Melvin Purvis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_Purvis

Melvin Horace Purvis, Jr. (October 24, 1903 – February 29, 1960) was an American law enforcement official and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent. He was given the nickname "Little Mel" because of his short stature. He is noted for leading the manhunts that tracked such outlaws as Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, and John Dillinger.

Early life

Purvis was born in Timmonsville, South Carolina, to Melvin Horace Purvis, Sr. (1869–1938), a pig farmer, and Janie Elizabeth (née Mims, 1874–1927) as the fifth of twelve siblings.

Career

Purvis was a well-educated man, and known to be a crack shot. He received his law degree from the University of South Carolina and had a brief career as a lawyer. Purvis was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order while attending South Carolina. He joined the FBI in 1927 and headed the Division of Investigation offices in Birmingham, Oklahoma City, and Cincinnati. In 1932, he was placed in charge of the Chicago office by Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover. Purvis captured more public enemies than any other agent in FBI history, a record that still stands.

Purvis led the manhunts that tracked outlaws Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd, and most famously John Dillinger, which ended in Chicago on July 22, 1934. However, after Purvis became a media figure for this feat, Hoover claimed that Purvis had been demoted and agent Samuel P. Cowley had been put in charge of the Dillinger case. Cowley was later shot by Baby Face Nelson, and Purvis visited him in the hospital shortly before he died. Purvis was praised for his actions. He reportedly incurred the wrath of Hoover, who had previously supported him, as Purvis sought and achieved publicity for his own role, overshadowing Hoover and the rest of the FBI. In a 2005 book co-authored by Purvis' son Alston, Hoover is portrayed as jealous of the attention given to Purvis after Dillinger was killed.

At least one of Purvis' official accounts of his exploits was later called into question. Purvis' story of the death of Pretty Boy Floyd indicated that Purvis and his agents had killed him with no assistance from local law enforcement. This was later disputed by Chester Smith, an officer with the East Liverpool, Ohio police (Hoover would later state Smith had shot Floyd first). Officer Smith said that Purvis and his agents never fired until after Purvis had attempted to question Floyd. After Floyd responded with curses, Purvis ordered Agent Herman "Ed" Hollis to shoot Floyd, who was lying wounded on the ground. This claim was discounted later by retired FBI Agent Winfred E. Hopton, who wrote in a 1976 letter to TIME that local law enforcement, including Captain Smith, weren't even present until after Floyd had died. Of course, this version conflicts with the one from local authorities which has Smith initially wounding Floyd. Neither claim has been clearly proven.

Purvis resigned from the FBI in 1935 and afterward practiced law. In 1937, he became engaged to actress Janice Jarratt, but they never married. He later married Marie Rosanne Willcox, and they had three sons. Purvis bought radio station WOLS in Florence, South Carolina. He was a member of the Society of Former Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In 1936, Purvis published a memoir of his years as an investigator with the Bureau, entitled American Agent. In the 1990s, the writers Curt Gentry and Anthony Summers, who both published biographies of Hoover, assert that the director, who initially supported Purvis, was jealous of his fame after the Dillinger escapade and demoted him.

Purvis served in the United States Army as an intelligence officer during World War II, reaching the rank of Colonel. He assisted with compiling evidence against Nazi leaders in the Nuremberg trials.

Death

On February 29, 1960, while at his home in Florence, Purvis died from a gunshot wound to the head fired from the pistol given to him by fellow agents when he resigned from the FBI. The FBI investigated his death and declared it a suicide, although the official coroner's report did not label the cause of death as such. A later investigation suggested that Purvis may have shot himself accidentally while trying to extract a tracer bullet jammed in the pistol. He was 56 years old.

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https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/purvis-melvin-horace-jr/

Federal agent. Purvis was born in Timmonsville on October 24, 1903. He gained national fame during the 1930s as the nation’s “ace G-man,” credited with gunning down the notorious outlaws John Dillinger and Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd–although throughout his life Purvis maintained that each event was a team project.

Purvis earned a law degree from the University of South Carolina in 1925 and then practiced law in Florence for two years. Frustrated in his efforts to enter diplomatic service, in February 1927 he joined the Justice Department’s Bureau of Investigation, the forerunner of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Purvis quickly came to the attention of bureau director J. Edgar Hoover, who offered Purvis opportunities to earn rapid promotion. In 1932 Purvis was named senior agent in charge of the bureau’s Chicago field office, where he orchestrated the capture of the bank robber and murderer John Dillinger, America’s “Public Enemy Number One.” On July 22, 1934, acting on a tip from a Chicago brothel operator, Purvis and his team of agents surrounded the Biograph Theater, where Dillinger was attending a movie. When Dillinger walked out, Purvis lit his cigar, signaling other agents that he had spotted the fugitive. Purvis reportedly said to Dillinger, “Stick’em up, Johnny, we have you surrounded,” but Dillinger pulled his gun and ran. Agents fired, and Dillinger died at the scene. Purvis refused to take personal credit for Dillinger’s death, nor did he identify the agents who shot Dillinger. Three months later, on October 22, Purvis led the collection of federal agents and local police that tracked down and killed the outlaw Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd in a field near Clarkson, Ohio.

Reporters took an instant liking to the modest Purvis, and the mild-mannered G-man quickly became a national celebrity. Hoover, however, was jealous of Purvis’s publicity. He assigned Purvis to bad cases and subjected him to close review. In 1935, just a year after he had captured Dillinger, Purvis resigned from the FBI. Hoover undermined his efforts to find work in law enforcement, despite numerous job offers. Moving to California, Purvis practiced law and capitalized on his celebrity, endorsing products such as Dodge automobiles and Post Toasties cereal and publishing an autobiography, American Agent (1936).

In 1938 Purvis returned to Florence County, where he married Rosanne Willcox on September 14. They had three sons. He published a daily newspaper, the Florence Evening Star, and then became a partner in the ownership of local radio station WOLS in 1941. During World War II he served in the provost general’s office, attaining the rank of colonel by 1945. After the war, Purvis was appointed deputy director of the War Crimes Office of the War Department. Purvis died of a gunshot wound at his home in Florence on February 29, 1960. The FBI initially reported his death as a suicide, but later reports stated that he died accidentally. He was buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Florence.

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