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John
Herbert DILLINGER
Classification: Murderer?
Characteristics: Bank robber - The
first criminal in history to be named “Public Enemy Number One” on
the FBI’s most wanted list
Number of victims: 0 - 1 +
Date of murder: 1933 - 1934
Date of birth: June 22, 1903
Victim profile: Officer William Patrick O'Malley, 43
Method of murder: Shooting
Location: Ohio/Indiana/Wisconsin/South Dakota/Iowa, USA
Status: John Dillinger was shot and killed by the FBI special
agents on July 22, 1934, at approximately 10:40 p.m.
John Herbert Dillinger, Jr. (1903-1934) was a
Midwestern bank robber, auto thief, and fugitive who captured the
national imagination between 1933 and 1934. In March 1934,
Dillinger stole a car and crossed state lines following a
sensational prison break, giving the FBI jurisdiction to join the
manhunt. On July 22, 1934, FBI agents closed in on Dillinger
outside of the Biograph Theater in Chicago and shot and killed him
as he reached for his pistol.
John Herbert Dillinger
(June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American bank robber in the
Depression-era United States. His gang robbed two dozen banks and
four police stations. Dillinger escaped from jail twice. Dillinger
was also charged with, but never convicted of, the murder of an
East Chicago, Indiana, police officer who shot Dillinger in his
bullet proof vest during a shoot-out, prompting him to return
fire. It was Dillinger's only homicide charge.
In 1933–34, seen in retrospect as the heyday of
the Depression-era outlaw, Dillinger was the most notorious of
all, standing out even among more violent criminals such as Baby
Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Bonnie and Clyde. (Decades
later, the first major book about '30s gangsters was titled The
Dillinger Days.)
Media reports in his time were spiced with
exaggerated accounts of Dillinger's bravado and daring and his
colorful personality. The government demanded federal action, and
J. Edgar Hoover developed a more sophisticated Federal Bureau of
Investigation as a weapon against organized crime and used
Dillinger and his gang as his campaign platform to launch the FBI.
After evading police in four states for almost
a year, Dillinger was wounded and returned to his father's home to
recover. He returned to Chicago in July 1934 and met his end at
the hands of police and federal agents who were informed of his
whereabouts by Ana Cumpănaş (the owner of the brothel where
Dillinger sought refuge at the time).
On July 22, the police and Division of
Investigation closed in on the Biograph Theater. Federal agents,
led by Melvin Purvis and Samuel P. Cowley, moved to arrest
Dillinger as he left the theater. He pulled a weapon and attempted
to flee but was shot three times (four, according to some
historians) and killed.
Early life
Family and background
John Herbert Dillinger was born on June 22,
1903, in the Oak Hill section of Indianapolis, Indiana, the
younger of two children born to John Wilson Dillinger (July 2,
1864 – November 3, 1943) and Mary Ellen "Mollie" Lancaster
(1860–1907).
According to some biographers, his grandfather,
Matthias Dillinger, emigrated to the United States in 1851 from
Metz, in the region of Alsace-Lorraine, then under French
sovereignty. Matthias Dillinger was born in German-Prussian
Gisingen, near Dillingen, Saarland. Dillinger's parents had
married on August 23, 1887. Dillinger's father was a grocer by
trade and, reportedly, a harsh man. In an interview with
reporters, Dillinger said that he was firm in his discipline and
believed in the adage "spare the rod and spoil the child".
Dillinger's older sister, Audrey, was born
March 6, 1889. Their mother died in 1907 just before his fourth
birthday. Audrey married Emmett "Fred" Hancock that year and they
had seven children together. She cared for her brother John for
several years until their father remarried in 1912 to Elizabeth
"Lizzie" Fields (1878–1933). They had three children, Hubert, born
c. 1913, Doris M. (December 12, 1917 – March 14, 2001) and Frances
Dillinger (born c. 1922).
Initially, Dillinger disliked his stepmother
but reportedly eventually came to love her.
Formative years and marriage
As a teenager, Dillinger was frequently in
trouble with the law for fighting and petty theft; he was also
noted for his "bewildering personality" and bullying of smaller
children. He quit school to work in an Indianapolis machine shop.
Although he worked hard at his job, he would stay out all night at
parties. His father feared that the city was corrupting his son,
prompting him to move the family to Mooresville, Indiana, in about
1920.
Dillinger's wild and rebellious behavior was
resilient despite his new rural life. He was arrested in 1922 for
auto theft, and his relationship with his father deteriorated. His
troubles led him to enlist in the United States Navy where he was
a Fireman 3rd Class assigned aboard the battleship USS Utah, but
he deserted a few months later when his ship was docked in Boston.
He was eventually dishonorably discharged.
Dillinger then returned to Mooresville where he
met Beryl Ethel Hovious. The two were married on April 12, 1924.
He attempted to settle down, but he had difficulty holding a job
and preserving his marriage. The marriage ended in divorce on June
20, 1929.
Dillinger was unable to find a job and began
planning a robbery with his friend Ed Singleton. The two robbed a
local grocery store, stealing $50. Leaving the scene they were
spotted by a minister who recognized the men and reported them to
the police. The two men were arrested the next day.
Singleton pleaded not guilty, but after
Dillinger's father (the local Mooresville Church deacon) discussed
the matter with Morgan County prosecutor Omar O'Harrow, his father
convinced Dillinger to confess to the crime and plead guilty
without retaining a defense attorney.
Dillinger was convicted of assault and battery
with intent to rob, and conspiracy to commit a felony. He expected
a lenient probation sentence as a result of his father's
discussion with prosecutor O'Harrow, but instead was sentenced to
10 to 20 years in prison for his crimes. His father told reporters
he regretted his advice and was appalled by the sentence. He
pleaded with the judge to shorten the sentence but with no
success. En route to Mooresville to testify against Singleton,
Dillinger briefly escaped his captors but was apprehended within a
few minutes.
