Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd was born in 1904 on a Georgia farm. He moved with his parents at an early age to the Cookson Hills District (Sallisaw in Sequoyah County) of the Oklahoma Ozarks and soon became known as "Chock" Floyd.

His family tried to keep afloat by farming but were overcome by droughts and dust storms. They turned to bootlegging to supplement their income and feed their family.

Floyd married at age 17 and promptly moved north in search of harvest work. Finding none, he bought a gun and robbed a post office of $350 in pennies. His first big "job" was a $16,000 heist of a Kroger store in St Louis. His lavish lifestyle tipped off police and spent three years in the penitentiary.

The moniker "Pretty Boy" was given him by a madam in a brothel and, even though he hated it, the name stuck. After leading a life of bank robberies and killing, Floyd was gunned down on the Cunkle farm in Ohio.