Speaker 1: Hombulert Calm, Kansas City, Missouri, September twenty ninth, nineteen fifty three.
Speaker 2: Hours of agonized waiting dragged by today without any word
Speaker 2: from the kidnappers of six year old Bobby Greenlease, son
Speaker 2: of a millionaire automobile distributor, twenty four hours after the
Speaker 2: child was taken from the fashionable Notre Dame school by
Speaker 2: a ruse. The parents of the boy waited hopefully for
Speaker 2: some contact with the kidnapper. Police meanwhile, said they were
Speaker 2: doing nothing in an effort to avoid frightening the kidnappers
Speaker 2: and give them an opportunity to make contact with the family.
Speaker 2: They and the family hoped such action or lack of
Speaker 2: action would hurry the child home unharmed, said Bernard Brandon,
Speaker 2: chief of Police. Were treading lightly. We're just waiting to
Speaker 2: hear if the family is contacted. He gave no idea
Speaker 2: how long the waiting period would last. Greenlease, seventy one
Speaker 2: is a distributor for Cadillac. He said, quote, I don't
Speaker 2: know why anybody would do anything like this. There are
Speaker 2: so many reasons why anybody would be foolish to take
Speaker 2: such a risk. It just doesn't make sense. Unquote Greenlee
Speaker 2: said he believed the kidnapping was the work of professionals.
Speaker 2: That he said made him hopeful the perpetrators would make
Speaker 2: contacts soon with a ransom demand. This, he felt would
Speaker 2: make it more likely that the child would be released unharmed,
Speaker 2: as the professionals would be interested primarily in the money.
Speaker 2: Greenley's active in civic affairs, has been in the automobile
Speaker 2: distributing business for forty five years. He married Missus Greenlease,
Speaker 2: who was in her mid forties, in nineteen thirty nine,
Speaker 2: after divorcing his first wife. Missus Greenleas collapsed from strain
Speaker 2: and was under care of a physician. The Greenleases also
Speaker 2: have an eleven year old daughter. The boy was taken
Speaker 2: from the school yesterday morning. The woman gained admittance to
Speaker 2: the school by telling a nun Missus Greenlea's had suffered
Speaker 2: a heart attack and the boy had to be taken
Speaker 2: to the hospital. She said she was the boy's aunt.
Speaker 2: The nuns suggested the woman pray for Missus Greenlea's in
Speaker 2: the school chapel while she waited for the child to
Speaker 2: be called from his class. The woman walked into the
Speaker 2: chapel and knelt on leaving the school with Bobby. The
Speaker 2: woman remarked, I'm not a Catholic, but I hope God
Speaker 2: heard my prayers. Eugene M. Pond, chief of Detectives, said
Speaker 2: police were following all normal processes in the investigation and
Speaker 2: added we are awaiting a request from the parents before
Speaker 2: starting an intensive investigation. Announcement of the kidnapping was withheld
Speaker 2: from the press and radio for three hours. Police Chief
Speaker 2: Brannon explained authority's feared earlier disclosure might result in death
Speaker 2: or injury to the child. The woman, described as chunky,
Speaker 2: about thirty five years old and having reddish brown hair,
Speaker 2: left the school with the boy in a taxicab. The
Speaker 2: nun then telephoned the Greenlea's home, talked with Missus Greenlease
Speaker 2: and learned she was not ill. Then it was discovered
Speaker 2: that the boy had been taken from the school on
Speaker 2: a ruse. Later, the taxicab driver, Willard Creech, sixty two,
Speaker 2: told police the woman and young Greenleas left his cab
Speaker 2: at a parking lot only a few blocks from the school.
Speaker 2: They got into a late model blue sedan with Kansas
Speaker 2: license plates and drove off. Creech said quote he didn't
Speaker 2: cry or anything. While he was in the cab, she
Speaker 2: kept talking to him about how things were at home
Speaker 2: and things like that. She asked him about a couple
Speaker 2: of dogs that word at home, and he said something.
Speaker 2: I remember. They had talked about the fact that they
Speaker 2: had a parrot at home. Unquote, Creech said the woman
Speaker 2: referred to a black parrot. The parrot, however, is green.
Speaker 2: The cab driver said the woman didn't seem to know
Speaker 2: the boy very well, but he didn't think there was
Speaker 2: anything unusual about his passengers' actions. About ten days ago,
Speaker 2: a woman telephoned the Greenleas home, saying she was a
Speaker 2: representative of the public schools. She asked the ages of
Speaker 2: the children and where they attended classes. A housekeeper recalled
Speaker 2: the incident last night. School officials said they were unaware
Speaker 2: of any such survey being made. The boy was wearing
Speaker 2: a white, short sleeved shirt and short brown linen trousers
Speaker 2: when taken away. He weighs about fifty three pounds, has
Speaker 2: fair skin and light brown hair. Bulletin the father of
Speaker 2: kidnapped Robert Cosgrove Greenleas Junior, suddenly left his home today.
Speaker 2: The millionaire automobile dealer asked newsman and photographer to leave
Speaker 2: the premises and said, we believe someone is trying to
Speaker 2: make contact. He did not elaborate. True Crime Historian presents
Speaker 2: an Eye for an Eye, a special edition of Yesterday's news,
Speaker 2: exploring the criminal justice system at its most extreme, inflicting
Speaker 2: the death penalty. Episode three hundred and sixty two takes
Speaker 2: on one of the most evil crimes imaginable, as told
Speaker 2: from the point of view of the perpetrator. By the
Speaker 2: time police caught up with Carl Austin Hall, he had
Speaker 2: made so many mistakes in the kidnapping and murder of
Speaker 2: a six year old boy that he knew the game
Speaker 2: was up, so he told the whole story in a
Speaker 2: coldly matter of fact thirty six page confession here adapted
Speaker 2: for the first two acts. The third act will call
Speaker 2: the comuppins. I'm true crime historian Richard O. Jones, and
Speaker 2: for your horror and indignation, I give you evil plan
Speaker 2: drunkenly botched the Greenleace kidnapping tragedy. I was born in
Speaker 2: Kansas City, Missouri, July one, nineteen nineteen, the son of
Speaker 2: John and Zella Hall. Both my parents are now dead
Speaker 2: and I have no brothers or sisters. At the time
Speaker 2: of my mother's death, my inheritance from my father's estate
Speaker 2: was valued at approximately two hundred thousand dollars. My mother
Speaker 2: died in nineteen thirty four. I attended grade school at Pleasanton,
Speaker 2: Kansas and Kemper Military Academy, Boonville, Missouri from nineteen thirty
Speaker 2: four until the close of the school year in nineteen
Speaker 2: thirty six. I graduated from the Pleasanton, Kansas High School
Speaker 2: in nineteen thirty seven. I also attended one semester at
Speaker 2: the William Jewell College at Liberty, Missouri. I joined the
Speaker 2: United States Marines at Kansas City in nineteen thirty eight
Speaker 2: and received an honorable discharge in January of nineteen forty six.
Speaker 2: I was formerly married to Irene Holmes Hall, but she
Speaker 2: divorced me in nineteen fifty There were no children of
Speaker 2: this marriage. I wish to say that relative to planning
Speaker 2: a kidnapping, I've had it in mind for at least
Speaker 2: two years. I believed that kidnapping was the one crime
Speaker 2: I could commit once and obtain a large sum of money. However,
Speaker 2: up to April twenty fourth, nineteen fifty three, I had
Speaker 2: not picked out any specific victim to kidnap. I knew
Speaker 2: that Robert C. Greenlea's was extremely wealthy. I also knew
Speaker 2: from newspaper accounts that mister Greenley's had two children living
Speaker 2: at his residence with them. I then placed a fictitious
Speaker 2: call to the Greenley's home and spoke to an individual
Speaker 2: who claimed she was the maid. From the maid, I
Speaker 2: ascertained the ages of the children, what school they attended,
Speaker 2: and other pertinent data. I met missus Bonnie and Hetty
Speaker 2: at a cocktail lounge in the Robideaux Hotel Saint Joseph, Missouri,
Speaker 2: in about the latter part of May nineteen fifty three,
Speaker 2: and began living with her as husband and wife in
Speaker 2: a common law relationship. About the middle of nineteen fifty three,
Speaker 2: I began to discuss with her the details for kidnapping
Speaker 2: Bobby Greenlea's, pointing out to her that she would only
Speaker 2: have to participate in luring Bobby from the French institute
Speaker 2: and use her home to keep the child until the
Speaker 2: ransom was paid. Upon securing Bonnie Hetty's consent to participate
Speaker 2: in this kidnapping, I later placed in another telephone call
Speaker 2: to both the Greenlea's residence and the Greenlease Motor Company,
Speaker 2: and was informed that the family at that time were
Speaker 2: in Europe, but were expected to return home sometime in
Speaker 2: the first week of September in order that the children
Speaker 2: could commence their schoolwork. About two weeks prior to the
Speaker 2: actual abduction, Bonnie Hetty and I drove to the Greenlea's
Speaker 2: residence twenty nine Verona, and there observed mister Greenlee's senior
Speaker 2: taking the children to school. We followed him in Bonnie
Speaker 2: Hetty's blue station wagon and observed what time mister Greenleas
Speaker 2: would leave the home and what time the boy was
Speaker 2: left at school. On two occasions prior to the abduction,
Speaker 2: I followed Missus Greenlea's from the home to the school
Speaker 2: which Virginia Sue Greenlea's attends, and then to the French
Speaker 2: institute of Notre Dame d Seon, where Bobby Greenlea's would
Speaker 2: be picked up by his mother. At one time during
Speaker 2: the planning stage, I considered the possibility of appearing at
Speaker 2: the Greenley's home in the absence of the parents and
Speaker 2: at pistol point abduct Bobby from his home. I consistently
Speaker 2: planned to kidnap Bobby Greenley's junior, but had also given
Speaker 2: some consideration to the abduction of Virginia Sioux. About two
Speaker 2: weeks prior to September twenty eighth, nineteen fifty three, Bonnie
Speaker 2: Hetty and I followed fowed Missus Greenlea's and Virginia Sioux,
Speaker 2: who were in a blue Cadillac Sedan from Virginia's school
Speaker 2: to the plaza near Kansas City, Missouri, where Missus Greenlee
Speaker 2: parked the Cadillac car near a large drug store. Bonnie
Speaker 2: and I observed Missus Greenlea's alight from the car and
Speaker 2: enter the drug store. I suddenly got the urge to
Speaker 2: abduct Virginia, got out of Bonnie's station wagon and proceeded
Speaker 2: over to where the Green Lease automobile was parked. I
Speaker 2: approached the Greenlease automobile, but Virginia Sioue was in the
Speaker 2: process of alighting from the car, and I realized I
Speaker 2: could not abduct her at this point without creating some confusion, excitement,
Speaker 2: and possible apprehension. As I realized that Virginia Sioux would
Speaker 2: be much older and more mature inner observations, I finally
Speaker 2: abandoned the plan to abduct Virginia Sioue. In the preparation
Speaker 2: for instant kidnapping, I purchased a fifty pound sack of
Speaker 2: lime at the Sawyer Materialurial Company in Kansas City. I
Speaker 2: purchased this lime to be used in the disposal of
Speaker 2: the victim's body. I had read some time in the
Speaker 2: past that hot lime would quickly eradicate human flesh and bone.
