Name Ben McCollum | Died 1963 | |
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Ben Golden McCollum was an outlaw in Oklahoma during the 1920s who was nicknamed the "Sheik of Boynton." McCollum robbed banks in both Prague, Oklahoma (where he got away with US$3400) and Checotah, Oklahoma ($4700) in 1929. He was captured on the streets of Boynton, Oklahoma shortly after the Checotah heist.
McCollum was convicted of both bank robberies and sentenced to a forty-year term at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma. On April 15, 1934, McCollum knifed two fellow inmates to death in a dispute over a card game. He was originally sentenced to death for the murders, but the sentence was later reduced to a life term. McCollum escaped prison in 1954 and was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list soon afterwards. He was captured in 1958 at an Indianapolis boarding house and returned to McAlester. McCollum was paroled in 1961, at which time he relocated to Marcum, Kentucky.
McCollum was shotgunned to death at his home by a pair of youthful burglars on the night of August 12, 1963.