Boley's bank robbed! - famous 1923 bank robbery in the all-black town of Boley, Oklahoma - includes related article about the history of Boley

American Visions, Dec-Jan, 1994 by Henry Hughes Chase

Most of Ashley's fellow students dreamed of pursuing careers in Chicago or New York. "But when it came my turn to tell the professor what I was going to do," Ashley continues, "I said, "I am going back to Boley; I can do more for my people in Boley than anywhere else.'"

Ashley went home in May 1932, with the Depression in full swing throughout America. "As the bottom fell out during those years, we could hardly get 2 cents a pound for baled cotton, when but a few years earlier, cotton - I'm talking about prime cotton, now - brought $500 a bale. But we did OK, because my father was very frugal. He had always operated on the theory that you don't buy what you can make, so he had saved money."

Ashley began teaching at Boley High School, where she remained for 44 years. One of her fellow teachers was D.J. Turner's daughter, Bernice Turner Wheeler. Half a year after Ashley returned home, Birdwell and his comrades drove into town and quickly and brutally tore a hole in the community. "Mr. Turner was number one in the hearts of the people of Boley for a long time. When they followed his advice, they came out on top; if they didn't," Ashley remembers, "they were trampled."

But Boley and D.J. Turner's bank survived his death - and the Depression. And the main lesson Ashley draws from the tragedy of November 1932? "Boley stood together against those people. The town fought for what its citizens believed in, and it remained a viable community."

As for Floyd, Ashley shares the rosy folk memory that Guthrie and the times helped create. "He operated on the theory that you take money from the rich and give it to the poor. People used to say, 'He gives money to niggers and poor white trash.' Floyd told Birdwell and the others not to come to Boley, but Birdwell in effect said he was tired of taking Floyd's orders. He thought he was the brains of the gang - but as you can see, he wasn't."