Evening star., 1933-06-17
F. ]. Lackey. U. S. Agent,
G. W. Graduate, Shot at
Kansas City.
BAND SOUGHT TO FREE
FUGITIVE FROM CUSTODY
Machine Gun Pours Hail of Bull
lets Into Car Containing Frank
Nash and Captors.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
KANSAS CITY, June 17-Four Off
GERS were slain by machine-gun fire
and another was wounded in front Of
the Union Station here today by gun
men, who apparently sought to effect
the release Of Frank Nash, Oklahima
mail train robber. being returned to
Leavenworth Federal Prison.
Nash, one of the few surviving mem
bers of the Al Spencer gang Of train
robbers, also died in the hail Of bullets.
The killers fed in one or more auto
mobiles after pouring murderous fire
into parked car which the officers and
their prisoner we're boarding just south
OF the east door of the station.
Dead and Wounded.
The dead:
Frank Nash, the Federal convict be-
ing returned to Leavenworth.
Raymond j. Caffrey, agent Of the
Bureau of Investigation.
w. j. Red" Grooms, city detective
of Kansas City.
Frank Hermanson, city detective of
Kansas City.
Otto Reed, chief of police Of McAles-
ter, Okla
The wounded:
F. J. Lackey, agent Of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, formerly at
tached to the Washington Office.
Accounts differed as to the number
of men in the killers party. One eye
witness said he saw only two men
Another reported the firing came from
two automobiles, and some officers De-
lieved four men were involved
As group of officers surrounding
Nash came out the front doors of the
station and prepared to get into car
the group was fired on by men in
motor car, which sped swiftly from the
scene.
Some officers expressed the belief an
effort was made to rub out" Nash
rather than effect his release.
Two armored cars of the Kansas City
Police Department were Immediately
dispatched to search for the slayers.
Their car was reported as black sedan.
Lackey on Trail 5 Years.
Lackey said at the hospital he had
been trailing Nash for three years.
When we gathered at the car we
had got Nash into the front seat" he
said, two men stepped out from be-
tween cars parked south of the Gov
eminent armed car, believe, either
with shotguns or rifles.
"One of them said, Let's let them
have it, and before any Of the officers
could get their firearms the shooting
began. There were shotguns and other
weapons in the car, but we could not
get them"
Frank Smith, investigator for the
Department of Justice; Lackey and
Reed arrived at the station shortly
after Z am. with Nash, captured yes
terday in Hot Springs. Ark. Nash es-
capped from the Federal Penitentiary
at Leavenworth in 1890.
They were met by r. e. Vetterli,
chief of the United States Bureau of
Investigation for Kansas and Western
Missouri; Caffrey, Grooms and Her
manson The seven escorted Nash,
handcuffed, through the station to Caf-
freys car. waiting outside and across
the street near the parking lot.
Three of the officers and Nash died
on the spot. Caffrey died in hospital.
Smith and Vetterli escaped.
The assailants fled west, but eluded
police cars which rushed to the scene.
The officers had planned 10 orlVe 10
Leavenworth with the prisoner rather
than wait for train.
All the dead were shot in the head.
One taxicab driver, near the head
of the line of cabs moving up to re-
ceive passengers at the station entrance,
said his first impression was that some
body had set off firecrackers.
"A woman came dodging around the
car" he said Il asked what was the
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