True Crime All The Time - Edward Adams

Episode Date: August 2, 2021

Edward Adams was drawn to a life of crime from a young age. He became an American spree killer and a classic representation of a gangster in the 1920s. He killed seven people, including three police officers who were trying to end his criminal ways. Adams terrorized several different states and especially the people of Wichita.Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Edward Adams. Adams may not be that well known, but this case is just as disturbing as any modern spree killer story. He managed to escape prison and a life sentence. He went back to his criminal ways but was so determined not to go back to prison that he was willing to do anything and kill anyone to stop that from happening.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 24 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in true crime. Mike Gibson, give you, how are you? Hey man, I'm doing good about you. I'm doing great. You and I just got done taping a brand new Patreon episode. We did. On Joseph Oberhansley, who murdered at 17, was led out and then murdered again later in life.

He did some really bad things. He did. I mean, to the point where the press. dubbed him the cannibal killer. But yeah, it's a rough one. It's not one to listen to while you're eating. Let's put it that way. Hey, we got some supporter shoutouts.

For Patreon, we had Christopher Bone jumped out at our highest level. Hey, Christopher. Virginia Plain. What's going on, Virginia? Mike Wollston. Hey, Mike. Michelle Renfro jumped out at our highest level. Appreciate that, Michelle.

Regina Finiolier. Oh, Finiolier. Christine. Hey Christine. Sarah Lynn Nisbet. What's up, Nisbet? Jumped out at our highest level. MAGA.

Hey, MAGA. Ashley Addison. What's up, A.A. Jenny Lee. Hey, Jenny. Engineering stud. Well, you've got to be a stud if you're an engineer, right? Lauren Campbell.

Hey, Lauren. Shannon Ash. What's going on, Shannon? Tyler Williams. Hey, thanks, Tyler. Melody McCall. What's up, McCall? Daryl.

Flintroy. Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of great new support on Patreon. And then if we go into the vault, Gibbs. Let's do it. This week, we selected Mary Beth Long. Well, thank you, Mary Beth.

Yeah, she's been with this a long time. She also was selected randomly as our Patreon merch winner for June. So kind of a double whammy there. Yeah. We had some great support on PayPal from Aubrey Eldridge. Hey, Aubrey. Kim Garcia. Hey, thank you, Kim.

Natalie Canones. Ooh, got some Cononez on you. Kenonez. Yeah. And Lisa Orton. Hey, Lisa. So thanks to everyone who supports the show. So I mentioned the Patreon episode.

We have an episode out right now on true crime all the time unsolved. We're talking about the 1952 murders at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. Yeah, this is a fascinating case. It involves, you know, two executives are taking a weekend, and they're up at the Crater Lake National Park. But they never make it to where they're headed because they go missing. And they're found murdered. And we will dive into, you know, the search and the suspects involved. All of it.

As we always do. And don't forget about CrimeCon. If you're going to order your tickets on CrimeCon.com, make sure you use our promo code T-Cat. Get 10% off your standard badge price. Yeah. All right, Gibby, are you ready to get into this episode of True Crime all the time? I'm ready. We are talking about an American spree.

killer named Edward Adams who lived and killed during the 1920s. So we're going back a little further than we normally do from a young age. He was drawn to a life of crime. He really was kind of the classic representation of a 1920s gangster. I think a lot of people kind of know what that is, right? You've seen the movie. Sure. Where they go back to kind of the 1920s.

and you know what those gangsters wore, how they talked, the Tommy gun. I mean, it's just all that stuff. Yeah, the good looking hair, man. Sure. You got to have some product in there. Yeah. He ran with other gangsters to commit robberies across three states. But Adams turned from a criminal to a spree killer after he escaped from prison.

Basically, you know, after that, he was willing to kill whoever stood in his way so that he didn't have to go back to serve a life sentence. He ended up killing seven people, three of whom were police officers who were trying to stop him from committing more crimes. Eddie Adams terrorized the city of Wichita for months, robbing banks, businesses, and injuring innocent citizens. It all came to a violent end during a shootout with the police. So there's no doubt this is a lesser known case. Adams is a lesser known criminal. Sure. But, you know, when you look at it, this case, which is now, you know, a hundred years old,

that's kind of hard to believe. It's a hundred years old. It's just as shocking and disturbing as any modern spree killer story. And I think that tells you something. Yeah, it does. Right? The true crime phenomenon, which is people ingesting it, wanting to hear. about it, that's more recent.

Yeah. But true crime itself or crime itself, it's been around forever. Hey, it goes back to that first caveman that bonged that guy over the head for that dinosaur bone man, if you believe that. You mean literally what I just said on like a week or two ago? Exactly. I literally said the caveman who bonked another caveman on the head. I'm stealing your material.

Okay. Just, I just really wanted to make sure. sure. Yeah. Edward J. Adams was born in 1887. Everyone who knew him called him Eddie. Now, old newspapers list his name as Edward C. Adams, but all of the modern sources list him as Edward J. Adams. Some sources say that his real name was W.J. Wallace and that he assumed the alias Eddie Adams as an adult. Generally, it's agreed upon by historians that his name was Edward J. Wallace. And that he assumed the alias Eddie Adams as an adult. Generally, it's agreed upon by historians that his name was Edward Adams and that the W.J. Wallace is an alias that he used when he went into hiding. I think the other thing it does Gibbs is it points out

something that you and I have found out over the years, which is the reporting is all over the place. It really is. Now, even more so when you go back 100 years, but even today, five, 10 years. years ago, reporting seems to be hit or miss. Yeah. Depending on what paper you're looking at, they get facts wrong. It's just something that's really jumped out at me as you and I have done a lot of research. And we've seen a lot of it. Eddie was born on a farm in Hutchinson, Kansas.