Criminal career
Prison time
Dillinger had embraced the criminal lifestyle
behind bars in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. Upon
being admitted to the prison he is quoted as saying, "I will be
the meanest bastard you ever saw when I get out of here." His
physical examination upon being admitted to the prison showed that
he had gonorrhea. The treatment for his condition was extremely
painful.
He became embittered against society because of
his long prison sentence and befriended other criminals, such as
seasoned bank robbers like Harry "Pete" Pierpont, Charles Makley,
Russell Clark, and Homer Van Meter, who taught Dillinger how to be
a successful criminal. The men planned heists that they would
commit soon after they were released. Dillinger studied Herman
Lamm's meticulous bank-robbing system and used it extensively
throughout his criminal career.
His father launched a campaign to have him
released and was able to get 188 signatures on a petition.
Dillinger was paroled on May 10, 1933, after serving nine and a
half years. Dillinger's stepmother became sick just before he was
released from prison, she died before he arrived at her home.
Released at the height of the Great Depression,
Dillinger had little prospect of finding employment. He
immediately returned to crime and on June 21, 1933, he robbed his
first bank, taking $10,000 from the New Carlisle National Bank,
which occupied the building which still stands at the southeast
corner of Main Street and Jefferson (State Routes 235 and 571) in
New Carlisle, Ohio.
On August 14, Dillinger robbed a bank in
Bluffton, Ohio. Tracked by police from Dayton, Ohio, he was
captured and later transferred to the Allen County jail in Lima to
be indicted in connection to the Bluffton robbery. After searching
him before letting him into the prison, the police discovered a
document which appeared to be a prison escape plan. They demanded
Dillinger tell them what the document meant, but he refused.
Dillinger had helped conceive a plan for the
escape of Pierpont, Clark and six others he had met while
previously in prison, most of whom worked in the prison laundry.
Dillinger had friends smuggle guns into their prison cells, with
which they escaped, four days after Dillinger's capture.
The group, known as "the First Dillinger Gang,"
comprised Pete Pierpont, Russell Clark, Charles Makley, Ed Shouse,
Harry Copeland, and John "Red" Hamilton, a member of the Herman
Lamm Gang.
Pierpont, Clark, and Makley arrived in Lima on
October 12, where they impersonated Indiana State Police officers,
claiming they had come to extradite Dillinger to Indiana. When the
sheriff, Jess Sarber, asked for their credentials, Pierpont shot
him dead, then released Dillinger from his cell. The four men
escaped back into Indiana where they joined the rest of the gang.
Sheriff Sarber was the gang's first police killing of an estimated
13 lawmen deaths by Dillinger gang members.
Bank robberies
Dillinger is known to have participated with
The Dillinger Gang in twelve separate bank robberies, between June
21, 1933 and June 30, 1934.
Relationship with Evelyn Frechette
Evelyn "Billie" Frechette met John Dillinger in
October 1933, and they began a relationship on November 20. On
December 19, 1933 they rented a two story house located at 901
South Atlantic Avenue, Daytona Beach, Florida.
After Dillinger's death, Billie was offered
money for her story and eventually penned a memoir for the Chicago
Herald and Examiner in August 1934.
Escape from Crown Point, Indiana
Dillinger was finally caught by Matthew "Matt"
Leach, the Indiana police state chief, and imprisoned within the
Crown Point jail sometime after committing a robbery at a bank
located in East Chicago on January 15, 1934.
The local police boasted to area newspapers
that the jail was escape-proof and posted extra guards to make
sure. What happened on the day of Dillinger's escape on March 3 is
still open to debate.
Deputy Ernest Blunk claimed that Dillinger had
escaped using a real pistol, but FBI files make clear that
Dillinger carved a fake pistol from a potato. Sam Cahoon, a
trustee that Dillinger first took hostage in the jail, believed
that Dillinger had carved the gun with a razor and some shelving
in his cell. However, according to an unpublished interview with
Dillinger's attorney, Louis Piquett and his investigator, Art
O'Leary, O'Leary claimed to have sneaked the gun in himself.
On March 16, Herbert Youngblood, a fellow
escapee from Crown Point, was shot dead by three police officers
in Port Huron, Michigan. Deputy Sheriff Charles Cavanaugh was
fatally wounded in the battle and died a few hours later. Before
he died, Youngblood told the officers that Dillinger was in the
neighborhood of Port Huron, and immediately officers began a
search for the escaped man, but no trace of him was found. An
Indiana newspaper reported that Youngblood later retracted the
story and said he did not know where Dillinger was at that time,
as he had parted with him soon after their escape.
Dillinger was indicted by a local grand jury,
and the Bureau of Investigation (a precursor of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation) organized a nationwide manhunt for him. After
escaping from Crown Point, Dillinger reunited with his girlfriend,
Evelyn Frechette, just hours after his escape at her half-sister
Patsy's Chicago apartment, where she was also staying (3512 North
Halsted).
According to Billie's trial testimony,
Dillinger stayed with her there for "almost two weeks," but the
two actually had traveled to the Twin Cities and moved into the
Santa Monica Apartments, Unit 106, 3252 South Girard Avenue,
Minneapolis, on March 4 (moving out on March 19) and met up with
Hamilton (who had been recovering for the past month from his
gunshot wounds in the East Chicago robbery), and mustered a new
gang, and the two joined Baby Face Nelson's gang, composed of
Homer Van Meter, Tommy Carroll and Eddie Green.
Three days after Dillinger's escape from Crown
Point, the second Dillinger Gang robbed a bank in Sioux Falls,
South Dakota. A week later they robbed First National Bank in
Mason City, Iowa.
Lincoln Court shootout
Dillinger and Billie eventually moved into
apartment 303 of the Lincoln Court Apartments, 93-95 South
Lexington Avenue (now Lexington Parkway South) in St. Paul,
Minnesota, on Tuesday, March 20, using the aliases "Mr. & Mrs.
Carl T. Hellman". The three-story apartment complex (still in
operation) had 32 apartments, 10 units on each floor, and two
basement units.