Speaker 2: I purchased this lime for about thirty five cents, and
Speaker 2: upon returning to Bonnie Hetty's home in Saint Joseph, I
Speaker 2: stored the lime in the basement of her home. Also
Speaker 2: preparatory to the kidnapping, I purchased a long handled, true
Speaker 2: tempered shovel at the Hatfield Hardware Store on Frederick Avenue,
Speaker 2: Saint Joseph, Missouri, on Saturday, September twenty sixth, nineteen fifty three,
Speaker 2: at around four pm. I purchased this shovel for the
Speaker 2: sole purpose of digging the grave of Bobby Greenlea's prior
Speaker 2: to the kidnapping. Also prior to the kidnapping, the exact
Speaker 2: date I do not recall, I purchased a thirty eight
Speaker 2: caliber Smith and Wesson revolver at Uncle Sam's loan office
Speaker 2: located on Minnesota Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas. At the same time,
Speaker 2: I also purchased one or two boxes of ammunition for
Speaker 2: the revolver, as well as some ammunition for the revolver
Speaker 2: owned by Bonnie Hetty. I purchased at a variety store
Speaker 2: in Saint Joseph, Missouri, a pad of high toned linen
Speaker 2: finished writing paper, and at the United States Post Office
Speaker 2: some stamped envelopes to be used in sending the ransom
Speaker 2: letter in connection with the caves. I decided that the
Speaker 2: ransom amount would be six hundred thousand dollars. I arrived
Speaker 2: at this figure because I had previously read in some
Speaker 2: magazine or other periodical an article giving the weight and
Speaker 2: size of a package containing a million dollars and ten
Speaker 2: and twenty dollars bills. I recalled that a million dollars
Speaker 2: would be too bulky to handle, but that six hundred
Speaker 2: thousand dollars and ten and twenty dollars bills would weigh
Speaker 2: approximately eighty to eighty five pounds. I thought, if this
Speaker 2: amount were placed in a duffel bag, it would not
Speaker 2: be too awkward or unwieldy for me to handle. In
Speaker 2: comparative safety, I decided to direct in the ransom notes
Speaker 2: that the money be obtained from the twelve Federal Reserve
Speaker 2: Bank districts, as I believed the bills would be serialized
Speaker 2: in the lists published to the general public, and if
Speaker 2: they came from one Federal Reserve bank it would be
Speaker 2: too easy to check, but having the money collected from
Speaker 2: the twelve Federal Reserve banks would be more confusing for
Speaker 2: anyone to check. Also, in preparation for the kidnapping, I
Speaker 2: purchased from the Western Auto Supply at Saint Joseph, Missouri,
Speaker 2: two pieces of blue plastic sheeting. I purchased this plastic
Speaker 2: sheeting because I believed the duffel bag, which would contain
Speaker 2: the ransom money, would be treated by some chemical or
Speaker 2: powder which, if handled, would transmit a stain to my
Speaker 2: hand or clothing, which would assist in identifying me if
Speaker 2: apprehended as the kidnapper. Therefore, the plastic sheeting was to
Speaker 2: wrap the duffel bag and thus prevent and a chemical
Speaker 2: or powder from being transmitted to my hands. I purchased
Speaker 2: another piece of blue plastic sheeting to wrap around the
Speaker 2: victim's body when placing it in the grave. One evening
Speaker 2: prior to the kidnapping exact date not recalled. Bonnie Hetty
Speaker 2: and I drove to Kansas City, Missouri in her blue
Speaker 2: Plymouth station wagon, and I purchased an issue of the
Speaker 2: newspaper of the Daily Oklahoma at a newsstand known as Rubac's,
Speaker 2: located near the mule Lebac Hotel. I knew that mister
Speaker 2: Greenley's had an interest in a motor company in Oklahoma City,
Speaker 2: so I planned to use a business one ad to
Speaker 2: assist in directing the first ransom letter to the Greenleys family.
Speaker 2: I located this newspaper ad and clipped it from the newspaper. Later,
Speaker 2: I pasted this clipping on the outside of an envelope
Speaker 2: containing the first ransom letter. On Sunday, September twenty seventh,
Speaker 2: nineteen fifty three, I vince Bonnie that it would be
Speaker 2: necessary to kill Bobby Greenley's due to the fact if
Speaker 2: he were released alive, he might be able to identify
Speaker 2: both of us, as well as Bonnie's automobile used in
Speaker 2: the abduction, and her home in Saint Joseph, Missouri. On Sunday,
Speaker 2: September twenty seventh, nineteen fifty three, I took the long
Speaker 2: handled shovel which I previously purchased and dug a grave
Speaker 2: for Bobby Greenlea's on the property owned by Bonnie Hetty.
Speaker 2: I dug this grave in the area immediately north of
Speaker 2: the back porch of Bonnie Hetty's home twelve oh one
Speaker 2: thirty eighth Street, Saint Joseph, Missouri. It took me nearly
Speaker 2: the entire day to dig this grave, as I would
Speaker 2: dig for about an hour, then enter the house and rest,
Speaker 2: and then return until the grave was completed. As I recall,
Speaker 2: this grave was approximately three feet deep and about five
Speaker 2: feet long. After digging the grave, on Sunday, September twenty seventh,
Speaker 2: Bonnie and I, while in Bonnie's rest residents, prepared the
Speaker 2: first ransom letter. Bonnie hand printed the message, which, in
Speaker 2: substance advised the Greenleys family, your boy has been kidnapped
Speaker 2: to get six hundred thousand dollars and twenty and ten
Speaker 2: dollars bills. It instructed that when mister Greenley's had the money,
Speaker 2: he was to insert an advertisement in the Kansas City
Speaker 2: Star as follows, m will meet you in Chicago next Sunday,
Speaker 2: signed mister G. I was present at the time. Bonnie
Speaker 2: had a hand printed this letter and made numerous suggestions
Speaker 2: to her relative to the spelling in its preparation. I
Speaker 2: then placed the note in an envelope, on the outside
Speaker 2: of which I pasted the name Greenlease, which I had
Speaker 2: cut from the Daily Oklahoma newspaper I had previously purchased.
Speaker 2: I then placed this envelope in a large one and
Speaker 2: addressed this envelope to mister Robert Greenley's twenty six hundred
Speaker 2: Varona Road, Kansas City, Missouri. On Sunday evening, September twenty seventh,
Speaker 2: I stole the set of license plates. I cannot recall
Speaker 2: where in Saint Joseph I stole the plates or from
Speaker 2: what make of automobile they were stolen. However, to the
Speaker 2: best of my recollection, they were in nineteen fifty three
Speaker 2: Missouri license plates, but I cannot recall the digits appearing
Speaker 2: there on. I stole these plates for the purpose of
Speaker 2: using them on Bonnie's automobile during the actual abduction on
Speaker 2: September twenty eighth. On Monday September twenty eighth, Bonnie and
Speaker 2: I arose earlier than usual, and around seven thirty am
Speaker 2: we got into her blue Plymouth station wagon and drove
Speaker 2: via US Highway seventy one to Kansas City, Missouri, proceeding
Speaker 2: to the vicinity of the French Institute of Notre Dame,
Speaker 2: where we parked the station wagon in a position where
Speaker 2: we could observe the school. We sat in this park car.
Speaker 2: At about eight fifty am, we observed mister Greenlease and
Speaker 2: Bobby Greenlea's in the blue Cadillac entering the school grounds.
Speaker 2: Bobby got out of the automobile and entered the school.
Speaker 2: I was then positive that Bobby would be at the
Speaker 2: school during the normal school hours. Bonnie and I then
Speaker 2: drove to the vicinity of fortieth in Maine, Kansas City, Missouri,
Speaker 2: where I parked the blue station wagon on the main
Speaker 2: street near the Cat's parking lot at that intersection. I
Speaker 2: loitered in this vicinity waiting for Bonnie to return with
Speaker 2: a victim. At around eleven am, I observed Bonnie and
Speaker 2: the victim alight from a taxi cab near the Cat's
Speaker 2: parking lot mentioned above. I joined them and we all
Speaker 2: three entered the station wagon. I drove. Bobby Greenlease was
Speaker 2: in the middle and Bonnie sat on the front seat
Speaker 2: to the right of Bobby. I immediately drove west on
Speaker 2: Westport Road to the state line, then south the Highway
Speaker 2: fifty and west to Highway sixty nine, traveling through Overland Park, Kansas.
Speaker 2: After driving through Overland Park, I turned into a wheat
Speaker 2: field and turned around with the station wagon headed back
Speaker 2: north toward the road from which I had turned.
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Speaker 2: Bobby had not offered any resistance and had not made
Speaker 2: any outcries, but seemed interested in a and appeared to
Speaker 2: be enjoying himself during the trip. After stopping the car,
Speaker 2: I got out on the driver's side. I went to
Speaker 2: the rear and let the tailgate down, then laid out
Speaker 2: the blue plastic sheet. I then went around the car
Speaker 2: to the side opposite the driver and entered the car.
Speaker 2: Bobby was still sitting on the front seat, and Bonnie
Speaker 2: had left the car and was walking up a hedgerow
Speaker 2: at the rear of the car. I had a piece
Speaker 2: of rope which was part of a clothesline I had
Speaker 2: obtained from Bonnie's home. I then placed this rope around
Speaker 2: Bobby's neck and endeavored to strangle him. This rope was
Speaker 2: twelve or fifteen inches long and was too short for
Speaker 2: me to hold in my hand and get a good twist.
Speaker 2: I realized then that I would be unable to strangle
Speaker 2: the victim. Bobby was struggling and kicking, so I took
Speaker 2: my thirty eight caliber revolver and fired what I believed
Speaker 2: to be two shots at Bobby's head at close range.
Speaker 2: I missed him all the first shot, but the second
Speaker 2: one entered his head, causing him to bleed profusely and
Speaker 2: subsequently die. I do not remember exactly what position Bobby
Speaker 2: was in at the time of his death, but I
Speaker 2: believe I had pushed him down on the floorboard of
Speaker 2: the Plymouth because of his profuse bleeding from the head.
Speaker 2: I pulled him out of the station wagon on the
Speaker 2: side opposite the driver and placed him on the ground.
Speaker 2: I was certain at this point that the victim was dead,
Speaker 2: so I picked him up and placed him on the
Speaker 2: plastic sheet in the rear of the station wagon, wrapping
Speaker 2: him in this sheet and covering the body over with
Speaker 2: an old comforter which was already in the station wagon.