His father died when he was a young boy. And his mother, T.R. Montgomery, were married shortly after. For unknown reasons, Eddie hates. hated his stepfather. Now, it may have been because his stepfather made him do most of the hard labor on the farm. Want to let somebody be lazy at that house, was he? No, and let's face it, you know, back in the early 1900s, late 1800s, kids had to pull their weight. They did. It was much different than I think it is in most households today. Yeah, do I make my kids empty the dishwasher and do some things like that, sure.

But I don't make them get up at 530 and milk the cows and plow the North 40. It's just not there. But back then, if you wanted to eat and do things, you had to. It wasn't like they could be laying around watching TV or playing video games, right? I mean, it was like. No, and it was about survival. You know, you needed to get all of these things done in order to survive. You know, there was no, hey, let me hit up DoorDash or Grubhub and get some chicken over here.

No, it didn't happen that way. No. In the early 1900s, Eddie learned the barber train and he moved to Wichita, Kansas. He worked as a barber for a few years until he was influenced to turn to a life of crime. According to the Wichita Eagle, he came to be a criminal because of a woman. So he had a sweetheart back in Hutchinson and he left Wichita to return to Hutchinson to marry this girl. Well, if there's anything that can draw you back to your hometown, it's love. Love will do it.

Love will do a lot of things. They lived together for a few months until she left him for another man. And if there's anything that will turn you into something you weren't, it's if your significant other runs off. with someone else. Yes. Never good. No, it's going to cause some major changes within most people, I would think. Now, I don't think it's going to turn everybody into being a criminal, but, you know,

it really marked a turning point for Eddie. He moved back to Wichita and he kind of turned to gambling as a way to cope with his heartbreak. In 1915 or 1916, Eddie met a gangster named John Callahan. and he got involved with bootlegging liquor, some robbery, a little car theft. But that was kind of a thing back then. It's the bootlegging part. Well, prohibition.

Yeah. Right. And, you know, to me, it's always the kind of what people refer to as unintended consequences. Right. So prohibition comes about. Do you really think that they were, as they were, you know, drafting this or thinking about implementing this, really thinking that, okay, this is going to cause

a lot of illegal activity. People are still going to want to drink. Sure they were. They're still going to want their alcohol. Somebody's going to get it for them. Yep. And it's going to be a criminal because it's a criminal activity. We've made it that. Yeah. To the point where it became big business and really kind of launched a lot of criminal enterprises. You know, I was telling you, a while back, I was rewatching that boardwalk empire, right, set in Atlantic City. It's based on, on a kind of real people. Yeah. And really, most of it kind of centered around bootlegging, Al Capone. I mean, you can just go down the line from these old gangsters back during prohibition time, kind of got their start. and really flourished because alcohol was illegal.

Yeah, there was a need, and they found a way to him to meet that need. John Callahan taught Eddie everything he knew about being a successful criminal. Basically, he was serving as an apprentice, Gibbs, with this guy Callahan until he felt ready to venture out on his own. Is it me or the time you say Callahan? I'm thinking of. Auto part, great. brake pads, auto parts. Exactly.

But, you know, not that much different from what, a plumber, an electrician, HVAC. You have to apprentice. You sure do. Right? You have to learn from somebody until you're ready to go out on your own. Now, the difference is those things are all legal and very much needed. Yes. Now, people back then would have said, hey, that alcohol is very much needed.

Absolutely. It just happens to be illegal. Eddie got married after joining the Callahan gang. But, you know, the date that he got married, the name of his wife, couldn't really figure any of that out from the sources. Now, it was said that it was not a happy marriage. Eddie was described as very charismatic. Women were drawn to him. Unfortunately, for Eddie's wife, this was a guy who had a wondering eye and he cheated on her all the time. So I think she became a woman. tired of two things. Number one, the infidelity. Sure. Most women won't stand for that. No.

But number two, I think she got tired of being married to a criminal because that has its drawbacks, obviously. Well, you had all that up. It's going to be a very short marriage. And it was. I think she left him after just a few years. But what happened was Eddie's now free, right? He no longer has the constraints of marriage, although I don't think he was all that constrained while he was married. Right. But Eddie started his own gang, the Adams gang. He and his gang members started committing bank and train robberies across Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa.

He quickly earned a reputation as one of the premier bandits in the Midwest. I wonder what your gang name would be. T-Cat gang. T-Cat? I already have one. You do, that's true. We do. You and I already already.

have a gang. It's called the T-Cat gang. Like I'd have a sub-gang called the Ghibi gang. Right. The Gigi's. Doesn't sound very tough, doesn't it? It doesn't. No. You're going back to your Westside story roots there a little bit. Because when you're a jet, you're always a jet. When you're a Gigi, you're always a Gigi. There you go. But I think what is important to take from this was that, you know, it's not like Eddie was some small-time crook, right? And, mean, he was well known. He developed this reputation to the point where people were considering him, you know, in this upper echelon kind of of, um, gangsters. Now, he's not as well known as Al Capone and

all these other people. But people knew who he was when he walked into a place of business, I'm sure. It sounds like it. In 1920, through connections with his former boss, John Callahan, Eddie formed a partnership with the outlaw brothers Ray and Walter majors. One of them had a son named Lee, probably, who became the $6 million man. Bigger and better and stronger and faster. Sure. On September 5th, 1920, Eddie, Ray, Walter, and a third major brother named Dudley attempted a daylight robbery at a Kansas City gambling den owned by a guy by the name of Harry Truesdale.

