George Kelly Barnes, now known as Machine Gun Kelly, was born into a wealthy family in Memphis, Tennessee in 1895. Once he had completed high school, Kelly attended Mississippi State University where he studied agriculture, but did not earn higher than a C in any of his classes. It was here that he met Geneva Ramsey. The two dropped out of college and decided to get married. He had two children with Ramsey, but he was unable to support his family financially. Being only a cab driver, Kelly began to look for alternate means of attaining money. It was at this time that Kelly started bootlegging and working with a “small time gangster.”
After being arrested a few times, Kelly decided to head west leaving his family with his new girlfriend. He changed his name to George Kelly in order to preserve respect for his family’s name. Kelly was caught many times for several different crimes and served quite a few sentences in jail. Once he got out of jail, Kelly found himself in Oklahoma City working with a small bootlegger. Here Kelly met Kathryn Thorne, his business partner’s mistress, and the two fell in love. Kathryn left her husband and she and Kelly were married in Minneapolis in 1930 (Alcatrazhistory.com). Many believe that Kathryn created Kelly into what we all know him as today: one of the most notorious gangsters of all time. She herself was a criminal and had served time her fair share of time in prison. Kathryn convinced her husband to begin practicing shooting a machine gun. Kelly became a remarkable shooter, thus how he became known as Machine Gun Kelly.
In July of 1933 Kelly and Kathryn devised a plan to capture one of the wealthiest men in America: Charles Urschel. Kelly and two accomplices broke into Urschel’s home in Oklahoma City while he had company over. Not knowing which man was Urschel; Kelly grabbed the two men and threw them into his truck. They searched both men for identification and when they found which one was Urschel, they robbed his friend of the $51 he and threw him out of the truck. Kelly and his men drove Urschel holding him hostage in Texas for a $200,000 ransom (www.fbi.gov).
Urschel had E.E. Kirkpatrick to thank, for he paid the ransom and Urschel was set free. As soon as they released Urschel, Kathryn and Kelly bolted and went “state hopping,” staying in Chicago for a while but eventually finding their way back to Memphis. Here they stayed with Kelly’s friend John Tichenor, but thanks to the FBI Kelly and his wife were found and arrested at the Tichenor house on September 26, 1933.
Machine Gun Kelly and his wife were given life sentences in Leavenworth jail in Kansas, but when Kelly threatened that he and his wife were going to break out to spend Christmas together, Kelly was moved to Alcatraz prison. He spent the rest of his life in prison and died of a heart attack on July 18, 1954.
Urschel had E.E. Kirkpatrick to thank, for he paid the ransom and Urschel was set free. As soon as they released Urschel, Kathryn and Kelly bolted and went “state hopping,” staying in Chicago for a while but eventually finding their way back to Memphis. Here they stayed with Kelly’s friend John Tichenor, but thanks to the FBI Kelly and his wife were found and arrested at the Tichenor house on September 26, 1933.
Machine Gun Kelly and his wife were given life sentences in Leavenworth jail in Kansas, but when Kelly threatened that he and his wife were going to break out to spend Christmas together, Kelly was moved to Alcatraz prison. He spent the rest of his life in prison and died of a heart attack on July 18, 1954.