Daisy Coffey, the landlord/owner, would testify
at Frechette's trial that she spent most evenings during the
Hellmans' stay furnishing apartment 310, which enabled her to
observe what was happening in apartment 303 directly across the
courtyard.
On March 30, Coffey went to the FBI's St. Paul
field office to file a report, including information about the
couple's new Hudson sedan parked in the garage behind the
apartments. The building was placed under surveillance by two
agents, Rufus Coulter and Rusty Nalls, that night, but they saw
nothing unusual, mainly due to the blinds being drawn.
The next morning at approximately 10:15, Nalls
circled around the block looking for the Hudson, but observed
nothing. He parked, first on Lincoln (the north side of the
apartments), then on the west side of Lexington, at the northwest
corner of Lexington and Lincoln, and remained in his car while
watching Coulter and St. Paul Police detective Henry Cummings,
pull up, park, and enter the building. Ten minutes later, by
Nalls's estimate, Van Meter parked a green Ford coupe on the north
side of the apartment building.
Meanwhile, Coulter and Cummings knocked on the
door of apartment 303. Frechette answered, opening the door two to
three inches. She said she was not dressed and to come back.
Coulter told her they would wait.
After waiting two to three minutes, Coulter
went to the basement apartment of the caretakers, Louis and
Margaret Meidlinger, and asked to use the phone to call the
bureau. He quickly returned to Cummings, and the two of them
waited for Frechette to open the door. Van Meter then appeared in
the hall and asked Coulter if his name was Johnson. Coulter said
it was not, and as Van Meter passed on to the landing of the third
floor, Coulter asked him for a name. Van Meter replied, "I am a
soap salesman." Asked where his samples were, Van Meter said they
were in his car. Coulter asked if he had any credentials. Van
Meter said "no," and continued down the stairs. Coulter waited 10
to 20 seconds, then followed Van Meter. As Coulter got to the
lobby on the ground floor, Van Meter opened fire on him. Coulter
hastily fled outside, chased by Van Meter. Eventually, Van Meter
ran back into the front entrance.
Recognizing Van Meter, Nalls pointed out the
Ford to Coulter and told him to disable it. Coulter shot out the
rear left tire. While Coulter stayed with Van Meter's Ford, Nalls
went to the corner drugstore and called first the local police,
then the bureau's St. Paul office, but could not get through
because both lines were busy. Van Meter, meanwhile, escaped by
hopping on a passing coal truck.
Frechette, in her harboring trial testimony,
said that she told Dillinger that the police had showed up after
speaking to Cummings. Upon hearing Van Meter firing at Coulter,
Dillinger opened fire through the door with a Thompson submachine
gun, sending Cummings scrambling for cover.
Dillinger then stepped out and fired another
burst at Cummings. Cummings shot back with a revolver, but quickly
ran out of ammunition. He hit Dillinger in the left calf with one
of his five shots. He then hastily retreated down the stairs to
the front entrance. Once Cummings retreated, Dillinger and
Frechette hurried down the stairs, exited through the back door
and drove away in the Hudson.
The couple drove to the apartment of Eddie
Green at 3300 South Fremont in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Green
called his associate Dr. Clayton E. May at his office in
Minneapolis, 712 Masonic Temple (still extant).
With Green, his wife Beth, and Frechette
following in Green's car, Dr. May drove Dillinger to 1835 Park
Avenue, Minneapolis, to the apartment of Augusta Salt, who had
been providing nursing services and a bed for May's illicit
patients for several years, patients he could not risk seeing at
his regular office.
May treated Dillinger's wound with antiseptics.
Eddie Green visited Dillinger on Monday, April 2, just hours
before Green would be mortally wounded by the FBI in St. Paul.
Dillinger convalesced at Dr. May's for five days, until Wednesday,
April 4. Dr. May was promised $500 for his services, but received
nothing.
Return to Mooresville
After leaving Minneapolis, Dillinger and Billie
traveled to Mooresville to visit Dillinger's father. Friday, April
6 was spent contacting family members, particularly his
half-brother Hubert Dillinger.
On April 6, Hubert and Dillinger left
Mooresville at about 8:00 p.m. and proceeded to Leipsic, Ohio
(approximately 210 miles away), to see Joseph and Lena Pierpont,
Harry's parents. The Pierponts were not home, so the two headed
back to Mooresville around midnight.
On April 7 at approximately 3:30 a.m., they
rammed a car driven by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Manning near
Noblesville, Indiana, after Hubert fell asleep behind the wheel.
They crashed through a farm fence and about 200 feet into the
woods. Both men made it back to the Mooresville farm.
Swarms of police showed up at the accident
scene within hours. Found in the car were maps, a machine gun
magazine, a length of rope, and a bullwhip. According to Hubert,
his brother planned to pay a visit with the bullwhip to his former
one-armed "shyster" lawyer at Crown Point, Joseph Ryan, who had
run off with his retainer after being replaced by Louis Piquett.
At about 10:30 a.m. on April 7, Billie, Hubert
and Hubert's wife purchased a black four-door Ford V8, registering
it in the name of Mrs. Fred Penfield (Billie Frechette). At 2:30
p.m., Billie and Hubert picked up the V8 and returned to
Mooresville.
On Sunday, April 8, the Dillingers enjoyed a
family picnic while the FBI had the farm under surveillance
nearby. Later in the afternoon, suspecting they were being watched
(agents J. L. Geraghty and T. J. Donegan were cruising in the
vicinity in their car), the group left in separate cars. Billie
drove the new Ford V8, with two of Dillinger's nieces, Mary
Hancock in the front seat and Alberta Hancock in the back.
Dillinger was on the floor of the car. He was later seen, but not
recognized, by Donegan and Geraghty. Eventually, Norman, driving
the V8, proceeded with Dillinger and Billie to Chicago, where they
separated from Norman.
The following afternoon, Monday, April 9,
Dillinger had an appointment at a tavern at 416 North State
Street. Sensing trouble, Billie went in first. She was promptly
arrested by agents, but refused to reveal Dillinger's whereabouts.
