Ambush at McKinney

One of the two men on the plaque was McKinney's own, and the town's papers followed Ralph Fults as a hometown boy gone wrong. In April 1935, they reported, he slipped into his parents' home by the back door, then kidnapped Cecil Howell of the Rowlett community, gave him two dollars and drove off in a stolen car. Denton officers caught him at Lake Dallas on April 17. He climbed out with his hands up and said he would make no trouble. He told reporters he had planned to rob the Prosper bank.

What the plaque says

Ambush at McKinney IN THE EARLY 1930s, THE BARROW GANG COMMITTED ROBBERIES AND OTHER CRIMES ACROSS THE COUNTRY. ALTHOUGH THE GANG WAS INFAMOUS FOR ITS LEADERS, BONNIE AND CLYDE, TWO OTHER MEMBERS, RAYMOND HAMILTON AND RALPH FULTS, WERE EQUALLY DANGEROUS. IN 1935, AFTER BONNIE AND CLYDE HAD BEEN KILLED, HAMILTON AND FULTS ROBBED THE BEAUMONT ARMORY AND HID THEIR LOOT WITH A BOOTLEGGER NEAR McKINNEY. ON FEB. 24, 1935, THE TWO MEN DROVE THROUGH COLLIN COUNTY TO PICK UP THE STOLEN GOODS. AS THEY CROSSED A CULVERT OFF OF THE HIGHWAY NORTH OF McKINNEY, THEY WERE AMBUSHED BY COLLIN COUNTY OFFICERS. ALTHOUGH HAMILTON WAS SHOT, THEY BOTH MANAGED TO ESCAPE, ABANDONING THEIR STOLEN FORD COUPE IN WESTON. (2012)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary — 6.5 mi
  A 289-acre sanctuary in McKinney that Bessie Heard founded at the age of 80, with five habitats, a 50-acre wetland and 6.5 miles of trails.
• Rockwall County Historical Foundation & Museum — 24 mi
  A small museum in Harry Myers Park that keeps the evidence on Rockwall's rock wall, sandstone dikes that geologists call natural and folk tales call built.
• Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site — 31 mi
  The two-story farmhouse west of Bonham that the longtime Speaker of the House built in 1916 and kept as his home, left as he lived in it and open as a museum since 1975.

More markers nearby

• McLarry Cemetery — 1.6 mi
• Site of Wilmeth-McKinney Homestead — 1.7 mi
• McKinney — 1.9 mi
• Woodlawn Cemetery — 2.0 mi