Arthur Barker

Infobox Criminal
subject_name = Arthur R. Barker


image_size =
image_caption =
date_of_birth = 1899
place_of_birth = Aurora, Missouri, U.S.
date_of_death = Death date|1939|1|13|mf=y
place_of_death = Alcatraz
alias =
conviction = Murdercite book |author=Potter, Claire Bond |title=War on Crime: Bandits, G-men, and the Politics of Mass Culture |year=1998 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=0813524873 |pages=p. 173]
Kidnappingcite book |author=MacCabee, Paul |title=John Dillinger Slept Here |year=1995 |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press |isbn=0873513169 |pages=p. 274]
penalty = Life imprisonment
status = Deceased
occupation =
spouse =
parents = George E. and Kate "Ma" Barker
children =

Arthur R. "Doc" Barker (1899 - January 13, 1939) was a criminal and a part of the Barker-Karpis gang with Alvin Karpis and the son of Ma Barker.

Arthur Barker better known as Doc Barker was born in Aurora, Missouri. He was born to George E. Barker and Ma Barker and was one of seven children. By the 1920s and 1930s, Barker with his mother and Alvin Karpis started to commit crimes such as theft, robbery, murder, and kidnapping. His mother Ma Barker started the Barker-Karpis gang. On July 18, 1918 Doc Barker was arrested for stealing a car on the highway and was sent to serve prison time in Joplin, Missouri. On February 19, 1920 Arthur Barker escaped prison in Joplin, Missouri. After the escape he held up many armed robberies and murdered two people. On January 15, 1922, Doc Barker held up an armed robbery at a bank in Muskogee, Oklahoma and sent to the Oklahoma State Prison but was released five months later on June 21, 1922. On January 16, 1935, Ma Barker was killed by the police and a year later Arthur Barker with Alvin Karpis were sent to Alcatraz. Barker became Alcatraz inmate #AZ268 in 1936.

Barker with Henri Young and Rufus McCain attempted escape from Alcatraz on the night of January 13, 1939. The attempt failed. Barker was shot and killed by the guards; Young and McCain were recaptured and sent to solitary confinement. [cite book |author=Esslinger, Michael |title=Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years |year=2003 |publisher=Ocean View Publishing |isbn=0970461402 |pages=p. 180]

References

External links

* [http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/exhibits/alca/exb/NotoriousInmates/Goga-18261h.html Arthur "Doc" Parker] at the Museum Collections at Alcatraz Island
* [http://www.notfrisco.com/colmatales/barker/wanted.jpg1934 Wanted Poster of "Doc" Barker] {reference only}