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The ballad of Ben and Stella Mae : Great Plains outlaws who became FBI Public Enemies Nos. 1 and 2 / Matthew Cecil.
Author
Cecil, Matthew
[Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/Created
Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, 2017.
©2017
Description
xiii, 191 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Availability
Available Online
JSTOR DDA
Copies in the Library
Location
Call Number
Status
Location Service
Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks
HV6785 .C43 2017
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Details
Subject(s)
Criminals
—
United States
—
Biography
[Browse]
Outlaws
—
Great Plains
—
Biography
[Browse]
Bank robberies
—
Great Plains
—
History
—
20th century
[Browse]
Kidnapping
—
Great Plains
—
History
—
20th century
[Browse]
Great Plains
—
History
—
20th century
—
Biography
[Browse]
United States Federal Bureau of Investigation
—
History
—
20th century
[Browse]
Dickson, Ben 1911-1939
[Browse]
Dickson, Stella Mae 1922-1995
[Browse]
Hoover, J. Edgar (John Edgar) 1895-1972
[Browse]
Summary note
"On August 25, 1938, twenty-five-year-old Ben Dickson and his fifteen-year-old wife Stella Mae robbed the Corn Exchange Bank in Elkton, South Dakota, making off with $2,187.64. Two months later they hit a bank in nearby Brookings for $17,593--after waiting two hours for the vault's time-lock to open while the bank's manager went on processing loans for customers. Unfortunately for these two small-time outlaws, the FBI was in short supply of public enemies at the time, and a newly minted Bonnie and Clyde was exactly what J. Edgar Hoover needed to stoke the agency's public relations machine. Retrieving the Dicksons from the fog of history and the hype of the FBI's 'Most Wanted' narrative, The Ballad of Ben and Stella Mae tells the story of a damaged small-town girl and her petty criminal husband whose low-key crime spree became, as True magazine proclaimed, 'The Crimson Trail of Public Enemies One and Two.' The book follows Stella Mae and Ben from their troubled beginnings in Topeka through the desperate adventure that the FBI recast as a dangerous rampage, stirring a media frenzy and a nationwide manhunt that ended in betrayal and bloodshed: Ben dead, shot in the back outside of a hamburger joint in Forest Park, Missouri, and Stella Mae, a juvenile, put away for ten years. The Dicksons first captured Matthew Cecil's imagination as a teenager in his hometown of Brookings, where their bank robbery remains the stuff of legend. When, many years later, their file turned up in his research into the FBI, the tale of their exploits--and exploitation at the hands of J. Edgar Hoover--proved irresistible. Readers of this Depression-era story, retold here in all its grit and tarnished glory, will find it no less compelling"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliographic references
Includes bibliographical references (page 175) and index.
Contents
Cast of Characters
Stella
Ben
J. Edgar Hoover's FBI
Time Lock Bandits
Public Enemies
St. Louis
Home to Mother.
Show 5 more Contents items
ISBN
9780700623242 ((hardback ; : alkaline paper))
0700623248 ((hardback ; : alkaline paper))
LCCN
2016023590
OCLC
947148999
Statement on language in description
Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage.
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The ballad of Ben and Stella Mae : Great Plains outlaws who became FBI Public Enemies Nos. 1 and 2 / Matthew Cecil.
id
9999947823506421
The ballad of Ben and Stella Mae : Great Plains outlaws who became FBI Public Enemies Nos. 1 and 2 / Matthew Cecil.
id
SCSB-12869633