Edmond Life & Leisure • June 14, 2018 • Page 9
Massacre suspect Bailey drew FBI scrutiny By David Farris As FBI agents began their investigation into the shootout between lawmen and gangsters at the Union Train Station in Kansas City, Mo., on Farris June 17, 1933, there was one name that kept coming up; Harvey Bailey. Bailey was friends with Frank Nash, the prisoner killed in the massacre along with four lawmen who were returning him to the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan. It was at Leavenworth where the two men had met and forged their criminal alliance. Only a few weeks earlier on May 31, Bailey escaped with 10 other inmates from the Kansas State Prison at Lansing, thanks to a plot that was mastermind by Nash. Also, witnesses identified two other Lansing escapees, Wilbur Underhill and Bob Brady, as shooters. Harvey Bailey was referred to as an old “jazz-age yegg,” from Minnesota who spent time at the notorious Green Lantern Tavern in St. Paul. The Lantern was like something out of a B movie, where wannabe young gangsters could associate with oldtime yeggmen who were brimming with criminal knowledge. Bailey is credited with educating a freshmen class of up-and-coming bank robbers, which included such notables as Fred Barker and Alvin Karpis. By the time of the massacre, the 47-year-old Bailey had salt-and-pepper hair, and was affectionately known as “Ol' Harve.” At least three witnesses identified him as one of the shooters on that morning along with a known gangster and mob hit-man who was living in Kansas City at the time, Verne Miller. Bailey had also been a suspected shooter in what became known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, in 1929, when seven men associated with crime boss George “Bugs” Moran were executed under orders from a rival bootlegger, Al Capone. The evidence was beginning to fit a pattern, and FBI Director John Edgar Hoover assured worried Americans that the suspects would soon be brought to justice. There were, however, some doubts that Bailey was involved. It was a known fact that he had been shot in the leg by a guard during the prison break. Agent O.D. Smith of the Chicago office was told by an informant that the old con was in Bartlesville, Okla. receiving treatment for a broken leg. When he and other Lansing escapees learned that they were suspected in the massacre, an unusual defense was mounted. Weeks after the shooting, a letter, typed on a broken typewriter, arrived from Bailey at the Oklahoma City FBI office. It stated that “We the undersigned are the perpetrators of the robbery” of a bank at Black Rock, Ark., on the morning of June 16. For authenticity the letter included a labeled fingerprint from each of the “undersigned:” Bailey, Underhill, Brady, along with Ed Davis and Jim Clark. The massacre was not mentioned, however the implication was obvious that the men were not in town at the time. Regardless, Bailey and the other escapees remained suspects. Unfortunately for investigators,
after only a month into the case, their attentions were diverted to another matter. On a Saturday night, July 22, 1933, at around 11:30 p.m., Oklahoma City oilman Charles Urschel and his wife Berenice (not Bernice) were playing bridge with fellow oil executive Walter Jarrett and his wife, at the Urschel's Heritage Hills mansion, located at 327 N.W. 18th Street. The couples occupied the screened-in porch where they could enjoy a little breeze on that warm summer night, when their game was interrupted. Two armed men, one toting a machine gun, burst through the door and inquired, “Now, which one is Urschel?” Since the hoods hadn't done their homework, and neither man volunteered identification, both oilmen were abducted. After a few miles, the kidnappers checked the men's wallets, then released Jarrett. Back at the mansion, Berenice remembered a Time magazine article about the recent series of kidnappings and that it included a kidnapping hotline phone number. Her call was answered by Hoover, himself who said, “This is J. Edgar Hoover, Mrs, Urschel. Give me every detail you can.” After a series of instructions from the kidnappers regarding a ransom payment of $200,000, Urschel was returned to Oklahoma City 10 days later. It was determined that the ransom note had been typed on the same machine used to print the earlier letter from the Lansing escapees. Urschel had been kept, chained and blindfolded, at an isolated farmhouse south of the Red River, but he could provide little other information. Due to the tenacity of a Fort Worth, Texas, police detective, Ed Weatherford, FBI agents finally raided a location that fit the description. It was owned by an old cuss, Robert “Boss” Shannon, and his wife Ora. Ora had a daughter, Katheryn Kelly, who was married to George Kelly; A.K.A., “Machine Gun” Kelly. On Aug. 12, at about 6 a.m., agents, along with Urschel, arrived at the farm house and arrested the Shannons, including Boss' son, Armon. Then, the agents noticed a man soundly sleeping on a make-shift cot to the far end of the backyard. On the ground next to him was a machine gun and a couple of automatic Colt pistols. Even in the dim, morning light, agents immediately recognized the 47-year-old man with salt-and-pepper hair. Ol' Harve opened his eyes to see the barrel of a machine gun pointed at his chest. He briefly glanced at his own guns, to which the Dallas agent, Charles Winstead, challenged, “Go ahead! Reach for it!” The old yegg knew better. His hand was played out, “You have me,” he conceded. “Hell, a fella's gotta sleep sometimes.” Kelly was also part of that freshmen class schooled by Bailey; however, he was not a star pupil. When it came to robbing banks, he was regarded by Bailey and others to be nervous and inept. He wasn't any better at kidnapping. Bailey's guns were test fired to see if they were used during the massacre, but there was no match. Evidence connecting him to the Kansas City massacre was weak, but not in regard to the Urschel kidnap-
Children’s author coming to Best of Books
Best of Books has announced the upcoming book signing event for children's author, Brad McLelland. He will be signing copies of his book, “Legends of the Lost Causes,” Saturday, June 16 from noon to 1:30 p.m. Legends of the Lost Causes marks the thrilling start to an action-packed middle grade series by debut authors Brad McLelland and Louis Sylvester. A band of orphan avengers. A cursed stone. A horde of zombie outlaws. This is Keech Blackwood’s new life after Bad Whiskey Nelson descends upon the Home for Lost Causes and burns it to the ground. With his home destroyed and his family lost, Keech will have to use the lessons he learned from Pa
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The FBI placed Harvey Bailey on its suspect list for the 1933 Kansas City massacre. Although not involved with that crime, Bailey did play a role in the infamous kidnapping of OKC oilman Charles Urschel.
ping. He had been caught at the scene of the crime with $700 of ransom money in his pocket. A total of 14 people were convicted of various charges in the Urschel kidnapping. In October 1933, Kelly and Bailey were found guilty and sentenced to life at Leav-
enworth. Albert Bates, who was with Kelly at the Urschel mansion on the night of the kidnapping, received the same sentence. The trio was later sent to the new, state-of-the-art prison on Alcatraz Island when it was finally completed in 1934. It was hailed as an escapeproof institution for the worst federal prisoners; but to many of the inmates, it was like an alumni reunion for a bunch of old-time yeggs who hadn't seen each other in years. Bailey was later returned to Leavenworth in 1946, and then to Seagoville Federal Correctional Institute in Texas, in 1960. On March 30, 1964, he was released. Harvey Bailey was one of the few of his peers to have survived his criminal career, let alone to be miraculously released from prison. On March 1, 1979, the old yegg died peacefully in Joplin, Missouri. He was 91 years old.