Edna Murray
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Edna "Rabbits" Murray (birth date unknown - died 1966, San Francisco, California) was a Depression-era outlaw and partner of Volney Davis during the early 1930s. Although popularly known to the press as the "Kissing Bandit" for her habit of kissing male robbery victims, she was known in the underworld as "Rabbits" for her skill as an escape artist.
Her sister Doris O'Connor (or Vinta Stanley) lived with outlaw Jess Doyle, a member of the Barker Gang.
[edit] Life of Crime
Murray and her lover, Volney Davis, robbed a series of banks before her arrest and eventual conviction for highway robbery. Sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, she escaped from the women's state prison at Jefferson City, Missouri on December 13, 1932. Rejoining Davis, the two continued their crime spree and later settled down in Aurora, Illinois.
On April 23, 1934, outlaws John Dillinger, Homer Van Meter and John "Red" Hamilton arrived at Murray's home seeking refuge after being ambushed by federal agents and police at their hideout near Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Hamilton, having been badly wounded during the shootout, had been denied treatment by Chicago mob doctor Joseph Moran and died of his injuries several days after arriving at their Aurora home. Murray and Davis were later present during his secret funeral, in which he was buried in an unmarked grave.
On January 22, 1935, Murray was indicted along with several members of the Barker gang for a conspiracy to kidnap wealthy Minnesota banker Edward Bremer and ransom him for $200,000 in January 1934. Fleeing the state, she was apprehended in Wichita, Kansas while traveling with Jess Doyle on February 7, 1935 (coincidentally the same day Volney Davis escaped from prison).
Murray's brother, Harry C. Stanley, was subsequently arrested for aiding and abetting Murray in early 1935, was fined $1,000 and sentenced to six months imprisonment at the Sedgewick County Jail on March 12, 1935.
Murray was convicted with several others in the kidnapping conspiracy and sentenced to federal prison on May 6, 1935, eventually leading FBI agents to Hamilton's grave outside Aurora, Illinois three months later. She was paroled from the Women's Prison at Jefferson City, Missouri on December 20, 1940.
[edit] Death
Edna Murray died in San Francisco in 1966 and is buried there.
[edit] References
- Newton, Michael. Encyclopedia of Robbers, Heists, and Capers. New York: Facts On File Inc., 2002. ISBN 0-8160-4488-0