Speaker 2: This old comforter had been in the station wagon for
Speaker 2: some time and was used by Bonnie's dog to lie
Speaker 2: on when he was riding in the car. During the
Speaker 2: actual killing, Bonnie had walked to the rear of the
Speaker 2: station wagon up along the hedgerow, and at the present
Speaker 2: time cannot recall whether or not she had her dog
Speaker 2: with her. After the shooting, Bonnie returned to the station
Speaker 2: wagon and got in the car. I drove and she
Speaker 2: sat in the front seat opposite me. I then drove
Speaker 2: back to Kansas City, Missouri. Bonnie and I, with the
Speaker 2: body of Bobby in the back of the station wagon,
Speaker 2: then turned on Southwest Trafficway and proceeded all the way
Speaker 2: to downtown Kansas City on this artery, crossing over the
Speaker 2: North Kansas City by way of the Airport Bridge. I
Speaker 2: recalled stopping at Lyn's Tavern in North Kansas City, but
Speaker 2: I do not definitely recall changing the license plates on
Speaker 2: the Plymouth station Wagon. At this point, I drove in
Speaker 2: behind Lyn's Tavern to a parking lot and Bonnie went
Speaker 2: into the tavern and bought me a drink of whiskey.
Speaker 2: I could not enter the tavern because the blue sharkskin
Speaker 2: suit I was wearing was smeared with the victim's blood.
Speaker 2: It was even spattered on my face. I was in
Speaker 2: an extremely nervous state and was afraid if I entered
Speaker 2: the tavern somebody would question me as to the source
Speaker 2: of the blood stains. I believe Bonnie bought me one
Speaker 2: or two drinks from the tavern. After obtaining the liquor,
Speaker 2: Bonnie and I then proceeded via Highway seventy one to
Speaker 2: Saint Joseph, Missouri. I drove Bonnie's station wagon into the
Speaker 2: basement of her home and unloaded Bobby's body, placing it
Speaker 2: on the basement floor. I then removed the Jerusalem metal
Speaker 2: which was pinned to Bobby's shirt. Bonnie went around and
Speaker 2: opened the door at the top of the basement steps.
Speaker 2: I carried the body upstairs, through the kitchen and into
Speaker 2: the yard. I then laid it in the grave and
Speaker 2: covered it with lime, which I had obtained from the garage.
Speaker 2: I partially filled the grave with approximately six inches of dirt.
Speaker 2: I instructed Bonnie to finish filling the grave while I
Speaker 2: used the garden hose in an attempt to wash blood
Speaker 2: stains in fresh blood out of the station wag. When
Speaker 2: I had completed this operation to my satisfaction, I then
Speaker 2: left alone in the station wagon and traveled by way
Speaker 2: of Highway seventy one to Kansas City, Missouri, where I
Speaker 2: mailed the first ransom note in a mailbox, which I
Speaker 2: believe was on the northeast corner of thirty ninth in Broadway.
Speaker 2: After depositing the first ransom letter in the mailbox, I
Speaker 2: then drove to a drug store at thirty first in
Speaker 2: Main Streets in Kansas City, Missouri, and called Bonnie collect
Speaker 2: at her home in Saint Joseph to tell her that
Speaker 2: everything was okay. By this, I meant I had gotten
Speaker 2: to Kansas City and had mailed the letter. I then
Speaker 2: returned to Saint Joseph, Missouri. I cannot now recall whether
Speaker 2: I drove directly to her home or whether I stopped
Speaker 2: for a few drinks en route. When I arrived at
Speaker 2: Bonnie's home, I went into the basement, obtained some turpentine, gasoline,
Speaker 2: and other cleaning materials, and attempted to clean the basement.
Speaker 2: I washed the basement door with water using a broom
Speaker 2: in an attempt to remove the blood stains. As I recall,
Speaker 2: I put the ribbon to which the Jerusalem metal had
Speaker 2: been attached in the waste paper basket. I recall I
Speaker 2: put the empty cartridges from my thirty eight caliber revolver
Speaker 2: into the waste paper basket, and then the contents of
Speaker 2: the waste paper basket were dumped into the incinerator the
Speaker 2: clothing which I was wearing at the time of the kidnapping.
Speaker 2: I then took to a cleaning establishment on Frederick Avenue,
Speaker 2: Saint Joseph, Missouri, and then requested that the blood stains
Speaker 2: be removed. I informed the clerk that the blood stains
Speaker 2: were the result of my having been involved in an accident.
Speaker 2: The shirt I had worn, which also contained blood stains
Speaker 2: of the victim, was put in a washing machine in
Speaker 2: Bonnie's home in an attempt to remove the blood. Cannot
Speaker 2: recall what this position was made of my shoes or necktie.
Speaker 2: Some time on two Tuesday morning, September twenty ninth, nineteen
Speaker 2: fifty three, Bonnie and I drove to Macintosh's Flora shop
Speaker 2: and purchased a dozen chrysanthemums. Bonnie and I both entered
Speaker 2: this flora shop, purchased the chrysanthemums, returned to her home,
Speaker 2: and we both planted these flowers on the grave of
Speaker 2: Bobby Greenley's This was done and in order to furnish
Speaker 2: an explanation should anyone discover newly turned dirt in the
Speaker 2: yard of Bonnie's home, Bonnie and I prepared the second
Speaker 2: ransom letter to the Greenleys family. Inasmuch as I realized
Speaker 2: I had not placed the correct address on the Greenley's
Speaker 2: home on the first ransom letter. The second letter started out,
Speaker 2: you must not have got our first letter. The second
Speaker 2: letter reiterated the ransom demands and the directions to place
Speaker 2: the ad in the personal column of the Kansas City
Speaker 2: Star when mister Greenley's had the money ready and available.
Speaker 2: Second ransom letter was addressed to mister Robert C. Greenley's
Speaker 2: Vernon Road, Mission Hills, Kansas. I placed either six or
Speaker 2: seven three cent stamps on the envelope, and Bonnie marked
Speaker 2: the envelope special. In the second letter, I instructed the
Speaker 2: Greenleas family that the money should be delivered in an
Speaker 2: army duffel bag at the time of the final payoff.
Speaker 2: The letter M, which I used as identification on the
Speaker 2: ransom notes, had no special significance. I could just have
Speaker 2: Wells put up another letter of the alphabet. On Wednesday,
Speaker 2: September thirtieth, nineteen fifty three, Bonnie and I drove to
Speaker 2: Kansas City and Bonnie's Plymouth station wagon and had dinner
Speaker 2: at the Coat's house. While eating dinner, I excused myself
Speaker 2: and made a phone call from a paystation in the
Speaker 2: hotel to the Greenlease residence. The telephone number at the
Speaker 2: Greenlease residence was Gilmore sixty two hundred. I had placed
Speaker 2: my handkerchief in the corner of my mouth in an
Speaker 2: attempt to disguise my voice. A man answered to telephone
Speaker 2: and I said, this is EM. The man said, what
Speaker 2: did you say? And I repeated M. I do not
Speaker 2: recall the exact conversation, but this man asked some questions
Speaker 2: which I did not pay any attention to, but merely
Speaker 2: uttered phrases six hundred thousand, tens and twenties. The man
Speaker 2: asked some questions concerning Bobby, and I replied with one
Speaker 2: word metal. I then terminated the conversation and returned to
Speaker 2: where Bonnie was sitting, finished dinner, and we returned in
Speaker 2: her station wagon to Saint Joseph, Missouri. On Thursday evening
Speaker 2: October one, I observed in the personal column of the
Speaker 2: Kansas City Star, to which Bonnie regularly subscribes, the following
Speaker 2: ad M meet me in Chicago Sunday. G This was
Speaker 2: the contact I had been waiting for, as I had
Speaker 2: previously instructed the Greenleys family to place this item in
Speaker 2: the when they had the ransom money prepared. I did
Speaker 2: not go to Kansas City at all on Thursday. On Friday,
Speaker 2: October second, I drove to Kansas City and placed a
Speaker 2: telephone call to the Greenleaf's residence, identifying myself as M.
Speaker 2: I attempted to disguise my voice with my handkerchief as
Speaker 2: in the preceding call, and into the conversation by saying
Speaker 2: tonight and hung up. I then started to lay out
Speaker 2: a payoff route. The first point on contact was at
Speaker 2: twenty ninth in Holmes, Kansas City, Missouri, where I placed
Speaker 2: a note with instructions to go to forty second in Charlotte,
Speaker 2: Kansas City, Missouri and look under a mailbox on the corner.
Speaker 2: I fastened this note to the bottom of the mailbox
Speaker 2: with some adhesive tape which I had bought at Herman
Speaker 2: drug Store in Saint Joseph. At the same time, I
Speaker 2: had also purchased some red chalk at Kat's drug Store
Speaker 2: in North Kansas City. I used this chalk to mark
Speaker 2: a rock at the corner forty second in Charlotte. This
Speaker 2: mark was a red cross, and under this rock I
Speaker 2: placed a second note of instructions which directed the Greenleas
Speaker 2: family to deposit the ransom money in the alcove of
Speaker 2: a church at fortieth and Harrison Streets, Kansas City, Missouri.
Speaker 2: I do not know the exact name of this church,
Speaker 2: but believed that the words first Brethren were part of
Speaker 2: the correct name of the church. Bonnie was with me
Speaker 2: at all times during the laying out of this payoff route,
Speaker 2: and she was inebriated and did not know what was
Speaker 2: going on. On October first, Bonnie Hetty rented a nineteen
Speaker 2: fifty two Ford Sedan from a U Drive company in
Speaker 2: the two hundred block on seventh Street, Saint Joseph and
Speaker 2: the name of Bonnie Hetty. I drove this car to
Speaker 2: Kansas City, and Bonnie drove the station wagon to Kansas City,
Speaker 2: where the station wagon was left on the parking lot
Speaker 2: of a filling station across from Lynnz Tavern in North
Speaker 2: Kansas City. I desired to rent the ford in order
Speaker 2: to allay suspicion from Bonnie's Plymouth station wagon. Early in
Speaker 2: the evening of October two, nineteen fifty three, I stole
Speaker 2: the set of license plates from an automobile park on
Speaker 2: the streets in North Kansas City, Missouri, and threw away
Speaker 2: the regular license plates for the rented ford. At this time,
Speaker 2: I was armed with the thirty eight caliber Smith and
Speaker 2: Wesson revolver. I had no intention of picking up the
Speaker 2: ransom money on this first attempted payoff, but merely wanted
Speaker 2: to give the Greenlease family a dummy run to determine
Speaker 2: if they were sincere in their desire to pay the
Speaker 2: ransom money, and to further observe whether or not the
Speaker 2: car carrying the representative of the Greenleases was being placed
Speaker 2: under surveillance by the FBI or police. On Tuesday, September
Speaker 2: twenty ninth, nineteen fifty three, I took the Jerusalem medal
Speaker 2: which had been removed from Bobby's shirt and placed it
Speaker 2: in the envelope of the ransom letter number two, so
Speaker 2: that the Greenleys family would know I was the real
Speaker 2: kidnapper and had custody of Bobby. I do not recall
Speaker 2: the hour that Bonnie and I left Saint Joseph, Missouri
Speaker 2: and drove to Kansas City, Missouri, but I do recall
Speaker 2: that we drove in her blue station wagon via Highway
Speaker 2: seventy one. I'm certain that Bonnie and I stopped at
Speaker 2: Lynn's Tavern near Kansas City and had several drinks prior
Speaker 2: to the mailing of the second ransom letter addressed to
Speaker 2: the Greenleaes family at the main post office, Kansas City, Missouri.
