Kansas
City Massacre - Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd
Conspiracy
to Deliver a Federal Prisoner
Adam C. Richetti
On
the morning of June 17, 1933, a mass murder committed
in front of Union Railway Station, Kansas City, Missouri,
shocked the American public into a new consciousness
of the serious crime problems in the Nation. The
killings which took the lives of four peace officers
and their prisoner, are now known as The Kansas City
Massacre.
The
Kansas City Massacre involved the attempt by Charles
Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd, Vernon Miller
and Adam Richetti to free their friend, Frank Nash,
a Federal prisoner. At the time, Nash was in the
custody of several law enforcement officers who were
returning him to the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth,
Kansas, from which he had escaped on October 19,
1930.
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CHARLES ARTHUR "Pretty Boy" FLOYD
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Nash's
criminal record reached back to 1913, when he was
sentenced to life at the State Penitentiary, McAlester,
Oklahoma, for murder. He was later pardoned. In 1920,
he was given a 25-year sentence at the same penitentiary
for burglary with explosives, and later pardoned.
On March 3, 1924, Nash began a 25-year sentence at
the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth for assaulting
a mail custodian. He escaped on October 19, 1930.
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) launched an
intensive search for Nash which extended over the
entire United States and parts of Canada. Evidence
gathered by the FBI indicated that Nash had assisted
in the escape of seven prisoners from the U.S. Penitentiary
at Leavenworth on December 11, 1931.
The
investigation also disclosed Nash's close association
with Francis L. Keating, Thomas Holden and several
other well-known gunmen who had participated in a
number of bank robberies throughout the Midwest.
Keating and Holden were apprehended by FBI Agents
on July 7, 1932, at Kansas City, Missouri. Information
gained by the FBI as a result of the apprehension
of these two indicated that Nash was receiving protection
from his underworld contacts in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Based
on such information, two FBI Agents, Frank Smith
and F. Joseph Lackey, and McAlester, Oklahoma, Police
Chief Otto Reed located and apprehended Nash on June
16, 1933, in a store in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The
law officers drove Nash to Fort Smith, Arkansas,
where at 8:30 that night, they boarded a Missouri
Pacific train bound for Kansas City, Missouri. It
was due to arrive there at 7:15 a.m. on June 17.
Before leaving, the lawmen made arrangements for
R. E. Vetterli, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of
the FBI's Kansas City Office to meet them at the
train station.
Meanwhile,
a number of outlaw friends of Nash had heard of his
capture in Hot Springs. They learned the time of
the scheduled arrival of Nash and his captors in
Kansas City and made plans to free him. The scheme
was conceived and engineered by Richard Tallman Galatas,
Herbert Farmer, "Doc" Louis Stacci, and
Frank B. Mulloy. Vernon Miller was designated to
free Nash, and while at Mulloy's tavern in Kansas
City, he made a number of phone calls for assistance
in the scheme. At about this time, two gunmen, "Pretty
Boy" Floyd and Adam Richetti, arrived in Kansas
City, and they agreed to aid in the mission.
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Vernon Miller
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Adam Richetti
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On
their way to Kansas City, Floyd and Richetti had
been detained at Bolivar, Missouri, early on the
morning of the 16th, when the car in which they were
riding became disabled. While the two were waiting
in a local garage for the necessary repairs to the
car, Sheriff Jack Killingsworth entered the building.
Richetti, who immediately recognized the Sheriff,
seized a machine gun and held the Sheriff and the
garage attendants against the wall. Floyd drew two
.45 caliber automatic pistols and ordered all parties
to remain motionless. Floyd and Richetti then transferred
their arsenal into another automobile and ordered
the Sheriff to enter that vehicle. The two, along
with their prisoner, then drove to Deepwater, Missouri,
abandoned that automobile and commandeered another.
After releasing the Sheriff, they arrived in Kansas
City about 10:00 p.m. on June 16. There Floyd and
Richetti abandoned that automobile and stole another
car to which they transferred their baggage and firearms.
Finally, that same night, they met Miller and went
with him to his home. There Miller told them of his
plan to free Frank Nash.
Early
the next morning, Miller, Floyd and Richetti drove
to the Union Railway Station in a Chevrolet sedan.
There they took up their positions to await the arrival
of Nash and his captors.
Upon
the arrival of the train in Kansas City, Agent Lackey
went to the loading platform, leaving Smith, Reed
and Nash in a stateroom of the train. On the platform,
he was met by SAC Vetterli, who was accompanied by
FBI Agent R. J. Caffrey and Officers W. J. Grooms
and Frank Hermanson of the Kansas City Police Department.
