Pearl Elliott

Pearl Elliott (October 21, 1887 – August 10, 1935) was a notorious madam of Kokomo, Indiana, United States. She was best known as an early associate of the Prohibition era gangster Harry Pierpont and later of the bank robber John Dillinger. Along with the gun moll Mary Kinder, she was one of two women listed on the Chicago Police Department's Public Enemies list in 1933.

Elliott was born October 21, 1887, in Hillisburg, Clinton County, Indiana, the daughter of John Newton and Mary Belle (Booker) McDonald. The family were residing in Ward 3 of the city of Frankfort, Clinton County, by 1900.

Elliott married Earl C. Crawford in 1907 in Coles County, Illinois. Her second marriage was to Charles E. McGath on December 20, 1911, in Logansport, Indiana. Her third marriage was to William Jasper Hughes on May 25, 1918, in Howard County, Indiana, and later that year the couple were living at 1601 North McCann, with Hughes' occupation listed as laborer. By 1920, they were living at 518 Union Street in Kokomo, where his occupation was listed as a buyer and seller of horses. The following year, they were still at the same address, but he was listed as a horse buyer.

Elliott's fourth and last marriage was to George "Dewey" Elliott.

Elliott was well known to the local authorities in Kokomo, frequently appearing in the police blotter of the local paper, a record of arrests and other events at the police station. On November 30, 1929, she was a victim of a crime, when the radiator cap was stolen from her car while parked outside her residence, reported as 606 North Market Street. Elliott's home was raided by Kokomo police on the weekend of December 14, 1929, and she was charged with operating a house of ill fame. The case was later dismissed by Judge George Shenk in the city court.

In the 1930 city directory of Kokomo, Elliott and her husband were listed as residing at 606 North Market Street. On September 16 of the same year, Elliot, along with Mrs. John Kiefer and Miss Bernice Rose were guests of Mrs. Sylvia Clevenger of Terre Haute. Clevenger would later figure in dealings with the Dillinger gang of bank robbers.

On September 18, 1931, Elliott was one of eight people taken into custody during a police raid of 600+1⁄2 Washington Street, where she was listed as an old offender. She was charged with operating a disorderly house and pleaded guilty when brought before Judge Shenk. On December 22, 1931, Curly Keane, a local criminal who was arrested at Pearl's residence on North Washington Street, implicated himself in the robbery of a Peru grocery store. In the 1932 city directory of Kokomo, Elliott and her husband were listed as furnishing rooms at 714+1⁄2 North Washington.

At the time of a robbery of the South Side State Bank in Kokomo in 1925, Elliott reportedly harbored the bank robbers Harry Pierpont, Ted Skeer and Earl Northern at her boarding house on the corner of Washington and Madison streets. Shortly after their escape from the Indiana State Prison at Michigan City on September 26, 1933, there were reports that Pierpont and other members of the gang were in Kokomo at Elliott's home. In a jailhouse interview, Pierpont denied that he had any use for Elliott since his robbery in Kokomo in 1925. He stated that he was in Kokomo the day after the prison break from Michigan City and visited Elliott's house on North Washington Street but did not find her there. She disappeared from the Kokomo area after the release of John Dillinger from the Lima, Ohio, jail by Pierpont and his associates. on October 12, 1933.