Dillinger was waiting in his car outside the tavern and then drove
off unnoticed. The two would never see each other again.
Dillinger reportedly became despondent after
Billie was arrested. The other gang members tried to talk to him
out of rescuing her, but Van Meter knew where they could find
bulletproof vests. That Friday morning, late at night, Dillinger
and Van Meter took Warsaw, Indiana police officer Judd Pittenger
hostage. They marched him at gunpoint to the police station, where
they stole several more guns and bulletproof vests.
After separating, Dillinger picked up Hamilton,
who was recovering from the Mason City robbery. The two then
traveled to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where they visited
Hamilton's sister Anna Steve.
Hiding in Chicago
By July 1934, Dillinger had dropped completely
out of sight, and the federal agents had no solid leads to follow.
He had, in fact, drifted into Chicago where he went under the
alias of Jimmy Lawrence, a petty criminal from Wisconsin who bore
a close resemblance to Dillinger.
Working as a clerk, Dillinger found that, in a
large metropolis like Chicago, he was able to lead an anonymous
existence for a while. What he did not realize was that the center
of the federal agents' dragnet happened to be Chicago. When the
authorities found Dillinger's blood-spattered getaway car on a
Chicago side street, they were positive that he was in the city.
Dillinger had always been a fan of the Chicago
Cubs, and instead of lying low like many criminals on the run, he
attended Cubs games at Wrigley Field during June and July. He's
known to have been at Wrigley on Friday, June 8, only to watch his
beloved Cubs lose to Cincinnati 4-3. Also in attendance at the
game were Dillinger's lawyer, Louis Piquett, and Captain John
Stege of the Dillinger Squad.
Plastic surgery
According to Art O'Leary, as early as March
1934, Dillinger expressed an interest in plastic surgery and had
asked O'Leary to check with Piquett on such matters. At the end of
April, Piquett paid a visit to his old friend Dr. Wilhelm Loeser.
Loeser had practiced in Chicago for 27 years
before being convicted under the Harrison Narcotic Act in 1931. He
was sentenced to three years at Leavenworth, but was paroled early
on December 7, 1932, with Piquett's help.
He later testified that he performed facial
surgery on himself and obliterated the fingerprint impressions on
the tips of his fingers by the application of a caustic soda
preparation. Piquett said Dillinger would have to pay $5,000 for
the plastic surgery: $4,400 split between Piquett, Loeser and
O'Leary, and $600 to Dr. Harold Cassidy, who would administer the
anaesthetic. The procedure would take place at the home of
Piquett's longtime friend, 67-year-old James Probasco, at the end
of May.
On May 28, Loeser was picked up at his home at
7:30 p.m. by O'Leary and Cassidy. The three of them then drove to
Probasco's place. Dillinger chose to have a general anaesthetic.
Loeser later testified:
I asked him what work he wanted done. He wanted
two warts (moles) removed on the right lower forehead between the
eyes and one at the left angle, outer angle of the left eye;
wanted a depression of the nose filled in; a scar; a large one to
the left of the median line of the upper lip excised, wanted his
dimples removed and wanted the angle of the mouth drawn up. He
didn't say anything about the fingers that day to me.
Cassidy administered an overdose of ether,
which caused Dillinger to suffocate. He began to turn blue and
stopped breathing. Loeser pulled Dillinger's tongue out of his
mouth with a pair of forceps, and at the same time forcing both
elbows into his ribs. Dillinger gasped and resumed breathing. The
procedure continued with only a local anaesthetic. Loeser removed
several moles on Dillinger's forehead, made an incision in his
nose and an incision in his chin and tied back both cheeks.
Loeser met with Piquett again on Saturday, June
2, with Piquett saying that more work was needed on Dillinger and
that Van Meter now wanted the same work done to him. Also, both
now wanted work done on their fingertips. The price for the
fingerprint procedure would be $500 per hand or $100 a finger.
Loeser used a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acid—commonly
known as aqua regia.
Loeser met O'Leary the following night at Clark
and Wright at 8:30, and they once again drove to Probasco's.
Present this evening were Dillinger, Van Meter, Probasco, Piquett,
Cassidy, and Peggy Doyle, Probasco's girlfriend. Loeser testified
that he worked for only about 30 minutes before O'Leary and
Piquett had left.
Loeser testified:
Cassidy and I worked on Dillinger and Van Meter
simultaneously on June 3. While the work was being done, Dillinger
and Van Meter changed off. The work that could be done while the
patient was sitting up, that patient was in the sitting-room. The
work that had to be done while the man was lying down, that
patient was on the couch in the bedroom. They were changed back
and forth according to the work to be done. The hands were
sterilized, made aseptic with antiseptics, thoroughly washed with
soap and water and used sterile gauze afterwards to keep them
clean. Next, cutting instrument, knife was used to expose the
lower skin...in other words, take off the epidermis and expose the
derma, then alternately the acid and the alkaloid was applied as
was necessary to produce the desired results.
Minor work was done two nights later, Tuesday,
June 5. Loeser made some small corrections first on Van Meter,
then Dillinger. Loeser stated:
A man came in before I left, who I found out
later was Baby Face Nelson. He came in with a drum of machine gun
bullets under his arm, threw them on the bed or the couch in the
bedroom, and started to talk to Van Meter. The two then motioned
for Dillinger to come over and the three went back into the
kitchen.
Peggy Doyle later told agents:
Dillinger and Van Meter resided at Probasco's
home until the last week of June 1934; that on some occasions they
would be away for a day or two, sometimes leaving separately, and
on other occasions together; that at this time Van Meter usually
parked his car in the rear of Probasco's residence outside the
back fence; that she gathered that Dillinger was keeping company
with a young woman who lived on the north side of Chicago,
inasmuch as he would state upon leaving Probasco's home that he
was going in the direction of Diversey Boulevard; that Van Meter
apparently was not acquainted with Dillinger's friend, and she
heard him warning Dillinger to be careful about striking up
acquaintances with girls he knew nothing about; that Dillinger and
Van Meter usually kept a machine gun in an open case under the
piano in the parlor; that they also kept a shotgun under the
parlor table.
