interesting part of Billy’s story. Nothing could be definitely proved against Billy because he was said to have been too wise.
In 1919, Billy was arrested in Ironton, Ohio on a charge of Malicious Destruction of property. He was fined only $2 for the offense.
On the 9th of January 1923, Billy received a sentence of one to seven years at Mansfield reformatory for larceny. He escaped from the reformatory dairy farm on the 27th of July 1923.
Subsequently, police of Butler, PA sought Billy for the murder of his baby brother, Joseph. A jury would go on to find him NOT GUILTY on the 19th of June 1929.
In 1928, Billy was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in the Ohio penitentiary for robbery.
He escaped on the 4th of November 1929.
He was finally captured by a squad of Toledo detectives and Monroe, Michigan deputy sheriffs in a cottage at Lakeside, Michigan on the 14th of August in 1930, Billy was leaping out of a window, with gun in hand.
Detective Owen Green nabbed him from behind. Detective Green and Patrolman Joe Galloway got Billy to admit he had been the “trigger man” in the shooting of Inspector of Police William Garvin in Detroit, Michigan six months prior… BUT, when they reached Toledo, Billy laughed at the detectives and DENIED everything he had previously stated.
Billy was said to have liked the legal mazes of law in Lucas County, Ohio better than that of Michigan. He was arrested 28 times throughout his short career. He had even escaped from the Ohio State Penitentiary. He was tough and boasted that he couldn’t stay caught, escaping deputy sheriffs in Lucas County, Ohio on the 2nd of September 1930, when he was being taken back to the county jail from the courthouse, handcuffed to a long line of other prisoners. Billy had just pleaded not guilty to robbing the Hoffman drug store at Sylvania Avenue and Douglas Roads.
He escaped with handcuff dangling from his wrist, running across the Safety Building lawn, thru a parking lot and into a waiting taxi at Beech and Huron Streets in Toledo, Ohio. Police would go on to lose track of him. He was said to have been hiding in a farm house near Point Place and although searches resulted in nothing, he had once again eluded the police.
Bank holdups during the 1930s in Toledo and outlying communities were numerous and Police were known to share descriptions and notes on each and every one. Most resulted in whispers of “Billy the Killer” in a lot of these holdup connections.
This brings us to our 2nd player in our story, Frank Mitchell, also known as Charles Floyd.
Mitchell had also escaped from Toledo Deputy Sheriffs. He was being taken to the Ohio State Penitentiary on a charge of bank robbery in connection with a holdup of a Sylvania bank when he jumped from a moving train.
Both Billy and Mitchell were known from Cleveland all the way to St. Louis for their speed and their guns. But the fact of the matter remained that Police just could NOT find them.
Until that fateful day in 1931 when Bowling Green, Ohio Police Chief Galliher did just that.
He Found Them.
Mitchell would go on to walk away, escaping from the deadly gun fight that would break out of South Prospect Street in Bowling Green, Ohio.
One of two girls found with Billy and Mitchell in Bowling Green told Chief Galliher that they were from Kansas City. The other girl disclosed that her husband was a Kansas City gambler and had been killed in a gun battle in Kansas City back in March. Rumors swirling indicated that Billy had killed her husband in that gun battle. (this is unproven to this day)
What Happened in 1931 in Bowling Green, Ohio?
On Thursday, 16th of April 1931, a gun battle erupted between Bowling Green police and notorious gunman. The Police Chief Carl Galliher killed one of the bandits after Officer Ralph Caster was dropped, seriously wounded by a bullet from the gun of one of the desperadoes. Frank Mitchell is the gunman who escaped after the battle. Billy the Killer was left dead in the street when a fusillade of bullets from the policemen’s revolvers entered his body.
Rose Baird who was one of the girl companions of the thugs, was uninjured.
Sheriff Bruce Pratt aided in the search for Mitchell and Councilman Elmer Bowers helped capture the un-wounded girl, Rose Baird.
This battled happened on Prospect and Clough streets in Bowling Green, Ohio.
The Search for Frank Mitchell
It is said that not a stone was left unturned within northwestern Ohio when efforts went out to find Frank Mitchell, who had escaped the gun battle on Prospect Street in Bowling Green. Chief Galliher, Sheriff Pratt, and Deputy Clarence Marsh joined Detectives Hovey and Delores, of the Toledo Homicide squad, along with a number of men from Lucas County Sheriff’s officer and Chief Deputy Charles Ragg to tour Toledo. Rose Baird, the girl companion of Billy and Frank was taken along and pointed out tourist homes where the foursome had spent time during the past month together.
During the search, the party had three machine loads and were equipped with riot and machine guns in anticipation of finding Mitchell. He was considered armed and extremely dangerous.
