Title The ballad of Ben and Stella Mae : Great Plains outlaws who became FBI Public Enemies Nos. 1 and 2 / Matthew Cecil

Published Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2017]

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Description 1 online resource Contents Cast of Characters -- Stella -- Ben -- J. Edgar Hoover's FBI -- Time Lock Bandits -- Public Enemies -- St. Louis -- Home to Mother Summary "On August 25, 1938, twenty-five-year-old Ben Dickson and his fifteen-year-old wife Stella Mae robbed the Corn Exchange Bank in Elkton, South Dakota, making off with $2,187.64. Two months later they hit a bank in nearby Brookings for $17,593--after waiting two hours for the vault's time-lock to open while the bank's manager went on processing loans for customers. Unfortunately for these two small-time outlaws, the FBI was in short supply of public enemies at the time, and a newly minted Bonnie and Clyde was exactly what J. Edgar Hoover needed to stoke the agency's public relations machine. Retrieving the Dicksons from the fog of history and the hype of the FBI's 'Most Wanted' narrative, The Ballad of Ben and Stella Mae tells the story of a damaged small-town girl and her petty criminal husband whose low-key crime spree became, as True magazine proclaimed, 'The Crimson Trail of Public Enemies One and Two.' The book follows Stella Mae and Ben from their troubled beginnings in Topeka through the desperate adventure that the FBI recast as a dangerous rampage, stirring a media frenzy and a nationwide manhunt that ended in betrayal and bloodshed: Ben dead, shot in the back outside of a hamburger joint in Forest Park, Missouri, and Stella Mae, a juvenile, put away for ten years. The Dicksons first captured Matthew Cecil's imagination as a teenager in his hometown of Brookings, where their bank robbery remains the stuff of legend. When, many years later, their file turned up in his research into the FBI, the tale of their exploits--and exploitation at the hands of J. Edgar Hoover--proved irresistible. Readers of this Depression-era story, retold here in all its grit and tarnished glory, will find it no less compelling"-- Provided by publisher "Tragic tale of Topeka natives Ben Dickson (1912-1939) and Stella Mae Redenbaugh Dickson (1922-1995), Depression Era lovers/spouses on the lam from the law, accused of bank robbery and kidnapping, tabbed Public Enemies Nos. 1 and 2 by the FBI, pursued by law enforcement forces much more violent and brutal than themselves, and victimized by an FBI that inflated their notoriety, created a false account of Ben''s death to bolster the Bureau's crime-fighting image, and pushed for maximum punishment for Stella Mae"-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject Hoover, J. Edgar (John Edgar), 1895-1972. Dickson, Stella Mae, 1922-1995. Dickson, Ben, 1911-1939. SUBJECT Dickson, Stella Mae, 1922-1995 fast Hoover, J. Edgar (John Edgar), 1895-1972 fast Subject United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation -- History -- 20th century SUBJECT United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation fast Subject Kidnapping -- Great Plains -- History -- 20th century Bank robberies -- Great Plains -- History -- 20th century Outlaws -- Great Plains -- Biography Criminals -- United States -- Biography POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Political Freedom & Security -- Law Enforcement. HISTORY -- United States -- 20th Century. TRUE CRIME -- General. Bank robberies Criminals Kidnapping Outlaws SUBJECT Great Plains -- History -- 20th century -- Biography Subject Great Plains United States Genre/Form Biographies History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780700623259 0700623256

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