In 1950, the United States FBI, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, began to maintain a public list of the people it regarded as the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.

The concept of the list began in late 1949, when the FBI helped publish an article about the "toughest guys" the Bureau was after, who remained fugitives from justice. The Washington Daily News article was titled, "FBI's Most Wanted Fugitives Named," and appeared on February 7, 1949. The positive publicity from the story resulted in the birth of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list on March 14, 1950.

Starting in 1950, the top ten fugitives were entered into a handwritten log book. The Fugitive Publicity employees of the FBI used the log book to record and track the "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" by this method until 1991.

1950 Fugitives

The Ten Most Wanted Fugitives listed by the FBI in 1950 include (in FBI list appearance sequence order):[1]

Name Sequence Number Date of Entry Time Listed
Thomas James Holden #1 March 14, 1950 One year
Thomas James Holden - U.S. prisoner, was arrested June 23, 1951 in Beaverton, Oregon, following a tip from a citizen who read the INS story in the Portland, Oregon, newspaper The Oregonian and contacted the FBI.[2] Crime: Escaped police after he was spotted fleeing Illinois November 4, 1949; had shot to death his wife and her two brothers while drinking June 5, 1949 in Chicago.

Past record: was convicted of robbing a mail train in the late 1920s; escaped from Leavenworth in 1930. Was alleged to be one of the "outside" crew in a sensational armed break of other prisoners from Leavenworth in December, 1931; after escape, was caught by Special Agents and local police officers on a golf course at Kansas City, Missouri, July 7, 1932; was released from Leavenworth Prison November 28, 1947.

Morley Vernon King #2 March 15, 1950 Two years
Morley Vernon King - U.S. prisoner, was apprehended October 31, 1951 in a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania restaurant, while shucking oysters; was charged with unlawful flight July 18, 1947; was charged July 12, 1947 with the murder of his wife Helen, found strangled in a steamer trunk July 9, 1947 under the back porch of a room at a San Luis Obispo, California motel; he had fled from police July 8, 1947.
William Nesbit #3 March 16, 1950 Three days, after missing for four years
William Nesbit - U.S. prisoner at South Dakota State Penitentiary, was arrested March 18, 1950 in St. Paul, Minnesota by local police following the INS story in the St. Paul Dispatch after being recognized by some boys as "Ray," a man who lived in a cave near the river. Was charged with unlawful flight December 26, 1946 after disappearing from prison as a trusty driver for the warrant.September 4, 1946 while serving a life sentence, which was commuted to 20 years on February 18, 1946. Had been apprehended at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on February 26, 1937 for murder, having blown up an accomplice in a massive black powder explosion, and trying to kill another accomplice, after beating her in the head with a hammer during a fight in Minnehaha County while stealing dynamite to make nitroglycerin on December 31, 1936, following the December 22, 1936 burglary of jewelry company at Sioux City, Iowa.
Henry Randolph Mitchell #4 March 17, 1950 Eight years
Henry Randolph Mitchell- PROCESS DISMISSED July 18, 1958 after the Federal District Court at Jacksonville dropped the bank robbery charge because too much time passed; had robbed a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation bank in Williston, Florida January 21, 1948 shortly after being released from Florida State Penitentiary. His criminal career dated back to 1924 and he had been previously convicted in the states of Kentucky, Georgia, New York and Florida for crimes including grand larceny, violation of narcotics laws, breaking and entering, and forgery. With the dropping of the bank robbery charge, Mitchell became the first FBI Most Wanted Fugitive to escape both arrest and the Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitive list.[3]
Omar August Pinson #5 March 18, 1950 Five months
Omar August Pinson - U.S. prisoner at Oregon State Penitentiary September 5, 1950; was arrested August 28, 1950 at Pierre, South Dakota by South Dakota Highway Patrol and an FBI National Academy graduate; had evaded capture after a shootout with police January 30, 1950, at Polson, Montana while burglarizing a hardware store under the alias of Sam Cignitti; became wanted in 1949 in eastern Washington and Idaho for burglary under the alias Joseph Anthony Dorian; charged with unlawful flight September 7, 1949; crossed state lines after he escaped May 30, 1949 from the Oregon State Prison with a cellmate; had been sentenced May 24, 1947 to life imprisonment at Oregon State Penitentiary for first degree murder; had been captured within 24 hours by the Oregon State Police and local officers at Ordnance, Oregon; had shot and fatally wounded Oregon State Police Officer Delmond Rondeauin April 15, 1947, in Hood River, Oregon after a burglary;

Past record: had been sentenced January 1936 to 18 months in the Eldora, Iowa State Reformatory on a charge of armed robbery. Sentenced in 1941 to the Missouri State Penitentiary for automobile tampering; sentenced in 1944 to the Washington State Prison, Walla Walla, Washington for Burglary-released in 1945.