These men surveyed the area surrounding the platform
and saw nothing that aroused their suspicion. SAC
Vetterli advised Agent Lackey that he and Caffrey
had brought two cars to Union Station and that the
cars were parked immediately outside.
Agent
Lackey then returned to the train and--accompanied
by Chief Reed, SAC Vetterli, Agents Caffrey and Smith,
and Officers Hermanson and Grooms--proceeded from
the train through the lobby of Union Station. At
the time, both Agent Lackey and Chief Reed were armed
with shotguns. Other officers carried pistols. Frank
Nash walked through Union Station with the above-mentioned
seven officers.
Upon
leaving Union Station, the lawmen, with their captive,
paused briefly; and, again seeing nothing that aroused
their suspicion, they proceeded to Caffrey's Chevrolet.
Frank Nash was handcuffed throughout the trip from
the train to the Chevrolet, which was parked directly
in front of the east entrance of Union Station.
Agent
Caffrey unlocked the right door of the Chevrolet.
When the door was opened, Nash started to get into
the back set; however, Agent Lackey told Nash to
get into the front of the car. Lackey then climbed
into the back of the car directly behind the driver's
seat. Agent Smith sat beside him in the center of
the back; and Chief Reed sat beside Smith in the
right rear seat.
At
this point, Agent Caffrey walked around the car to
get into the driver's seat through the left door.
SAC Vetterli stood with Officers Hermanson and Grooms
at the right side near the front of the car.
A
green Plymouth was parked about six feet away on
the right side of Agent Caffrey's car. Looking in
the direction of this Plymouth, Agent Lackey saw
two men run from behind a car. He noticed that both
men were armed. At least one of them had a machine
gun.
Before
Agent Lackey had a chance to warn his fellow officers,
one of the gunmen shouted, "Up, up!" At
this instant, Agent Smith--who was in the middle
of the back seat--also saw a man with a machine gun
to the right of the Plymouth. SAC Vetterli, who was
standing at the right front of the Chevrolet turned
just in time to hear a voice command, "Let 'em
have it!"
At
this point, from a distance approximately 15 feet
diagonally to the right of Agent Caffrey's Chevrolet,
an individual crouched behind the radiator of another
car opened fire. Officers Grooms and Hermanson immediately
fell to the ground. They were dead. SAC Vetterli--who
was standing beside Office Grooms and Hermanson--was
shot in the left arm and dropped to the ground. As
he attempted to scramble to the left side of the
car to join Agent Caffrey, who had not yet entered
the driver's seat of the Chevrolet, SAC Vetterli
saw Caffrey fall to the ground. He had been fatally
wounded in the head.
Inside
the car, Frank Nash and Chief Reed were killed by
bullets from the hoodlums' guns. Agents Lackey and
Smith were able to survive the massacre by falling
forward in the back seat of the Chevrolet. Lackey
was struck and seriously wounded by three bullets.
Smith was unscathed.
The
three gunmen rushed to the lawmen's car and looked
inside. One of them was heard to shout "They're
all dead. Let's get out of here." With that,
they raced toward a dark-colored Chevrolet. Just
then a Kansas City policeman emerged from Union Station
and began firing in the direction of one of the killers,
later identified as Floyd, who slumped briefly but
continued to run. The killers entered the car which
sped westward out of the parking area, and disappeared.
The
three survivors--Agents Smith and Lackey and SAC
Vetterli--reported that the assault lasted possibly
30 seconds. They were uncertain if three or four
gunmen staged the assault. From their account, it
was apparent that the two Kansas City Police Officers
were killed immediately, followed seconds later by
Frank Nash and Chief Reed and then by Agent Caffrey,
who was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead on
arrival.
The
FBI immediately initiated an investigation to identify
and apprehend the gunmen. The investigation developed
evidence that the scheme was carried out by Vernon
C. Miller, Adam C. Richetti, and Charles Arthur "Pretty
Boy" Floyd. The evidence included latent fingerprint
impressions located by FBI Agents on beer bottles
in Miller's Kansas City home and identified as those
of Adam Richetti, thus helping to link the latter
to the crime.