No trace was unearthed during the extensive search efforts made. The search party did find the Chevrolet four-door sedan with Missouri plate 385-884 on the Chicago Pike, Route 2, near Route 64, about a half mile east of Swanton, but nothing was left inside of the car to indicate Frank had been in it. When the officers checked the mileage, it had been driven 60 miles since it was parked along East Wooster in Bowling Green before the shootout. It was doubtless that it had been driven east, then south, and back around, possibly crossing the Damascus or Waterville bridge and going through Whitehouse to the Chicago Pike.
There was a Wounded Girl Left Behind…
I made mention that there were 2 girls with Billy and Frank and we have learned that Rose Baird was one of those ladies and she had been uninjured during the shootout. The other girl, Beulah Baird had been 21 years old, also from Kansas City. She gave the address for herself and Rose as 2402 E. 30th Street.
During questioning, Rose Baird, who at first refused to answer any questions, did identify photographs of Billy and Frank for police officials. She also told the police that Billy was wanted in Kansas City for murder, as well as in many other cities for a broad range of crimes, including killing his own brother in Beaver County, PA.
Police learned that Billy, Frank and the two girls came to northwestern Ohio from Kansas City immediately following the slaying of William and Wallace Ash. Mrs. Wallace Ash, police say is the girl who identifies as Rose Baird. It was noted that Rose is the sister of Beulah Baird, who was injured, and the shooting of the Ash brothers culminated ans underworld romance.
Billy, Frank and the girls had been living in tourist houses in Toledo, Ohio for the past month prior to the shootout. They had been raiding branch banks within the territory and doing so in a reckless and daring manner.
Police Chief Galliher was said to have been keeping up on the bank robberies in the Toledo area and watching activities in Bowling Green. He states that the Friday before the event he obtained some information that Billy and Frank had been spending money carelessly around town, using bills of large denominations. The thinking of the Police was Billy and Frank were tossing around “good currently” to attempt to circulate counterfeit monies within Bowling Green. This tipped officers off when the suspects were once again reported in town, driving the Chevrolet 4-door sedan.
I want to stop here and state that the Baird sisters were not known to have any kind of criminal record aside from a detected shoplifting attempt earlier the week of the shootout.
But, on this fateful day, the quartet went into D. M. Alkire clothing store and each man bought a suit, Billy paying for both with bills out of a large wad. The girls picked out shirts, ties, and handkerchiefs. Mr. Alkire was making change when he glanced up and saw Rose Baird putting a necktie into her bag. The merchant said nothing, handed her change and the four left the store at that time.
More about the Baird Sisters…
Citation: https://www.newspapers.com/image/883595038/?terms=billy%20the%20baby%20faced%20killer&match=1
In Williamston, KY on May 8th 1931, hundreds of citizens in Grant County went to the Courthouse, thirty-five miles south of Covington to see Ruth Saunders (23) and her sister, Rose Baird (25) of Kansas City, as they were arraigned on charges of bank robbery, in connection with the holdup of the Mt. Zion (Ky) bank, twelve miles from Williamston, KY on the 6th of April 1931.
The sisters were identified by seven (7) commonwealth witnesses as the “girl friends” and accomplices of William “Billy the Killer” Miller of Ironton, Ohio, and Charles Arthur Floyd, aka Frank Mitchell, in the bank holdup in which $3,000 was obtained.
The two girls were arrested at Bowling Green, Ohio following a gun battle with police in which Miller was killed and Patrolman Ralph Castner was fatally wounded. The Baird girl was wounded in the head by one of the bullets. Floyd, now wanted for first degree murder in killed the policeman, is still being sought. The girls were brought back to Grant County for arraignment.
After the two girls had been identified as having been seen both before and after the Mt. Zion robbery in company with the two robbers their attorney, Fred A. Harrison of Williamstown, waived examination for them. They were bound over to the June term of the Grant County grand jury under $3,000 bond each. They were taken to the Georgetown (KY) jail, as the Williamstown jail has no accommodations for women.
The Baird girl appeared to be weak from her sufferings, but her sister sat through the court proceedings unconcerned.
Charlie Flege, reputable and well-to-do Grant Co., farmer, related to the court how he had been hoodwinked by the quartet and made an innocent tool in their plot to rob the bank. Flege knew Miller years ago when he was just Billy Miller and not “Billy the Killer.” Both worked for the same railroad in the Kentucky Mountains. He had not seen Miller for years and knew nothing of the record as a desperado he had established in later years. So, when Miller and “his friend Arthur Floyd,” drove to his place with their “wives” a few days before the bank robbery, reminiscence were exchanged. Floyd wanted to buy a farm and settle down in the fine farming section of Grant County, Miller told Flege.
Flege accompanied the quartet in a drive about the county and gladly pointed out the beauties of the countryside. They drove through Crittenden, Sherman and other towns. When they passed through Ellston Station, Miller remembered that he wanted to get a $20 bill changed. The Baird girl said she “wanted to stretch her legs,” so she got out and went to the Mt. Zion bank with Miller.
When Miller was getting the bill changed, the commonwealth claims, her keen eyes got the “lay” of the bank for future holdup. They spent the night at the Flege farm and the next day went out for a “drive.” They returned soon after noon and “rested-up” at the home of Amos Burroughs, tenant on Flege’s farm, for a few hours.