Lee Emory Downs #6 March 20, 1950 One month
Lee Emory Downs - U.S. prisoner was returned to prison for burglary attempt of Colombian consulate in San Francisco, after his parole in 1968; was arrested April 7, 1950 with weapons, dynamite and fuses at a Daytona Beach, Florida trailer park; was charged August 3, 1948 with unlawful flight; had robbed a telephone company office in San Jose, California, June 3, 1948; an expert safecracker and skilled holdup man in three Pacific Coast states.
Orba Elmer Jackson #7 March 21, 1950 Two days
Orba Elmer Jackson - U.S. prisoner sentenced to two years to run concurrently with his sentence being served, and returned to Leavenworth on September 19, 1950; was arrested March 23, 1950 at a poultry farm outside Portland, Oregon; was indicted by the Federal Grand Jury at Kansas City, Missouri on March 18, 1949 charged with unlawful escape; had been transferred to an honor farm September 3, 1947, but disappeared three weeks later;

Past Record: sentenced to six years at Missouri State Penitentiary at Jefferson City, Missouri in 1924 on a charge of grand larceny of an automobile in Joplin, Missouri; released from prison 1928; Sentenced again in 1928 for car theft for three years at United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth Kansas; beat a man and robbed a store also serving as a United States Post Office near Poplar Bluff, Missouri; had been convicted April 8, 1936 and returned to United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth; Kansas

Glen Roy Wright #8 March 22, 1950 Nine months
Glen Roy Wright - deceased in prison May 7, 1954. He was a U.S. prisoner arrested December 13, 1950 at Salina, Kansas; charged with unlawful flight February 8, 1949; escaped from prison September 14, 1948; was serving a life sentence in 1934 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester, Oklahoma for armed robbery; was wounded in a gun battle with police officers in Arkansas; was shot during gunbattle with police during his apprehension in Kansas; was a former associate of the Karpis-Barker Gang of the 1930s.
Henry Harland Shelton #9 March 23, 1950 Three months
Henry Harland Shelton - U.S. prisoner serving a sentence of forty-five years for kidnapping and five years concurrently for car theft; pleaded guilty August 21, 1950; was wounded during gunfight with Special Agents while being arrested June 23, 1950; indicted October 14, 1949; was wanted for kidnapping and car theft on September 17, 1949 in Amasa, Michigan, extending over a couple days from Michigan, to Illinois and into Wisconsin, then back to Illinois and Indiana; had escaped September 5, 1949 from the Michigan House of Correction and Branch Prison.
Morris Guralnick #10 March 24, 1950 Nine months
Morris Guralnick - U.S. prisoner was arrested December 15, 1950 at a Madison, Wisconsin clothing store; was charged July 22, 1948 with unlawful flight from New York; assaulted guards and escaped July 11, 1948 from Ulster County Jail at Kingston, New York; had stabbed his former girlfriend in April 1948, and bit off the finger of an arresting officer.
Willie Sutton #11 March 20, 1950 Two years
William Francis (Willie) Sutton - DECEASED November 2, 1980, in Spring Hill, Florida; early released by the New York State penal authorities December 24, 1969, from Attica State Prison; was sentenced to an additional 30 years to life in New York State Prison after Queens County Court trial; U.S. PRISONER for the final time, after he was arrested February 18, 1952 at a gas station by New York City Police while buying a car battery after he was spotted on the New York City Subway and followed; owed one life sentence plus 105 years before his arrest, for his escape from prison with others, dressed as guards, February 10, 1947; was transferred to the Philadelphia County Prison, Homesburg, Pennsylvania after he was sentenced to life imprisonment as a fourth time offender; he had escaped through a tunnel and was recaptured the same day by Philadelphia police April 3, 1945; was there serving a sentence of 25 to 50 years in Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the machine gun robbery of the Corn Exchange Bank; had been caught February 5, 1934, after he had held hostages and robbed the Corn Exchange Bank on January 15, 1934; was earlier foiled in attempt to rob the Corn Exchange Bank and Trust Company in Philadelphia on February 15, 1933; was loose after having escaped over a prison wall on December 11, 1932; was sentenced to 30 years in June, 1931 for assault and robbery.
Stephen William Davenport #12 April 4, 1950 One month
Stephen William Davenport - U.S. prisoner arrested May 5, 1950 in Las Vegas, Nevada by local police.
Henry Clay Tollett #13 April 11, 1950 One year
Henry Clay Tollett - deceased, fatally wounded June 4, 1951 by a California Highway Patrol officer during the attempt to apprehend him in a stolen car in Redding, California.
Frederick J. Tenuto #14 May 24, 1950 Fourteen years
Frederick J. Tenuto - PROCESS DISMISSED March 9, 1964 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by a U.S. District judge, after it was alleged by Joe Valachi that Tenuto was killed.
Thomas Kling #15 July 17, 1950 Two years
Thomas Kling - U.S. prisoner arrested February 20, 1952 in New York by local police.
Meyer Dembin #16 September 5, 1950 One year
Meyer Dembin - U.S. prisoner surrendered November 26, 1951 to the U. S. Attorney in New York City.

By the end of the year, only three of the original Ten Fugitives still remained on the FBI list.

Later entries

References

  1. ↑ "FBI — Chronological List". Fbi.gov. Archived from the original on 2011-10-31. Retrieved 2013-06-08.
  2. ↑ Denson, Bryan (March 13, 2010). "Oregon has starring role as FBI's Most Wanted list turns 60". The Oregonian. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
  3. ↑ Dary Matera, FBI's Ten Most Wanted, (New York: HarperCollins, 2003), pg. 27.
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