On July 22, 1933, using his trademark machine gun,
George "Machine Gun" Kelly, along with
Albert L. Bates, interrupted a bridge game at Urschel's residence in
Oklahoma City, abducting Urschel and his guest, fellow oilman Walter R. Jarrett (who would later relocate to
Midland, Texas, where he died in 1947 aged 60), at gunpoint while their wives "helplessly watched". This began a startling kidnapping case evoking the new Lindbergh kidnapping laws, led to 21 convictions, coined a new name for
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, G-Men, and culminated in one of the first filmed trials. The two men were forced into the back seat of Kelly's Chevrolet Sedan and driven to a point 12 miles from the city limits. After ascertaining which of the men was Urschel by checking his wallet, Jarrett was released, and the criminals took Urschel to a farmhouse in
Paradise, Texas, where they held him for over a week. The kidnappers released him on July 30 after Ernest Kirkpatrick, then the editor of the
Brownwood Bulletin, as well as a representative for the family, paid $200,000 in documented bills (equivalent to $4.52 million in 2022). During his captivity, Urschel, although blindfolded most of the time, memorized many details about his location, including the passing of an airplane overhead at the same times every day. This and other information the FBI had garnered helped locate the hideout. Because of the media's recent attention to the
Lindbergh kidnapping and his agency's floundering reputation, FBI director
J. Edgar Hoover took special interest in this case. The
Lindbergh Law defined kidnapping as a
federal offense punishable by death, and Hoover wanted to impress the public in the first high-profile crime regulated by the new law. Many reported Berenice Urschel talked to the FBI director the night of the abduction. Hoover pulled one of his best agents, Gus Jones, from the
Kansas City Massacre investigation and made the Urschel kidnapping an agency priority. When Gus Jones of the FBI raided the farmhouse in Paradise, he was accompanied by Bill Eads and Charles Urschel himself. There they arrested the owners, Robert and Ora Shannon, and Harvey Bailey, who was using the farm as a
safe house after committing a bank robbery in
Kingfisher, Oklahoma, with Kelly's machine gun. Bailey also had some of the Urschel money in his possession. Through the continuing investigation seven persons, including Bates, who was arrested in
Denver, Colorado, were tried and convicted by a jury in Oklahoma City in September and October 1933. Two of the felons, Edward Berman and Clifford Skelly, received sentences for "money changing" or exchanging the tainted bills for clean, spendable currency. During the trial, the Kellys penned letters threatening Urschel, his family, witnesses, the prosecuting attorney, and the judge. On September 26, 1933, FBI agents captured George and Kathryn Kelly in
Memphis, Tennessee. The FBI claimed that Kelly cried, "Don't Shoot, G-men", thus coining the name by which the government agency was known for years afterwards. The FBI flew the Kellys into Oklahoma City to stand trial days before U.S. judge
Edgar S. Vaught sentenced the other defendants. The judge sentenced Bates, Bailey, and Ora and Robert Shannon to life in prison for their roles in the kidnapping. The press believed that George and Kathryn Kelly would plead guilty, but they both entered a not guilty plea. On October 12, 1933, Judge Vaught decreed both George and Kathryn guilty and sentenced them to life in prison. == Later life and death ==