Background
Nash was first convicted in 1913. He and a friend, Nollie “Humpy” Wortman, stole nearly $1,000 from a store in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. While escaping, Nash suggested they hide the evidence. As Wortman went to bury the money, Nash shot him in the back. Nash was arrested hours later and sentenced to life in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. On March 28, 1918, Nash's sentence was reduced to ten years after he convinced the warden he wanted to join the army and fight in World War I. In 1920, Nash was convicted of burglary using explosives, also known as safe-cracking, and sentenced to twenty-five years in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. He became a trustee, and his sentence was reduced to five years. On December 29, 1922, Nash was released. On March 3, 1924, Nash began a 25-year sentence at the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas, for assaulting a mail custodian. He escaped on October 19, 1930.
The FBI launched an intensive search for Nash throughout the entire United States and most of Canada. After an intensive investigation, the FBI concluded that Nash had assisted in the escape of seven prisoners from the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, on December 11, 1931.
The investigation also disclosed that Nash had a very close association with Francis L. Keating, Thomas Holden, and several other gunmen who had participated in a number of bank robberies throughout the Midwest. Keating and Holden were apprehended by FBI agents on July 7, 1932, in Kansas City, Missouri. The pair had crucial information about the whereabouts of Nash and eventually divulged that he was hiding out in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Read more about this topic: Kansas City Massacre
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