John Cofield on Oxford: No. 2 Falkner vs. No. 1 Dillinger

We all know about William, the whole world has heard of our Nobel Laureate.

But any Oxford folks who know what’s what around here will tell you that there were three younger Falkner brothers who paved their own way into Oxford’s history, and beyond as well.

John Faulkner

Most in the literary world also know William’s brother, John, the third-born son and a writer and artist in his own right. In his final book, My Brother Bill, the heartbreaking feel of Oxford’s loss is penned so well through the breaking heart of Bill’s brother. Ole Miss knows John and Dolly Faulkner and has preserved and maintains their beautiful home on University Avenue, Memory House. And for the generation who now carry on the town’s legacy, John Faulkner was the patriarch of our Oxford Faulkners and Falkners. He is the father to Jimmy Faulkner and Chooky Falkner, and grandfather to their children: Rusty, Buddy and Meg, Bert, Ley and Ramey.

Dean Faulkner

Sadly, many in Oxford know the story of the baby of the Falkner boys, Dean. The town never got to see how high Dean might have flown as he was killed in an airplane crash at age 28, leaving behind his young wife who was pregnant with his their first child. A baby girl named for her father, Dean Falkner never knew her daddy. But in his brother’s stead, William, “Pappy” to little Dean, raised and doted on her as his own. He was her living Daddy and his influence was apparent in the life, career, artistry and times she recorded after Pappy was gone, as Oxford’s Dean Faulkner Wells.

So that leaves one Falkner boy, the second son.

With a WWI Purple Heart and French Brigade Citation pinned to his chest, and his 1922 University of Mississippi Law School diploma on his resume, Murry Charles “Jack” Falkner, the second son, went on to practice law in Oxford before carrying FBI Special Agent badge #48. Like his brothers, Jack was a pilot with his own plane and flew J. Edgar Hoover around the country on several occasions.

In late April 1934, he was in the wild gun battle at Little Bohemia where John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson slipped away. Then Melvin Purvis called him to Chicago. Jack Falkner was one of the eight FBI agents who set the trap and came at Dillinger as he stepped out of the Biograph Theater on the night of July 22, 1934. And when the notorious criminal went for his Colt .380, Falkner and his fellow agents shot him dead.

The Falkner Brothers; standing, Jack, William, and John, with the baby, Dean

With the start of World War II in 1941, Falkner returned to military service in the Army Counter-Intelligence Corps in North Africa. After victory in Europe, Jack returned to the states, completed his government career and retired from the FBI in 1965. But he wasn’t done yet.

The only Falkner to not add the “u” to his literary name, Jack turned his attention to writing. He wrote several sketches on William and was then asked to write a book of his own as he stated in the preface to The Falkners of Mississippi.

Literary history pens him as a “…significant source into the life of the Fa(u)lkner family.”

Jack Falkner is known in Oxford’s history as the brother of William, John and Dean. He is noted in American history as a law enforcement pioneer in J. Edgar Hoover’s fledgling FBI. And he is recorded in world history as a veteran of WWII, and a decorated combat veteran of WWI.

But…the coolest thing this Falkner boy did was in a few brief moments on a hot ’34 Summer night on a Chicago sidewalk when he and his outfit of Hoover’s G-Men took out public enemy No.1, Johnny Dillinger. And thus he created the Dillinger to Oxford connection.

Murry Charles “Jack” Falkner passed away on Christmas Eve, 1975, and was buried within steps of his three brothers in St. Peter’s Cemetery in Oxford, Mississippi.

John Cofield is a hottytoddy.com writer and one of Oxford’s leading folk historians. He is the son of renowned university photographer Jack Cofield. His grandfather, Col. J.R Cofield, was William Faulkner’s personal photographer and for decades was Ole Miss yearbook photographer. Cofield attended Ole Miss as well. Contact John at Johnbcofield@gmail.com.