Meet the Kellys by Chris Enss

 

First Line: When the outlaw duo of George "Machine Gun" Kelly and his wife, Kathryn Thorne, kidnapped Charles Urschel in July 1933, the couple, and their accomplices, made history.

George Kelly was a small-time bootlegger until he met Kathryn Thorne. Thorne was charming, strong-minded, and pretty. She was already an experienced criminal, divorced twice, and ready to marry a man who could give her the lavish lifestyle she'd always wanted. Put Kathyrn Thorne and George Kelly together, and the country got "Machine Gun" Kelly, one of the most notorious American gangsters during the Depression.

With Kathryn's connections and intelligence, the two were soon living large, but it wasn't enough. The couple plotted to kidnap an oil tycoon, and it worked. They collected the ransom and the attention of the country-- even the world-- and the FBI.

~

Going to see Bonnie and Clyde at a local drive-in was the start of my interest in the Great Depression and that era's gangsters. Bonnie and Clyde. Pretty Boy Floyd. John Dillinger. Ma Barker. Bugs Moran. I'm not quite sure why I found these gangsters to be so fascinating. I didn't think they were romantic. I certainly didn't want to emulate them. I think it probably had something to do with how people reacted to and survived the Great Depression. So, it's no wonder that when I heard about Meet the Kellys that I wanted to read it.

I was familiar with other books written by Chris Enss, so I was expecting a well-researched history of Kelly and Thorne. That's exactly what I got. Kathryn Thorne saw the potential in small-time bootlegger George Kelly to give her the lifestyle she had always craved. And with her gift of a machine gun to Kelly, history was made. The couple's endless road trips not only had me hearing some of the music from Bonnie and Clyde, but they almost made me carsick.

I learned quite a bit from this book. I'd forgotten how kidnapping had taken center stage for several of these gangsters, so much so that the government passed the Federal Kidnapping Act in an attempt to put an end to it. In true diva style, when everything disintegrated, Kathryn Thorne tried her best to keep herself and her parents out of jail. She was definitely what my family would refer to as a "piece of work." If you have any interest at all in this time period, Meet the Kellys is well worth a read. 

Meet the Kellys: The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne

by Chris Enss

eISBN: 9780806543079

Citadel Press © 2025

eBook, 272 pages

Non-Fiction

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

Hearts West by Chris Enss

Title: Hearts West, True Stories of Mail-Order Brides on the Frontier
Author: Chris Enss
ISBN: 9780762727568
Publisher: TwoDot, 2005
Paperback, 128 pages
Genre: Women's History, American West History
Rating: C
Source: Purchased at the Singing Wind Bookshop, Benson, Arizona.

First Line: The promise of boundless acres of land in the West lured hundreds of men away from farms, businesses, and homes in the eastern states as tales of early explorers and fur trappers filtered back from the frontier.

When all those men wound up on the frontier working gold claims, building businesses, and starting farms and ranches, the one thing that was in very short supply was women. It wasn't long until weekly newspapers like the Matrimonial News began circulation in an attempt to match men and women in marital bliss.

The strength in Hearts West lies in the stories of the mail-order brides as they came west to start new lives with total strangers. Some lucky couples found their soul mates. Some found the exact opposite, as in the story of the unlucky young woman who discovered the man she'd come hundreds of miles to marry was one of the men who'd just robbed the stagecoach on which she was traveling.

I've loved reading this author's books in the past, but this one was a bit of a disappointment. There weren't enough actual stories of the mail-order brides and the men they married. There were way too many ads from the Matrimonial News-- to the point where they felt like filler instead of a glimpse into the precursor of online dating. Worst of all, the book needed much closer editing. One chapter had me grinding my teeth due to the nautical errors. (The type of ship referred to is a "scow" not a "scowl"; and a ship only has one "bow"-- not multiple "boughs".) Add those errors to the one in which the character was wearing a skirt that wasn't going to be designed for another sixty years, and I almost stopped reading the book.

However, it's a small book, and I would have missed some excellent history about the brave women who traveled hundreds and thousands of miles to make new lives for themselves.

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The Lady Was a Gambler by Chris Enss

Title: The Lady Was a Gambler
Author: Chris Enss
ISBN: 9780762743711, TwoDot, 2008
Genre: Women's History
Rating: B

First Line: An attractive, statuesque woman with golden blonde curls piled high on top of her head sat behind a large table in the back of the Pacific Club Gambling Parlor in San Francisco, California.

There's something about the ching of spurs, the slap of the bat-wing doors of a saloon, and the alluring smile of a beautiful faro dealer. They are some of the most common sounds and sights that come to mind when people think of the Wild West. Author Chris Enss provides names and histories to fifteen of these pretty gambling faces, and it's a pleasure to get to know them all.

Alice Ivers ("Poker Alice") was in the gambling profession for more than sixty years. She died broke at the age of seventy-nine. "I gambled away fortunes," she once told a friend, "but I had a ball doing it." She also never sat down at the table without her gun.

The right face, the right name, and the right personality meant added business for gambling houses, and the very best of these ladies could rake in thousands of dollars. (Just ask Doc Holliday who once lost $30,000 to Lottie Deno.)

Speaking of Lottie Deno, many historians claim that the character of Laura Denbo in the movie Gunfight at the OK Corral and the character of Miss Kitty in Gunsmoke are based on her.

Although there are many instances in these ladies' lives that provoke laughter, it wasn't all fun and games. When large sums of money, alcohol, quick-tempered men and pretty women are all in one place, abuse, death and tragedy are frequent visitors.

Enss provides just enough biography, history and photography to make readers want to do their own research and learn more. I've walked down Allen Street. I've walked past the OK Corral, and I've seen the gallows at the Courthouse in Tombstone, Arizona. I've heard the rustle of skirts, the ching of spurs, the shouts of laughter, and the slap of those bat-wing doors when I strolled past Big Nose Kate's Saloon. But it's only now that books like Chris Enss' The Lady Was a Gambler are being written that I'm getting a real feel for the people who lived in these legendary towns.

If you like to read books about the history of the Old West and about women's history, you'll want to read The Lady Was a Gambler. The only real problem I had with this book was that I would've enjoyed an extra 200 pages!

[Source: Paperback Swap.]