Monday, July 23, 1934

Mother is still sick. Daddy and I went down to Mart's for dinner. I stayed all night at Rita Mae's.

Helen Stephens (1918-1994)

Growing up on a farm in Callaway County near Fulton, Missouri, Helen loved to run and jump and climb. She also had to work hard on the family farm. By the time she was in high school, her coach was working with her
and took her to St. Louis for her first official race. She beat Stella Walsh, a Polish gold medalist in the 1932 Olympics, in the 50-meter dash at 6.6 seconds, setting a new indoor record on a dirt track.

On August 4, 1936, eighteen-year-old Helen Stephens set the Olympic world record for the 100-meter event at 11.5 seconds. Her record stood for twenty-four years until Wilma Rudolph beat it in the 1960 Olympics. On August 9, Stephens was the anchor in the 400-meter relay team that also set a world record time of 46.9 seconds. She received a gold medal for each event.

Helen returned to Fulton after the Olympics and earned a degree from William
Woods College. She paved the way for future female athletes of all ages. She is in the National and United States Track and Field Halls of Fame as well as the Women’s Hall of Fame. Helen Stephens died on January 17, 1994. She is buried in Fulton, Missouri.



Sunday, July 23, 1933

I felt better today. Went to church. I got some oranges and lemons. Raiferts went over to Mart's yesterday, but Mr. Raifert was over today.

George Kelly Barnes (July 18, 1895 – July 18, 1954)
AKA "Machine Gun" Kelly

At 11:15 p.m., on Saturday, July 22, 1933, Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Urschel, one of Oklahoma's wealthiest couples, were playing bridge with their friends, Mr. and Mrs. Walter R. Jarrett, on a screened porch of the Urschel residence at Oklahoma City. Two men, one armed with a machine gun and the other with a pistol, opened the screen door and inquired which of the two men was Mr. Urschel. Receiving no reply, they remarked, "Well, we will take both of them." After warning the women against calling for help, they marched Urschel and Jarrett to where they had driven their car, put them into the back of the Chevrolet sedan, and drove rapidly away.

Mrs. Urschel, in accordance with the Attorney General's advice to the public, immediately telephoned J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), United States Department of Justice. Special Agents were sent to Oklahoma City, where an extensive investigation commenced.

At 1:00 a.m., Sunday, July 23, 1933, Jarrett made his way back to the Urschel residence. The victims had been driven to the outskirts of the city, where they had turned right on a dirt road parallel to the 23rd Street Highway and had proceeded northeast to a point about twelve miles from the city. After crossing a small bridge and arriving at an intersection, they had put Jarrett out of the car after they had identified him and had taken fifty dollars which he had in his wallet, warning him not to tell the direction the kidnappers had gone. He stated that after he was released the car proceeded south ...

To be continued