While they were “resting” at the farm, the State claims they had $3,000 of the banks money in their possession, and were effectually hidden just a few miles from the bank, from the pursuing scores of county police and bank and city detectives, who ere searching the highways throughout the State.
Witnesses told the court how they had seen the two girls walking along the road leading from Mt. Zion bank to the Dixie Highway. They had been dropped off there and then picked up the bank robbers, the State claims.
The cashier of the bank also identified the Baird girl as the one who was in the bank with Miller when he got change for the $20 bill.
So What Became of “Pretty Boy Floyd” Frank Mitchell?
Citation: https://www.newspapers.com/image/85972160/?terms=billy%20the%20baby%20faced%20killer&match=1
I had to dig this story out of the archives, but it is sure to not disappoint. I found an article from 1977 that paints a picture of “Pretty Boy Floyd” and his life after the shootout!
Forty-three years ago the fall of 1977, under an apple tree on a northeast Ohio Farm, gangster PRETTY BOY FLOYD got his wish… HE WAS NOT TAKEN ALIVE!
After a 12-year career, the murderer of 10 men and robber of 30 banks died with 14 bullets pumped into his body by a posse of Columbiana County lawmen.
In 1934, 10,000 people filed through an East Liverpool funeral home to SEE the famous Floyd. It has been something that has been talked about every since.
Think back to when boxer Earnie Shaver opened a training camp near East Liverpool before his heavyweight fight with Mohammad Ali, he hyped it as the biggest event in the area since the shooting of Prety Boy Floyd!
You see, CHARLES ARTHUR FLOYD (Pretty Boy Floyd) was the Son of Sam of his time.
Police records show he took up crime at the age of 18 when he robbed a Kansas City post office for $350 - in PENNIES!
He soon graduated to banks and dollar bills, working under his own name and using aliases of Frank Mitchell (as we saw in Bowling Green, Ohio) and Pretty Boy Smith, as well. In 1932 his score in Oklahoma was so high, state bank insurance rates DOUBLED!
By 1931, he’s served three years in Oklahoma and more time in Jefferson City, MO. Convicted of robbing the Sylvania, Ohio bank in 1930 and ultimately jumping off the train after his escape when he was on his way to the Ohio State Penitentiary.
His nick name came, reportedly, from the comment of a Kansas City madame, who seeing his dark, wavy hair and gray eyes said, “I want you for myself, pretty boy.”
Floyd was a fearful criminal because he liked his business. He was even said to have carried a pocket watch with notches carved into it to memorialize his victims, five of them policemen. Floyd killed one Akron officer who stopped him for going through a red light. He celebrated bank stickups with a shopping spree with his latest girl, spending huge amounts in large denominations.
On April 16, 1931, Floyd and William “Billy the Baby-Faced Killer” Miller rode into Bowling Green, Ohio with two girlfriends and the $1,600 they’d taken from a Whitehouse, Ohio bank the week before. Police ambushed the car, killing Miller and wounding one of the girls. Floyd escaped, but only for another three and one-half years.
On the 22nd of Oct. 1934, Wellsville police got a tip about two men lying on a blanket with a cache of machine guns, rifles and pistols spread out all around them.
It turned out Floyd and Adam Richetti, another gangster, were waiting for two (2) Wellsville girls to come back with their car. The four had been traveling through Ohio buying clothing. Oddly, the car, known to have been damaged in a bank robbery, never showed up, and the identity of the two minor-aged girls was never learned.
Richetti was caught and later executed. He was held first in the Columbiana County jail where he was a favorite of jail matron, Mrs. Frank Balantine, the sheriff’s wife. She told her children how artistic he was, decorating his cell walls with paintings.
But, no surprise to us, Floyd got away, once again! He hijacked a car, then using two hostages as a shield at a roadblock, he skipped into the woods.
He escaped to the Clarkson farm of John Conkle where the next morning he demanded breakfast from Mrs. Conkle. He paid her $1.50 though, and in days when restaurants charged 15 cents for a hanburger steak, onions, and coffee, that was a rich price.
Conkles’ brother was about to drive the gangster into Clarkson when they ran into the cars of the posse and Floyd’s FINAL shootout.
“Daddy shot him,” said Mrs. Smith of her husband, “but he didn’t kill him. They proved it. We explained that to his mother, Floyd’s mother, when she called us.” Smith’s was only one of 14 bullets.
Floyd, who had vowed NEVER to be taken alive, died in 15 minutes.
Melvin Purvis and other FBI agents came in from Chicago for the shootout, and for Mrs. Smith it still smarts that, “The FBI took credit. Well if we had taken the credit, the city woudl have gotten all that reward for him.”
Floyd’s mother had the body shipped to Oklahoma for burial.
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How is that for a bit of DARK HISTORY that came right out of Bowling Green, Ohio!