So this casino was operating illegally and the employees were essentially criminals like Eddie. So when he tried to rob the place along with his fellow gang members, a shootout between the gang and casino employees erupted. The shootout led to the death of one of the customers, a man by the name of Frank Gardner. Police were called to the scene, but Eddie and the majors had already fled. Truisdell gave them a description and the police set out to capture the gang. And it was told to police that Eddie was the main gunman. So that's who they were setting their sights on. But Eddie did pretty good.

He invaded capture for about six months. Yeah. Now, I would think in 1920, 1921, if you wanted to evade capture, if you really wanted to get laws, How much easier was it back then than it is today? It would be a whole lot easier, wouldn't it? There's no cameras. There's no GPS. There's no, you know, tracking of information or dispersal of information from one police

department to the other, the way that there is today. So, you know, you said he did pretty good. I thought, well, it seems like he could have evaded longer, but he was captured in February 1921, the Kansas courts gave him a 99-year sentence. Pretty good sentence back then. Yeah. I mean, that's essentially a life sentence. But someone did die.

The Major Brothers only received five years because they took a plea deal on robbery charges. But they both died in prison before they finished their sentences. Dudley Major escaped the scene separately from the other three men. he was caught later and served time in the Delaware penitentiary. So Eddie's going away for life, right? Never to see the light of day again, probably. But as he was being transported to the Missouri State prison, he escaped by jumping off the train.

Oh, the old jump, tuck and roll. Yeah. Dangerous. But that versus spending the rest of your life in prison, I might take a shot at it. Yeah. What have you got to lose? Within just a few days, he joined up with gangster Julius Finney. Together, they robbed a bank in a general store in Culleson, Kansas on February 11th, 1921.

So he's free, right? He's made his escape. What's he going to do? Is he going to settle down? He's going to lay low. No, he's going to join up with another guy and rob places in Kansas. How about you get the heck out of Dodge, literally? really and go to another state far away but criminals don't always think like that no they think they're

invincible he was also probably thinking well you know i could go to connecticut or someplace like that but i don't know anybody i'm going to join up with julius and we're going to start robin because that's all we know how to do on february 17th 1921 eddie was captured near garden plain kansas by a posse and gibs i know you've been a part of a number of posseys. And I love a good posse. I know you do. Unfortunately, you've also been on the other end of a number of possees. That's when I don't love a good posse. Yeah. So it goes both ways. It does. It's hit or miss with you. Eddie wrecked his stolen car near a bridge before he got caught. And then he got underneath the bridge and was holding on from underneath. Yeah. And anybody that has tried to hold on to like, let's say monkey bars or any type of, you know, something like that for a long

period of time, it's tough. If you're an adult male with any type of weight on you, that is not easy. If you're an eight-year-old kid, okay, maybe you can hang there for a very long time. You're some type of gymnastic person, right? Yeah. A gymnast. It's going to be difficult, I think, you know. A gymnastic type person or a gymnast, either one.

They're a little slightly different. There is. One's a little higher caliber, I think. Exactly. So he's trying to hold himself up underneath this bridge. The problem is, okay, you can only do that for so long. And he couldn't do it long enough to avoid capture. What I thought was interesting was the timing, right?

He's captured in February 1921. He gets a 99-year sentence. By February 11th of that same year, he's robin banks again. He's jumped off the train. and then just six days later he's caught again. This all happened very quickly. And why did it happen? Because he didn't get the heck out of the Midwest.

Missouri, Kansas, it was just like, you know, I'm going to stay right around here. And that's how you get caught. Ed West, son, head west. Or east, you can go anywhere. Go south to Texas. North, Canada. Great place to be. Mounties and all.

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They notified officials in all the towns along the way to Wichita to be on the lookout for Eddie Adams. Five men made up the posse. R.H. Moore was a Marshall and newspaper publisher. Carl Wolf was a garage owner. Carl Whiskey was a mail carrier. There was a guy named Charles Self. And there were two men who were garage employees.

Charles Self and Walter Mounded. So, I mean, it's not like this posse is made up of, you know, gunslingers. These are, you know, mail carriers and people. with real jobs. One person's a publisher. Now, there was a, the one guy was a marshal. But still, you know, any opportunity to be part of a posse, it's, you know, hey, I'm going to form a posse, you know, immediately got people with their hands up. Well, it's exciting. Yeah. You think you're doing a good deed, right? Now, you could also get shot. So it's exciting,

but very dangerous at the same time. Sheriff Wade Gosney joined them later that morning to arrest Adams. The posse blocked the road near the bridge by parking Wolf's car across the road, and then Officer Gosney parked his car further along the road and waited for Adams. According to the Wichita beacon, a Buick tore around the bend and crashed into Wolf's car. Julius Finney was apprehended immediately, but Adams escaped from the car and ran down the road. The posse fired some shots at him, but they didn't hit him. Eddie ran north through a field. So the posse took Julius Finney to jail.

And then they came back to try to find the other guy who was Adams. They followed his trail. The seven men joined together. They searched all over for him. But for some reason, they didn't pay all that much attention to the bridge. Maybe they just thought, okay, where's he going to be? There's no place to be on this bridge, we would seem. And one of the guys even walked under.

of the bridge without seeing anything. Frank Bradley was walking along the creek bank, about 50 yards away from the bridge when he saw a hand and a foot dropped down from underneath the bridge. Then he saw a second hand and a second foot. So the posse surrounded the bridge and Gosney climbed down the embankment and stuck the end of his shotgun into Eddie's ribs and said, stick them up, kid, I've got you. That's some words you don't. don't want to hear as you're hanging from the bottom of a bridge. No, it also sounds like a cheesy line from a Western, but that's exactly what he said. According to the Wichita Beacon, Eddie pleaded with this guy.

