Holt Coffey

Holt Coffey (August 2, 1891 – January 9, 1964)[1] was the sheriff of Platte County, Missouri from 1933 until 1937 and again from 1941 until 1945.

Coffey, along with newly elected Platte City Prosecutor David Clevenger, was responsible for cleaning up much of the small-time crime around Platte County, a suburb of freewheeling Kansas City, Missouri.

On July 18, 1933, during Coffey's first term as sheriff, Bonnie and Clyde and three other gang members checked into the Red Crown Tourist Court south of Platte City.

The conspicuous behavior of the gang caught Coffey's and others' interest, and on July 20, a ferocious firefight between the Barrows and twelve officers injured both Coffey and his twenty-year-old son Clarence (who was a U.S. Army Pharmacist's mate second class during World War II).

An expert marksman, Coffey was also a one-time minor-league baseball player.