Wednesday, July 26, 1933

Pauline and Gweyn and Baby Doll were over. Mother is up today. Today was girl's day at the swimming pool but I didn't get to go.

                                                      

George "Machine Gun" Kelly being led from the
Shelby County, TN, jail for his trip to Oklahoma
City, where his and Kathryn's trial was held

Continued from July 25 ...

In October 1933, George and Katherine Kelly were convicted and sentenced to life
imprisonment. Their accomplices were tried separately but received the same
sentence. The trials were held at the Post Office, Courthouse and Federal
Office Building in Oklahoma City. Eventually all chages against Kathryn
Kelly were dropped, and she was released in released from prison in 1958.

The kidnapping of Urschel and the two trials that resulted were historic in several ways:
 1) they were the first, last, and only federal criminal trials in the United States in
which moving cameras were allowed to film; 2) the first kidnapping trials after the
passage of the so-called Lindbergh Law, which made kidnapping a federal crime; 
3) the first major case solved by J. Edgar Hoover's evolving and powerful FBI.
For that, and for bragging he was going to break out of Leavenworth and get
Kathryn out in time for them to spend Christmas together, Kelly got sent to
 Alcatraz; 4) the first crime in which defendants were transported by airplane.
At the time, it was the largest ransom ever paid in the United States.

George "Machine Gun" Kelly was eventually transported back to Leavenworth,
where he died of heart trouble. After she was released from prison, Kathryn
returned to Oklahoma and worked as a bookkeeper until her death.

The End (of this crime story, anyway)

Monday, July 24, 1933

Mother got sick today like I am. She washed clothes this morning. I went out and played a little in the evening. Sure was hot.

Kathryn Thorne Kelly (Mrs. George "Machine Gun" Kelly)
Born Cleo May Brooks, 18 March 1904 — Died 28 May 1985
Kidnapper and Gun Moll - gave her husband his first machine gun
Considered by the U. S. Department of Justice as the "brains of the Urschel kidnapping"

Continued from July 23, 1933 . . .


Having been burned once already when an Indiana kidnapping she and George carried
out  resulted in no ransom being paid, Kathryn was determined that the kidnapping of
Oklahoma oilman Charles F. Urschel would pay off big time. Urschel was held for nine
days, during which time several letters were sent to his family and friends demanding
 $200,000 for his release.


Following the instructions in the letters, $200,000 in used $20 notes of the Federal
Reserve Bank, Tenth District, was obtained and the serial numbers recorded. They
were placed in a new, light-colored leather Gladstone bag. At the same time,
another identical bag was purchased and filled with old magazines, in case of a
hijacking attempt. As a precaution, it was decided that two of Urschel's trusted
friends would take the money to Kansas City, as instructed. By prearrangement, 
one man sat just inside the rear end of the observation car, while the other sat on
the observation platform with the bag containing the magazines. Unbeknownst to
 them, Kathryn Kelly was also on that train.


Once the ransom was paid, Urschel was returned to his family. He was exhausted and
still in shock, but otherwise unharmed. That was when the FBI went to work . . .

To be continued . . .