Crimes' Paradise, The Authentic Inside Story of the Urschel...
"Don't Shoot, G-Men!": Inscribed Presentation Copy of an Inside Account of a Famous 1934 Abduction Case Kirkpatrick, Ernest E. [1881-1968]. [Kelly, George "Machine Gun" (1895-1954)]. Crimes' Paradise, The Authentic Inside Story of the Urschel Kidnapping. San Antonio, TX: The Naylor Company, 1934. xiv, 252 pp. Plates (with photos, sketches, reproductions of documents and plans). Publisher's cloth bound hardcover, very good, in a lightly soiled, moderately edgeworn dust jacket with a few minor tears and chips near spine ends. Light toning to interior, author presentation inscription ("to Mr. and Mrs. David Fox," dated 1942) to front free endpaper. $450. * First edition. Charles F. Urschel, a rich Oklahoma City businessman, and a friend, Walter Jarrett, were abducted at gunpoint by the notorious gangster George "Machine Gun" Kelly during a bridge game in Urschel's home while their wives watched helplessly. An event second only to the 1932 Lindbergh kidnapping, this case established the FBI in the public imagination as a force of peerless crime-fighters. This idea was reinforced by Kelly's exclamation, "Don't shoot, G-Men," when he was cornered by FBI agents. Kirkpatrick, a businessman and former journalist, was a friend of Urschel and his wife. According to his book-jacket biography, he managed their household throughout the abduction case and delivered the ransom, which led to Kelly's capture and the release of Urschel and Jarrett. He published a lightly revised edition of his book in 1947 with the title Voices from Alcatraz: The Authentic Inside Story of the Urschel Kidnapping.
Price: $450.00
Book number 82963