O'Leary stated that Dillinger expressed
dissatisfaction with the facial work that Loeser had performed on
him. O'Leary said that, on another occasion, "that Probasco told
him, 'the son of a bitch has gone out for one of his walks'; that
he did not know when he would return; that Probasco raved about
the craziness of Dillinger, stating that he was always going for
walks and was likely to cause the authorities to locate the place
where he was staying; that Probasco stated frankly on this
occasion that he was afraid to have the man around."
Agents arrested Loeser at 1127 South Harvey,
Oak Park, Illinois, on Tuesday, July 24. O'Leary returned from a
family fishing trip on July 24, the day of Loeser's arrest, and
had read in the newspapers that the Department of Justice was
looking for two doctors and another man in connection with some
plastic work that was done on Dillinger.
O'Leary left Chicago immediately, but returned
two weeks later, learned that Loeser and others had been arrested,
phoned Piquett, who assured him everything was all right, then
left again. He returned from St. Louis on August 25 and was
promptly taken into custody.
On Friday, July 27, Jimmy Probasco jumped or
"accidentally" fell to his death from the 19th floor of the
Bankers' Building in Chicago while in custody.
On Thursday, August 23, Homer Van Meter was
shot and killed in a dead-end alley in St. Paul by Tom Brown,
former St. Paul Chief of Police, and then-current chief Frank
Cullen.
Polly Hamilton, Dillinger's last girlfriend
Rita “Polly” Hamilton was a teenage runaway
from Fargo, North Dakota. She met Anna Cumpănaș Chiolak (aka Ana
Sage) in Gary, Indiana, and worked periodically as a prostitute
(in Anna’s brothel) until marrying Gary police officer Roy O.
Keele in 1929. They later divorced in March 1933.
In the summer of 1934, the now
twenty-six-year-old Hamilton was a waitress in Chicago at the S&S
Sandwich Shop located at 1209 ½ Wilson Avenue. She had remained
friends with Sage and was sharing living space with Sage and
Sage’s twenty-four-year-old son, Steve, at 2858 Clark Street.
Dillinger and Hamilton, a Billie Frechette
look-a-like, met in June 1934 at the Barrel of Fun night club
located at 4541 Wilson Avenue. Dillinger introduced himself as
Jimmy Lawrence and said he was a clerk at the Board of Trade. They
dated until Dillinger's death at the Biograph Theater in July
1934.
Informant betrays Dillinger
Division of Investigations chief J. Edgar
Hoover created a special task force headquartered in Chicago to
locate Dillinger. On July 21, Ana Cumpănaș (a/k/a Anna Sage), a
madam from a brothel in Gary, Indiana, contacted the FBI. She was
a Romanian immigrant threatened with deportation for "low moral
character" and offered agents information on Dillinger in exchange
for their help in preventing her deportation.
The FBI agreed to her terms, but she was later
deported nonetheless. Cumpănaş revealed that Dillinger was
spending his time with another prostitute, Polly Hamilton, and
that she and the couple would be going to see a movie together on
the following day. She agreed to wear an orange dress, so that
police could easily identify her. She was unsure which of two
theaters they would be attending, the Biograph or the Marbro.
On December 15, 1934, pardons were issued by
Indiana Governor Harry G. Leslie for the offenses of which Anna
Sage was convicted on November 24 and April 16, 31.
Sage stated that on Sunday afternoon, July 22,
Dillinger asked her if she wanted to go to the show with them, he
and Polly.
She asked him what show was he going to see,
and he said he would 'like to see the theater around the corner,'
meaning the Biograph Theater. She stated she was unable to leave
the house to inform Purvis or Martin about Dillinger's plans to
attend the Biograph, but as they were going to have fried chicken
for the evening meal, she told Polly she had nothing in which to
fry the chicken, and was going to the store to get some butter;
that while at the store she called Mr. Purvis and informed him of
Dillinger's plans to attend the Biograph that evening, at the same
time obtaining the butter. She then returned to the house so Polly
would not be suspicious that she went out to call anyone.
A team of federal agents and officers from
police forces from outside of Chicago was formed, along with a
very small number of Chicago police officers. Among them was
Sergeant Martin Zarkovich, the officer to whom Sage had acted as
an informant.
At the time, federal officials felt that the
Chicago police had been compromised and therefore could not be
trusted; Hoover and Purvis also wanted more of the credit. Not
wanting to take the risk of another embarrassing escape of
Dillinger, the police were split into two groups. On Sunday, one
team was sent to the Marbro Theater on the city's west side, while
another team surrounded the Biograph Theater at 2433 N. Lincoln
Avenue on the north side.
Shooting at the Biograph Theater
Sage, Hamilton, and Dillinger were observed
entering the Biograph at approximately 8:30 p.m., which ironically
was showing the crime drama Manhattan Melodrama, starring Clark
Gable, Myrna Loy and William Powell.
When Dillinger was in the theater, Samuel P.
Cowley, the lead agent, contacted J. Edgar Hoover for
instructions; he recommended they wait outside rather than risk a
gun battle within the theater. He told the agents not to put
themselves in harm's way and that any man could open fire on
Dillinger at the first sign of resistance.
During the stakeout, the Biograph's manager
thought the agents were criminals setting up a robbery. He called
the Chicago police, who dutifully responded and had to be waved
off by the federal agents, who told them that they were on a
stakeout for an important target.
When the film ended, Purvis stood by the front
door and signaled Dillinger's exit by lighting a cigar. Both he
and the other agents reported that Dillinger turned his head and
looked directly at the agent as he walked by, glanced across the
street, then moved ahead of his female companions, reached into
his pocket but failed to extract his gun, and ran into a nearby
alley. Other accounts stated Dillinger ignored a command to
surrender, whipped out his gun, then headed for the alley. Agents
already had the alley closed off, but Dillinger was determined to
shoot it out.