And he said, for God's sakes, don't shoot. I'm sure there was a real threat back during that time. Hey, if you move a muscle, we'll just shoot you because you're a wanted criminal. there won't be a trial. Be easier for everybody. We'll just say you came after us, you came at us or whatever it is. And you said, you know,

everybody loves a good posse. Well, the problem is with a posse, I think back in the day, it took quite a few liberties. They did a lot of things that, let's say, were not quite within the rules of engagement.

Yeah, I think they kind of had a different rule book. Kind of played by their own rules probably. in a lot of cases. But no doubt that had to be a very intense moment. Oh, there's no doubt, yeah. So Eddie crawled out of his hiding place and he surrendered. So what he had done is he'd crawled up between the two by 12s that were supporting

the bridge and laid his body across a plane. It's actually pretty ingenious. If you think about it, it's a good hiding place. He held his hands and feet out of the way. But the problem is he'd been there for about 30 minutes. and the strain of the position was just too much. And he needed to stretch, relieve, you know, some of the tension on his arms, I would think. The Beacon wrote, had Eddie Adams possessed greater physical endurance,

he probably would not be lying in the Pratt, Kansas jail, a waiting trial for alleged bank robbery with a life murder term hanging over his head. So basically they're saying if he had just done some more push-up, Gibbs, maybe if he hadn't skipped armed day as much as he had, he would have been able to elude the police. It's important to not skip those days. Get into the gym, as you know. Comes back to bite you.

Yeah. But here's the thing. There was a lot of confusion when this arrest first happened because police didn't know that they had arrested Eddie Adams. Eddie told them that he was W.J. Wallace. On February 25th, 1921, the Wichita Beacon published, Cullison Bandit confesses he is hunted outlaw. And that was after Eddie Adams admitted his real identity inside his cell at the Pratt County Jail.

Initially, police didn't believe Dan Hosmer, who was the Wichita PD identification expert, who determined that the inmate they had was Eddie Adam. The sheriff and other officers refused to believe it. There's no way, they said, that this is Eddie Adams. But even though no one believed him, Hosmer insisted it was Eddie and asked for his fingerprints to be taken and compared to those on record. Hosmer compared his mugshot with the known photo of him

from his first arrest, and he insisted that they were indeed the same person. I guess everybody at the station just laughed at him. And it ended up that hundreds of different law enforcement officials came to try to identify this prisoner. Yeah. But it was Dan Hosmer who ended up being right. That's all you want, guys.

I got my man. Who's laughing now? Eddie confessed after Hosmer compared his fingerprints and measurements with the ones on their records. I wonder what type of measurements. We're just talking about height, weight, how long your arms are? How big your feet are? I guess they had to work with all kinds of different things back in the day.

Maybe they measured everything. Maybe. I don't even want to know. The Wichita Beacon reported that. Eddie said, I may as well admit it to you, Sheriff. I am Eddie Adams. Clever Eddie, they call me,

as the real brains of the famous major game. After he confessed his identity, he was taken to Kansas State prison. He pleaded guilty to bank robberies and highway robberies. And isn't it interesting? how quickly everything happened back in the day, from the time of arrest to, you know, pleading guilty or trial, to conviction to, you know, even execution. The wheels of justice just moved so quickly.

Now, a lot of people would argue too quickly and that a lot of innocent people were probably jailed and even executed on trumped up charges. and charges that, you know, couldn't be proven, things like that. Unfortunately, that still happens today. That's the sad thing, 100 years later. Some things never change. Eddie was convicted of bank robbery and 10 to 30 years were added to his life sentence. Nothing like life plus 30 years.

Yeah. Julius Finney received the same sentence for his role in the robbery. Eddie was sent to the Kansas State prison in Lansing. He arrived on March 21st. 1921, the Wichita newspaper spread the news with articles like Adam reaches pin to assure citizens that he was safely in jail. They wanted everybody to know that they can relax now. Yeah, because, you know, you have to figure you've got citizens who are thinking,

you know, we've got this criminal mastermind. This is a real gangster, you know, running around, hey, we're scared. Yeah. But now we're not. he's in jail. Yeah, and they find out that Eddie's going to be assigned to work in the prison's coal mine. But the problem was that Eddie was already scheming, right? He wasn't planning on staying there very long. And it was later that same year on August 13th that Eddie escaped prison again. Basically, what he did was he turned off the prison power plant and he scaled the walls at night.

he cut the lights in the guard tower to escape under the cover of darkness. This is like a Brad Pitt and Robert Redford type of movie. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Or the original Superman where Lex Luthor kind of scurries out of jail. That's true. With the help of his sidekick that I can't think of. Eddie then overpowered a guard and stole his gun.

He and three inmates made a ladder out of scrapwood to scale the prison wall. He escaped with inmates Frank Foster, George Wiseberger, and D.C. Brown. A World War I veteran named Billy Fentelman was their driver. So obviously there was some planning here, right? It's not Shawshank Redemption type planning over years and years of entunneling and all that. It was pretty immediate. But there's the turning off of the power. There's, you know, making a makeshift ladder.

There's some planning. getting your gang together, making sure you got a driver. D.C. Brown was captured just a few days after the escape. But the rest of the fugitives got away. And they formed the new and improved Adams gang. Whenever they had like shirts that said, Adams gang, new and approved. And underneath their first name?

Yeah. Like a mechanic or something like that? Exactly. Yeah. I doubt it. But their total loot from robberies committed in 1920, in 1921 was close to $300,000. Man, that's a lot of money.

You want to take a guess at what that would be today? Bebo, bebo, be bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, bo, 30 million. No, I don't think so. I think that's way high. Is it? Yeah. Did I calculate wrong? Let me go back and, oh, wait, sorry, it's $7 million.

