# William P. Colbeck

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/people/william-colbeck/

First-named defendant in the federal case over the 1923 Staunton, Illinois mail robbery, convicted in 1924 and sentenced to 25 years. The National Archives description of the case file says the defendants were "members of a gang called Egan's Rats" led by Colbeck; a 1950 Senate committee exhibit says he was killed in St. Louis in 1943.

The role line quotes two federal statements and labels each: a National Archives archivist's catalog description and a Senate committee staff exhibit. Neither is a court finding. The indictment and the Seventh Circuit's opinion name Colbeck first among the defendants but do not use the name "Egan's Rats" or call anyone a leader. The death date rests on the 1950 exhibit alone; no death record, inquest or police report has been opened.

The photograph is matched to this case by the name on its back, the run of Leavenworth numbers 22066 to 22072 shared with his codefendants, and the codefendants listed on the Alcatraz card. No record filed here gives his date of birth.

## Sources

- National Archives Catalog: United States v. William P. "Dinty" Colbeck et al., case file No. 25 (S.D. Ill.): https://catalog.archives.gov/id/285094043
- Bureau of Prisons identification photograph, Leavenworth No. 22066, National Archives at Kansas City (NAID 164583999), Records of the Bureau of Prisons. The catalog marks the item "Use Restriction: Unrestricted.": https://catalog.archives.gov/id/164583999