Vernon
C. Miller, age 37, who had led the killings at Kansas
City's Union Station on June 17, grew up in South
Dakota. He had enlisted in the U.S. Army during World
War I and received extensive training as a machine
gunner. Following his release from the Army, he appeared
at Huron, South Dakota, where he told stories of
his heroism in the war. He also demonstrated to city
officials that he was a crack shot, following which
he was elected to the position of policeman in 1920.
Two years later, he was elected Sheriff and was renominated
for the position. Before the election, however, he
disappeared and entered a life of crime.
Miller's
criminal record indicated that he had been arrested
on April 4, 1923, and received at the South Dakota
Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to serve
a sentence of two to ten years and to pay a $5,200
fine for embezzling public funds. In October, 1925,
he was indicted in Federal Court, Sioux Falls, South
Dakota, for violating the National Prohibition Act;
the case was nolle prossed in January, 1931. Miller
then moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, and Chicago where
he began his association with underworld gangs. Miller
was reported to have been a hired gunman for Louis
Buchalter early in his crime career.
Following
the Kansas City Massacre, Miller, accompanied by
a girlfriend, Vivian Mathias, traveled to Chicago
and reportedly arrived there on or about June 19,
1933. For a few days, he hid out with a member of
the Barker-Karpis gang. From there Miller reportedly
went to New York.
On
October 31, 1933, FBI investigation disclosed that
Miller was back in Chicago at the apartment of Vivian
Mathias. The next day, he escaped a trap set for
him there by the FBI. However, Mathias was taken
into custody and later pleaded guilty to charges
of harboring and concealing Miller.
On
November 29, 1933, during the FBI's search for Miller,
his mutilated body was found in a ditch on the outskirts
of Detroit, Michigan. He had been beaten and strangled.
Information received by the FBI indicated that Miller
had been involved in an altercation with a henchman
of Longie Zwillman, head of New Jersey's underworld
mob, in Newark; during the argument, Miller had shot
the henchman. Another of Zwillman's associates reportedly
retaliated by killing Miller.
Meanwhile,
the FBI's hunt for "Pretty Boy" Floyd and
Adam Richetti continued. Charles Arthur "Pretty
Boy" Floyd, about 29 years old at the time of
the Kansas City Massacre, had been arrested on numerous
occasions, the first by the St. Louis, Missouri,
Police Department on September 16, 1925, for highway
robbery. He pleaded guilty to that charge on December
8, 1925, was sentenced to the State Penitentiary
at Jefferson City, Missouri, and released on March
7, 1929. Two days later, on March 9, 1929, he was
arrested by the Kansas City Police Department for
investigation, and on May 6, 1929, for vagrancy and
suspicion of highway robbery. In both instances,
he was released. On May 20, 1930, Floyd was arrested
by the Toledo, Ohio, Police Department on a bank
robbery charge and on November 24, 1930, was sentenced
to 12 to 15 years in the Ohio State Penitentiary.
Floyd escaped enroute to the penitentiary and was
a fugitive when he became involved in the Kansas
City Massacre.
Adam
C. Richetti, about 23 years old at the time of the
Kansas City Massacre, began his criminal career with
an arrest in Hammond, Indiana, on August 7, 1928,
for a holdup. Richetti was sentenced from one to
ten years in the State Reformatory, Pendleton, Indiana,
for that crime. He was paroled on October 2, 1930,
and discharged from the parole on September 23, 1931.
His next arrest occurred on March 9, 1932, at Sulphur,
Oklahoma, for bank robbery; he subsequently served
a sentence at the State Penitentiary, McAlester,
Oklahoma, from April 5, 1932, to August 25, 1932,
when he was released and placed on bond which he
forfeited. Richetti subsequently was sought for jumping
the $15,000 bond, and was wanted at Tishomingo, Oklahoma,
for robbery.
After
fleeing from the Kansas City Massacre, Floyd and
Richetti made their way to Toledo, Ohio, where they
met Beulah, also known as Juanita, and Rose Baird
in early September, 1933. From there the four traveled
to Buffalo, New York. On September 21, 1933, Floyd
and Beulah Baird, using the names of Mr. and Mrs.
George Sanders, and Richetti and Rose Baird, using
the names Mr. and Mrs. Ed Brennan, rented an apartment
in that city.
The
other occupants of the apartment building considered
the two couples very mysterious inasmuch as they
seldom left the apartment, then usually for brief
visits to the grocery store. During their occupancy,
Floyd reportedly walked from the front to the rear
of the apartment almost constantly, an activity that
caused much curiosity on the part of the other building
occupants. The two couples never visited with any
of their neighbors, though they were friendly toward
the neighborhood children who sometimes were permitted
to enter the apartment. The women occasionally threw
money from the windows of the apartment to the children
playing in the street, or offered them candy.