Okay. I think that's probably closer. Yeah. Because I don't know what it is. I think that's closer to it. I don't think there's any way. It's $30 million, but I don't know. It's 100 years.

Boat load of money. man, either way. It is. It would be a boatload of money. It would be millions and millions, however many millions it was. Officers never found the entire stash of money. So Eddie went back into hiding. But as always, he just kept gravitating towards Wichita, the place that he considered his home. To hide in plain sight, Eddie dressed in all the latest, most fashionable clothes. He also cut his hair the way that the younger men did back then, even though by this point he was in his 30s. Got a look hip and cool, man. To blend in with the crowd.

Exactly. In August 1921, the Wichita Eagle published an article warning residents that Eddie was heading back to their city to commit more crime. So, you know, you have the Wichita paper saying, we got Eddie. everyone can breathe easy, you're all safe now. Well, it wasn't that long until they had to start running stories that said, hide your valuables, hide the women and children, because Eddie's coming back to town. And Eddie's not happy this time.

He's not. The police were worried that he was going to settle some scores, especially with police officers who he felt had wronged him. And sadly Gibbs, they turned out to be right. In September 1921, Eddie, Frank Foster, George Wiseberger, and Billy Fentleman joined together to rob banks. The Adams gang robbed over $10,000 from different banks in Rose Hill and Hayesville, Kansas. During the Hayesville robbery, Eddie pistol whipped an 82-year-old man named James Crevel for no reason. And this guy later died from his head in.

Yeah. And why would he have to do that to an 82 year old man? Well, I think that's a great question. You know, was this guy really about to foil a robbery? Was he given them a hard time? Or, you know, had Eddie changed? I think is one of the big questions. Had he become more violent? Why do you need to pistol whip an 82 year old man unless he's getting in the way of you committing your robbery? And there was no evidence that that was the case. It was almost as if he did it because he wanted to do it. And maybe it's, you know, kind of a sense of how Eddie had changed over the year. Sure. On October 8th, 1921, the police attempted to capture the gang in Kansas, but they escaped after a gunfight. The shootout injured deputy Benjamin Fisher, but he survived. So I think one thing is clear, right?

The police already said they were worried that Eddie was. was going to settle some scores. I think what's clear is that he's not going back to prison. No. And if he has to kill people, he will, including police officers. And maybe to Eddie Gibbs, especially police officers, because it seemed like he did harbor some, you know, really bad feelings against them. He thought that some of them had done him wrong.

I definitely don't think he was, uh, scared to shoot at them. No, not at all. On October 19th, the gang was spotted in Osceola, Iowa, after they stole $500 worth of silver from a bank. Another posse was formed, and they attempted to apprehend the gang near Murray, Iowa. A local farmer named C.J. Jones tried to intervene, and he was killed in the gunfight. Sheriff E.J. West and other officers pursued the gang. The gang stole a car, owned by the sheriff. and they got away. They traveled to Wichita, and along the way, they continued their crime spree. They robbed

11 stores in Muscataw, Kansas alone. Now, I don't think that's a very big town. I don't know what it is today, but I'm assuming it wasn't a big town in 1921. That was a very busy afternoon. Yeah. I mean, how many stores did they have? 12. Yeah. They got 11 of the 12. We almost got all of them, boys. That's a lot of robberies in one time. You just think about like the the town I live in. Yeah. If 11 stores were hitting one day, it'd be mass hysteria. It would be. You'd better get them all at the same time because the police will find you. The gang abducted and robbed two motorcycle officers and they set their bikes on fire. But both officers did survive the attack. See, I mean, they have no fear of law enforcement. No, but what they had, I think, was a fear of going back to

prison. So that then turns into no fear of law enforcement because we're willing to do whatever at this point. And they do. Yeah, they did because on November 5th, 1921, Eddie shot and killed patrolman Al Young in cold blood. Witnesses heard nine shots near the corner of Llewellyn and 11th Street. Young was laying on the ground dead. His revolver was empty. And somehow Adams had taken Young's gun and he shot him with his own gun. And I think what was strange to me about this one, Gibbs, was, you know, this was an unprovoked attack. It wasn't as though the officer had spotted them, was trying to capture them, nothing. He just took this guy's gun and Young had no way to defend himself.

Now, there were reports that the motive for the attack was over a girl that, Eddie and Young both had feelings for, and she chose Young over Eddie. I don't know how true that is, but there was some reporting about that. It wasn't long after Young was killed that the gang stole $35,000 from a Santa Fe Express train near Ottawa, Kansas. Again, we are talking about a lot of money. We are. I mean, 35,000 in 21 would be what today? And don't say, $30 million. $20 million. $20 million.

It's probably like a half a mill, you know. I think that's probably pretty accurate. That's probably pretty close. On the evening of November 20th, Eddie Adams, Frank Foster, one of Eddie's female friends by the name of Nellie, George McFarlane,

a thug and bootlegger, and two women were joyriding in Wichita. They were followed by a car carrying Billy Fentelman, Billy's wife, George Wiseberger, gangster PD Orcut, and two more ladies. Two police officers noticed the two cars traveling at high rate of speed, and they pulled the car over with Eddie Adams inside around 1.10 a.m. A shot was fired from the vehicle, and it's not known for certain who fired the shot. It was either Eddie or Frank Foster, but it killed patrolman Robert Fitzpatrick.