Three men pursued Dillinger into the alley and
fired. Clarence Hurt shot twice, Charles Winstead three times, and
Herman Hollis once. Dillinger was hit from behind and fell face
first to the ground. Dillinger was struck four times, with two
bullets grazing him and one causing a superficial wound to the
right side.
The fatal bullet entered through the back of
his neck, severed the spinal cord, passed into his brain and
exited just under the right eye, severing two sets of veins and
arteries. An ambulance was summoned, though it was soon apparent
Dillinger had died from the gunshot wounds; he was officially
pronounced dead at Alexian Brothers Hospital. According to
investigators, Dillinger died without saying a word.
Dillinger was shot and killed by the special
agents on July 22, 1934, at approximately 10:40 p.m, according to
a New York Times report the next day. Dillinger's death came only
two months after the deaths of fellow notorious criminals Bonnie
and Clyde.
Two female bystanders, Theresa Paulas and Etta
Natalsky, were wounded. Dillinger bumped into Natalsky just as the
shooting started. Natalsky was shot and was subsequently taken to
Columbus Hospital.
There were reports of people dipping their
handkerchiefs and skirts into the pool of blood that had formed,
as Dillinger lay in the alley, as keepsakes.
Winstead was later thought to have fired the
fatal shot, and as a consequence received a personal letter of
commendation from J. Edgar Hoover.
Nash theory of Dillinger's escape
In The Dillinger Dossier, author Jay Robert
Nash maintains that Dillinger escaped death at the Biograph
Theater simply by not being there. In his stead was a "Jimmy
Lawrence", a local Chicago petty criminal whose appearance was
similar to Dillinger's.
Nash uses evidence to show that Chicago Police
officer Martin Zarkovich was instrumental in this plot. Nash
theorizes that the plot unraveled when the body was found to have
fingerprints that didn't match Dillinger's (the fingerprint card
was missing from the Cook County Morgue for over three decades),
it was too tall, the eye color was wrong, and it possessed a
rheumatic heart.
The F.B.I., a relatively new agency whose
agents were only recently permitted to carry guns or make arrests,
would have fallen under heavy scrutiny, this being the third
innocent man killed in pursuit of Dillinger, and would have gone
to great lengths to ensure a cover up.
In shooting the Dillinger stand-in, F.B.I.
agents were stationed on the roof of the theater and fired
downward, causing the open cuts on the face which were described
through the media as "scars resulting from inept plastic surgery".
The first words from Dillinger's father upon identifying the body
were, "that's not my boy." The body was buried under five feet of
concrete and steel, making exhumation less likely.
Nash produced fingerprints and photos of
Dillinger as he would appear in 1960 that were allegedly sent to
Melvin Purvis just prior to his 1960 alleged suicide (more
probably an accident). Nash alleged Dillinger was living and
working in California as a machinist, under what would have been
an early form of the witness protection program.
Aftermath
Dillinger's body was available for public
display at the Cook County morgue. An estimated 15,000 people
viewed the corpse over a day and a half. As many as four death
masks were also made.
On July 24, the body was returned to
Mooresville. It was put on exhibition at intervals during the
evening to satisfy the curiosity of the crowd. The next day at 2
p.m., funeral services were held at the home of Audrey Hancock,
Dillinger's sister, in Maywood.
Dillinger's gravestone has been replaced
several times because of vandalism by people chipping off pieces
as souvenirs. Hilton Crouch (1903-1976), an associate of
Dillinger's on some early heists, is buried only a few yards to
the west.
Film depictions
1935: The MGM crime film Public Hero No. 1
incorporates fictionalized details from Dillinger's narrative,
including a gun battle at a Wisconsin roadhouse and the killing of
the fugitive gangster (Joseph Calleia) as he leaves a theater.
1941: Humphrey Bogart, who bore some physical
resemblance to Dillinger, played a Dillinger-like role in High
Sierra, a film based loosely on research into Dillinger's life by
W. R. Burnett.
1945: Lawrence Tierney played the title role in
the first film dramatization of Dillinger's career; Dillinger.
1957: Director Don Siegel's film Baby Face
Nelson, starred Mickey Rooney as Nelson and Leo Gordon as
Dillinger.
1959: The FBI Story starring James Stewart,
Jean Willes plays Anna Sage and Scott Peters plays Dillinger.
Peters, a small-time actor, went uncredited in this role.
1969: Director Marco Ferreri's film Dillinger
Is Dead includes documentary footage of real John Dillinger as
well as newspaper clips.
1971: "Appointment with Destiny; The Last Days
of John Dillinger," narrated by Rod Serling, 52 minutes. Shot in
newsreel style, very accurate for its time. The late Joseph
Pinkston served as technical advisor. Pinkston himself makes an
uncredited cameo in the Biograph sequence, playing an agent.
1973: Dillinger, directed and written by John
Milius with Warren Oates in the title role, presents the gang in a
much more sympathetic light, in keeping with the anti-hero theme
popular in films after Bonnie and Clyde (1967).
1979: Lewis Teague directed the film The Lady
in Red, starring Pamela Sue Martin as the eponymous lady in the
red dress. However, in this film, it is Dillinger's girlfriend
Polly in red, not the Romanian informant Anna Sage (Louise
Fletcher). Sage tricks Polly into wearing red so that FBI agents
can identify Dillinger (Robert Conrad) as he emerges from the
cinema.
1991: A TV film Dillinger, starring Mark Harmon.
1995: Roger Corman produced the fictional film
Dillinger and Capone, featuring Martin Sheen as Dillinger and F.
Murray Abraham as Al Capone. Dillinger survives the theater
stakeout when the FBI mistakenly guns down his brother and is then
blackmailed by Capone into retrieving $15 million from his secret
vault.
2004: "Teargas and Tommyguns; Dillinger Robs
the First National Bank," DVD, Mason City Public Library, 38
minutes. Documentary regarding the bank robbery, including
contemporary interviews with still-living witnesses; also contains
the H.C. Kunkleman film in its entirety.
2009: Director Michael Mann's film Public
Enemies is an adaptation of Bryan Burrough's book Public Enemies:
America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34.