Speaker 2: After mailing this letter, Bonnie and I returned to Saint
Speaker 2: Joseph and her station wagon again via Highway seventy one,
Speaker 2: returning there late in the evening. I do not clearly
Speaker 2: recall any other events of that evening, as Bonnie and
Speaker 2: I proceeded to get drunk. At one thirty a m.
Speaker 2: October third, I placed it another time telephone call to
Speaker 2: the Greenlease residence from a bar located near the intersection
Speaker 2: of Trust and Armor, Kansas City. I do not remember
Speaker 2: the name of the bar, but I remember that the
Speaker 2: bar was in the process of closing for the night
Speaker 2: at the time I made this call, I identified myself as
Speaker 2: M and directed the man who answered the phone to
Speaker 2: go to twenty ninth and Holmes for further instructions relative
Speaker 2: to the payoff. Bonnie and I drove around in the
Speaker 2: rented ford until about four a m. We drove to
Speaker 2: forty second in Charlotte, and I noticed the rock under
Speaker 2: which I had placed the second note was still intact.
Speaker 2: I drove them back to the telephone booth located at
Speaker 2: the street car shelter at Brush Street in Maine, at
Speaker 2: which time I placed another phone call to the Greenlease
Speaker 2: residence and asked the party who answered what had happened.
Speaker 2: I was advised by the party that the Greenleace family
Speaker 2: did not have the money at home, and they were
Speaker 2: having difficulty finding my written instructions and were afraid it
Speaker 2: would be daylight before where they could comply with my instructions.
Speaker 2: The party informed me over the phone that the Greenleys
Speaker 2: family had written me a note and placed it where
Speaker 2: I had directed the payoff to take place. After receiving
Speaker 2: this explanation, I replied in a disguised voice, tonight and
Speaker 2: hung up. I did not go to the church to
Speaker 2: pick up the message they claimed to have left, as
Speaker 2: I was afraid it was a trap. Bonnie and I
Speaker 2: then returned to Saint Joseph, Missouri, in the rented ford
Speaker 2: and remained until Saturday afternoon, at which time we returned
Speaker 2: to Kansas City in the rented ford and laid out
Speaker 2: the payoff route in North Kansas City. We then rented
Speaker 2: a room in a motel or tourist court at the
Speaker 2: intersection of US Highways seventy one and sixty nine, using
Speaker 2: the name of mister and Missus V. B. Hetty and
Speaker 2: giving the address of either Boonville, Columbia or Sedalia, Missouri.
Speaker 2: About one thirty am Sunday, October fourth, I drove to
Speaker 2: Kansas City, Kansas with Bonnie and she was again inebriated.
Speaker 2: I placed another telephone call to the Greenleace residence from
Speaker 2: a payphone in the townhouse, Kansas City, Kansas, and told
Speaker 2: the answering party, after identifying myself as on previous occasions,
Speaker 2: to go to thirteenth in Summit, where they would find
Speaker 2: a note under a rock marked with a red cross.
Speaker 2: I had previously placed this note under the rock. The
Speaker 2: note directed the receiver to go to North Kansas City
Speaker 2: and drive up Highway one sixty nine to oak View
Speaker 2: Edition sign and there to look under another rock with
Speaker 2: a red cross where I had placed a note directing
Speaker 2: them to leave the money bag up a seldom use
Speaker 2: lane close to the Lum Farm off Highway sixty nine
Speaker 2: between Highways seventy one and one sixty nine. I then
Speaker 2: drove to Highway sixty nine near the above described scene
Speaker 2: in the rented ford. Bonnie was with me but was asleep.
Speaker 2: I saw a dark Cadillac Sedan go by and assumed
Speaker 2: it was a payoff car. I had no intention of
Speaker 2: trying to pick up the money that night, but did
Speaker 2: the drive down into the lane where I had instructed
Speaker 2: Greenlease to leave the Duffel bag. I did not see
Speaker 2: the bag at the designated spot. I then drove back
Speaker 2: to Kansas City, Kansas, and placed another telephone call from
Speaker 2: the paystation at the townhouse to the Greenlease residence. I
Speaker 2: was informed that they had left the money and that
Speaker 2: I should go back and look for it. I did
Speaker 2: drive back and look for it, but still could not
Speaker 2: find the money. I then drove to the ben Holt
Speaker 2: Hotel in North Kansas City, at which time I again
Speaker 2: called the Greenlease residence and was again told that the
Speaker 2: family had left the money as directed, but were then
Speaker 2: on their way back to pick it up for spear
Speaker 2: some unauthorized person or persons might find it. I advised
Speaker 2: him it was my mistake and I would call them
Speaker 2: later in the day. I recalled discussing with them about
Speaker 2: a definite attempt to make the payoff on Sunday, and
Speaker 2: that I would deliver Bobby to them within twenty four
Speaker 2: hours after I had received the money. Either in this
Speaker 2: conversation or the previous one, I talked with Missus Greenley's
Speaker 2: and she requested me to obtain the answers from Bobby
Speaker 2: concerning certain questions to prove to her that Bobby was
Speaker 2: still alive. I also recalled talking with Missus Greenlea's about
Speaker 2: the possibility of Bobby's being brought to the telephone in
Speaker 2: order that he could converse with her. I told Missus
Speaker 2: Greenlease that it was impossible to talk to her son
Speaker 2: because it would entail too much risk to get him
Speaker 2: to the telephone. I did not know if I accurately
Speaker 2: recall the questions she wanted answered, but believe one question
Speaker 2: pertained to the name of the chauffeur the Greenley's family
Speaker 2: had while visiting in Europe, and the other question was
Speaker 2: about what Bobby had built in his playroom the night
Speaker 2: before he was kidnapped. I told Missus Greenlea'se I would
Speaker 2: endeavor to get Bobby to answer these questions for her
Speaker 2: and call her back within an hour. I knew all
Speaker 2: the time that Bobby was already dead, but when I
Speaker 2: returned the call to Missus Greenley's, I told her that
Speaker 2: Bobby had refused to answer the questions, and I again
Speaker 2: assured her that Bobby was alive and well, but homesick.
Speaker 2: I made some remark to her or one of the
Speaker 2: men who answered the phone relative to Bobby's telling me
Speaker 2: that his parrot could whistle. I made this statement in
Speaker 2: an attempt to reassure the family that Bobby was still
Speaker 2: alive so that they would be certain to go through
Speaker 2: with the payoff. On Sunday, October fourth, Bonnie and I
Speaker 2: checked into Tiny and Marie's hotel on East Highway forty,
Speaker 2: taking the end cabin at the entrance on the right
Speaker 2: hand side. Bonnie had passed out and remained in bed
Speaker 2: all day. I then went out and started laying out
Speaker 2: the third payoff route and finally decided on a spot
Speaker 2: on County Road ten, running south off Highway forty. The
Speaker 2: exact spot was a bridge about a mile from Highway forty.
Speaker 2: I then returned to Kansas City, Missouri, in the rented
Speaker 2: ford at the Cat's drug Store located at Lynwood and Trust.
Speaker 2: I again called the Greenleas home and talked to a
Speaker 2: man who said he was mister Letterman. I apologized to
Speaker 2: mister Letterman for being delayed and making contact. I believe
Speaker 2: this call was made at approximately eight thirty PM on Sunday,
Speaker 2: October fourth. I identified myself to mister Letterman as m and
Speaker 2: told mister Letterman that I was going to make the
Speaker 2: payoff very simple and that mister Letterman could expect the
Speaker 2: child back within twenty four hours. I also told mister
Speaker 2: Letterman to go to Pittsburgh, Kansas and wait for a
Speaker 2: message addressed to him in care of Western Union at
Speaker 2: that city. I stated this message would tell him where
Speaker 2: Bobby could be picked up. At this time, I told
Speaker 2: mister Letterman that I would call him at exactly eleven
Speaker 2: thirty pm. Due to the fact that I'd been drinking
Speaker 2: quite freely, I forgot to tell mister Letterman the location
Speaker 2: of the telephone, but recall that it was at hotel
Speaker 2: near Lynnwood and Truce, near the LaSalle Hotel. I finally
Speaker 2: advised mister Letterman that the hotel ended with the letters Shire,
Speaker 2: stating that I myself could not remember the correct name
Speaker 2: of the hotel in which the phone booth was located.
Speaker 2: I now know this to be the Berkshire Hotel. I
Speaker 2: called Letterman as arranged at exactly eleven PM, making the
Speaker 2: phone call from the payphone in a filling station on
Speaker 2: the south side of US Highway forty between Blue Ridge
Speaker 2: and Stevenson's Cafe. At the time of this call, I
Speaker 2: told Letterman to proceed east on US Highway forty past
Speaker 2: Stevenson's Cafe ten e, and then turned south on this
Speaker 2: road for about one mile until he came to a
Speaker 2: bridge where Letterman should throw the duffel bag containing the
Speaker 2: money on the right side of the road. On the
Speaker 2: north side of the bridge. I remember parking near this
Speaker 2: filling station from which I made a phone call, until
Speaker 2: I saw a dark Cadillac go by proceeding east on
Speaker 2: Highway forty with two men in it, whom I took
Speaker 2: to be mister Letterman and his partner. Bonnie was with
Speaker 2: me at the time of these negotiations, but as usual,
Speaker 2: she was inebriated and did not know the exact details
Speaker 2: of my transactions with the family. About three or four
Speaker 2: minutes after the Cadillac mentioned above past me, I drove
Speaker 2: the rented four down Road ten E south to the
Speaker 2: payoff spot, but did not observe the bag, so I
Speaker 2: proceeded on south a couple miles and then pulled off
Speaker 2: the road, turned around and headed back north. I turned
Speaker 2: off the motor and lights and waited about five to
Speaker 2: ten minutes until I saw car lights coming toward me.
Speaker 2: I then started up and drove toward the approaching cadillac,
Speaker 2: and the cars passed, going in opposite directions. In other words,
Speaker 2: I was going north and the Cadillac was going south.
Speaker 2: Bonnie was with me, and as soon as we crossed
Speaker 2: over the bridge, I stopped on the north side, got
Speaker 2: out and observed the Duffel bag in the spot which
Speaker 2: I had designated. I picked up the bag and placed
Speaker 2: it in the trunk of the ford. I received the
Speaker 2: ransom about twelve thirty am Monday, October fifth, After getting
Speaker 2: the money. I drove back to Kansas City and made
Speaker 2: a telephone call from a bar located on the northwest
Speaker 2: corner thirty first and Forest to the Greenleace residence. I
Speaker 2: talked to mister Letterman and told him we got the bag.
