Ben Golden McCollum, a 53 or 54-year-old white male, had a long and storied history as an outlaw that began in Oklahoma during the 1920s. Known by the moniker the 'Sheik of Boynton,' he gained notoriety for a string of bank robberies. In 1929, he successfully robbed banks in Prague and Checotah, Oklahoma, making off with thousands of dollars. His criminal activities led to his capture and a subsequent forty-year sentence at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
Life in prison did
little to quell McCollum's violent tendencies. On April 15, 1934, a dispute over a card game ended with him fatally knifing two fellow inmates. This act initially earned him a death sentence, though it was later commuted to a life term. However, McCollum was not destined to live out his days behind bars. In 1954, he managed to escape from prison, a feat that eventually landed him on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on January 4, 1957. His time on the run came to an end on March 7, 1958, when he was apprehended in a rooming house in Indianapolis, Indiana, and returned to McAlester.
After being paroled in 1961, McCollum relocated to the quiet area of Marcum, Kentucky, seemingly leaving his violent past behind him. However, his life would come to a brutal and abrupt end not at the hands of the law or old enemies, but in a seemingly random act of violence. On the night of August 12, 1963, two young burglars broke into his home. During the course of the burglary, McCollum was shot and killed with a shotgun. The identities of the two individuals responsible for his murder were never discovered, leaving the final chapter of this notorious outlaw's life shrouded in mystery. No arrests were ever made in connection with his death.