The film features Johnny Depp as John Dillinger and Christian Bale
as FBI agent Melvin Purvis. Although the film has accurate
portrayals of several key moments in Dillinger's life—such as his
death and dialogue at his arraignment hearing—it is inaccurate in
some major historical details, such as the timeline (and location)
of deaths of key criminal figures including Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby
Face Nelson, and Homer Van Meter.
2012: British actor Alexander Ellis portrays
Dillinger in the first Dollar Baby screen adaptation of Stephen
King's short story, "The Death of Jack Hamilton".
John Dillinger's life and times
in chronological order
June 1903 through July 1934
June 22, 1903: John Herbert Dillinger is born in Indianapolis, IN.
From birth to age sixteen young John lived at 2053
Cooper Street in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Feb. 1, 1907: When John Dillinger was 3-years-old, when his mother
became very ill, and was hospitalized. She had
developed serious health problems, suffered a stroke, underwent
surgery and died. She was 47 years old.
1908: John Dillinger enters school at Public School 38, in Oak
Hill, Indianapolis, Indiana.
1912: John's father courted, and married Elizabeth Fields of
Mooresville, a small town South of Indianapolis.
1914: John Dillinger’s half brother Hubert was born.
1916: John Dillinger’s half sister named Doris was born.
1922: John Dillinger’s half sister named Frances was born.
March 1920: Dillinger family moves to Mooresville, IN, located
approx. 20 miles south of Indianapolis. He purchased
a sixty-seven acre farmhouse, just off Highway 267.
July 24, 1923: Dillinger joins the U.S. Navy. He was listed as a
Fireman Third Class and stationed on U.S.S. Utah,
scheduled to ship out in three weeks.
December 4, 1923: after being reported for going AWOL, Dillinger
deserts the Navy and is dishonorably discharged. He returns to
Mooresville and joins a baseball team in Martinsville, IN called
the Atletics (AC); he was noted as a good second baseman, and a
shortstop, where he meets and courts 17-year-old Beryl Ethel
Hovious.
April 12, 1924: John Dillinger marries Beryl Ethel Hovious of
Martinsville. Beryl’s brother William Hovious was one of
the witnesses. Dillinger and brother-in-law become good friends.
July 1924: Dillinger works at Mooresville Furniture Factory as an
Upholsterer.
September 6, 1924: John Dillinger and Ed Singleton are intoxicated
on (Corn Liquor) Moonshine when they attempt to rob
Mooresville Grocer Frank Morgan. The robbery is unsuccessful.
September 6, 1924: Deputy sheriff John M. Hayworth and Marshal Greeson arrested John Dillinger on charges of conspiracy
to commit a felony and assault with intent to rob.
September 14, 1924: John Dillinger admits to his crime with the
advice of his father, who tells him to tell the truth.
September 15, 1924: John Dillinger is taken to the same courthouse
where he had married beryl Hovious, five months
earlier. In a trial that lasted all of five minutes with no legal
council present, Dillinger was sentenced two-to-fourteen years on first account and ten-to-twenty on the second
charge.
September 16, 1924: A bitter John Dillinger begins his sentence at
Pendleton Indiana State Reformatory.
May 22, 1933: Released from Indiana State Prison at Michigan City;
sentence began September 16, 1924.
June 20, 1929: Beryl Hovious divorces John Dillinger because she
believes he will never get out of jail (according to
Beryl Hovious).
July 15, 1929: John Dillinger transfers to Indiana State
Penitentiary at Michigan City.
April 1933: Mooresville citizens sign petition to have John Dillinger paroled from jail.
May 20, 1933: John Dillinger’s stepmother Lizzie suffers a stroke.
May 22, 1933: John Dillinger paroled from prison. John Dillinger’s
stepmother Lizzie dies.
June 24, 1933: Dillinger and William Shaw attempt to rob the
Marshall Field Thread Mill in Monticello, Indiana.
June 29, 1933: Dillinger and Shaw rob sandwich on East 28th
Street, Indianapolis.
July 17, 1933: John Dillinger, Harry Copeland and Hilton Crouch
rob the Commercial Bank of Daleville and escapes with
$3,500 in cash.
August 4, 1933: John Dillinger, Copeland and Crouch rob First
National Bank of Montpelier, Indiana, and escapes with
$6,700 in cash.
August 14, 1933: Dillinger, Copeland and Crouch rob Citizens
National Bank of Bluffton, Ohio, and escapes with $6,000.
September 6, 1933: Rob Massachusetts Avenue State Bank in
Indianapolis with Copeland and Crouch and escapes with $24,000.
September 1933: Patricia
Long introduces Johnnie to Evelyn Frechette in North Side Chicago nightclub.
September 22, 1933: John Dillinger is captured in Dayton, Ohio,
while visiting Mary Longnaker. A map of Indiana State Prison at
Michigan City in found in his possession.
September 23, 1933: Dillinger is transferred to Allen County Jail,
Lima, Ohio under heavy guard.
September 26, 1933: Dillinger aids in the escape of ten prisoners
from Indiana State Prison at Michigan City. The escapees include:
Harry Pierpont, Charles Makley, Russell Clark, John Hamilton,
James Jenkins, Ed Shouse, Walter Dietrich, Joseph Fox, James Clark
and John Burns.
September 29, 1933: Michigan City escapee James Clark arrested in
Hammond, Indiana.
September 30, 1933: Michigan City escapee James Jenkins (brother
of Mary Longnaker) is killed by vigilantes in Bean Blossom,
Indiana.
October 12, 1933: Harry Pierpont, Charley Makley and Russell Clark
enter the Lima jail to liberate Dillinger. Harry
Copeland, John Hamilton or Ed Shouse stands guard outside. During
the ordeal Pierpont kills Sheriff Jesse Sarber.
October 14, 1933: John Dillinger, Harry Pierpont and others rob
the Auburn, Indiana police department of their arsenal,
which includes three bulletproof vests, one Colt .45, two .38
pistols, one .44 Smith & Wesson, one .45, one German Luger
one Thompson machine gun, one .30-caliber rifle, one shotgun and
over 1,200 rounds of ammunition.