The outlaws fled the scene, dropped off the women somewhere, and then drove into Cali County. They ran out of gas at 3 o'clock in the morning and stopped at a farm. Eddie attempted to steal a car from a farmer named George Oldham, but Oldham tried to fight back. And Eddie killed him. Eddie and Frank Foster stole the car. George McFarland ran away on foot. Yeah, so this guy was a gangster, but he was like, you know what? I don't need any of this type of trouble. I'm out of here. Yeah. So he ran away on foot. I mean,

I get it. You know, I don't know that most gangsters were going out of their way to try and kill people, especially police officers. You know, you think about the gangsters from the 20s. Yeah. Yeah, did they kill people? Sure, they did. I think a lot of times it was, you know, other gangsters or, or things like that. I think a lot of them have been romanticized over the years. You think about Bonnie and Clyde and, you know, people like that. But, you know, they killed people. It is.

Eddie and Fentelman went to George McFarland's home to search for him. But instead of finding George, they found two police officers waiting for them. Eddie shot officer Ray Kastner. The other officer hid under a bed and Eddie escaped again. So, I mean, a couple of things here, right? Again, there's no thought on the part of Eddie Adams about killing police officers whatsoever. No, he's a renegade man. I think his only thoughts were, you know, obviously we're going to keep robbing because that's what we know how to do. And then I'm not going back to prison. So if anyone gets in my way, I'm killing them. George McFarlane was arrested at

midnight and sent to the Wichita City Jail. The Wichita Beacon Journalist had published his photo in the paper, which made it pretty easy for police to identify him. Just before 9 p.m., he was walking into the Santa Fe Railroad Station. He purchased a ticket to Gordon, Kansas, and then he sat on a bench and he fell asleep. The station agent overheard him talking in his sleep. The Wichita Beacon reported that he, he was in his sleep. He was saying things like, wish I had not done it.

Why did I go with those fellows? So this agent called the Winfield police and told them what was going on. And apparently Gibbs, the police officers were reading the beacon at that moment when this guy called. So they asked the agent to describe the man. In the meantime, McFarland got on the train. But I guess he was so tired that he fell asleep again. And he didn't even notice when the conductor didn't stop at his destination. He ended up being dropped off in Augusta, Kansas, where police officers were waiting to arrest him.

But he refused to give any information on his accomplice Eddie Adams. Eddie hid until Officer Fitzpatrick's funeral, which occurred on November 22nd. I think he assumed that most of the town's policemen would be at the funeral, and that would be the perfect opportunity for him to escape. He planned to rent a car at the driverless motor livery company for his escape. I didn't even know they rented cars back in the 20s. That's kind of interesting. No, it is.

I mean, and I guess it makes sense. Not everybody can afford a car. So some entrepreneur came up with the idea of, okay, I'll buy some cars. I'll rent them out. Seems like tracking them would have been pretty difficult. And people just stealing them and driving them to California never. to return would be a hazard. Where's old Mr.

Hertz's car rental place at? Probably what they said back then. Eddie's friend J.C. Burns lived in the house next door to the garage. Burns introduced him to the garage owner, a guy by the name of C.E. Jacks. But Jacks recognized Eddie, and he secretly called the police.

So the Wichita police were preparing for officer Fitzpatrick's funeral when they got this call about a suspicious character at the garage. At 2.30 p.m. three officers arrived to arrest him and a deadly gun battle ensued. The officer saw him at the desk and stuck in through a back door. Eddie spotted detective Hoffman and said, your name is Hoffman, isn't it? You'll have to come back here if you want to see me. So, I mean, this is straight out of like a gang. movie. It really is. If you want a piece of me, you're going to have to come back here, eat some lead. I mean, you know, these type of phrases that you hear in old gangster movie.

Right. So they went to the back of the store to approach Eddie. And you've got employees in there. And I think Gibbs, they were sensing that something really bad was about to happen. And they all ran out of the store. Eddie drew his gun when the officers closed in. Hoffman lunged forward and grabbed Eddie, but Eddie got his hands free and he fired at close range. Hoffman fell across Eddie's legs, kind of pinning him down. So Eddie was laying on his side, but he managed to fire point blank at Officer Bowman's face. I don't know how he did it, but Bowman was able to jump out of the way. Normally when somebody fire shots at you at point blank range, pretty tough to dodge those.

Yeah. He was able to do it. And another officer named Stucky fired three shots. Stucky was hiding behind a pillar and he fired the fatal shots that killed Eddie Adams. The bullets went through Eddie's right cheek, through his jaw and hit him in the temple. He died almost instantly. But Eddie had fatally wounded detective Charles Hoffman who had him pinned to the ground. Hoffman was paralyzed.

and he was bleeding out. Officer Bowman managed to get to the phone at some point during the shootout to call the police chief. The rest of the officers left the funeral to provide backup. Later, the garage owner said, All I know is that the bullets were flying thick and fast and that I got undercover as quickly as possible. I don't know who fired first. I just know there were several explosions, which sounded to me like a battle. That's one of the things I always think about Gibbs when I'm watching a movie and there's like a gun battle, let's say,

inside a warehouse or in a building. The sound, the loudness of gunshots being fired in a confined space. It's brutal. It had to be. I mean, when I go to the range, I'm outside. You know, I have to wear ear protection because it's very, very loud. You know, you get in a confined space and a bunch of people are firing guns. I mean, to me, it would almost be disorienting, I would think.

Easily, I think. Well, and to this guy who wasn't a police officer, right? He was just the guy that owned the garage. I get it. Him saying, hey, this sounded like a bunch of explosions. I think that's what it would have sounded like. Eddie's body was moved from the garage on South Lawrence Avenue to the Undertaker at 4 p.m. on November 22nd.

His body was publicly displayed at the Wichita. city undertaking parlor so that the townspeople could celebrate his death. And I guess so many people showed up that the parlor manager started taking count. They said it was over 9,000 people came to view his body from the afternoon of the 22nd until 1 p.m. the next day. Well, I mean, it was a big deal. And back then, you know, people wanted to be able to see just like when Dillinger died and, you know, People wanted to actually see this, you know, larger than life figure. You know, he's now finally dead. Yeah, they wanted to see him.

