Kellys on the run
Kelly shortly after his arrest.
Money in hand, the Kellys and Bates left Texas for Minneapolis, where they sold off a portion of the ransom for clean bills. (A common practice, since kidnappers knew ransom money serial numbers were always recorded).
Once business was concluded, the trio decided it best to split up and regroup in a few weeks.
Kelly and his wife left town on Aug. 5. Bates left the following day for Denver.
The same day the Kellys left, FBI agents confiscated $20 bills in the Twin Cities with serial numbers matching the ransom money, and the first arrests were made in the case. Arrested were Minneapolis crime boss Isadore "Kid Cann" Blumenfeld, Sam Kronick, Sam Kozberg, Edward "Barney" Berman, and Clifford Skelly.
With the extensive information Urschel supplied, the FBI was able to quickly pinpoint the Shannon ranch. On Aug. 10, FBI Special Agent Edward Dowd drove to the ranch and posed as an inspector. From there, he drove the short distance to Armon’s home. There he was able to identify by sight all of Urschel’s blindfolded memories, including the squeaky well pump. Dowd asked for a drink of water and experienced the mineral taste for himself.
Two days later, on Aug. 12, a raiding party consisting of the FBI, police from Dallas and Fort Worth, including detectives Swinney and Weatherford, as well as Charles Urschel himself, swarmed over the Shannon ranch. After arresting Bailey, Ora and "Boss" Shannon, the raiders went to Armon’s house and arrested him and his wife, Oletha.
Sadly for Bailey, he has just returned to the ranch from an Aug. 9 bank robbery in Kingfisher, Okla., where he, Wilbur Underhill and several others robbed the Peoples National Bank. To make matters worse, he had used one of Kelly’s machineguns, which was later tied into the Urschel kidnapping. Additionally, the marked Urschel kidnapping money given him by Kelly and Bates was still in his pocket. Where on the ranch Bailey actually was when the raid occurred is a minor mystery. Various reports have him on a bed in the back yard, sleeping on the porch, and on a small cot inside the house. No matter, Bailey was the headliner of the arrest as newspapers proclaimed the Kansas City Massacre "chief" had been apprehended.
The same day the Shannon ranch was raided, Bates was arrested at a Denver hotel. His capture came after a man tried to use stolen money orders that had been taken by Bates in a Tupelo, Miss., bank robbery the previous year. Bates was identified as the person who had sold him the money orders at a Denver restaurant the day before.
Bates had used the name George L. Davis when he was arrested and had a prisoner who was about to be released, contact his wife, Clara. Mrs. Bates then wired Fort Worth detectives Swinney and Weatherford with the following message:
GEORGE L. DAVIS HELD IN DENVER WANTED IN BLUE RIDGE, TEXAS, BANK ROBBERY. WILL WAIVE EXTRADITION. COME AT ONCE. ADVISE COMING BY AIRPLANE … GEORGE L. DAVIS
Bates was clearly worried because when arrested he had more than $600 of the ransom money in his pockets. He tried to get rid of it by asking police to forward it at once to his attorney. Instead, they held on to it.
Police suspected Bates of being involved in several area bank robberies and, to buy time, brought in four witnesses who positively identified him as the lone gunman in the robbery of the National Bank of Louisville, Colo., 13 years earlier, in January 1920. Police were astounded when Bates readily admitted his guilt, causing them to sense that he was involved in something much more serious than an old robbery.
Meanwhile, when Swinney and Weatherford received the "George L. Davis" wire, they remembered Kathryn’s request the night of the party several months earlier. The detectives contacted the FBI who went to Denver, confirmed the money the police were holding was part of the ransom money, and took Bates into federal custody.
Final days of freedom
When the Kellys left Minneapolis on Aug. 5, they were reasonably sure that they had not been connected to the kidnapping. When they read of the arrests of the St. Paul men, Kathryn’s family, and now Bates, however, panic began to set in.
By mid-August 1933, just two weeks after the release of Urschel, the government was already preparing its case in Oklahoma City against Kathryn’s mother, stepfather, Armon Shannon, Bates, Bailey and the five money purchasers from St. Paul.
In a bizarre attempt to free her mother, Kathryn, now in Des Moines, sent a letter on Aug. 18 to the Oklahoma Assistant Attorney General, Joseph B. Keenan, stating:
"The entire Urschel family and friends, and all of you will be exterminated soon. There is no way I can prevent it. I will gladly put George Kelly on the spot for you if you will save my mother, who is innocent of any wrongdoing. If you do not comply with this request, there is no way in which I can prevent the most awful tragedy. If you refuse my offer I shall commit some minor offense and be placed in jail so that you will know that I have no connection with the terrible slaughter that will take place in Oklahoma within the next few days."
