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Roy Gardner may refer to:

Roy Gardner (bank robber) (1884–1940), American bank robber
Roy Gardner (businessman) (born 1945), former chairman of Manchester United F.C. (2003–2005), former chairman of Plymouth Argyle F.C.
Roy Gardner (cricketer) (1914–2004), Australian cricketer

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name.
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+'''Roy Gardner''' may refer to:
-Roy Gardner (January 5, 1884 - January 22, 1940) was an American infamous and notorious train robber, and the most celebrated outlaw and escape artist of his day, he could perform mircales in escapes, and one is impressed with his life as an outlaw. Twice during his criminal career, he escaped the shrewdest men the government could set to guard him. Twice during his criminal career, he joked with the Federal Marshals whom he turned the tables on a made the prisoners, in his place. Twice during his criminal career, he laughed as he was recaptured by lawmen. Gardner was the most hunted man in Pacific Coast history, perhaps the first man to escape the "Impregnable" escape - proof McNeil Island Federal Prison, which led the U. S. Government to build another "escape - proof" federal prison, Alcatraz Island, and Gardner was the "Most Wanted" gangster of 1921. Roy Gardner had a $5,000 reward on his head three times during his career, and he was dubbed the "Smiling Bandit", the "Gentleman Train Robber", and the "King of the Escape Artists". He was one of the most notorious offenders of the Bureau of Prisons. Roy Gardner was quick with a gun, controversial, and no prison could hold him.
+*[[Roy Gardner (bank robber)]] (1884–1940), American bank robber
-He was born during the 1880s on a farm in Trenton, Missouri. Roy stood just under six feet tall, he had short, curly black hair, gimlet blue eyes, he was attractive, cocky, and he acted tough, and that he was. He worked in a mine in Colorado Springs, attended school in Oklahoma City, and he claimed he had enlisted in the U. S. Army, and deserted. His legend would begin.
+*[[Roy Gardner (businessman)]] (born 1945), former chairman of Manchester United F.C. (2003–2005), former chairman of Plymouth Argyle F.C.
+*[[Roy Gardner (cricketer)]] (1914–2004), Australian cricketer
+{{hndis|Gardner, Roy}}
-Gardner claimed he had began his crime career in 1906 as a gunrunner in Mexico. He was captured, sentenced to death, but he escaped from a Mexican dungeon. Gardner arrived back in the U. S., where he was a prizefighter in the Southwest. He was good enough that he became a sparring partner for Heavyweight Champion J. J. Jeffries at Ben Lemond and then at Reno, Nevada in the summer of 1910. Roy ended up in San Francisco, where he gambled all of his boxing money away, and he robbed a jewelry store. He was arrested, and spent some time in San Quentin, but he was pardonded after he saved a prison guard's life during a violent riot. Gardner landed a job as a welder at the Mare Island Navy Yard, married a waitress, and fathered a child. Gardner said he got into the train robbing business, when he sent a letter to his finacially depressed sister in the mail, along with $200. She got the letter, but not the money, and Gardner had gambled all of his money away on a business trip in Tijauna. On the night of April 16th, 1920, outside of San Diego, Gardner robbed a mail train of about $80,000 in cash and securities. A smooth job, but the outlaw was arrested three days later burying his loot. His name would become just as familiar to the lawmen of California as Jesse James.
-Roy Gardner was sentenced to 25 years at McNeil's Island Federal Prison for armed robbery, and he vowed he would never serve the sentence. On June 5th, 1920, he was transported on a train with Deputy U. S. Marshals Cavanaugh and Haig, outside of Portland, Oregon, Gardner peered out of the window of the train and gasped, "My God - Look at that ten - point buck!". The lawmen looked, and Gardner grabbed U. S. Marshal Haig's gun from his holster, and barked, "Hands Up", and then he disarmed U. S. Marshal Cavanaugh. The daring outlaw then handcuffed the two humiliated lawmen together and stole $200. He hopped off the train, and made his way to Canada. He slipped back into the United States the next year, and started robbing banks and mail trains across the country as a lone bandit. Gardner came back to California, where he tied up the mail clerk to Train No. 10 eastbound from Sacramento, and robbed the express car of $187,000 on May 19th, 1921. The next morning, Gardner told the mail clerk to Train No. 20, to throw up his hands, or he would blow his head off! When the train reached the Overland Limited, the elusive bandit darted down the tracks with an armful of mail. The home office regonized the gunman, as Roy Gardner, the notorious train robber with a $5,000 reward on his head.
