Pretty Boy Floyd’s St. Louis Robbery

In 1934, Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd ended his criminal career in an East Liverpool, Ohio corn field after a shoot out with FBI agents and local law enforcement officers.  However, in December 1925, he was inmate number 29078 at the Missouri Penitentiary.  The 21-year-old Floyd had just been convicted of robbing the Kroeger Grocery and Baking Company main office in St. Louis of $11,984 on Friday, September 11, 1925.

During the summer of 1925, Floyd traveled to St. Louis, where he stayed in a cabin on the Meramec River.  He made the acquaintance of Fred Hilderbrand and Joseph Hlavaty.  Hlavaty ran a store in the nearby Meramec Highlands on the edge of modern-day Kirkwood, Missouri.

While staying along the Meramec River, Floyd, Hilderbrand and Hlavaty’s 16-year-old brother made the acquaintance of two sisters, who said the three men sexually assaulted them in a cabin by the river.  It may have been Floyd’s cabin but the coverage at the time didn’t make it clear.

Floyd and Hilderbrand, who were both married, denied the accusations as did Hlavaty’s brother.  However, authorities charged the men with the statutory rape.  Although the charges were later dropped, Hlavaty claimed the need to raise $800 for a lawyer to defend his brother motivated him to assist in the Kroeger robbery.

Hlavaty confessed he drove Floyd and Hilderbrand to St. Louis in his Haynes automobile on the morning of the robbery.  They stole a Cadillac from a chaueffeur, which Hlavaty drove to the Kroeger office.  Floyd and Hilderbrand ran into the building, ascended to the second floor office and stole the payroll.  As Hlavaty drove Floyd and Hilderbrand away from the robbery site, an alerted St. Louis Police Officer fired at them several times.

The men ditched the stolen car and drove Hlavaty’s Haynes back to Meramec Highlands.  Late on September 11, 1925, Hlavaty drove Floyd and Hilderbrand to Union Station, where they took a train to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

On September 13, 1925, police in Oklahoma arrested Floyd and Hilderbrand in Sallisaw, Oklahoma.  The police were attracted by the two men, who were known to be poor, driving a brand new car they bought in Tulsa.

When authorities brought the men back to St. Louis, Hilderbrand confessed his role in the Kroeger robbery and several other robberies.  He also named Hlavaty, who cooperated with St. Louis Police.  Floyd, who was already being referred to as “Pretty Boy” in the newspapers, denied his role in the robbery.  He called both Hilderbrand and Hlavaty liars.

Hlavaty escaped a prison sentence, most likely due to his cooperation with authorities.  The St. Louis Courts quickly convicted both Hilderbrand and Floyd of the robbery.

Hilderbrand was sentenced in October 1925 to 8 years in the Missouri Penitentiary.  After Hilderbrand escaped over the wall of the prison but was returned on the same day, January 13, 1926, he had 2 years added to his original sentence.  Hilderbrand served six years before being released on August 24, 1931.

Floyd wouldn’t serve nearly as long.  He was sentenced to 5 years in the Missouri Penitentiary in December 1925.  Generally, Floyd stayed out of trouble and was released after about 3 years on March 7, 1929.  Floyd hated his time in the prison, one of the nation’s roughest.  He quickly returned to Oklahoma and swore he would never set foot in prison again.  He was true to his word but it cost his life to fulfill this promise.

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Sources: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 17, 1925 edition, p. 26, September 18, 1925 edition, p. 18 and St. Louis Star-Times, September 17, 1925 edition, p. 2.  Missouri State Penitentiary Database

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