Remembered as 'The Dean of American Bank Robbers,' Bailey (1887-1979) was one of the most successful larcenists during the 1920s, amassing a total of over $1 million. Original 8 x 8 wanted poster for Harvey J. Bailey, issued on June 22, 1933, by the US Bureau of Investigation. Poster features Bailey's fingerprints and mug shot, and lists a physical description, aliases, and his criminal history, including burglary and bank robbery. The bottom states that Bailey was "received at the Kansas State Prison at Lansing, Kansas on August 17, 1932, under a sentence of ten to fifty years for bank robbery, and escaped therefrom May 30, 1933, is wanted in connection with the murder of Otto Reed, Chief of Police of McAlester, Oklahoma, William J. Grooms and Frank E. Hermanson, police officers of Kansas City, Missouri, Raymond J. Caffrey, Special Agent of the United States Bureau of Investigation, and their prisoner, Frank Nash, at Kansas City, Missouri, on June 17, 1933." In fine condition, with toning and staple mark to upper left. After escaping from Kansas State Prison on June 1, 1933, Bailey was recaptured and found guilty of complicity in the Urschel Kidnapping and sentenced to life in prison on October 7, 1933. He was sent to Leavenworth, transferred to Alcatraz, returned to Leavenworth, and then transferred in 1960 to Seagoville Federal Correctional Institution in Texas, where he remained until he was released on March 30, 1964.
