Lay waste

Question

I am reading an article about Alcatraz.From early days as a petty thief, Alvin Karpis moved on  in his career to join Ma Barker and form the Barker-Karpis partnership  literally laying waste to the Midwest between 1931 and 1936.What is "literally laying waste" referring to? Please help.LCChang

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

It is referring to the actions of the partnership.

Lcchang · Answer

I see. Then what does "laying waste" mean? Please help.

LCChang

Mister Micawber · Answer

destroying, devastating

Lcchang · Answer

Destroying the Midwest? I am sorry I just couldn't understand what it means. Please help again.

Mister Micawber · Answer

The people in the Midwest. This is about a murderous robber gang. Haven't you done any research?

Kate "Ma" Barker (October 8, 1873 – January 16, 1935) was an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States criminal from the "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publicenemy%28term%29 era", when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwest gripped the American people and press.

1900 - 1920

1910—Herman Barker arrested for highway robbery in Webb City, Missouri.
March 5, 1915—Herman Barker arrested for highway robbery in Joplin, Missouri. {Herman and Lloyd Barker reportedly involved with the Central Park Gang of Tulsa, Oklahoma.}
July 4, 1918—Arthur "Doc" Barker involved in US automobile theft in Tulsa, Oklahoma; arrested {#841} {escaped}.

1920 - 1930

February 19, 1920 - Arthur Barker arrested in Joplin, Missouri (#1740); returned to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
1921—Lloyd "Red" Barker arrested for vagrancy in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
January 15, 1921—Arthur Barker aka "Claude Dade" involved in attempted bank robbery in Muskogee, Oklahoma; arrested {#822}.
January 30, 1921—Arthur Barker aka "Bob Barker" received at the Oklahoma State Prison (#11059); released June 11, 1921.
August 16, 1921—Arthur Barker and Volney Davis involved in killing of night watchman James J. Sherrill in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (According to other sources, Thomas J. (James?) Sherrill was a night watchman at St. John's Hospital in Tulsa.)
January 8, 1922—Central Park Gang involved in attempted burglary in Okmulgee, Oklahoma; shootout results in one burglar dead while police Captain Homer R. Spaulding dies of his wounds on January 19, 1922. One gang member is sentenced to life in prison while another had his sentence overturned.
January 16, 1922—Lloyd Barker received at Leavenworth Prison {#17243} after arrest for robbing mail at Baxter Springs Kansas and sentenced to 25 years; released 1938.
February 10, 1922—Arthur "Doc" Barker received {#11906} at Oklahoma State Prison for the murder of Sherrill.
1926—Fred Barker robbed bank in Winfield, Kansas; arrested.
March 12, 1927—Fred Barker admitted to Kansas State Prison.
August 29, 1927—Herman Barker commits suicide in Wichita, Kansas after being stopped at police roadblock. {Wichita Policeman http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=8588 had been killed on August 9, 1927 by the Kimes-Terrill gang that Herman was associated with}.

1930 - 1940

March 30, 1931—Fred Barker released from Kansas State Prison after serving time for burglary; met http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Karpis in prison.
June 10, 1931—Fred Barker and Alvin Karpis {alias George Heller} arrested by Tulsa, Oklahoma Police investigating burglary. Karpis sentenced to 4 years but paroled after restitution made; Fred Barker also avoided jail sentence.
November 8, 1931—Fred Barker killed Pocahontas, Arkansas police chief http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=6995.
December 19, 1931—Fred Barker and robbed a store in West Plains, Missouri and involved in the killing of Howell County, Missouri sheriff http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=7421.
January 18, 1932—Lloyd Barker received at Leavenworth Prison.
April 26, 1932—Body of A.W. Dunlap found at Lake Franstead, Minnesota; killed by Fred Barker and Alvin Karpis.
June 17, 1932—Fred Barker, Karpis and five accomplices robbed Fort Scott, Kansas Bank.
July 7, 1932—Three members of Barker-Karpis gang arrested by FBI.
July 26, 1932—Fred Barker, Karpis (with an augmented gang) robbed Cloud County bank at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordia,_Kansas.
August 13, 1932—Attorney J. Earl Smith of Tulsa, Oklahoma found killed at Indian Hills Country Club north of Tulsa; he had been retained to defend one of the Barker-Karpis gang over the Fort Scott bank robbery, but the man was convicted.
September 10, 1932—Arthur "Doc" Barker released from prison.
December 16, 1932—Fred and Arthur Barker, Alvin Karpis and gang robbed Third Northwestern Bank in Minneapolis, killing policemen http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=4666 and one civilian. {One gang member in this shooting was also involved in two other police kilings-one in Kirksville MO in 1930 and in Enid OK in 1936.}
April 4, 1933—Fred and Arthur Barker, Alvin Karpis and gang robbed Fairbury, Nebraska bank.
June 1933—William Hamm kidnapping by Barker-Karpis gang; Hamm released June 19, 1933 after ransom paid.
August 30, 1933—Barker-Karpis Gang robs a payroll at Stockyards National Bank of South St Paul, Minnesota in which one policeman [http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=10452] is coldly executed and one invalided for life.
September 22, 1933—Two bank messengers held up by five men identified as Barker-Karpis gang; Chicago policeman http://www.odmp.org/officer.php?oid=3714 is killed by gang while investigating a nearby traffic accident. {Barker-Karpis gang associate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_Miller was allegedly involved in the killing, and reportedly also involved in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_Massacre in which four lawmen were killed}.
January 17, 1934—Gang kidnaps Edward George Bremer; Bremer released on February 7, 1934 after ransom paid.
January 19, 1934—Gang wounds M.C. McCord of Northwest Airways Company, thinking he was a policeman.
March 10, 1934—Barker gang member Fred Goetz (also known as "Shotgun George" Ziegler, a participant in the Bremer kidnapping) killed by fellow gangsters in Cicero, Illinois.
July 1934—Underworld doctor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Moran last seen alive.
January 6, 1935—Barker gang member William B. Harrison killed by fellow gangsters at Ontarioville, Illinois.
January 8, 1935—Arthur "Doc" Barker arrested in Chicago; Barker gang member Russell Gibson killed and his colleague Byron Bolton captured at another address.
January 16, 1935—Fred and Ma Barker killed by FBI at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Weir, Florida. Ma Barker was discovered by the FBI tracking her letters sent to her other son. She was writing to him to tell him about a large gator that everyone had called "Gator Joe", which led to the name of the on-shore restaurant known as "Gator Joe's."
September 26, 1935—The supposed body of underworld doctor found in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Erie; believed killed by Fred Barker and . (However, Karpis himself said that Moran had been buried.)
November 7, 1935—Karpis and five accomplices robbed a Erie Railroad mail train at Garrittsville, Ohio.
May 1, 1936—Karpis and accomplice Fred Hunter arrested in New Orleans, Louisiana.
January 13,1939—Arthur Barker killed trying to escape from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatraz Prison.

(Of Barker-Karpis gang/associates: 18 arrested; 3 killed by lawmen; 2 killed by gangsters)

1940 On...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II -- Lloyd Barker is US Army cook, ironically at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POW camp Fort Custer, Michigan; receives US Army http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Conduct_Medal and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorable_Discharge.
March 18, 1949—Lloyd Barker killed by his wife; he is manager of Denargo Market in Denver Colorado; she is sent to Colorado State Insane Asylum.

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