Mary McElroy was 25 years old when she was kidnapped while taking a bath in her father's home on May 27, 1933. Her kidnappers were brothers George and Walter McGee, Clarence Click, and Clarence Stevens. The men forced their way into the house with a sawed-off shotgun and held her at gunpoint. They allowed McElroy to dry herself off and get dressed. She didn’t take them seriously at first; When told that $60,000 was going to be demanded in exchange for her release, she joked "I'm worth more than that”.
Mary was taken to a farmhouse in Shawnee, Kansas owned by Click and was chained to a wall in the basement. After demanding the original sum of $60,000, the kidnappers settled for $30,000, which Judge McElroy paid on May 29. Mary McElroy was released 34 hours after her kidnapping, unharmed and near the Millburn Golf Course. Of the four men, three were eventually arrested and tried and one remained at large. During the trial she struggled to name her captors, and even insisted she had been well treated and had even been given flowers by Walter before her release and publicly expressed sympathy for them. Walter McGee was sentenced to death by hanging, but it was changed to life in prison after Mary pleaded and contested the sentence.
In the years after her kidnapping McElroy suffered many nervous breakdowns and she lived with her father the rest of her adult life. She was found by her maid, death by suicide with a note by her body. The note read: "My four kidnappers are probably the four people on earth who don't consider me an utter fool. You have your death penalty now - so - please - give them a chance. Mary.". Mary was 32 at the time of her death.
