Frank Nash
Frank Nash excelled at one thing in life: robbing banks. The FBI, police, and his fellow criminals all agreed that Nash was one of the best bank robbers in history. Nash was born in 1887 in Birdseye, Indiana. From a young age, Nash worked in the hotels that his father owned in Arkansas and Oklahoma. He also developed a penchant for robbery and violence from a young age. His first conviction came in 1913 after he murdered his friend Humpy Wortman after a robbery in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. He was sentenced to life in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, but his sentence was reduced when he agreed to join the army and fight in World War I in 1918.
After the war, Nash was soon in trouble again when he was sentenced to 25 years for safecracking, again in Oklahoma. His sentence was reduced, and he was released in 1922 after serving only a couple years behind bars. The seasoned thief immediately joined up with a group of bank robbers following his release. Nash and some his fellow gang members were arrested again in 1924, this time for bank robbery and sent away to Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas. After serving six years at Leavenworth, Nash had gained the trust of the prison staff. He was allowed to leave the prison on an errand on October 19, 1930 and he never returned.
Nash fled to Chicago, where he once again embarked on a life of crime, including assisting in a breaking 7 prisoners out of Leavenworth in December 1931. Between robberies and other criminal capers, Nash enjoyed spending time in Hot Springs, Arkansas, which was known as a town where gangsters and criminals vacationed.
On June 16, 1933, Frank Nash was apprehended by FBI agents in Hot Springs. The agents and Nash boarded a train bound for Kansas City. Word spread among the vast underground network of criminals about Nash’s arrest and his trip to Kansas City. A group of his friends were determined to set him free. On the morning of June 17, the train carrying Nash and the FBI agents arrived in Kansas City. As Nash was herded into a waiting car in front of Union Station, two or three armed men approached the vehicle and gunfire erupted. In the ensuing gun battle, an FBI agent, two Kansas City police officers, and Frank Nash were all killed.