Mary McElroy (kidnapping victim)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to
Mary McElroy (c. 1907 - January 21, 1940) was an American kidnapping victim.
She was the daughter of Henry F. 'Judge' McElroy, City Manager of Kansas
City, Missouri. The 1996 Robert Altman film Kansas City was based loosely on
the kidnapping.[1]
Contents [hide]
1 Kidnapping
2 Trial
3 Life after the kidnapping
4 References
5 External links
[edit] KidnappingTwenty-five-year-old McElroy was kidnapped while taking a
bubble bath in her father's home on the evening of May 27, 1933.[2][3] Her
abductors were brothers George and Walter McGee, Clarence Click, and
Clarence Stevens. Walter McGee, a divorced ex-con from Oregon, was the gang
leader. McGee and Stevens donned masks, forced their way into the house with
a sawed-off shotgun, and allowed McElroy time to dry herself and get
dressed. She apparently did not take them very seriously; when told that $60
,000 was going to be demanded in exchange for her release, she joked "I'm
worth more than that!"[4]
McElroy was taken to a farmhouse in Shawnee, Kansas owned by Click,[5] where
she was chained to a wall in the basement. After demanding the original sum
of $60,000, the kidnappers settled for $30,000, which Judge McElroy paid on
May 29.[6] Mary McElroy was released unharmed near the Millburn Golf Course
[7] after twenty-nine hours in captivity. George McGee and Clarence Click
were apprehended some time before June 21.[8][9] Walter McGee was arrested
in Amarillo, Texas on June 2 after trying to purchase a car with some of the
ransom money.[10][11] Of the original sum, about $9,000 was recovered from
McGee's person.[12] About $16,000 of the original ransom was recovered.[13]
[edit] TrialThe kidnapping and subsequent trial were a media sensation. The
trial took place in Jefferson City. According to reports, McElroy evinced
crippling shame and embarrassment when questioned. She related that Walter
McGee had ordered her to strip naked before releasing her so that they could
be sure she was not smuggling evidence; she refused and they did not force
her. She also displayed difficulty in identifying her abductors in court
when called to do so.[14] She insisted that she had been well treated and
had even been given flowers by Walter before her release.[15] During the
trial, McElroy met with relatives of her kidnappers and publicly expressed
sympathy for them.[16] She apparently suffered a nervous breakdown on
February 10, when she disappeared from her father's home, surfacing a day
later in Illinois after sending her father a telegram from Springfield which
read: "Sorry but I am so frighteded. I don't know what I'm doing."[17] She
was found in Normal and brought back to Missouri where she explained her
irrational departure to the authorities: "I felt like a murderer... I wanted
to get away. I couldn't stand sitting still."[18]
Because he had masterminded the kidnapping, Walter McGee was given the
harshest sentence. On March 30, 1935, his sentence, death by hanging, was
announced; had it occurred, McGee would have been the first person to be
executed for kidnapping in the United States.[19] After an execution date
was set for May 10, Mary McElroy shocked everyone by contesting the penalty.
In April 1935, she wrote to Governor Guy Park: "Walter McGee's sentence has
hung as heavily over me as over him. Through punishing a guilty man, his
victim will be made to suffer equally... In pleading for Walter McGee's life
I am pleading for my own peace of mind."[20] McGee was granted a stay of
execution by Park on May 7,[21] and his sentence was eventually commuted to
life.
[edit] Life after the kidnappingThe abduction and the subsequent fallout
proved to be extremely traumatic for Mary McElroy, and she suffered several
'nervous collapses' in her years after the case.[22] She remained on good
terms with the McGee brothers, visiting them in prison and bringing them
gifts. She never married and is known to have been addicted to opium.[23]
She lived with her father, Judge McElroy for most of her adult life. His
death in 1939 devastated her, and she became increasingly reclusive.[24]
On January 21, 1940, her maid discovered McElroy's body in her bedroom; she
had committed suicide, shooting herself in the head with a small pistol. She
left a suicide note which read: "My four kidnappers are probably the four
people on earth who don't consider me an utter fool. You have your death
penalty now - so - please - give them a chance. Mary."[25] McElroy was 32.
At the time of her death, Walter and George McGee (34 and 29 respectively)
were still in prison, Clarence Click had been released in 1938, and Clarence
Stevens was still at large.[26]
