By Erin Woodward
Death is pending. Its long hand stretches over our life. We are cloaked in its shadow. Frank Nash understood this. He welcomed the thought. In 1913 he yielded to his desire. With ease he pulled the trigger. Lead bullets meeting flesh. The $1,000 in cash his prize. Mr. Nollie Wortman, his partner in crime, his first victim. Lust knows many forms. It appeals to us. Calls to us from dark corners and narrow roads. It whispers our name and we answer. The law came to call. Frank Nash had a date with iron bars and hard labor. Time passes slowly in prison. Boredom looms. Across the Atlantic the Archduke was murdered. War in Europe grew. Nash sought war. He traded prison bars for bullets. Given a pardon Frank “Jelly” Nash had a date with the Huns. The French village of Belleau awaited.
In the evening on June 6th 1918 Nash readied himself. It was a day of death. American Marines, outnumbered and with failed French support, attacked the German 237th Division. The battle of Belleau Wood had commenced. After one day 1,087 Marines were dead or wounded. Frank Nash was not amongst the dead. The battle would continue for 20 more days. Through machine gun fire, piercing bayonets, and curdled screams Frank Nash survived. American deaths numbered 1,811 with 7,966 wounded. The bold and brave action of the Marines birthed the moniker “Devil Dogs.” Soon Nash would come home, and the devil with him.
Time moved forward. Minute by slow minute. Nash met little to no resistance from the law in coming years. He became skilled with nitroglycerin. Blew open bank safes, made a fortune, lost it, and made more. Patience is a gift of the law. It weaves a slow pattern, learns and adapts. The law is dutiful. Sin counters, is cunning, and full of charm and wit. Nash had these attributes in spades. As the roaring 20s yielded to the 30s Nash’s time in prison came and went. He found ‘love’ in Juarez Mexico. Left the woman for a barmaid from Chicago, dabbled in burglary, and escaped Leavenworth Penitentiary, and helped seven other men to escape as well. The FBI set forth to bring in this long and tenured criminal. They would have their day.
A fine cigar scents the air with a wondrous aroma. It smells of success, of a life well earned. Embers glow with ease. Ash cools and falls with forlorn emptiness. Joe Lackey and Frank Smith of the FBI found their white whale. Assisting the FBI was a police captain named Otto Reed of McAlester Oklahoma. The FBI at this time was not allowed to make arrests. Frank Nash would be cuffed outside the White Front Cigar Store of Hot Springs, AK. A Missouri Pacific locomotive awaited the group. Death loomed in the shadows. Words amongst thieves and cheats spread. Plans were afoot. What came next changed the course of history for the FBI.
Inside a brothel murder was planned. Vernon Miller, a sheriff-turned-bootlegger, recruited two men: Adam Richetti and Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd. Men familiar with the law and the heaviness of machine gun fire. South of Kansas City a train rolled through the night. Nash, locked in iron cuffs. Lackey, Smith, and Reed ready to arrive.
Heat raged on June 17th 1933. A normal occurrence for Kansas City summers. Special Agents in Charge Reed Vetterli and Raymond Caffrey stood by in Union Station. Accompanying them were respected Kansas City Detectives Frank Hermanson and William Grooms. Their prize in Frank “Jelly’’ Nash pulled in. Armed with only pistols and shotguns the long walk from train to car commenced. Outside, toting submachine guns Miller, Richetti, and “Pretty Boy” Floyd stalked their prey.
An all-clear sign was given. Over the next few moments hell erupted and death unleashed its wrath. As Frank Nash was being placed in the car, the trio of evil approached and opened fire. Bullets zipped through the morning skies of Kansas City. Return fire from the police rained down. Blood spilt from Nash. His listless body lay dead. The bodies of Otto Reed, Frank Hermanson, and Raymond Caffrey lay dead as well. Miller, Richetti, and Floyd escaped.
J. Edgar Hoover acted quickly. At the urging of Kansas City Special Agent Ralph Colvin Hoover responded in a letter, ““I fully agree with you that our men must be afforded every possible facility in dealing with the type of men responsible for the cowardly acts committed at Kansas City.” In the coming days federal agents would be equipped across the land with .38 special revolvers, .30-06 rifles, 12 gauge shotguns and Thompson submachine guns. By 1934 new federal crime laws were enacted. Congress granted authority to the FBI to make arrests, serve warrants and carry firearms. Death comes in its own time. Sin calling victims into the fray lies. The law combats evil directly and with force. The two locked in a forever dance with justice in the balance.
Editor’s note: Lead image is mugshot of Frank Nash, Missouri State Archives
