Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime
Typed letter from the Dallas office of the Division of Investigation to the Director, dated August 29, 1933, on one page.
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Letter from SAC F. J. Blake, Dallas, to the Director, 29 August 1933: Browning automatic rifles recovered from the Barrow gang

Dallas Special Agent in Charge F. J. Blake reports that four Browning automatic rifles recovered from members of the Barrow gang had in part been traced to Government armories, and suggests the Division ask the War Department to protect armories.

Date
1933-08-29
Kind
case-file
Source
FBI Records: The Vault
Retrieved
2026-10-12
Rights
A record of the Federal Bureau of Investigation released under FOIA in the FBI Vault. A work of the United States government, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The stored image is a grayscale render of the Vault viewer's page scan.

Part 02 of the FBI Vault’s Bonnie and Clyde file, page 79 of the viewer; Bureau file 26-4114, with the copy notation “cc 26-4114-92”. Dallas Special Agent in Charge F. J. Blake reports that a Kansas City report of 17 August 1933 shows “4 Browning automatic rifles were recovered from members of the Barrow gang, some of which have been traced to Government armories.” He suggests that the Division ask the War Department to protect armories, “particularly those containing Browning automatic rifles,” and adds that the rifles, automatic pistols and ammunition found indicate “the Government is furnishing ammunition and equipment to these outlaws.”

The viewer’s text layer for this part is poor. The quotations were read from the page image stored here. The Bureau’s reply of 8 September is filed separately, and the serial numbers of the weapons are in the report of 1 September.

Object: Typed letter, one page
Maker: F. J. Blake, Special Agent in Charge, Dallas
Date: 29 August 1933
Provenance: Bureau of Investigation / Division of Investigation file 26-4114, released in the FBI Vault
Appears in: FBI Vault, Bonnie and Clyde, Part 02, page 79

itemBureau of Investigation report, 1 September 1933: Ordnance Division traces Colt .45 pistols and Browning automatic rifles taken from the Barrow gangForm No. 1 report by Dwight Brantley, Washington, D.C., listing by serial number the Colt .45 pistols and Browning automatic rifles the War Department says were stolen from Illinois and Oklahoma National Guard units.itemLetter from J. Edgar Hoover to SAC Dallas, 8 September 1933: no Division recommendation to the War Department on armory theftsDirector Hoover answers the Dallas letter of 29 August, restating its suggestion that, since the Barrow brothers were armed with Browning automatic rifles stolen from National Guard units, the War Department be asked to protect armories, and says it would be inappropriate for the Division itself to make that recommendation.itemU.S. Rifle Model 1918 Browning Automatic .30, SN 12701 (Springfield Armory NHS, SPAR 3565)NPS museum catalog record for a Colt-made Model 1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, described as the "First production Model 1918 Browning Automatic Rifle off the Colt production line." It illustrates the rifle type traced from National Guard armories to the Barrow gang in 1933.