Ben Golden McCollum
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1909
Big Creek, Kentucky
Marcum, Kentucky
| Ben McCollum | |
|---|---|
| FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive | |
| Alias | Sheik of Boynton |
| Description | |
| Born | Ben Golden McCollum 1909 Big Creek, Kentucky |
| Died | August 12, 1963 (aged 53–54) Marcum, Kentucky |
| Nationality | American |
| Race | White |
| Gender | Male |
| Status | |
| Added | January 4, 1957 |
| Caught | March 7, 1958 |
| Captured | |
Ben Golden McCollum (1909 – August 12, 1963) was an outlaw in Oklahoma[1][2] during the 1920s who was nicknamed the "Sheik of Boynton". McCollum robbed banks in both Prague, Oklahoma[3] (where he got away with US$3400) and Checotah, Oklahoma ($4700) in 1929. He was captured on the streets of Boynton, Oklahoma[4] 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 on January 4, 1957.[5] He was captured on March 7, 1958 in a rooming house in Indianapolis, Indiana and returned to McAlester. McCollum was paroled in 1961, at which time he relocated to Marcum, Kentucky.
McCollum was shot-gunned to death at his home by a pair of youthful burglars on the night of August 12, 1963,[6] whose identities are unknown.
