Memories of First Baptist Church - Pretty Boy Floyd

I was present on June 17, 1936 at a baptismal service at the First Baptist Church. Some of this story, I know first hand.

This was the year which brought to close many of the exploits in the roaring 30's ... including many of the infamous bank robbers. Amoung the early gangsters of this era was Charles Floyd, better known as "Pretty Boy" Floyd. He received this nickname from one of his victims. She was asked, "What did he look like"? To which she replied, "He had the face of a pretty boy".

Floyd's wife, a vaudeville actor, wanted to arrange with the law a surrender to the First Baptist Church (Dr. Norris), which did not happen. Ruby, the wife, had heard Dr. Norris on the radio. She visited the First Baptist Church and had the priviledge of seeing her 12 yr. old son baptized. According to Bryan Burrough's, "The Life and Death of Pretty Boy Floyd", a 4 minute film of the baptism was incorporated into Ruby's vaudeville show and booked at the Fort Worth Palace Theatre.

The little boy who I saw baptized that day....Jackie Floyd