I think some people for different reasons, right? Some, you know, out of curiosity for this person who was larger than life, probably some in the Wichita area, just to make sure this guy was dead. Yeah. Is this the guy I seen? It is. Okay. He's gone. Good.

He was causing so much havoc. After the gunfight, Detective Hoffman was trying. transported to St. Francis Hospital. He had been shot in the abdomen and it was a fatal wound. The bullet severed his colon, injured his nerves, and was lodged in his spine. Physicians told the paper that there was little chance for his recovery and Hoffman died from his injuries just a few hours later. According to the Wichita Eagle, one of his final statements was to ask his fellow officers, did we get him? I'm done for, I believe.

Well, at least he heard the response, hopefully, that they did get them. Yeah, just think about it, though. I mean, this is a man who knows he's about ready to die. He believes it. And what's the one thing he wants to know? Did we get Eddie Adams? Yeah. Me dying.

Hopefully that allowed you guys to get him, you know? And really, if you analyze it, it probably did. I mean, this guy, you know, kind of took him on hand to hand. Yeah, he got shot, but in doing so, he fell on Eddie. And that's really what stopped him and allowed the one officer to put three shots into him. Mrs. Hoffman had been warning her husband to be careful at work. He was known as one of the best detectives in Wichita. And he had a reputation for wanting to arrest people peacefully.

I guess Gibbs, he was reluctant to turn to violence or to, even use his gun. He wanted to arrest Eddie without a fight, but like we've talked about, Eddie was going to do whatever it took to escape, and that included killing as many police officers as he had to kill. And you think about, you know, his wife telling him to be careful at work, you know, how many wives or husbands of police officers say the same thing. Every day when their spouse or their mate goes off to work. Be careful. Yeah.

Because it's a very dangerous job. We appreciate the police every day. We do. Ed Bowman recovered from his gunshot wounds at the Wichita Hospital. He had been grazed in the nose. He had some powder burns and an injured right eye. But other than that, he was pretty much unharmed. Good.

The police discovered that Eddie was planning to rob a bank the day he was killed. He put dynamite in the car he was renting. He had explosives in his pocket. He had 50 rounds of ammo for his pistol. And there was a whole bunch of other weapons in the car. I'm pretty sure that's against your rental policy. Yeah. I don't think the rental companies like it when you're carrying around explosives.

But you definitely had the weapon tree, if that's the right word. Well, I think you put a D in it. But other than that, it's very close. Yeah, I think he was ready for about anything coming his way. Yeah, yeah. And he probably was at all times because he never knew when he was going to, you know, have a gun battle. There were a lot of people looking for him. And, you know, when you have that mindset of you're not going back to prison, you better carry all your guns with you at all times.

Hey, at 50 rounds of ammo today, dollar amount would be a pretty high dollar, wouldn't it? Yeah, if you could find it, it'd be very, very expensive. Yeah. The chief of police and chief of detectives were congratulated by people from Kansas and Iowa. Emmett Gregg, superintendent, special service of the Eastern District of Santa Fe, sent a telegram to the chief of detectives. It read, you and your subordinates are to be congratulated in the killing of Eddie Adams, the notorious bandit.

It is regretted that he and his gang killed and wounded. several of your officers prior to his death, hope you will be able to apprehend all his gang who have been paralyzing the country at large. Extend my sympathy to the family and friends of the officers who lost their lives and were wounded in his capture. In total, 38 accomplices were arrested, four were sent to the Kansas pen,

and Frank Foster received a life sentence for his crimes. One of the women who was with Eddie told the police, where his car was to avoid prison time. They found it on November 27th, 1921. It was the car he was driving when he killed the police officers in Iowa. They did some real damage there on cleaning that little gang up, didn't they? They did. 38 people.

So Gibbs, as we wrap up this episode, I don't think there's any doubt. Eddie Adams was one of the big outlaws of the 1920s. Now, it was very early, right? 1920 and 1921. he was dead by 21. But you think in those two years, you know, how much carnage he caused. Sure. In lives and in stolen money and property and all of that, the post-war period led to an improved

economy in the U.S. And, you know, there were a lot of businesses that had lots of cash. The police and government were busy rebuilding after the war too busy, right, to dedicate all of their time to fighting outlaws. And I think it was, you know, some of these conditions that made trains and businesses very vulnerable to lawless men and women who wanted to build their wealth illegally. Because it was easy money, really. Yeah, it was easy money.

But, I mean, okay, so back then it was robbing trains, robbing businesses, bootlegging. Fast forward through the last hundred years, right? There have always been and will always be. people who are more than willing to build wealth through illegal means, whether that's trafficking drugs, being a gangster, being a cat burglar, whatever you want to say. Yeah. There's always somebody out there looking to get money without actually earning it. Selling free cable.

Selling free cable. Eddie died at the young age of 34. He murdered seven people in 14 months. And he wounded at least 12 others. I mentioned it, you know, the outlaw, the gangster. It's often been glorified in the media, the movies. It's even glorified, I think, today. A little bit, yeah.

You know, look back at that time frame kind of nostalgically and say, you know, oh, those guys were something. Yeah. Well, yeah, they were something. They were killers. So I think it's important to remember stories like the case of Eddie. Adams, Eddie was a dangerous, selfish criminal who was not afraid to kill anyone who stood in his way. He terrorized residents of Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri for over a year.

