Commitment of Kathryn Thorne Kelly (20 October 1933)

The court's commitment of Kathryn Thorne Kelly, alias Catherine Kelly, after her life sentence for conspiracy in the Urschel kidnaping, dated 20 October 1933.

Date: 1933-10-20
Kind: case-file
Source: National Archives Catalog
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
NAID: 75815999
Docket: CR10478
Rights: A record of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, held by the National Archives in Record Group 21, Records of District Courts of the United States. A United States government work, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The National Archives catalog marks use "Unrestricted." File "10478: United States v. Albert Bates, et. al." (NAID 66383199), series "Criminal Case Files" (NAID 650898), National Archives at Fort Worth.

The National Archives catalogs this item as the commitment of Kathryn Thorne Kelly, alias Catherine Kelly, dated October 20, 1933. The catalog title spells her name “Katherine.”

The Tenth Circuit’s opinion on her appeal, Kelly v. United States, states that she was sentenced to custody “for confinement in a Federal Institution for Women, during her natural life.” Her 1958 motion to vacate the sentence, and the Tenth Circuit’s 1959 reversal of the order granting it, are filed separately. The commitment was not transcribed for this archive.

itemCommitment of George R. Kelly (16 October 1933)The court's commitment of George R. "Machine Gun" Kelly to custody after his life sentence in the Urschel kidnaping case, dated 16 October 1933.itemKelly v. United States, 76 F.2d 847 (10th Cir. 1935)The Tenth Circuit's affirmance of Kathryn Thorne Kelly's conviction and life sentence for conspiracy to kidnap and hold Charles F. Urschel for ransom. It rejects her claim that she acted under her husband's coercion.itemUnited States v. Kathryn Thorne Kelly and Ora L. Shannon, 269 F.2d 448 (10th Cir. 1959)The government's appeal from a 1958 district court order vacating the 1933 convictions and life sentences of Kathryn Thorne Kelly and her mother Ora L. Shannon, after the government declined to produce FBI files. The Tenth Circuit reversed and remanded.