Speaker 2: I also recalled stating we made more tonight than we
Speaker 2: did all last week, and also remarked I might buy
Speaker 2: a Cadillac. In this conversation, I promised mister Letterman that
Speaker 2: I would send him a wire in care of the
Speaker 2: Western Union, Pittsburgh, Kansas, telling him where to pick up Bobby,
Speaker 2: and assuring him that Bobby was alive and well and
Speaker 2: full of hell. Of course, I knew that Bobby had
Speaker 2: been dead and buried since Monday afternoon, September twenty eighth.
Speaker 2: Prior to picking up the ransom money, Bonnie and I
Speaker 2: had checked out of the motel around eight or nine pm.
Speaker 2: I then realized I'd forgotten to change the license plate
Speaker 2: on the Ford and immediately became panicky, fearing that when
Speaker 2: I had passed the automobile containing mister Letterman, the license
Speaker 2: plate had been observed by mister Letterman, Therefore the car
Speaker 2: would be traced to me. Prior to this time I
Speaker 2: had considered going to Saint Louis, Missouri. I then told
Speaker 2: Bonnie that if we went back to Saint Joseph, the
Speaker 2: police would be waiting at the place for us. I
Speaker 2: believe mister Letterman obtained the license number, and that at
Speaker 2: the time my identity was known. Prior to this, I
Speaker 2: had obtained a quarter grain of morphine and had given
Speaker 2: myself an injection, and all during the evening I had
Speaker 2: stopped at various places to obtain whiskey. Bonnie and I
Speaker 2: also had a bottle of whiskey in the car. I
Speaker 2: had consumed a great deal of it and was in
Speaker 2: quite a drunken condition at the time we left Kansas
Speaker 2: City en route to Saint Louis. I drove the rented
Speaker 2: Ford from Kansas City to Saint Louis, Missouri, leaving Kansas
Speaker 2: City on Highway forty. I was quite heavily intoxicated. But
Speaker 2: do recall that shortly after leaving Kansas City, I stopped,
Speaker 2: changed plates on the rented Ford, took a flashlight and
Speaker 2: looked into the duffel bag. Worked a package of bills
Speaker 2: estimated in the amount of six thousand dollars through the
Speaker 2: opening in the Duffel bag and placed this money in
Speaker 2: my pocket. I also recall stopping at a filling station
Speaker 2: in an all night cafe at Boonville, Missouri. However, I
Speaker 2: cannot recall whether I made any purchases at this cafe,
Speaker 2: but I believe I did replenish the gasoline supply at
Speaker 2: the filling station. En route, Bonnie was sleeping, but periodically
Speaker 2: would waken, take another drink of whiskey, smoke another cigarette,
Speaker 2: and then go back to sleep. To the best of
Speaker 2: my recollection, Bonnie and I arrived in Saint Louis, Missouri
Speaker 2: about six am October fifth. We were still in possession
Speaker 2: of the Ford automobile, which had previously been rented at
Speaker 2: Saint Joseph, Missouri. We first stopped at a bar, and
Speaker 2: I made a telephone call to Barney Patten to contact
Speaker 2: mccordbell Automobile rental agency and destroyer alter the records reflecting
Speaker 2: that the Ford was rented in Bonnie Hetty's name. I
Speaker 2: believe this call was made to mister Patten's home. I
Speaker 2: called a taxi cab, believed to be a Yellow cab,
Speaker 2: and Bonnie and I proceeded to another bar. At around
Speaker 2: eight am. I remained in this bar for approximately thirty minutes,
Speaker 2: at which time I left in the yellow cab and
Speaker 2: purchased two suitcases from an army store, the location of
Speaker 2: which I do not recall. I returned to this bar
Speaker 2: with the luggage, which I bought for the purpose of
Speaker 2: carrying the ransom money. After returning to this bar, the
Speaker 2: same cab driver, Bonnie, and I drove to where I
Speaker 2: had parked the blue Ford sedan. After paying the cab driver,
Speaker 2: Bonnie and I entered the Ford and drove around Saint
Speaker 2: Louis looking for a suitable place where we could transfer
Speaker 2: the ransom money from the Army duffel bag to the
Speaker 2: suitcases without attracting too much attention. I do not recall
Speaker 2: the exact address, but do recall driving into an alley
Speaker 2: and believe the street in front of the alley was wyoming.
Speaker 2: I got out of the Ford, opened up the trunk,
Speaker 2: removed the Army duffel bag, and then Bonnie and I
Speaker 2: endeavored to untie the knot on the duffel bag. In
Speaker 2: the excitement, I was fumbling and unable to quickly untie
Speaker 2: the knot, and Bonnie suggested that I cut the rope.
Speaker 2: I had a knife on a keychain, which I used
Speaker 2: to cut the rope. I then opened up the two
Speaker 2: suitcases and dumped the money from the duffel bag into
Speaker 2: the two suitcases. I do not recall whether or not
Speaker 2: the twenty dollars bills were on the top in the
Speaker 2: duffel bag, as we paid no attention to these details.
Speaker 2: It was daylight and we were taking a risk of
Speaker 2: being observed. A couple did drive up the alley, and
Speaker 2: I believe I exchanged some morning pleasantry with them, but
Speaker 2: carried on no conversation. Bonnie and I then put the
Speaker 2: suitcases in the trunk of the ford, disposed of the
Speaker 2: duffel bag in a garbage can at the point where
Speaker 2: we transferred the money, and drove the ford to a bar.
Speaker 2: I took the suitcases into the bar and had about
Speaker 2: two drinks, and left alone in the ford, which I
Speaker 2: abandoned somewhere in Saint Louis. I then called a yellow cab,
Speaker 2: returned to the bar, picked up Bonnie and the suitcases,
Speaker 2: and drove to another bar, believed to be located somewhere
Speaker 2: on King's Highway in Saint Louis. Here I made another
Speaker 2: telephone called a Barney Patten of Saint Joseph, to determine
Speaker 2: whether or not Patten had been successful, and having the
Speaker 2: records at mccordbell Automotive Rental Agency altered so that they
Speaker 2: would not reflect Bonnie Hetty had rented this car. I
Speaker 2: made these calls to Patent because I was afraid letterman
Speaker 2: and whoever accompanied him to deliver the ransom had observed
Speaker 2: the license plate of the Ford. While in this tavern,
Speaker 2: I left Bonnie at the bar and I walked to
Speaker 2: a motor company where I bought a red Nash. This
Speaker 2: Nash was purchased in view of the fact that I
Speaker 2: desired transportation and had abandoned the Ford. I then drove
Speaker 2: back to the tavern where I had left Bonnie, and
Speaker 2: at approximately noon both of us left the tavern in
Speaker 2: the Nash Sedan. We left to look for an apartment,
Speaker 2: and some argument arose between Bonnie and me because she
Speaker 2: desired to stay either in the Chase Hotel or a
Speaker 2: hotel out on King's Highway, and I desired to rent
Speaker 2: a quiet apartment where we could live unpretentiously and attract
Speaker 2: no attention. Bonnie was heavily intoxicated and put up quite
Speaker 2: an argument with me. Around noon, I made a phone
Speaker 2: call to a Missus Webb at forty five four Arsenal,
Speaker 2: Saint Louis and secured an apartment for Bonnie and me
Speaker 2: to reside in. Shortly thereafter we arrived at this address
Speaker 2: where I registered in this apartment using the name Grant.
Speaker 2: Bonnie was in a very drunken condition, and I believe
Speaker 2: I told the landlady that Bonnie was indisposed and ill,
Speaker 2: as I was afraid the the landlady would see Bonnie
Speaker 2: in her drunken condition. I was successful, however, in getting
Speaker 2: Bonnie into the apartment without creating any disturbance. I brought
Speaker 2: the suitcase containing the ransom money into the apartment and
Speaker 2: placed them in the clothes closet, staying for a few
Speaker 2: minutes to have a drink, and then left alone in
Speaker 2: the Nash automobile and went to a tavern where I
Speaker 2: secured the services of a taxicab. On this occasion, I
Speaker 2: bought a small radio in order to listen to newscasts
Speaker 2: regarding developments in this case, particularly to determine whether or
Speaker 2: not the Ford automobile which we had rented had been identified.
Speaker 2: After purchasing the radio, I returned to the apartment where
Speaker 2: Bonnie was located. Shortly thereafter, I called another taxicab and
Speaker 2: stopped at a tavern to have a few drinks. I
Speaker 2: had been drinking quite heavily, but recall that at the
Speaker 2: time I left the Arsenal Street address, I took the
Speaker 2: two suitcases with me. Inasmuch as Bonnie was creating a
Speaker 2: great deal of argument about living in such a dump,
Speaker 2: I was afraid that she would create a scene and
Speaker 2: that either of the neighbors, landlady or someone else would
Speaker 2: hear a conversation and called the police and our identities
Speaker 2: would be discovered. I went to a hotel believed to
Speaker 2: be the Jefferson Hotel, where I met a cab driver
Speaker 2: by the name of John Hager, and subsequently we transferred
Speaker 2: the two suitcases to Hager's cab. I am certain Hagar
Speaker 2: was driving for the Ace Taxi cab company of Saint Louis.
Speaker 2: In the conversation with Hager, I expressed a desire for
Speaker 2: some feminine companionship, and Hager made a phone call. Shortly thereafter,
Speaker 2: Hager introduced me to a girl whose last name was Odeay,
Speaker 2: and shortly following that Odey Hager and I went to
Speaker 2: another bar for some drinks. At this bar, I wrote
Speaker 2: a note to Bonnie advising her that I had left,
Speaker 2: but that I would get in touch with her later.
Speaker 2: At around four thirty pm, Odey Hager and I left
Speaker 2: this bar to secure a motel. I stopped at drug store,
Speaker 2: purchased some shaving equipment, and gave Hagar instructions to have
Speaker 2: another cab driver deliver the note which I had previously
Speaker 2: written to Bonnie at the Arsenal Street address. I recall
Speaker 2: instructing him to ask for Missus Grant. Shortly thereafter, O'Day
Speaker 2: Hagar and I shopped at a liquor store believed to
Speaker 2: be located on or near Highway sixty six in Saint Louis.
Speaker 2: Around five point thirty we arrived at the Coral Court,
Speaker 2: where I registered for myself and Oday as mister and
Speaker 2: Missus Robert White. In cabin forty nine A. O'Day Hagar
Speaker 2: and I had several drinks, and I then instructed the
Speaker 2: cab driver, Hagar, to go to downtown Saint Louis and
Speaker 2: purchase some clothing for me, giving him the sizes and
Speaker 2: description of the clothing desired. O'Day and I stayed at
Speaker 2: the Coral Court Motel. At about ten PM, Hagar returned
Speaker 2: with the clothing. Thereafter, Odey, Hagar and I left to
Speaker 2: have dinner, which I believe was at the Harbor Inn
Speaker 2: in Saint Louis. At around eleven thirty PM, we returned
Speaker 2: to the Coral Court Motel. The three of us Odell, Hagar,
Speaker 2: and myself stayed at the motel drinking until around midnight,
Speaker 2: when I instructed Hagar to leave. I requested him to
Speaker 2: buy another suitcase a briefcase, and to rent an automobile
Speaker 2: for my use. On the following day, which would be
Speaker 2: October sixth, nineteen fifty three, Oday, and I stayed at
Speaker 2: the Coral Court. We arose about nine am October sixth.
