On the morning of June 17, 1933, a violent tragedy unfolded at the Union Station rail depot in Kansas City, Missouri, an event that would ultimately reshape American law enforcement. A team of officers, including the 42-year-old male Detective Frank E. Hermanson, had gathered to escort a federal prisoner named Frank Nash. Nash, a notorious bank robber and escaped convict, had been apprehended the previous day in Arkansas and was being transported back to the U.S.
Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. As the lawmen guided Nash from the train toward a waiting Chevrolet in the station's parking plaza, they were unaware that a plan to liberate the prisoner was already in motion.
As the officers began to load Nash into the vehicle, three gunmen emerged from a nearby car, armed with submachine guns. Without warning, the assailants opened fire on the escort team in a brutal ambush intended to free their criminal associate. The initial burst of gunfire resulted in immediate devastation. Detective Hermanson was struck in the head and killed instantly amidst the chaos. The barrage of bullets also claimed the lives of several other officers, including Detective William Grooms, McAlester Police Chief Otto Reed, and FBI Agent Raymond Caffrey. In a twist of fate, the prisoner Frank Nash was also killed by the gunfire of his would-be rescuers, who fled the scene immediately after realizing the botched outcome of their assault.
The investigation that followed identified the attackers as Vernon Miller, Adam Richetti, and the infamous Charles 'Pretty Boy' Floyd. The massacre sparked a massive nationwide manhunt that ended violently for two of the suspects. Vernon Miller was found dead later that year in Detroit, having been murdered by fellow underworld figures. Pretty Boy Floyd remained on the run for over a year, becoming Public Enemy No. 1, until he was tracked down and killed by federal agents in an Ohio cornfield in October 1934.
The third suspect, Adam Richetti, was eventually captured in October 1934 following a shootout with police in Wellsville, Ohio, shortly before Floyd's death. Richetti was returned to Kansas City to face justice for the murders at Union Station. He was tried, convicted of the crimes, and sentenced to death. On October 7, 1938, Richetti was executed in the gas chamber at the Missouri State Penitentiary, closing the final chapter on one of the bloodiest days in the history of the Kansas City Police Department.
