The Tri-State Terror: The Life And Crimes Of Wilbur Underhill

By R.D. Morgan

Book Overview

Wilbur Underhill-the "Tri-State Terror"-is the Boogeyman of Depression-era outlaws in more ways than one. For nearly a decade in the turbulent period of the 1920s and 30s, he was one of the most... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1581071078
• ISBN13: 9781581071078
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: New Forums Press
• Length: 378 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Inside the Mind of a 'Mad Man'

R. D. Morgan has produced another great piece of work with this book. I am a big fan of Mr. Morgan's previous books, but this one topped them all. Mr. Morgan did an excellent job of researching this fact-filled story of Wilbur Underhill's life and crimes. You are taken inside the mind of one of the most feared outlaws of the 1920s and 30s. Mr. Morgan uncovered many letters written by Underhill himself, some were written just before his famous Kansas prison escape; which gives the reader a perspective that has never before been available. To any fan of crime literature this book is a must have. I for one could not put this book down until I reached the bloody end.

A Well-Researched, Broadly Documented Book

Wilbur Underhill, like John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson, came of age while doing time in the brutal prison systems of in the U.S. that operated in the early part of the 20th Century. How much did poverty, social deprivation, and family migration influence the Depression-era desperadoes? Any student of the sociological aspects of criminal history, must read this book. From the rural economy of the late 19th century to the migration to the inner cities of the Midwest that occured in the era of the First World War, Underhill, like the Barrow brothers in Texas, was one of the "lost generation" of young males who robbed and killed in order to get their share. This long-overdue story of the criminal activities of Wilbur Underhill corrects old misconceptions. The definitive research charts Wilbur Underhill's many alliances to other, equally infamous desperadoes of the Depression era of the 1930s. It is a common demoninator that the "Depression" criminals who are famous today, started on their ill-fated paths in the decades long before the Stock Market Crash of 1929, wasting their youths in notorious prisons before parole or crash outs released them to a society unwilling to offer them a path to redemption. Wilbur Underhill was one such jail bird who became hardened and embittered. The author took the time to document the stories of some of Underhill's victims. As the "genre" of true crime history continues to evolve, researchers and writers have begun to focus on victims and the tangible losses their families endured. By focusing on some of Underhill's victims, this book pays homage to the aftermath of the criminal act, as it plays out not only on the families of the victims, but the families of the desperadoes themselves. Rick Mattix, the Foreword writer, has, in his well-written introduction to the book, cleared up many old misconceptions about the Tri State Terror. This book is a solid addition to the 1930s crime history and I highly recommend it!

" OUTSTANDING!"

Mr. R.D. Morgan did a GREAT JOB in getting ALL the facts. I would recomed it to every one. If I could give it 10 stars, I would. This Book needs to made into a movie. It would recive tons of awards.

New Facts About the Human Cougar!

Few true crime books about Depression era outlaws report facts that haven't been reported in earlier written accounts. Not so with R. D. Morgan's The Tri-State Terror, The Life and Crimes of Wilbur Underhill. Where previous writers have barely scraped the surface of his criminal career, Morgan takes us on an extremely well researched journey into the badlands he travelled as well as behind more than one prison wall that he called home. His examination of Wilbur's relationship with his mother and sister presents a human side of the dangerous killer. And dangerous he was. He also uncovers the true account from the lawmen's perspective. Most interesting is how Underhill was trapped, a version I had never seen in print before. Morgan did some great research and I couldn't put the book down until I finished it.

Welcome Back, Wilbur!

Wilbur Underhill, a nationally headlined outlaw of the Depression era and the first criminal ever shot by the FBI, re-emerges from obscurity in this definitive biography by R.D. Morgan, the leading authority on Oklahoma outlaws of the 1920's and '30's. His fleeting fame eclipsed by the later publicized exploits of such contemporaries as Dillinger, "Pretty Boy" Floyd, and Bonnie and Clyde, Underhill over the years became almost a footnote in volumes of literature on Depression outlaws. Which hardly does him justice. Nor does his nickname. Wilbur (masculinized from Wilber) was known in the mining region of southwestern Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas as the "Tri-State Terror" and Terror he was but his depredations actually covered a much wider area, as far away as Kentucky. After a long career as a lone wolf bandit beginning in his native Joplin, Missouri, Underhill was convicted of one murder in Oklahoma and escaped, while still charged with another. Killing a policeman in Kansas, and suspected of two other murders there, led to another life sentence and another crashout, this time a mass escape of ten inmates led by Underhill and Harvey Bailey. A wave of bank robberies followed, along with suspected involvement in the Kansas City Massacre, leading to Underhill's ultimate and spectacular downfall (the true story of which has never been told before in entirity). After years of painstaking research, following the crime trail throughout the Southwest, digging through the musty newspaper archives and buried police and FBI files, and interviewing numerous relatives and associates of Underhill, his pals, and the lawmen who tracked them, Morgan has produced a first-rate account of the man behind the myth, the Ultimate Boogeyman of '30's crime. He uncovers a violent and disturbed but surprisingly intelligent man who somehow transcends the popular "mad dog" stereotype of the '30's. Unlike most crime books this one also ties in the loose ends and lets us know what became of the many varied and colorful characters on both sides of the law who figure in the story. This is one of the best true crime books I've run across in years and would make a fantastic movie!