The Kansas City Massacre

Kansas City Massacre - Page 2

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Before Lackey had a chance to warn his fellow officers, one of the gunmen shouted, "Up, up!" as a third man with a machine gun began to approach. Special Agent in Charge, Vetterli turned just in time to hear a voice commanding, "Let 'em have it!" At this point, from a distance approximately 15 feet, an individual crouched behind the radiator of another car opened fire. Officers Grooms and Hermanson immediately fell to the ground dead. Vetterli, who was standing beside Office Grooms and Hermanson, was shot in the left arm and also dropped to the ground. As Vetterli scrambled to take cover, Caffrey was fatally shot in the head. Already inside the car, Frank Nash and Chief Reed were killed by bullets from the gangster's guns. Agents Lackey and Smith were able to survive the massacre by falling forward in the back seat of their vehicle. Lackey was struck and seriously wounded by three bullets. Smith was unscathed.

Scene in front of the Kansas City Union Station just moments after the Kansas City Massacre, photo courtesy Federal

Bureau of Investigation.

The three gunmen rushed to the lawmen's car and looked inside, with one of them shouting "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 the killers. One of them, later identified as Floyd, slumped briefly but continued to run. The gangsters then scrambled into the car, sped westward out of the parking area, and disappeared.

The three survivors -- Agents Smith, Lackey and Vetterli reported that the assault lasted no more than 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 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, identified as those of Adam Richetti.

Following the Kansas City Massacre, Vernon Miller, accompanied by girlfriend, Vivian Mathias, traveled to Chicago, arriving there about June 19, 1933. For a few days, he hid out with a member of the Barker-Karpis gang. From there he then reportedly went to New York. On October 31, 1933, an FBI investigation discovered he was back in Chicago with his girlfriend. The next day, he escaped a trap set for him by the FBI. However, Mathias was taken into custody and later pleaded guilty to charges of harboring and concealing a fugitive.

Meanwhile, the FBI's hunt for "Pretty Boy" Floyd and Adam Richetti continued. 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 Buffalo. The other occupants of the apartment building considered the two couples very mysterious, as they seldom left the apartment, only for brief visits to the grocery store. During that time, 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, but the women occasionally threw money from the windows of the apartment to the children playing in the street, or offered them candy.

Adam Richett, gangsteri

Adam Richetti

In October, 1934, the couples agreed to return to Oklahoma and Rose Baird was given money to purchase a car to take them there. The four began the trip on October 20th, 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 the gangster had emptied his gun at the officer. Floyd escaped, but the Police Chief thought Floyd might have been wounded.

Afterwards, the FBI and local authorities conducted an intensive search for Floyd in eastern Ohio, which included interviews of numerous persons in the 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, along with a squad of four East Liverpool, Ohio police officers were jointly patrolling a group of roads south of Clarkson, Ohio, in two cars on October 22nd, 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 the car. 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 "Pretty Boy" 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. The two FBI Agents then left to summon an ambulance to take Floyd to a hospital, but Floyd died about 15 minutes later.

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 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 Massacre, began in Kansas City on June 10, 1935. On June 17th, the jury returned a verdict of guilty with the recommendation that Richetti be given the death penalty and he was sentenced to be hanged. Though Richetti appealed his conviction on grounds that he was insane, the appeal was frutiless and he was executed on October 7, 1938.

The four individuals - Richard Galatas, Herbert Farmer, "Doc" Louis Stacci, and Frank Mulloy - who were later found in the investigation to have aided in 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.

Primary Source: FBI History

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