Speaker 2: At this time I wrote a letter to mister Barney Patten,
Speaker 2: attorney in Saint Joseph, and gave Sandra Odey one thousand
Speaker 2: dollars to proceed to Los Angeles to mail this letter
Speaker 2: for me to Patent. I did this because I thought
Speaker 2: if I had been identified as one of the kidnappers,
Speaker 2: no doubt the FBI would check all my my own
Speaker 2: associates and friends in Saint Joseph and among them would
Speaker 2: be patent. I thought of pat and received a letter
Speaker 2: from me in my own handwriting, postmarked Los Angeles, California.
Speaker 2: It would throw the FBI off the trail, inasmuch as
Speaker 2: I was actually proceeding in the opposite direction. Around ten am,
Speaker 2: Hagar returned to the Coral Court with a nineteen fifty
Speaker 2: two Chevrolet, which Haygard claimed he had rented at a
Speaker 2: car rental agency, and also brought with him the suitcase
Speaker 2: and briefcase which I had instructed him to purchase. Around
Speaker 2: eleven am, Hagar and Oday left for Odey's home, as
Speaker 2: Oday was taking a plane to Los Angeles. About one PM,
Speaker 2: Hagar and I left in the rented car, in the
Speaker 2: trunk of which I had placed the suitcases containing the
Speaker 2: ransom money. I do not recall exactly where I dropped
Speaker 2: Hagar off, but I proceeded alone to a hardware store,
Speaker 2: where I purchased two garbage cans, a shovel, and some
Speaker 2: plastic spray. At this time, it was my honest intention
Speaker 2: to find a secluded spot where I could safely bury
Speaker 2: the ransom money for future use. I proceeded west on
Speaker 2: Highway sixty six, but not having found a suitable place.
Speaker 2: I discarded the garbage cans near a river. I returned
Speaker 2: to Saint Louis proper, contacted John Hager and had him
Speaker 2: rent an apartment for me at the Townhouse. I then
Speaker 2: went to a bar for some drinks. As I recall,
Speaker 2: I stayed at this bar until around four pm, when
Speaker 2: Hagar returned and we then went over to the Coral
Speaker 2: Court motel. Around five pm, Hagar and I left the
Speaker 2: tourist court to purchase some shoes and other more substantial clothing.
Speaker 2: After purchasing clothing and securing some food, Hagar and I
Speaker 2: returned to the Coral Court motel. Around seven thirty pm.
Speaker 2: Hagar and I arrived at the townhouse, taking the ransom
Speaker 2: money into the room with us. Hager left the apartment
Speaker 2: and was to return about eight pm with additional supplies.
Speaker 2: At about eight pm, I heard a knock on the door,
Speaker 2: and thinking it was Hagar, I opened the door and
Speaker 2: was arrested by an officer of the Saint Louis Police Department.
Speaker 2: I was taken into custody and was booked at a
Speaker 2: precinct police station. Around eight forty five or nine pm October.
Speaker 4: Six, enjoy ad free listening at the safehouse Ubawauba dot
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Speaker 2: Regarding my arrest. As I opened the door, I first
Speaker 2: saw a uniformed officer large plain clothed man wearing a
Speaker 2: double breasted blue suit. The uniformed officer had a gun
Speaker 2: in his hand, and the other plane closed individual was
Speaker 2: not observed to have a gun drawn. The armed officer
Speaker 2: stepped around the threshold, and the larger individual informed me
Speaker 2: I was under arrest and requested me to raise my hands.
Speaker 2: I was standing near the door. After taking a step
Speaker 2: or two back into the room from the door. At
Speaker 2: that point, the larger officer advised me that they were
Speaker 2: bonifide officers. When I was told I was under arrest,
Speaker 2: I asked the officer what the hell for. The larger
Speaker 2: man informed me to never mind the questions and instructed
Speaker 2: me to sit down. At this point, the larger man
Speaker 2: searched me briefly and reached into my breast pocket and
Speaker 2: removed the keys from the pocket to the suitcases which
Speaker 2: contained the ransom money and which were located in the
Speaker 2: clothes closet of this apartment. I was instructed to take
Speaker 2: my coat off and believe a continued search may have
Speaker 2: been made of this code after I had removed it.
Speaker 2: I believe I laid the coat over a chair, and
Speaker 2: at this point I was instructed by the uniformed officer
Speaker 2: to sit down, being directed to an overstuffed chair in
Speaker 2: the living room of this apartment. At this time, the
Speaker 2: uniformed officer was standing in front and to the left
Speaker 2: of me, gun in hand, and I believe I asked
Speaker 2: permission to obtain a drink of whiskey, which was refused
Speaker 2: by the uniformed officer. I asked the uniformed officer what
Speaker 2: the arrest was all about, and the officer advised me
Speaker 2: that he did not know. At this point, the large
Speaker 2: ununiformed officer went into the closet out of sight, to
Speaker 2: where the suitcases containing the ransom money were located. Shortly
Speaker 2: after the large man entered the closet, I heard a
Speaker 2: click which indicated that one of the suitcases had been opened.
Speaker 2: At this point, I stated to the uniformed officer, the
Speaker 2: jig is up. The large man then came out of
Speaker 2: the clothes closet and made no mention of seeing a
Speaker 2: large amount of money in the suitcases. The ununiformed officer
Speaker 2: then walked to the briefcase, picked it up, and walked
Speaker 2: to a point six feet in front of me. At
Speaker 2: this time, the briefcase contained my wallet, which had twenty
Speaker 2: four hundred or twenty five hundred dollars and twenty dollars
Speaker 2: bills which were plainly visible, and inside the briefcase itself
Speaker 2: was approximately twenty thousand dollars and twenty dollars bills, all
Speaker 2: having been previously taken from the duffel bag containing the
Speaker 2: ransom money. At this point, the ununiformed officer asked me,
Speaker 2: what's all this dough Where'd you get it? I replied
Speaker 2: that the money was mine and informed the officers that
Speaker 2: I was in the liquor business with a brother in Illinois,
Speaker 2: and that my present residence was in Kirkwood, Missouri. I
Speaker 2: made this statement as Hagar had furnished me with fictitious
Speaker 2: identification of papers which bore the name of John D.
Speaker 2: Byrne of Kirkwood, Missouri. At this time, the large ununiformed
Speaker 2: officer finished looking in my briefcase, closed it in my presence,
Speaker 2: and informed me he was putting it back exactly where
Speaker 2: he got it. This man continued to look through my identification,
Speaker 2: which prompted me to inquire what the arrest was all about,
Speaker 2: and a large man informed me he would tell me
Speaker 2: when he got ready. I was then instructed to put
Speaker 2: on my coat, and the two officers and I left
Speaker 2: the apartment. Just prior to the arrival of the arresting officers,
Speaker 2: I had taken inventory of the money in my possession
Speaker 2: and made some notations on an envelope. This was a
Speaker 2: plain wide envelope, and the numbers twenty one, four and
Speaker 2: one or two other numbers had been placed thereon by me.
Speaker 2: These numbers represented the thousands of dollars which I had
Speaker 2: removed from the ransom money, and I finally estimated that
Speaker 2: I definitely had between five hundred and sixty thousand and
Speaker 2: five hundred and seventy thousand dollars in the two suitcases
Speaker 2: in the closet. The other side of the envelope contained
Speaker 2: a list of several items of clothing which I intended
Speaker 2: to purchase the following day. At no time while I
Speaker 2: was in the presence of the officers in my apartment
Speaker 2: was any search made for a gun. I was asked
Speaker 2: if I had a gun, and I replied that I
Speaker 2: did not on leaving the apartment, I closed the door myself.
Speaker 2: As I stepped out of the door, both officers were there,
Speaker 2: and one of them made a remark about how to
Speaker 2: emerge from the apartment. I do not know why, but
Speaker 2: the large officer stayed at the door, and the uniformed
Speaker 2: officer and I walked the entire length of the building
Speaker 2: looking for the rear steps leading from the third floor.
Speaker 2: We were unable to locate any steps there, and as
Speaker 2: we turned to go back, looking up the hallway, I
Speaker 2: noticed a man standing at the end of the hallway
Speaker 2: facing my room. I am not positive, but this man
Speaker 2: appeared to be talking to someone in the direction of
Speaker 2: my room, but I was not able to hear any
Speaker 2: of the conversation. This individual was wearing a light tan
Speaker 2: snap brim hat, a pair of rust colored slacks with
Speaker 2: matching jacket, which was a short jacket gathered at the
Speaker 2: belt line. This man was about medium height and decidedly slender.
Speaker 2: I can give no further description of him, as I
Speaker 2: observed only his profile. I am positive this man was
Speaker 2: not John Hager and that I have never before seen
Speaker 2: this individual. When the uniformed officer and I arrived at
Speaker 2: the end of the hall to go down to my room.
Speaker 2: This man disappeared. At this time, the uniformed officer and
Speaker 2: I met the large plane clothes officer at the head
Speaker 2: of the steps. As we walked, I was looking for
Speaker 2: the green automobile which Hager had rented for me, but
Speaker 2: I did not see it. The two officers and I
Speaker 2: proceeded to the police car, which was parked a short
Speaker 2: distance away from the front entrance of the building. We
Speaker 2: all three got in the front seat of the car
Speaker 2: and proceeded to the police station, with the uniformed officer
Speaker 2: driving the car and I seated between them. Up to
Speaker 2: this time, there had been no conversation about the money
Speaker 2: in the suitcases, and I believed there was a possibility
Speaker 2: the big ununiformed officer had not seen all of this money.
Speaker 2: Neither the money nor the suitcase were brought to the
Speaker 2: station with me. I am positive neither of the officers
Speaker 2: carried any suitcases or briefcase when we left the apartment
Speaker 2: for the squad car. After arriving at the police station,
Speaker 2: the larger ununiformed officer told me that my arrest had
Speaker 2: been predicated upon receipt of a complaint from an unknown
Speaker 2: woman that a man in my apartment was carrying a gun.
Speaker 2: He said we would all go down to the station
Speaker 2: and I would be checked and if cleared, I would
Speaker 2: be released. At the time of my arrest in the apartment,
Speaker 2: there was no apparent search made for any firearm. The
Speaker 2: gun was located in the compartment in the drawer of
Speaker 2: the telephone table. The trip to the police station consumed
Speaker 2: approximately ten minutes, and upon arrival, I was searched and
Speaker 2: my wristwatch, cigarette lighter, ballpoint, papermate, pen, and seven or
Speaker 2: eight hundred dollars in money were taken from my pockets
Speaker 2: and I was given a receipt which I also signed
Speaker 2: as John Byrne. I was placed in a cell in
Speaker 2: about two or three hours later, the large, ununiformed officer
Speaker 2: stated that I must be one of the kidnappers of
Speaker 2: Bobby Greenlea's as I had considerable money in those suitcases,
Speaker 2: and he told me we cannot hold this up much
Speaker 2: longer from the FBI. Give me the facts and I'll
Speaker 2: get a promotion. The large officer then left. He returned
Speaker 2: in about fifteen or twenty minutes and questioned me concerning
Speaker 2: the whereabouts of this woman who was implicated in this kidnapping.
