Ma Barker American criminal who led a gang consisting of her four sons and their henchmen. The Bloody Barkers terrorized the Midwest from Minnesota to Texas in the 1920s and 1930s. Her specialty was kidnapping and robbery. All family members died Country: USA

Ma Barker: The Leader of the Notorious Barker Gang

Ma Barker was an American criminal who led a gang consisting of her four sons and their associates. She was a rare individual, a woman who headed a gang of thugs and raised her sons to be defiant of the law. Ma Barker secured her place in the annals of crime as her life story is a chain of truly devilish deeds. Ma Barker taught her sons three things: how to read, write, and shoot. She was born in the same area where the notorious outlaw Jesse James roamed. Under her guidance, her four sons became one of the most dangerous and ruthless gangs in American history. She taught them to follow the rule that stated: all laws are meant to be broken. Unlike their contemporaries - Pretty Boy Floyd and John Dillinger, who were notorious criminals but failed to profit from their crimes - the Barker boys earned vast sums of money while remaining elusive. They acted boldly, cold-bloodedly, and killed without hesitation on their journey across the country, from the Midwest to the far southern Texas. They were society's rejects, taught by their own mother to live by the laws of the criminal world. Ma Barker's real name was Arizona Donnie Clark. She was born in Springfield, Missouri, in 1872, to an illiterate alcoholic farmer father and a devoutly religious mother who taught her to read the Bible and play the violin. She dropped out of school at the age of ten and developed a passion for reading cheap crime novels about villains like Jesse James. When the Dalton Gang was killed by police bullets during a bank robbery in Coffeyville, Kansas in 1892, Ma mourned. She was twenty years old at the time. Her grief subsided when she married George Barker, a laborer as uneducated as herself. Weak and indecisive, he immediately fell under his wife's control. He especially suffered when she indulged in whiskey. However, they managed to have four healthy sons: Herman, Lloyd, Arthur, and Fred. All children grew up to be bandits, and like their mother, they perished by bullets. In their state, they were known as the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" (this is what the local school teachers bitterly called them). In 1908, influenced by neighbors who believed she had given birth to the devil's sons, Ma, along with her brood and her husband, moved to Webb City. She chose this town because gold had recently been discovered in the vicinity. Getting rich remained the family's only hope. The Barkers continued to live in extreme poverty in their cabin without water and electricity. Year after year, the hardships and grievances accumulated, pushing the young men towards crime. Ma had a pathological hatred for any authority and those who dared to make even the slightest remark about her delinquent brood. She believed that all policemen were against her sons. In 1910, Herman Barker became the first one to be arrested for theft. Instead of scolding her son, she attacked the policemen, saying, "My boys are chosen by God! You will burn in hell if you dare to touch any of the Barkers with your dirty hands again!" In 1915, after numerous clashes with the law, the family gathered and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where her husband found work on the railroad. They continued to live in poverty, and the sons continued to break the law. The boys went through the whole range of teenage crimes - from house theft to car theft and robbery. Ma quickly formed friendships with a colorful crowd consisting of vagrants, hobos, drug addicts, murderers, and robbers. She became particularly attached to a man named Herb Farmer, who was hiding near Joplin, Missouri. She got acquainted with many famous criminals of that time, robbers, and armed bandits. Soon her home became a haven for fugitive criminals who needed a place to lay low. These constant guests entertained the impressionable boys with "romantic stories" of murders, robberies, and violence. Psychiatrist James Allen, who studied Ma Barker's case, said, "This woman saw in hooligans and robbers who constantly hung around her house the embodiment of the bandits she idolized in her childhood. She could not instill in her offspring respect for the rules and laws that existed in society. She told them about the life of criminals as a kind of romantic adventure in the style of Robin Hood. The boys, with their conditional education and limited knowledge, heard what they wanted to hear." By the time the Barker brothers came of age, they were fully immersed in the criminal world. Ma Barker listened with admiration to her sons' stories of their exploits and readily gave advice on how to better rob a person or a jewelry store. In 1917, the Barkers became members of a large gang that united criminals who robbed banks, post offices, and local gas stations. Ray Terrill, who spent many hours planning bank robberies with Ma, took Herman along on a heist. Instead of scolding her son, she attacked the police officers: "My boys are chosen by God! You will burn in hell if you dare to touch any of the Barkers with your dirty hands again!" In 1915, after numerous clashes with the law, the family gathered and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where her husband found work on the railroad. They continued to live in poverty, and the sons continued to break the law. The boys went through the whole range of teenage crimes - from house theft to car theft and robbery. Ma quickly formed friendships with a colorful crowd consisting of vagrants, hobos, drug addicts, murderers, and robbers. She became particularly attached to a man named Herb Farmer, who was hiding near Joplin, Missouri. She got acquainted with many famous criminals of that time, robbers, and armed bandits. Soon her home became a haven for fugitive criminals who needed a place to lay low. These constant guests entertained the impressionable boys with "romantic stories" of murders, robberies, and violence. Psychiatrist James Allen, who studied Ma Barker's case, said, "This woman saw in hooligans and robbers who constantly hung around her house the embodiment of the bandits she idolized in her childhood. She could not instill in her offspring respect for the rules and laws that existed in society. She told them about the life of criminals as a kind of romantic adventure in the style of Robin Hood. The boys, with their conditional education and limited knowledge, heard what they wanted to hear." By the time the Barker brothers came of age, they were fully immersed in the criminal world. Ma Barker listened with admiration to her sons' stories of their exploits and readily gave advice on how to better rob a person or a jewelry store. In 1917, the Barkers became members of a large gang that united criminals who robbed banks, post offices, and local gas stations. Ray Terrill, who spent many hours planning bank robberies with Ma, took Herman along on a heist. Instead of scolding her son, she attacked the police officers: "My boys are chosen by God! You will burn in hell if you dare to touch any of the Barkers with your dirty hands again!" In 1917, the Barkers became members of a large gang that united criminals who robbed banks, post offices, and local gas stations. Ray Terrill, who spent many hours planning bank robberies with Ma, took Herman along on a heist. Instead of scolding her son, she attacked the police officers: "My boys are chosen by God! You will burn in hell if you dare to touch any of the Barkers with your dirty hands again!" In 1917, the Barkers became members of a large gang that united criminals who robbed banks, post offices, and local gas stations. Ray Terrill, who spent many hours planning bank robberies with Ma, took Herman along on a heist. Instead of scolding her son, she attacked the police officers: "My boys are chosen by God! You will burn in hell if you dare to touch any of the Barkers with your dirty hands again!"