Ed Davis

Ed Davis (July 30, 1900 – December 16, 1938) was an American burglar, bank robber, and Depression-era outlaw. He was particularly active in Oklahoma, referred to by authorities as "The Fox", and frequently teamed with Jim Clark and Frank Sawyer during the early 1930s. Eventually captured in 1934, he was involved in a failed escape attempt from Folsom State Prison, resulting in the deaths of one guard and two inmates, and was executed at San Quentin.

Biography

Early life and criminal career Ed Davis was born in Waurika, Oklahoma, on July 30, 1900. He enlisted in the U.S. Army at the age of 17 but was prematurely discharged for undisclosed reasons on January 2, 1918. He spent the next year drifting then returned to his hometown where he started committing minor robberies with Oscar Steelman and Earl Berry. He was eventually arrested for one of these robberies and sentenced to two years in the Oklahoma State Reformatory. Released in the summer of 1920, he took a freight train heading east and continued riding the rails until his arrest in Hutchinson, Kansas for train riding and carrying a concealed weapon. The charges were dropped on the condition that Davis leave town which he did after purchasing a train ticket on a box car. Sheriff Veach was also badly wounded from buckshot but returned fire managing to disable their car and wounding Alfred before they escaped. All three men were caught after a brief manhunt. Alfred was the first to be arrested and was sent to a hospital in Duncan, Oklahoma, where he awaited trial. Schrimsher surrendered to authorities near Henderson, Texas, on October 24 while Davis was found in an East Texas oil field the next day and taken into custody. At the time of his capture, he was renting a house with his wife under the name Paul Martin in Joinerville. Davis and his accomplices were tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment on August 3, 1931. and in Kingfisher, Oklahoma on August 9, Davis later being identified with Clark and Bailey from prison mugshots. Bailey was arrested at a ranch by federal agents two days later, the FBI then looking for George "Machine Gun" Kelly, and was wrongfully charged as an accessory to the Charles Urchel kidnapping case. Davis was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in Folsom State Prison on June 22, 1934. Kansas authorities declared they would prosecute Davis to finish his prison sentence in Lansing if he ever received parole.

While serving his time in Folsom, he became known among the inmates as "Old Deafy". Davis eventually tried to escape after three years inside when, on September 19, 1937, he and six other convicts took the warden and two guards hostage. They held them at knifepoint and attempted to use them to leave the prison but guards opened fire instead. The warden and two prisoners were killed before Davis and the surviving convicts surrendered. All five inmates were convicted of murder, including Davis, and sentenced to death.

Davis was sent to San Quentin where he remained on death row for a week before his execution in the gas chamber on December 16, 1938. A note was found in his cell following his execution which read "No regrets for Old Ed. All considered, my conscience is now resting easy".