Speaker 2: The officer then took me out of the cell, and
Speaker 2: I believed that about four other officers joined us. We
Speaker 2: all left police headquarters in order to have me locate
Speaker 2: Bonnie's apartment. I directed them to the Arsenal Street address,
Speaker 2: where Bonnie was taken into custody and I was returned
Speaker 2: to police headquarters by two of the officers. During the
Speaker 2: time I was incarcerated and immediately after my arrest, I
Speaker 2: made several attempts at conversation with the jailer to contact
Speaker 2: the large, ununiformed officer who had booked me. I was
Speaker 2: informed by the jailer that he had been unable to
Speaker 2: reach this officer and assumed that the officer was busy
Speaker 2: with the chief of police. I never saw my suitcases
Speaker 2: after I left the apartment from the time of my arrest,
Speaker 2: with the exception of one time at the police station.
Speaker 2: While in the station, I was being removed to another
Speaker 2: room for interview, and as I passed a door, I
Speaker 2: observed the corner of one of these suitcases and saw
Speaker 2: some money in it. At the time of my arrest,
Speaker 2: I had been drinking, but definitely was not drunk or
Speaker 2: under the influence of narcotics and was aware of the
Speaker 2: incidents which transpired during my arrest. I'm certain that at
Speaker 2: the time of my arrest, I had about five hundred
Speaker 2: and seventy thousand dollars in the two suitcases and about
Speaker 2: twenty two thousand dollars in my briefcase. Signed Carl Austin Hall,
Speaker 2: October seventh, nineteen fifty three, declining to reveal the name
Speaker 2: of the tipster Husky. Lieutenant Lewis Shoulders of the Newstead
Speaker 2: Avenue District gave reporters the following account of the arrest
Speaker 2: of Carl Austin Hall and Bonnie Brown Heady, the confessed kidnappers.
Speaker 2: Quote about three thirty pm yesterday, I received a telephone
Speaker 2: call on my private line here at the station from
Speaker 2: a man. He said, if you meet me about seven
Speaker 2: point thirty to night at Union and Pershing, I'll give
Speaker 2: you something plenty hot. I don't know what it is,
Speaker 2: but it is a guy with a big revolver and
Speaker 2: he's been spending plenty of money. I'll give you the
Speaker 2: information if you don't reveal my name. I'm afraid of
Speaker 2: him and I don't want to get killed. I took
Speaker 2: patrolman Elmer Dolan with me to the meeting at Union
Speaker 2: and Pershing. Our informant was there and told us that
Speaker 2: the man he suspected was in apartment three oh three
Speaker 2: of the townhouse and was expecting him. He said he
Speaker 2: had agreed to take a girl to the apartment at
Speaker 2: eight o'clock and the man would not be suspicious. We
Speaker 2: are instructed to knock three times and call out, Steve,
Speaker 2: this is John. We went to the apartment and Dolan
Speaker 2: knocked on the door and gave the signal Steve, this
Speaker 2: is John. A man in the apartment replied okay and
Speaker 2: opened the door. We nailed him and placed him under arrest.
Speaker 2: He had no weapon on him, but his wallet contained
Speaker 2: more than seven hundred dollars. There were two new suitcases
Speaker 2: in the apartment, and when I opened them, they were
Speaker 2: full of the money. It turned out later to be
Speaker 2: three hundred thousand dollars, all in ten and twenty dollars bills.
Speaker 2: As soon as I saw that cash, I knew our
Speaker 2: prisoner must be one of the Kansas City kidnappers. Shoulders
Speaker 2: and Dolan took the prisoner to the police station, where
Speaker 2: he identified himself as Hall and readily admitted he was
Speaker 2: the long sought kidnapper. Dolan returned to the apartment and
Speaker 2: after a thorough search, found a snubnosed thirty eight caliber
Speaker 2: revolver in the drawer of a telephone desk. The weapon
Speaker 2: contained five cartridges. Hall told us he had left Bonnie
Speaker 2: Hetty in a room they had rented in South Saint Louis.
Speaker 2: He said he did not know the address, but could
Speaker 2: take us to the house about midnight. I sent a
Speaker 2: detail of officers with him, and they found Bonnie sleep
Speaker 2: in a room in a house at forty five four
Speaker 2: Arsenal Street. When they brought her in, she admitted she
Speaker 2: was the woman who took Bobby Greenlease from the Kansas
Speaker 2: City School. After we determined there were about three hundred
Speaker 2: thousand dollars in the two suitcases, I asked Cal where
Speaker 2: the balance of the six hundred thousand dollars was. He
Speaker 2: said that after he left Bonnie head he drunk at
Speaker 2: the Arsenal Street house. Monday, he met another woman through
Speaker 2: a taxi driver and spent the night with her at
Speaker 2: a tourist court on US Highway sixty six. When she
Speaker 2: was preparing to leave in a taxi cab yesterday morning.
Speaker 2: Hall gave her money, he said. He said he thought
Speaker 2: he gave the girl two thousand or three thousand, but
Speaker 2: it could have been a lot more because he was
Speaker 2: pretty drunk. Hall left the tourist court in a taxi
Speaker 2: cab and had the driver rent an automobile for him.
Speaker 2: He drove to the townhouse and rented the apartment at
Speaker 2: one hundred and eighty five dollars a month. It was
Speaker 2: his intention. He told us to hole up for a
Speaker 2: month before the heat was off. Before leaving the taxi
Speaker 2: cab driver, Hall gave the driver several thousand dollars with
Speaker 2: instructions to buy him some new clothes and bring the
Speaker 2: garments to the townhouse. Later, police learned that the woman
Speaker 2: with whom the kidnappers spent the night later telegraphed her aunt,
Speaker 2: with whom she made her home from Kansas City. Before
Speaker 2: her hasty departure, she sent a taxi cab driver to
Speaker 2: her home on North ninth Street for additional apparel and
Speaker 2: with two hundred dollars for the ant. The young woman,
Speaker 2: described as twenty two years old and the mother of
Speaker 2: a small daughter, has no police record. Jefferson City, Missouri,
Speaker 2: December eighteenth, nineteen fifty three. In the four weeks they
Speaker 2: spent in death Row, Hall and missus Hetty were regarded
Speaker 2: as docile prisoners. Condemned prisoners are not allowed outside their cells,
Speaker 2: and the only time they emerged was to walk a
Speaker 2: few feet to take a bath from a specially constructed shower.
Speaker 2: The two were separated by six cells. They were given
Speaker 2: food from the officer's mess, and special precautions were taken
Speaker 2: to see that neither was poisoned. The resentment of the
Speaker 2: inmates here being deep and sharp because they feel Hall
Speaker 2: may have jeopardized their own future paroles. Hall was released
Speaker 2: on a taxi cab robbery conviction last April because the
Speaker 2: parole board considered him a good risk. He had no
Speaker 2: prison demerits against him, had never been in trouble before,
Speaker 2: came from a fine Kansas family, and was discharged under
Speaker 2: honorable conditions from the Marine Corps after four years of service,
Speaker 2: some of it in combat in the Pacific. Hall and
Speaker 2: missus Hetty upset the usual pattern that fiction writers follow.
Speaker 2: They were not hardened criminals. They had led a respectable
Speaker 2: life until divorce turned her to excessive drinking. Hall apparently
Speaker 2: became money mad after squandering his two hundred thousand dollars inheritance,
Speaker 2: and believed society consisted mostly of little people far beneath them.
Speaker 2: Neither their appearance nor their background fitted the two as criminals.
Speaker 2: Hall was five feet nine inches tall, weigh one hundred
Speaker 2: and eighty pounds, had auburn hair and blue eyes. His
Speaker 2: appearance was described as nice to rather handsome. Missus Hetty
Speaker 2: liked fine clothes and was always well groomed. She was
Speaker 2: five feet three and a half inches tall, weighed one
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty pounds, and was definitely of an attractive type,
Speaker 2: with brown hair and sparkling brown eyes. During their stay
Speaker 2: and death row, they caused no trouble and made no
Speaker 2: unusual requests. Both began reading the Bible shortly after being admitted.
Speaker 2: Missus Hetty, the calmer of the two, tried to stay
Speaker 2: well groomed. Each letters to mister missus Greenlea's begging forgiveness.
Speaker 2: They ate well even up into the last meal. While
Speaker 2: Hall's expression became hard and unyielding in the final days,
Speaker 2: Missus Hetty seemed to maintain a serene expression. This is
Speaker 2: what I wanted, she said of the death sentence. I
Speaker 2: could not have stood a life in prison. There were
Speaker 2: requests variously estimated at around ten thousand for permits to
Speaker 2: witness the execution. There were thousands of letters that flowed
Speaker 2: into Jefferson City from all parts of the nation directed
Speaker 2: to the pair, some bitterly denunciatory, others offering prayers and
Speaker 2: spiritual hope. The two were not allowed to see any
Speaker 2: of the letters. At least fifty persons wrote directly to
Speaker 2: Governor phil Donnelly asking clemency, although he was without authority
Speaker 2: to interfere in any way. He turned the letters over
Speaker 2: to the federal government. And arbor in the prison yard
Speaker 2: was draped with Christmas trimmings, and a nearby tree gleamed
Speaker 2: with bright bobbles. These were part of decorations put up
Speaker 2: by convicts. There was no sign of any demonstration by
Speaker 2: the twenty five hundred inmates as the hour reached midnight.
Speaker 2: Within the walls, it was a normal quiet night. Prison
Speaker 2: officials noted that on previous occasions of executions in the penitentiary,
Speaker 2: the inmates sometimes would rattle their sall bars. At the time,
Speaker 2: a condemned prisoner was walking down death Row toward the
Speaker 2: gas chamber. This time, the only manifestation was a few
Speaker 2: shouts from nearby cell blocks as the witnesses paraded down
Speaker 2: to the gas chamber. The group climbed the seven steep
Speaker 2: stone steps to the ground level landing of the building
Speaker 2: and then pushed through the large double doors to the outside.
Speaker 2: In the sharp night air, The two groups entered so
Speaker 2: separate motor cars that awaited outside of b Hall. The
Speaker 2: gears meshed and they drove slowly past the long school building,
Speaker 2: went east between the school and the plumbing shops, halted
Speaker 2: momentarily while the gate was opened, and then rolled out
Speaker 2: onto the recreation field. The cars went down a small incline,
Speaker 2: passed a withered rose arbor and the little white stone
Speaker 2: crosses embedded in the concrete walk that leads to the
Speaker 2: gas chamber building. They stopped just outside the building. Big
Speaker 2: spotlights stabbed the recreation field with hard rays of eerie light.
