FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives by year, 1950

In 1950, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, began to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.

The concept of the list began in late 1949, when the FBI helped publish an article about the "toughest guys" the Bureau was after, who remained fugitives from justice. The Washington Daily News article was titled, "FBI's Most Wanted Fugitives Named," and appeared on February 7 1949. The positive publicity from the story resulted in the birth of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list on March 14 1950.

Starting in 1950, the top Ten fugitives were entered into a handwritten log book. The Fugitive Publicity employees of the FBI used the log book to record and track the "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" by this method until 1991.

1950 Fugitives

The Ten Most Wanted Fugitives listed by the FBI in 1950 include (in FBI list appearance sequence order):

Thomas James Holden

March 14 1950 #1
One year on the list
Thomas James Holden - U.S. prisoner, was arrested June 23, 1951 in Beaverton, Oregon following a tip from a citizen who read the INS story in the Portland, Oregon newspaper The Oregonian and contacted the FBI. He had fled Illinois, and was charged with unlawful flight across state lines November 4, 1949; had shot to death his wife and her two brothers while drinking June 5 1949 in Chicago; was released from Leavenworth Prison November 28, 1947; after escape, was caught with a fellow escapee by Special Agents and local police officers on a golf course at Kansas City, Missouri July 7, 1932; was alleged to be one of the "outside" crew in a sensational armed break of other prisoners from Leavenworth in December, 1931; escaped from Leavenworth in 1930; was convicted of robbing a mail train in the late 1920s.

Morley Vernon King

March 15 1950 #2
Two years on the list
Morley Vernon King - U.S. prisoner, was apprehended October 31 1951 in a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania restaurant, while shucking oysters; was charged with unlawful flight July 18 1947; was charged July 12 1947 with the murder of his wife Helen, found strangled in a steamer trunk July 9 1947 under the back porch of a San Luis Obispo, California hotel; he had fled July 8 1947

William Raymond Nesbit

March 16 1950 #3
Three days on the list, after missing for four years
William Nesbit - U.S. prisoner at South Dakota State Penitentiary, was arrested March 18 1950 in St. Paul, Minnesota by local police following the INS story in the St. Paul Dispatch after being recognized by some boys as "Ray," a man who lived in a cave near the river. Was charged with unlawful flight December 26 1946 after disappearing from prison as a trusty September 4 1946 while serving a life sentence, which was commuted to 20 years on February 18 1946. Had been apprehended at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on February 26 1937 for murder, having blown up an accomplice in a massive black powder explosion, and trying to kill another accomplice, after beating her in the head with a hammer during a fight in Minnehaha County while stealing dynamite to make nitroglycerin on December 31 1936, following the December 22, 1936 burglary of jewelry company at Sioux City, Iowa.

Henry Randolph Mitchell

March 17 1950 #4
Eight years on the list
Henry Randolph Mitchell- PROCESS DISMISSED July 18, 1958 after the Federal District Court at Jacksonville dropped the bank robbery charge because too much time passed; had robbed a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation bank in Williston, Florida January 21, 1948; released from Florida State Penitentiary; was convicted in the states of Kentucky, Georgia, New York andFlorida

Omar August Pinson

March 18 1950 #5
Five months on the list
Omar August Pinson - U.S. prisoner at Oregon State Penitentiary September 5 1950; was arrested August 28 1950 at Pierre, South Dakota by South Dakota Highway Patrol and an FBI National Academy graduate; had evaded capture after a shootout with police January 30 1950, at Polson, Montana while burglarizing a hardware store under the alias of Sam Cignitti; became wanted in 1949 in eastern Washington and Idaho for burglary under the alias Joseph Anthony Dorian; charged with unlawful flight September 7 1949; crossed state lines after he escaped May 30 1949 from the Oregon State Prison with a cellmate; had been sentenced May 24 1947 to life imprisonment at Oregon State Penitentiary for first degree murder; had been captured within 24 hours by the Oregon State Police and local officers at Ordnance, Oregon; had shot and fatally wounded Oregon State Police Officer Delmond Rondeauin April 15 1947, in Hood River, Oregon after a burglary; released from the Washington State Prison in 1945; sentenced in 1944 to the Washington State Prison, Walla Walla, Washington for burglary; was released and then again sentenced in 1941 to the Missouri State Penitentiary for automobile tampering; had been sentenced January 1936 to 18 months in the Eldora, Iowa State Reformatory on a charge of armed robbery

Lee Emory Downs

March 20 1950 #6
One month on the list
Lee Emory Downs - U.S. prisoner was returned to prison for burglary attempt of Colombian consulate in San Francisco, after his parole in 1968; was arrested April 7 1950 with weapons, dynamite and fuses at a Daytona Beach, Florida trailer park; was charged August 3 1948 with unlawful flight; had robbed a telephone company office in San Jose, California, June 3 1948; an expert safecracker and skilled holdup man in three Pacific Coast states

