Colored Red

Historical Murders: The Fate of the Fleagle Gang

Laura Porritt

On May 23, 1928, four masked robbers entered a bank in Lamar, Colorado and stole $200,000 in cash and gold bonds. In the process they shot the owner of the bank, Amos Parrish and and his son John Parrish. They took two hostages as well and drove off with guns blazing in a high speed chase with the Lamar County sheriff. By the end of the story, four men would be murdered and a two year chase would span multiple states across the United States and involve a number of bizarre aliases. The legend of the Fleagle gang would go down in history and inspire a folk song by Bud Billings, featured at the end of the episode.