Speaker 2: Guards paced around the gas Chamber building while other guards
Speaker 2: on the wall towers maintained a sharp alert as extraordinary
Speaker 2: precautions were taken to assure a precision procedure for the execution.
Speaker 2: Although most condemned prisoners are given a haircut before being executed.
Speaker 2: Halls was rather long. Her brown hair was also long,
Speaker 2: but neatly done up. Missus Hetty wore a bright green
Speaker 2: cotton prison dress and a pair of scuff type sandals.
Speaker 2: Hall had on regulation prison pants and a shirt of
Speaker 2: olive green twill. He also wore shoes without laces but
Speaker 2: no belt. Their legs were bare. On the way down
Speaker 2: from death row, missus Hetty was kept warm in the
Speaker 2: twelve degree cold by a coat thrown over her shoulders
Speaker 2: by missus Tapman. The Marshal's wife, Missus Tatman, stepped outside
Speaker 2: before the actual execution. The Marshal's wife, one of the
Speaker 2: guards who has been with missus Hetty the last four weeks,
Speaker 2: rode with missus Hetty in the car from her death
Speaker 2: row cell to the gas chamber. She remained at missus
Speaker 2: Hetty's side until she was strapped into the metal chair.
Speaker 2: Missus Tapman's said, I had planned to say something to
Speaker 2: her after she was strapped in, but everything was going
Speaker 2: so smoothly. I was afraid to for fear I would
Speaker 2: say something wrong. Missus Tapman said she had not noticed
Speaker 2: any change in missus Hetty's attitude or manner in the
Speaker 2: last day of her life. She told me that she
Speaker 2: knew I didn't like my job, but I had to
Speaker 2: do it. She thanked me. She also told me that
Speaker 2: she knew she had made a mistake and would have
Speaker 2: to pay for it. Missus Tapman said that as an individual,
Speaker 2: and not considering the crime she had committed, missus Hetty
Speaker 2: seemed to her to be a nice person. Quote. She
Speaker 2: seemed very interesting to talk with and seemed to be
Speaker 2: an intelligent woman. Unquote. Missus Tapman said missus Hetty complained
Speaker 2: that she was cold when they left death Row and
Speaker 2: stepped to the motor car. Missus Hetty had no coat
Speaker 2: and wore no hoes. Missus Tapman said she gave missus
Speaker 2: Hetty or black Persian lamb short coat to wear. The
Speaker 2: remark about the cold was the last thing missus Hetty
Speaker 2: said to her. Missus Tapman said when the prisoners reached
Speaker 2: the death house, they prayed a few minutes with their
Speaker 2: spiritual advisers, the Reverend George L. Evans, episcopal minister from
Speaker 2: Kansas City, Kansas, and his curate, the Reverend Robert H. Bull,
Speaker 2: the second Father. Evans said the killers were absolutely and
Speaker 2: completely reconciled. He said they made no last requests. The
Speaker 2: kidnappers were allowed ten minutes together in the small detention
Speaker 2: cell just off the gas chambers. Tatman was in the
Speaker 2: cell a few feet away. During those ten minutes, the
Speaker 2: two smiled and talked in a casual manner. Hall was
Speaker 2: smoking a cigarette and he leaned over to give missus
Speaker 2: Hetty a puff. They were manacled, but held hands while
Speaker 2: they talked. Missus Hetty, who seemed animated, laughed aloud at
Speaker 2: something said by Marshall Tatman, who sat in front of
Speaker 2: them while they sat side by side on a cot.
Speaker 2: The private chat with Tatman sitting in could not be
Speaker 2: seen throughout the death chamber, but when Hall came out
Speaker 2: to enter the gas tank, his lips were red as
Speaker 2: if he had received a final kiss. Sitting in the
Speaker 2: metal chairs within the gas chamber, Carl Hall and Missus
Speaker 2: Bonnie Hetty were given an opportunity this morning to make
Speaker 2: a last minute statement. They said they had nothing to say.
Speaker 2: Missus Hetty had indicated earlier in the day that she
Speaker 2: was afraid she might break down, but both were calm
Speaker 2: as they went to their death for the Green Lease murder.
Speaker 2: The opportunity to make a final statement was offered by
Speaker 2: William Tatman, acting Federal Marshall at the last. Just before
Speaker 2: the gas chamber closed, Tapman asked them if they had
Speaker 2: anything to tell him. Both shook their heads and missus
Speaker 2: Hetty said no. While missus Hetty watched, a black blindfold
Speaker 2: was put over Hall's eyes, tied and back with a
Speaker 2: double strap. Then she was blindfolded and they were led
Speaker 2: into the gas chamber. Hall going first. I can't see
Speaker 2: a thing, missus Hetty said. While she was being strapped
Speaker 2: into her chair. She said, it is tight. I'm not
Speaker 2: going anywhere. She asked Carl whether he had plenty of room.
Speaker 2: He did not answer. He was breathing hard as the
Speaker 2: straps were tightened. Just before the big iron door was
Speaker 2: closed on the condemned pair, missus Hetty turned a Hall
Speaker 2: and asked, in a calm tone, are you doing all right, honey? Yes, mamma,
Speaker 2: he replied in the gas chamber. Missus Hetty, although she
Speaker 2: could not see, tilted her head upwards and said goodbye,
Speaker 2: and thanks to Tapman. Bernard Poiri, Assistant Deputy Warden, who
Speaker 2: has taken the pair of their food for the four
Speaker 2: weeks they were in death row helped to adjust the
Speaker 2: straps around missus Hetty. Missus Hetty tilted her head again
Speaker 2: and said goodbye, mister Poiri and thanks for everything. Poiery
Speaker 2: shook hands with both of them, and she again thanked
Speaker 2: him before the airtight doors were closed. Although sounds cannot
Speaker 2: be heard by witnesses after the doors are closed, the
Speaker 2: two conversed briefly until the fumes began arising. Neither got
Speaker 2: a clear view of the gas tank and its deadly apparatus,
Speaker 2: who was kept screening from them until after the blindfolds
Speaker 2: were fixed twelve o two o'clock, when the jars of
Speaker 2: sulfuric acid were shoved beneath the metal chairs. Warden Ralph Hedson,
Speaker 2: who pulled the lever that released the fatal pellets inside
Speaker 2: the chamber, said he thought everything went off smoothly. The
Speaker 2: executions were the eighth and ninth he has conducted in
Speaker 2: the four and one half years he has served as warden. Quote.
Speaker 2: It's a job I hate to do, but I wouldn't
Speaker 2: ask anyone else to do it for me unquote. The
Speaker 2: three North Kansas City policemen who were among the official witnesses,
Speaker 2: said that missus Hetty seemed nonchalant to the end, but
Speaker 2: Hall struggled when he was strapped into the metal chair
Speaker 2: in which he died. Lieutenant G. W. Stevenson said, we
Speaker 2: noticed that missus Hetty seemed nonchalant after she got inside
Speaker 2: the gas chamber. I believe she had a smile on
Speaker 2: her face, at least her Her mouth looked like it.
Speaker 2: Her eyes, of course, were covered by the mask. Hall
Speaker 2: seemed to be mumbling to himself, talking fast. We couldn't
Speaker 2: hear what he was saying, but we assumed he was
Speaker 2: praying to himself. Corporal Roberts Seemed Moore and patrolman George
Speaker 2: Spencer said they believe missus Hetty and Hall spoke to
Speaker 2: each other just before their deaths. All three policemen said
Speaker 2: it was the first time they had witnessed an execution.
Speaker 2: Spencer said, quote, it wasn't a pleasant thing to watch.
Speaker 2: I never want to see another one. Prison officials said
Speaker 2: the pair were quote among the calmest we ever saw unquote.
Speaker 2: Hall and missus Hetty were pronounced dead officially by doctors
Speaker 2: William V. Mcneally and doctor Donald Schule. Prison physicians. Doctor
Speaker 2: McNally said missus Heaty appeared to breathe a little longer
Speaker 2: than Hall did. Doctor Schull explained that death from the
Speaker 2: gas chaminamb is caused by inhalation of the gas fumes
Speaker 2: caused by a block in the exchange of oxygen from
Speaker 2: the arteries to the body tissue. The tissue dies from monoxia,
Speaker 2: he said. The central nervous system and brain, Doctor Schul said,
Speaker 2: are the first to be effected. The two physicians pronounced
Speaker 2: missus Hetty and Hall dead unofficially first by observing them
Speaker 2: through the gas windows in the chamber. After the gas
Speaker 2: had been cleared by exhaust fans, they checked for heart
Speaker 2: tones and reflexes and made their official statement. The bodies
Speaker 2: were taken to the Bucher funeral Home, about three blocks
Speaker 2: west of the prison. A traffic jam developed in front
Speaker 2: of the funeral home as persons with curiosity tried to
Speaker 2: see the hearse taking the bodies to the home. Highway
Speaker 2: patrolmen and auxiliary police cleared up the traffic congestion in
Speaker 2: about fifteen minutes. Their deaths closed the book on the kidnapped,
Speaker 2: slaying and in which the seventy one year old Robert
Speaker 2: Greenlease paid six hundred thousand dollars in ransom, only to
Speaker 2: receive the body of his son in return, but there
Speaker 2: are several anticlimactic chapters to be solved. What happened to
Speaker 2: the missing three hundred thousand dollars is one mystery officials
Speaker 2: still hoped to solve, and whether Hall carried that secret
Speaker 2: with him into the gas chamber may never be known.
Speaker 2: It was the first federal execution here since the gas
Speaker 2: chamber was constructed in nineteen thirty seven at a cost
Speaker 2: of five thousand dollars, and the fourth double execution. It
Speaker 2: was the first execution of a woman. Epilogue. The missing
Speaker 2: three hundred three thousand, seven hundred and twenty dollars from
Speaker 2: the suitcases has never been recovered, although the two arresting
Speaker 2: officers were both found guilty of perjury in the matter
Speaker 2: of the missing money for their handling of the suitcases
Speaker 2: and both serve prison sentences. That was evil plan drunkenly
Speaker 2: botched the Greenlease kidnapping tragedy called from the historic pages
Speaker 2: of the Kansas City Times, the Saint Louis Post Dispatch,
Speaker 2: and other newspapers of the era. True Crime Historian is
Speaker 2: a creation of popular media opening theme by Nico Vitessi.
Speaker 2: Incidental music by Nico Vites, Chuck Wiggins, and Dave SAMs.
Speaker 2: Some music and sound effects licensed from podcast music dot Com.
Speaker 2: Closing theme by Dave sam and Rachel Shott, engineered by
Speaker 2: David Hish at Third Street Music Media Management. And original
Speaker 2: logo graphics for each new episode by Sean R. Miller Jones.
Speaker 2: And here I am putting my best foot forward. I'm
Speaker 2: true crime historian Richard O. Jones signing off for NAT