-Gardner was recognized at the Porter House Hotel and a convoy of police arrived in Roseville while Gardner was playing a game of cards in a pool hall. Under - Sheriff Al Locke slipped up behind the desperado and nudged a 45. Colt in his back and announced, "Stand up Roy, and don't do anything you'll regret". The bandit was arrested, and was sentenced to another 25 years at McNeil Island for armed robbery of the U. S. Mails. Trying to reduce his sentence he told Southern Pacific detectives that he would lead them to the spot where he buried his loot. The officers found nothing, and Gardner announced, "I guess I have forgotten where I buried that money". Roy Gardner was heavily shackled, addition to an "Oregon Boot", and was once again transported on a train to McNeil Island, this time by U. S. Marshals Mulhall and Rinkell, both fast shooting veterans. Gardner asked to used the bathroom, inside the bathroom, a cohort had smuggled a 32. caliber pistol, and Gardner came out of the bathroom, pointed the gun at Mulhall's protruding pouch, and then ordered another prisoner to handcuff the two humiliated G - men to the seat, and relieved the officers of their weapons and cash. Gardner hopped onto another moving train outside Castle Rock, Washington, and became the most hunted man in Pacific Coast history, known all over the country as the cleverest and most slippery prisoner to ever be placed under arrest. Gardner once again had $5,000 reward on his head, and arrived in Centralia, Washington, where he was almost recognized by Jack Scuitto at the Olympic Club Hotel. Roy plastered his face with bandages to hide his identity, leaving one eye slit. Gardner told the Oxford Hotel staff that he had been severly burned in an industrial accident near Tacoma. Officer Louis Sonney became suspicious of the bandaged man, and when he saw a firearm in Gardner's hotel room, he accused him of being the "Smiling Bandit". Gardner fought back, but was arrested and a doctor removed the bandages to show that he was indeed the notorious train robber. This time Gardner, who was sentenced to another 25 years, was heavily ironed, and finally brought to the "Impregnable" McNeil Island, that no one had ever managed to escape, but on September 5th, 1921 during a Labor Day prison baseball game, that would change.
-Gardner was the most closely watched prisoner in the most closely watched prison in the country, and after six weeks, he had convinced two unlikeable prisoners, Lawardus Bogart and Everett Impyn that he had "paid off" the guards in the towers. On Labor Day, at a prison baseball game, Gardner said, "Now" during the fifth inning when someone hit a fly ball into centerfield, as the guards in the towers had there eyes on the ball and the runners, Gardner, Bogart, and Impyn ran 300 yards to the high barbed wire fence where Gardner cut a hole, and the three men made it to the pasture as bullets whirled about there heads. Prisoner Impyn was shot dead, Gardner was wounded in his left leg, but made it behind a herd of cattle near timber, about the same time he saw Bogart fall, badly wounded. Impyn was shot dead, and his dying words were, "Gardner told us those fellows in the towers couldn't hit the back side of a barn". Bogart later stated that Gardner had decieved them and used his companions as decoys, to better his chances of escape. Guards scoured the beaches and confiscated every boat on the shoreline, but no trace of the dangerous outlaw could be found. Gardner lived in the prison barn, getting nutrition from cow's milk, and then swam the choppy waters to Fox Island where he lived off fruit in the orchards. Warden Maloney claimed Mr. Gardner was still on McNeil Island, but that same day the statement was made, Gardner was already en route to Oregon.
-Roy Gardner was the "Most Wanted" gangster, and he was captured by a mail clerk during a train robbery in Phoenix, Arizona in the fall of 1921. Gardner was sentenced to an additional 25 years, this time at Leavenworth Federal Prison. Headlines screamed, "GANGSTER GARDNER BRAGS, "LEAVENWORTH WILL NEVER HOLD ME". Gardner now known as the "King of the Escape Artists", and was transferred to Atlanta Federal Prison in 1925, where in 1927, Gardner attempted an escape that almost turned bloody, and he was placed in solitary confinement for twenty months. When he came out of solitary confinement, he was placed in a Mental Hospital in Washington, D. C., but he was then transferred in 1934 to the infamous "escape - proof" Alcatraz Island Federal Prison. Gardner was one of the first hardened criminals at Alcatraz during the hardest years, and he was now (Az - 110) and his crimes were for robbery of the U. S. Mails. While at Alcatraz, his wife divorced him, he worked at the Mat Shop with Ralph Roe and they planned an escape, but Gardner was released from Alcatraz in 1938 after he got an appeal for clemency.
-Roy Gardner published his autobiography, "Hellcatraz", attended crime lectures, and he and Louis Sonney made one of the first reenactments on short film called, "You Can't Beat the Rap". The ex-convict landed a job as a film salesman and an exposition baker, and a movie in 1939 was based on his life called, "I Stole A Million". The movie bombed somehow, and in 1940, police found the one - time "Most Wanted" gangster and notorious train robber, Roy Gardner, dead at age fifty-six from cyanide fumes and poisonous gas, a suicide. Roy Gardner described himself as the last of the Robin Hood type of daring outlaw, a bloodless desperado, out of all the gangsters of his era, Roy Gardner was a touchstone of his time.