Kathryn then sent a telegram to a friend, Louise Magness, who was staying at her Fort Worth home, asking her to fly to Des Moines. When Magness arrived, she drove the Baileys to Brownwood, Texas, where, pretending to be George Kelly’s sister, purchased a new car for them.
Bailey on the move again
On Labor Day, Sept. 4, Bailey, who had earned a reputation for his ability to escape from jails and prisons, did just that. At the "escape proof" Dallas County jail, he bribed a jailer to smuggle in a gun and two hacksaws to him. After sawing through the bars, allegedly with the help of the jailer, Bailey escaped only to be captured the same day in Ardmore, Okla. The jailer and a man who supplied the hacksaws received prison sentences. Years later, Bailey claimed the jailer brought the gun and saws in on his own with the plan to shoot Bailey and claim a reward.
On the same day Bailey escaped, Luther Arnold and his wife, described as "unemployed nomads of the Depression Era," were hitchhiking with their young daughter, Geraldine, near Hillsboro, Texas. Kathryn, who was driving a pickup truck and wearing a red wig, stopped to give them a ride. She drove the Arnolds to Cleburne, Texas, and paid for their meals and lodging for the night. The following day she purchased clothes for Mrs. Arnold and her daughter and then offered the family some money.
In a somewhat desperate state, she revealed that she was Kathryn Kelly and gave Luther Arnold $50 with instructions to go to Fort Worth, get in touch with her lawyer, and find out why Keenan had not accepted her offer to release her mother in exchange for Kelly’s arrest.
Arnold was next instructed to go to Oklahoma City to keep Kathryn posted on the trial. While there, he received a letter which gave him an address in San Antonio where he was to meet Kathryn and his family. When he arrived, Kelly was also there, but left the following morning.
Now Kathryn had another favor to ask. She wanted to borrow the Arnold’s daughter, Geraldine, to provide a cover for herself and Kelly while they traveled to Chicago. On their way there, they stopped outside Coleman, Texas, to bury $73,250 of the ransom money on a farm owned by Kathryn’s uncle, Cass Coleman.
Another strange twist surfaced on Sept. 19 when Urschel received a threatening letter signed by Kelly himself. In it, Kelly swore to destroy Urschel’s home and family if the Shannons were convicted. He ended the letter with, "It is up to you; if the Shannons are convicted, you can get another rich wife in hell, because that will be the only place you can use one. Adios, smart one. Your worst enemy, Geo. R. Kelly. I will put my fingerprints below so you can’t say some crank wrote this."
Once business was concluded, the trio decided it best to split up and regroup in a few weeks.
Kelly and his wife left town on Aug. 5. Bates left the following day for Denver.
The same day the Kellys left, FBI agents confiscated $20 bills in the Twin Cities with serial numbers matching the ransom money, and the first arrests were made in the case. Arrested were Minneapolis crime boss Isadore "Kid Cann" Blumenfeld, Sam Kronick, Sam Kozberg, Edward "Barney" Berman, and Clifford Skelly.
With the extensive information Urschel supplied, the FBI was able to quickly pinpoint the Shannon ranch. On Aug. 10, FBI Special Agent Edward Dowd drove to the ranch and posed as an inspector. From there, he drove the short distance to Armon’s home. There he was able to identify by sight all of Urschel’s blindfolded memories, including the squeaky well pump. Dowd asked for a drink of water and experienced the mineral taste for himself.
Two days later, on Aug. 12, a raiding party consisting of the FBI, police from Dallas and Fort Worth, including detectives Swinney and Weatherford, as well as Charles Urschel himself, swarmed over the Shannon ranch. After arresting Bailey, Ora and "Boss" Shannon, the raiders went to Armon’s house and arrested him and his wife, Oletha.
Sadly for Bailey, he has just returned to the ranch from an Aug. 9 bank robbery in Kingfisher, Okla., where he, Wilbur Underhill and several others robbed the Peoples National Bank. To make matters worse, he had used one of Kelly’s machineguns, which was later tied into the Urschel kidnapping. Additionally, the marked Urschel kidnapping money given him by Kelly and Bates was still in his pocket. Where on the ranch Bailey actually was when the raid occurred is a minor mystery. Various reports have him on a bed in the back yard, sleeping on the porch, and on a small cot inside the house. No matter, Bailey was the headliner of the arrest as newspapers proclaimed the Kansas City Massacre "chief" had been apprehended.
The same day the Shannon ranch was raided, Bates was arrested at a Denver hotel. His capture came after a man tried to use stolen money orders that had been taken by Bates in a Tupelo, Miss., bank robbery the previous year. Bates was identified as the person who had sold him the money orders at a Denver restaurant the day before.
