United States of America v. Alvin Karpavicz, alias Alvin Karpis; Arthur Barker, alias "Doc" Barker; Byron Bolton; John P. Peifer; Charles J. Fitzgerald; Elmer Farmer; and Edmund C. Bartholmey (D. Minn., No. 6258)

Federal criminal case file at St. Paul against Karpis, Arthur Barker and five others named in the catalog title. 122 digitized pages; the catalog gives no description of the charge.

Date: 1935/1936
Kind: case-file
Source: National Archives Catalog
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
NAID: 70668628
Docket: 6258
Rights: A record of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, held by the National Archives in Record Group 21, Records of District Courts of the United States. A United States government work, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The National Archives catalog marks use "Unrestricted." The catalog records 6258 as the court case number.

The National Archives titles this file “United States of America v. Alvin Karpavicz, alias Alvin Karpis; Arthur Barker, alias ‘Doc’ Barker; Byron Bolton; John P. Peifer, alias Jack Peifer; Charles J. Fitzgerald, alias Chuck Fitzgerald; Elmer Farmer; and Edmund C. Bartholmey,” and records 6258 as “the court case number.” It has 122 page images.

The catalog gives no date and no scope note, so the charge is not stated in the catalog. Several of the names also appear as Karpis’s partners on his Alcatraz notebook page, and the FBI says Karpis pleaded guilty to the Hamm kidnaping at St. Paul; but which kidnaping this file concerns was not confirmed from its pages, and this page does not say. A larger file, “United States of America v. Alvin Karpavicz, et al.” (NAID 24733452, 599 pages), is in the same catalog and is not filed separately.

itemAlcatraz warden's notebook page for Alvin Karpavicz, No. 325Bureau of Prisons notebook page with the identification photograph of Alvin Karpavicz, No. 325, received at Alcatraz from Leavenworth on 6 August 1936 under a life sentence for conspiring to kidnap and transport (Minnesota, St. Paul); stamped transferred to Leavenworth on 2-24-58. A copy is stored here.

itemAlcatraz warden's notebook page for Arthur "Doc" Barker, No. 268Bureau of Prisons notebook page with the identification photograph of Arthur Barker, No. 268, received at Alcatraz from Leavenworth on 26 October 1935 under a life sentence from the District of Minnesota. A red header records his death in the institutional hospital on 13 January 1939. A copy is stored here.itemBarker/Karpis Gang: FBI history pageThe FBI's history essay on the Barker/Karpis gang: the 1933 Hamm kidnaping and the silver nitrate fingerprint method, the January 1934 Bremer kidnaping, the 16 January 1935 shooting at the Lake Weir cottage in Florida, and the 1 May 1936 arrest of Alvin Karpis in New Orleans.