'Nappers at the Bar (Cont'd)

It took the Federal Government less than a month to catch Harvey J. Bailey and Albert Bates, leaders of the gang which kidnapped Oklahoma's Charles Frederick Urschel last July. It took the Oklahoma City Federal court less than a fortnight to try them. Last week it took the jury only two and one-half hours to find them guilty. A verdict was returned against Bailey, Bates, Farmer R. L. ("Boss") Shannon and his wife and son (accused of hiding Urschel on their Texas farm), and two Minneapolis money-passers who handled part of the $200,000 ransom. Three other accused money-passers were acquitted.

But bigger kidnapping news than Oklahoma City's came from Memphis where George R. ("Machine Gun'') Kelly fell into the hands of the police. Wanted in Oklahoma City for the Urschel kidnapping, wanted in Kansas City for murder, wanted in Chicago and St. Paul for robbery and murder, Kelly--a heavyset, black-haired ex-convict who got into crime via bootlegging and who boasts that he can write his name on a wall with machine gun bullets--had been eluding Federal authorities for more than three months. Thanks to an intercepted telegram and the story of a 12-year-old girl, they caught him one dawn last week in a Memphis bungalow.

Detective Sergeant William Raney of Memphis slipped into the house at 6 o'clock. The bedroom door opened. Kelly peered out, pistol in hand.

"Drop that gun, Kelly," said Sergeant Raney shoving his shotgun into Kelly's stomach. Kelly dropped the pistol.

"I've been waiting for you all night," he said.

"Well, here we are," replied the Sergeant, pushing his way in.

A kitchenette adjoining the room was littered with gin and whiskey bottles. On the table was a half-eaten angel cake. On the floor of the room were some of Kelly's sawed-off machine guns, weapons he had learned to use after listening to the tales of oldtime racketeers in Leavenworth Penitentiary. In another room the officers found Mrs. Kelly, 29, disguised in a red wig, her face bearing the telltale scar of a blow her husband once gave her. "We've been celebrating our third anniversary," she explained. "A swell celebration! Just swell!"

Not until the Kellys were safely behind bars in the Shelby County jail did Federal authorities tell the story of the hunt and the twist that led to Kelly's capture. "The Kellys left Texas sure they were not linked with the case," explained Federal Agent William A. Rorer. "They were driving Kathryn Kelly's 16-cylinder automobile and didn't waste much time in covering their tracks. A magazine detective could have followed them to Minneapolis. From there it was easy to trace them through Chicago to Detroit. In Detroit they began to realize their heels were warm. They found they had been identified and we were after them."

At that point Kelly got rid of the expensive car, bought a smaller machine. He dyed his black hair yellow, gave his wife the red wig. The trail led to Des Moines and Omaha, with the Federal agents only a few hours behind. The agents guessed that the fugitives were heading for California. They set a trap at Reno. But Kelly doubled back. He continued to change cars, being careful never to use a stolen one. At the end of August Kelly was traced to Memphis, then to Chicago where the agents said "we came so close to getting him that it hurt."

It was early in September that Kelly made his mistake. He separated from his wife and set out for Texas, presumably to collect some of the Urschel ransom money. Mrs. Kelly continued to drive through Oklahoma, using the light delivery truck in which she and her husband had posed as vegetable dealers. She was by this time thoroughly frightened, was thinking of betraying her husband. Driving into Texas she picked up three hitchhikers, Luther Arnold, his wife, and their 12-year-old daughter, Geraldine. She induced Arnold to let her keep the girl, thinking that her presence would detract suspicion. Then she persuaded Arnold to get in touch with her lawyers. She explained that two of the defendants on trial for the Urschel kidnapping in Oklahoma City, Farmer Shannon and his wife, were her parents. Arnold was to find out what Prosecutor Herbert K. Hyde had done about her offer to surrender her husband in return for the release of her parents. She gave Arnold some money and a car, then drove to San Antonio with the girl. There she joined her husband.

Arnold carried out his instructions. Prosecutor Hyde not only refused to bargain with Mrs. Kelly, but had Arnold arrested. Federal agents learned from him that the Kellys were sending his daughter back to Oklahoma. They met the girl at the station, got her to reveal Kelly's plans. She said she had driven around with him for days, that the last she heard he was going to Memphis. She did not know the address.

Fortunately the address was supplied by Kelly himself. From Fort Worth he had sent a coded telegram to one John R. Tichenor at No. 1408 Raynor St.. Memphis. The message was intercepted. Federal agents swooped into Memphis by airline from St. Louis. Birmingham and Chicago. At the address given, Kelly was caught.

Kelly's part in the Urschel kidnapping was such that he is said to have received three-eighths of the $200,000 ransom paid for Urschel's release. He was identified from pictures as one of the two men who walked into the sunporch of the Urschel home and ordered the wealthy oilman into the kidnap car. And Urschel testified that Kelly had spent several days guarding him while he was held at the Shannon farm in Paradise, Tex. Over $73,000 of the ransom, presumably Kelly's share, was found by Federal agents last week buried in a cotton patch on the Texas farm of Mrs. Kelly's uncle.

Before the return of Kelly & wife to Oklahoma City by plane last week, Kelly, chained in his cell, admitted his connection with the Urschel kidnapping. Mrs. Kelly's only confession was that she had gone to Memphis to tell her husband she was going to give up. "I've got nothing to say about that guy," she declared. "I don't want to have anything more to do . . . after a three-month chase with him. . . . I'm glad of one thing--that we're both arrested, for I'm not guilty and I can prove it, and afterward, I'll be rid of him and that bunch. I hope Kelly is sent to the penitentiary. ..."

In Edwardsville, Ill. the six persons accused of kidnapping aged Banker August Luer of Alton were found guilty last week. Life sentences were given to Eugene Norvell, professional bondsman, Percy Michael (''Dice Box Kid") Fitzgerald, ex-convict and burglar, and Mrs. Lillian Chessen, writer of the ransom notes. Defendant Mike Musiala, on whose farm Luer was held, was sentenced to 20 years. Christ Nicola Gitcho, one-time Madison, Ill. grocer and Charles Chessen were given five years as accomplices.

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