No one knew if their business or home would be his next target. I think Gibbs, probably most people, believed that justice was rightfully served when he was killed in that gunfight with police, bringing his short life to a violent end. Yeah, I mean, I think if they didn't kill him that day, he was going to continue to rob and kill people. And I think you could kind of see it in that the telegraph or the telegram, whatever it was that the big head guy sent saying, hey, congratulations on killing Eddie Adams. I think everybody was more than fine with his life ending the way it did. But that's it, Gibbs for our story on Eddie Adams. Kind of different, a departure, doing a little gangster stuff.

But, you know, he was a spree killer. I mean, there's no doubt about it. He just happened to be a gangster as well. We've got some voicemails. You want to check those out? I do. Hi, my name is Rita John. I just found your podcast a few weeks ago.

I'm about 50 or so episodes in, so I guess I am binging. Love it. Love the podcast. was wondering if you were going to do a story on Timothy McVeigh. Not really kind of a serial killer, but certainly somebody who killed a lot of people. Keep up the good work and keep your own time ticking. Thank you so much for all the great podcast. Well, thank you for the kind words.

And so if she's at 50 now, Gibbs, depending on how quickly she binges, maybe a while. Yeah. Before she hears this voicemail, Timothy McVeigh has always been on the list. Sure, has. It's a fascinating story. And in case, you know, I thought about doing kind of a, you know, a bunch of them together, Ruby Ridge and Timothy McVeigh, because they kind of, you know, weavers, everything kind of weaves together.

Right. But we'll definitely do it. Yeah. At some point. Hi. My name is Ronnie. I'm from Houston, Texas. I'm a relatively new to your podcast.

So I am still catching up on episodes. But I wanted to mention one of the things. that I keep hearing you talk about is about the last meal of prisoners. And I thought you might think it was interesting that my grandparents grew up in the same town in central Texas as a serial killer. And at the time of his death, when it was announced what his last meal was, he ordered steak. And at the walls unit, they had to serve whatever they had there.

So rather than steak, he got Salisbury steak. Anyway, ever since I heard that, I've never been able to eat Salisbury steak or steak with any kind of gravy or anything again. Anyway, just thought it might be kind of interesting to you. Anyway, thanks again. Hey, from Houston. Keep your own time ticking. Bye now. Well, let me just say this.

There is a big difference between a nice rib eye and Salisbury steak. Is that like Swiss steak or? Yeah, probably what you, some people might call Swiss steak. I don't know if I heard that too much. Chop steak. Yeah, she was like chops steak with gravy, maybe some onions, mushrooms sometimes. Because you put that stuff on to make it taste better. Yeah.

It's all right. I ate it a bunch when I was growing up. But, you know, if you try to compare that to a juicy ribby, no, there's no comparison. Hello, gentlemen. I am, this is Lord Delangelo. I'm a Patreon supporter, and right now I'm listening to your episode on Brian Romero Liva, and I got to the part where you two were talking about what the host, Bito Ortiz, the words he used to describe the victim, Thalia, and you couldn't come up with the word.

So I have a word for you. That word is assholio. He was very assholeio, pardon the language, but the guy's an asshole. Thank you. That's all I have to say. Stay safe and keep your own time ticking. Bye. I would have to agree.

Yeah. You know, if you remember Gibbs, he just said stuff that was so derogatory. And this was after she was killed. Yeah. It was kind of mind boggling that somebody would be that, you know, tasteless, that crass to kind of, I don't want to say put down, but really that's what it was. It was just assolio. Yeah, it was assolio.

I like it. Yeah. Hi, Mike and Gibby. My name is Michelle. I'm calling from Rhode Island. I know you don't do a lot of stories there. There are a couple of good cases. But I was just listening on my way home from dropping my daughter off at college.

And I listened to you every Sunday. And I wanted to, I was going to post this on Facebook, but you know how polarized things can be. So I figured I'd leave you a voicemail and maybe it can just be a public service announcement to our listeners. I wanted to compliment you on the way that you handle, delicately handle race. And I say that as a biracial woman. And oftentimes you only mention race when it's relevant to the story, whether or not it's part of the defense or the media portrays it in a certain way. But always, when I listen to your podcast, I have to look up what this person looks like who's featured in the story. And oftentimes I'm surprised because it never comes up unless, like I said, you reference it.

So I just wanted to tell you that's appreciated because the media doesn't do that. It's always the biggest focus of the story, especially, you know, when it is a person of color. So I just wanted to tell you, I think that you do things really well. And I love listening to you and I'm going to keep listening. And I have to figure out how to donate on Patreon. I'll be doing that. And, you know, keep your own time sicken. Keep your head on a swivel.

And I hope to hear my own voicemail. Thanks, Mike and Givie. Keep doing what you're doing. Oh, great. Well, you will hear this voicemail. Yeah. So, you know, Gibbs, speaking to that, I mean, I think it's, you know, something that you and I have tried to do from the beginning or at least, you know, early on is just, you know, focus on the story. It really doesn't matter unless, like she said, it becomes an integral part to the story.

Right. You know, if it's, if it's a part of the defense or, you know, something like that, then race really makes. makes no difference because, you know, you, a killer is a killer. Yeah, exactly. No matter what race they are. And so it's just kind of something that, that we try to do. But we appreciate you pointing it out. We do.

We had some mailbag. Yeah. Lisa Van Otterloo sent us a huge package. Local goodies from South Dakota, dog bowls from her company, a wine glass from my wife. And one of those pops. and this is prison Mike from the office. I was really excited. Yeah, you were.

Amazing stuff. Our good friend Katie O'Connor sent us in some magnets of the two main characters in Shawshank Redemption and a sticker of one of my favorite characters, The Dude from the Big Lobowski. The dude. So she knows us well. She's been listening very closely. All right, buddy.

That is it for another episode of True Crime all the time. So for Mike. And Gibby. Stay safe and keep your own time ticking. Thank you.