Melvin Horace Purvis II was an American law enforcement official and Federal Bureau of Investigation agent.
17 Facts About Melvin Purvis
2.
Melvin Purvis asserted he had killed Floyd single-handed, others variously claimed that Floyd had been already wounded, or even that Melvin Purvis had ordered Floyd summarily shot dead for refusing to provide information.
3.
Melvin Purvis was a well-educated man, and known to be a crack shot.
4.
Melvin Purvis received his law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law and had a brief career as a lawyer.
5.
Melvin Purvis was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order while attending South Carolina.
6.
Melvin Purvis joined the FBI in 1927 and headed the Division of Investigation offices in Birmingham, Oklahoma City, and Cincinnati.
7.
Melvin Purvis eventually led an investigation into the crash of United Airlines Trip 23, which uncovered foul play as the cause of the crash.
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John Dillinger 8.
Melvin Purvis led the manhunts that tracked outlaws Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd, and most famously John Dillinger, which ended in Chicago on July 22,1934.
9.
However, after Purvis became a media figure for this feat, Hoover claimed that Purvis had been demoted and agent Samuel P Cowley had been put in charge of the Dillinger case.
10.
Cowley was later shot by Baby Face Nelson, and Melvin Purvis visited him in the hospital shortly before he died.
11.
Melvin Purvis reportedly incurred the wrath of Hoover, who had previously supported him but now supposedly felt overshadowed.
12.
Melvin Purvis resigned from the FBI in 1935 and afterwards practiced law.
13.
Melvin Purvis later married Marie Rosanne Willcox, and they had three sons.
14.
In 1936, Melvin Purvis published a memoir of his years as an investigator with the Bureau, entitled American Agent.
15.
Melvin Purvis served in the United States Army as an intelligence officer during World War II, reaching the rank of colonel.
16.
Melvin Purvis assisted with compiling evidence against Nazi leaders in the Nuremberg trials.
17.
On February 29,1960, Melvin Purvis was at his home in Florence, South Carolina, when he died from a gunshot wound to the head; the shot was fired from the pistol that was given to him by fellow agents when he resigned from the FBI.