In
October, 1934, the couples agreed to return to Oklahoma.
Rose Baird was given money to purchase a car, and
she bought a Ford sedan which was to carry them west.
The
four began the trip early on October 20, with Floyd
driving. A few hours later, near Wellsville, Ohio,
he skidded the automobile into a telephone pole.
Floyd and Richetti removed their firearms from the
vehicle and remained on the outskirts of the town,
while Rose and Beulah Baird took the damaged car
into a Wellsville garage for repairs.
The
Wellsville, Ohio, Police Chief, J. H. Fultz, following
up on reports that two suspicious-looking men were
seen on the outskirts of town, found the two resting
in a wood tract of land nearby. A gun battle ensued.
Chief Fultz apprehended Richetti after Richetti had
emptied his gun at the officer. Floyd escaped, but
the Police Chief thought Floyd might have been wounded.
The
FBI and local authorities conducted an intensive
search for Floyd in eastern Ohio following the above
incident. This included interviews of numerous persons
in the predominantly rural countryside, including
doctors and hospital personnel whom Floyd might approach
if, in fact, he was wounded.
Eight
of the participants in this search--a squad of four
FBI Agents led by Melvin Purvis, along with a squad
of four East Liverpool, Ohio, police officers headed
by Chief of Police Hugh McDermott--were jointly patrolling
a group of roads south of Clarkson, Ohio, in two
cars on October 22, when they noticed an automobile
move from behind a corn crib on a farm. The officers
had been questioning all persons whom they saw; and
in an effort to question the occupants of this automobile,
they stopped their cars. At this point, the vehicle
that had attracted their attention drove back to
its original position behind the corn crib, and a
man whom the officers immediately recognized as Floyd
jumped from the car with a .45 caliber automatic
pistol in his right hand.
As
the officers reached Floyd, he said, "I'm done
for; you've hit me twice." They took the pistol
from his hand and also seized a second gun that he
carried in his belt. Then two FBI Agents left to
summon an ambulance to take Floyd to a hospital.
They were accompanied by a local citizen who had
witnessed the encounter. Two other local citizens,
including the owner of the farm where the shooting
took place, also were witnesses to the action that
had occurred. Floyd died about 15 minutes after he
was shot.
At
the time Floyd was killed, a watch and fob, consisting
of a "lucky piece," were found on his person.
Groups of ten notches were found on each of these
items - reportedly carved by Floyd as an indication
of the number of people he had killed.
Rose
and Beulah Baird, who were in the Wellsville garage
attending to the repair of the wrecked automobile
when they overheard the discussion of Richetti's
being taken into custody, had left immediately for
Kansas City, Missouri. Later they traveled to the
home of Floyd's family in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, where
they attended the funeral of Charles "Pretty
Boy" Floyd.
Adam
Richetti, following his apprehension, was returned
to Kansas City, Missouri, and on March 1, 1935, was
indicted by the Jackson County Grand Jury on four
counts of murder in the first degree. His trial,
predicated on the indictment charging him with the
murder of Frank E. Hermanson, one of the police officers
killed in the Kansas City, Missouri, Massacre, began
in Kansas City on June 10, 1935. On June 17, the
jury returned a verdict of guilty with the recommendation
that Richetti be given the death penalty. He was
sentenced to be hanged. Richetti appealed his conviction,
but it was affirmed by the State of Missouri Supreme
Court on May 3, 1938. Subsequently, Richetti's lawyers
alleged Richetti to be insane, and a hearing was
held at which time his sanity was clearly established.
On August 31, 1938, Richetti was again sentenced
to death, this time in the gas chamber of the Missouri
State Penitentiary of Jefferson City, Missouri. He
was executed on October 7, 1938.
The
four individuals - Richard Galatas, Herbert Farmer, "Doc" Louis
Stacci, and Frank Mulloy - who, investigation disclosed,
had engineered the conspiracy to free Nash, were
indicted by a Federal Grand Jury at Kansas City,
Missouri, on October 24, 1934. On January 4, 1935,
the four were found guilty of conspiracy to cause
the escape of a Federal Prisoner from the custody
of the United States. On the following day, each
was sentenced to serve two years in a Federal Penitentiary
and pay a fine of $10,000, the maximum penalty allowed
by law.
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