Orba Elmer Jackson

March 21 1950 #7
Two days on the list
Orba Elmer Jackson - U.S. prisoner sentenced to two years to run concurrently with his sentence being served, and returned to Leavenworth on September 19 1950; was arrested March 23 1950 at a poultry farm outside Portland, Oregon; was indicted by the Federal Grand Jury at Kansas City, Missouri on March 18 1949 charged with unlawful escape; had been transferred to an honor farm September 3 1947, but disappeared three weeks later; had been convicted April 8 1936 and returned to Leavenworth; beat a man and robbed a store also serving as a United States Post Office near Poplar Bluff, Missouri; was sentenced again in 1928 for car theft to three years at the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas; released from prison in 1928; sentenced to six years at Missouri State Penitentiary at Jefferson City, Missouri in 1924 on a charge of grand larceny of an automobile in Joplin, Missouri

Glen Roy Wright

March 22 1950 #8
Nine months on the list
Glen Roy Wright - deceased in prison May 7 1954. He was a U.S. prisoner arrested December 13 1950 at Salina, Kansas; charged with unlawful flight February 8 1949; escaped from prison September 14 1948; was serving a life sentence in 1934 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester, Oklahoma for armed robbery; was wounded in a gun battle with police officers in Arkansas; was shot during gunbattle with police during his apprehension in Kansas; was a former associate of the Karpis-Barker Gang of the 1930s.

Henry Harland Shelton

March 23 1950 #9
Three months on the list
Henry Harland Shelton - U.S. prisoner serving a sentence of forty-five years for kidnapping and five years concurrently for car theft; pled guilty August 21 1950; was wounded during gunfight with Special Agents while being arrested June 23 1950; indicted October 14 1949; was wanted for kidnapping and car theft on September 17 1949 in Amasa, Michigan, extending over a couple days from Michigan, to Illinois and into Wisconsin, then back to Illinois and Indiana; had escaped September 5 1949 from the Michigan House of Correction and Branch Prison;

Morris Guralnick

March 24 1950 #10
Nine months on the list
Morris Guralnick - U.S. prisoner was arrested December 15 1950 at a Madison, Wisconsin clothing store; was charged July 22 1948 with unlawful flight from New York; assaulted guards and escaped July 11 1948 from Ulster County Jail at Kingston, New York; had stabbed his former girlfriend in April 1948, and bit off the finger of an arresting officer

Willie Sutton

(replaced William Raymond Nesbit, #3 on the original Ten list)
March 20 1950 #11
Two years on the list
William Francis (Willie) Sutton - DECEASED November 2, 1980, in Spring Hill, Florida; early released by the New York State penal authorities December 24, 1969, from Attica State Prison; was sentenced to an additional 30 years to life in New York State Prison after Queens County Court trial; U.S. PRISONER for the final time, after he was arrested February 18, 1952 at a gas station by New York City Police while buying a car battery after he was spotted on the New York subway and followed; owed one life sentence plus 105 years before his arrest, for his escape from prison with others, dressed as guards, February 10, 1947; was transferred to the Philadelphia County Prison, Homesburg, Pennsylvania after he was sentenced to life imprisonment as a fourth time offender; he had escaped through a tunnel and was recaptured the same day by Philadelphia police April 3, 1945; was there serving a sentence of 25 to 50 years in Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the machine gun robbery of the Corn Exchange Bank; had been caught February 5, 1934, after he had held hostages and robbed the Corn Exchange Bank on January 15, 1934; was earlier foiled in attempt to rob the Corn Exchange Bank and Trust Company in Philadelphia on February 15, 1933; was loose after having escaped over a prison wall on December 11, 1932; was sentenced to 30 years in June, 1931 for assault and robbery

tephen William Davenport

(replaced Orba Elmer Jackson, #7 on the original Ten list)
April 4 1950 #12
One month on the list
Stephen William Davenport - U.S. prisoner arrested May 5 1950 in Las Vegas, Nevada by local police

Henry Clay Tollett

(replaced Lee Emory Downs, #6 on the original Ten list)
April 11 1950 #13
One year on the list
Henry Clay Tollett - deceased, fatally wounded June 4 1951 by a California Highway Patrol officer during theattempt to apprehend him in a stolen car in Redding, California

Frederick J. Tenuto

(replaced Stephen William Davenport, #12, as the first replacement of a fugitive who was not among the original Ten)
May 24 1950 #14
Fourteen years on the list
Frederick J. Tenuto - PROCESS DISMISSED March 9 1964 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by a U.S. District judge {alleged by Joe Valachi that Tenuto was killed}

Thomas Kling

(replaced Henry Harland Shelton, #9 on the original Ten list)
July 17 1950 #15
Two years on the list
Thomas Kling - U.S. prisoner arrested February 20 1952in New York by local police

Meyer Dembin

(replaced Omar August Pinson, #5 on the original Ten list)
September 5 1950 #16
One year on the list
Meyer Dembin - U.S. prisoner surrendered November 26 1951 to the U. S. Attorney in New York City

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By the end of the year, only three of the original Ten Fugitives still remained on the FBI list.

Later entries

*FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 2000s
*FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1990s
*FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1980s
*FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1970s
*FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1960s
*FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1950s

External links

* [http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/fugitives.htm Current FBI top ten most wanted fugitives at FBI site]
* [http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/topten/topten.pdf FBI pdf source document listing all Ten Most Wanted year by year (removed by FBI)]