Bates had used the name George L. Davis when he was arrested and had a prisoner who was about to be released, contact his wife, Clara. Mrs. Bates then wired Fort Worth detectives Swinney and Weatherford with the following message:
GEORGE L. DAVIS HELD IN DENVER WANTED IN BLUE RIDGE, TEXAS, BANK ROBBERY. WILL WAIVE EXTRADITION. COME AT ONCE. ADVISE COMING BY AIRPLANE … GEORGE L. DAVIS
Bates was clearly worried because when arrested he had more than $600 of the ransom money in his pockets. He tried to get rid of it by asking police to forward it at once to his attorney. Instead, they held on to it.
Police suspected Bates of being involved in several area bank robberies and, to buy time, brought in four witnesses who positively identified him as the lone gunman in the robbery of the National Bank of Louisville, Colo., 13 years earlier, in January 1920. Police were astounded when Bates readily admitted his guilt, causing them to sense that he was involved in something much more serious than an old robbery.
Meanwhile, when Swinney and Weatherford received the "George L. Davis" wire, they remembered Kathryn’s request the night of the party several months earlier. The detectives contacted the FBI who went to Denver, confirmed the money the police were holding was part of the ransom money, and took Bates into federal custody.
Final days of freedom
When the Kellys left Minneapolis on Aug. 5, they were reasonably sure that they had not been connected to the kidnapping. When they read of the arrests of the St. Paul men, Kathryn’s family, and now Bates, however, panic began to set in.
By mid-August 1933, just two weeks after the release of Urschel, the government was already preparing its case in Oklahoma City against Kathryn’s mother, stepfather, Armon Shannon, Bates, Bailey and the five money purchasers from St. Paul.
In a bizarre attempt to free her mother, Kathryn, now in Des Moines, sent a letter on Aug. 18 to the Oklahoma Assistant Attorney General, Joseph B. Keenan, stating:
"The entire Urschel family and friends, and all of you will be exterminated soon. There is no way I can prevent it. I will gladly put George Kelly on the spot for you if you will save my mother, who is innocent of any wrongdoing. If you do not comply with this request, there is no way in which I can prevent the most awful tragedy. If you refuse my offer I shall commit some minor offense and be placed in jail so that you will know that I have no connection with the terrible slaughter that will take place in Oklahoma within the next few days."
Kathryn then sent a telegram to a friend, Louise Magness, who was staying at her Fort Worth home, asking her to fly to Des Moines. When Magness arrived, she drove the Baileys to Brownwood, Texas, where, pretending to be George Kelly’s sister, purchased a new car for them.
Bailey on the move again
On Labor Day, Sept. 4, Bailey, who had earned a reputation for his ability to escape from jails and prisons, did just that. At the "escape proof" Dallas County jail, he bribed a jailer to smuggle in a gun and two hacksaws to him. After sawing through the bars, allegedly with the help of the jailer, Bailey escaped only to be captured the same day in Ardmore, Okla. The jailer and a man who supplied the hacksaws received prison sentences. Years later, Bailey claimed the jailer brought the gun and saws in on his own with the plan to shoot Bailey and claim a reward.
On the same day Bailey escaped, Luther Arnold and his wife, described as "unemployed nomads of the Depression Era," were hitchhiking with their young daughter, Geraldine, near Hillsboro, Texas. Kathryn, who was driving a pickup truck and wearing a red wig, stopped to give them a ride. She drove the Arnolds to Cleburne, Texas, and paid for their meals and lodging for the night. The following day she purchased clothes for Mrs. Arnold and her daughter and then offered the family some money.
In a somewhat desperate state, she revealed that she was Kathryn Kelly and gave Luther Arnold $50 with instructions to go to Fort Worth, get in touch with her lawyer, and find out why Keenan had not accepted her offer to release her mother in exchange for Kelly’s arrest.
Arnold was next instructed to go to Oklahoma City to keep Kathryn posted on the trial. While there, he received a letter which gave him an address in San Antonio where he was to meet Kathryn and his family. When he arrived, Kelly was also there, but left the following morning.
Now Kathryn had another favor to ask. She wanted to borrow the Arnold’s daughter, Geraldine, to provide a cover for herself and Kelly while they traveled to Chicago. On their way there, they stopped outside Coleman, Texas, to bury $73,250 of the ransom money on a farm owned by Kathryn’s uncle, Cass Coleman.
Another strange twist surfaced on Sept. 19 when Urschel received a threatening letter signed by Kelly himself. In it, Kelly swore to destroy Urschel’s home and family if the Shannons were convicted. He ended the letter with, "It is up to you; if the Shannons are convicted, you can get another rich wife in hell, because that will be the only place you can use one. Adios, smart one. Your worst enemy, Geo. R. Kelly. I will put my fingerprints below so you can’t say some crank wrote this."
Kelly's signed note to Urschel.
