He was particularly active in Oklahoma, referred to by authorities as "The Fox", and frequently teamed with Jim Clark and Frank Sawyer during the early 1930s.
Eventually captured in 1934, he was involved in a failed escape attempt from Folsom State Prison, resulting in the deaths of one guard and two inmates, and was executed at San Quentin.
He spent the next year drifting then returned to his hometown where he started committing minor robberies with Oscar Steelman and Earl Berry.
[1] His next brush with the law occurred on January 23, 1923, when he and Bill Sheppard burglarized the home of oil tycoon Joe McDonald stealing $50 in cash and $2,425 in jewelry.
Davis and Sheppard then hiked five miles north to their Agawam hideout however police were easily able to follow their tracks through the fresh snow and arrested them hours later.
Davis then attempted to try his hand at bank robbery and joined veteran outlaws Jim Clark and Frank Sawyer.
In addition to driving a stolen car, they were also charged with a bank robbery carried out hours before in Fort Scott, Kansas.
He was one of twelve convicts including Harvey Bailey,[3] Robert "Big Bob" Brady, Wilbur Underhill, Jim Clark and seven others.
He briefly joined Bailey-Underhill gang in two major robberies, first as the getaway driver in Black Rock on June 16[4] and in Kingfisher, Oklahoma on August 9, Davis later being identified with Clark and Bailey from prison mugshots.
Bailey was arrested at a ranch by federal agents two days later, the FBI then looking for George "Machine Gun" Kelly, and was wrongly charged as an accessory to the Charles Urchel kidnapping case.
[1] However, Governor Alf Landon had ordered the Kansas state police to "spare no effort" in hunting down the escapees from Lansing prison.