October 20, 1933: Six days later, Dillinger, Pierpont and Makley
rob the Peru, Indiana, police department of their arsenal, which
includes two Thompson machine guns, six bulletproof vests, two
sawed-off shotguns, four .38 police specials, two .30.30
Winchesters.
October 23, 1933: Dillinger robs Central National Bank of
Greencastle, Indiana, along with Pierpont, Makley and Harry
Copeland or John Hamilton. Copeland is later convicted of the
crime and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. The
gang escapes with $74,728.
November 11, 1933: Police attempt to arrest Tommy Carroll in
Minneapolis on suspicion of participating in the Brainerd
holdup. Escaping barefooted, he leaves behind $1,600 in cash, a
rifle, a machine gun, and a shotgun.
November 15, 1933: Dillinger seeks treatment from Dr. Charles Eye
in Chicago after catching ringworms during his stay at Lima jail.
Police Informant Arthur McGinnis contacts authorities, shots are
fired but Dillinger and Frechette escapes trap.
November 17, 1933: Harry Copeland is arrested in Chicago, after
drawing a gun on his girlfriend during a heated argument.
November 19, 1933: Harry Copeland is returned to prison.
November 20, 1933: John Dillinger, Pierpont, Makley, Clark,
Hamilton rob the American Bank and Trust Company in Racine,
Wisconsin and escapes with $27,000.
December 6, 1933: Walter Dietrich and Jack Klutas are trapped in
Bellwood, Chicago. Klutas is killed as he goes for a gun, and
Dietrich is captured and returned to prison.
December 11, 1933: Tommy Carroll kills Detective H.C. Perrow
during a fierce gun battle with police in San Antonio, Texas.
December 14, 1933: Three days later, John Hamilton kills Sgt.
William T. Shanley as he attempts to pick up his car being
repaired at Broadway Auto Shop in Chicago.
December 1933: John Dillinger and Billie Frechette drive to
Daytona Beach, Florida, where they meet up with Russell Clark and
Opal Long, Harry Pierpont and Mary Kinder.
December 20, 1933: Edward Shouse captured in Paris, Illinois, but
not before officer Eugene Teague is accidentally killed by another
police officer. Shouse is returned to Michigan City Penitentiary.
December 21, 1933: Charley Makley and Homer Van Meter
arrive in Daytona to meet the rest of the gang.
December 25 1933: Christmas Day After
exchanging gifts, John Dillinger sends Billie Frechette back to
the Neopit, Wisconsin Indian reservation.
January 1, 1934: The
Dillinger gang blasts their machine guns in the air on Daytona
Beach to celebrate the New Year.
January 1934: Billie contacts lawyer George R. Brokins, about divorcing her husband, Welton Spark, who is serving
time in Leavenworth Penitentiary, in Kansas.
January 1934: Charley Makley and Russell Clark
leave for Tucson, Arizona, and arrive around January 10. Harry
Pierpont and girlfriend Mary Kinder join the group, arriving in
Tucson on the January 16.
January 15, 1934: John Hamilton and others robs
First National Bank of East Chicago, Indiana, and kills Officer
William Patrick O'Malley, after O’Malley wounded Hamilton.
Hamilton is shot in right hand and four times in groin. Hamilton
loses two fingers, earning the nickname 3-finger-jack. Dillinger
is later blamed for this murder, even though he is not present
during this robbery. The gang escapes with $20,000.
January 15, 1934: The same day of the East
Chicago robbery, John Dillinger and Billie Frechette were busy
attending an automobile show in St. Louis at the Municipal
Auditorium.
January 16, 1934: The bloodstained and
bullet-riddled Plymouth used in the East Chicago robbery (getaway
car) was found at Byron Street and California Avenue, Chicago. The
blood was John Hamilton’s.
January 22, 1934: The Congress Hotel
catches on fire cause from a boiler in the hotels basement. This
is the same hotel where Clark and Makley are staying. Makley pays
firemen $3.00 to retrieve two heavy suitcases.
January 23, 1934: Alert firemen flipping
through pages of detective magazine recognize Clark and Makley and
contact Tucson police.
January 25, 1934: Russell Clark is
traced to 927 North Second Avenue. After a fierce fistfight with
officers he is apprehended. Soon afterwards, Pierpont reads of
Clarks captured and is also arrested on South Sixth as he tries to
flee town. Next Charles Makley arrested in a radio store in
downtown Tucson. John Dillinger and Billie Frechette are also
arrested at the North Avenue residence where Clark was captured.
January 26, 1934: The gang appeared
before the Justice of the Peace C.V. Budlong, at the Pima County
Courthouse. Bond set at $100,000 for Dillinger and gang members.
January 29, 1934: Dillinger is
forcefully taken by officers and flown on American Airlines to
Douglas, Arizona, to Dallas, Fort Worth, Little Rock, and Memphis
and onto St. Louis. The plane touches down at Midway Airport in
Chicago.
January 30, 1934: Thirteen-car motorcade
with 180 armed guards takes Dillinger to Crown Point, Indiana. The
outlaw arrives at the Lake County Jail at 7:40 p.m. and is greeted
by hundreds of spectators and the press.
February 1, 1934: Attorney Louis Piquett
arrives in Crown Point Indiana to meet with Dillinger. After being
searched by Warden Lou Baker he is allowed to see Dillinger.
February 5, 1934: Dillinger enters the
Lake County Court for a preliminary hearing before Judge William
J. Murray. He is shackled with no less than fifty armed guards
present. Dillinger is represented by Joseph Ryan (a lawyer paid by
Dillinger’s father), but the outlaw demands to see Piquett as his
defense lawyer.
February 9, 1934: Dillinger is arraigned
and a trial is set for March 12.
February 10, 1934: Prosecutor Robert
Estill recommends that Judge Murray transfer Dillinger to the
Michigan City Penitentiary until his trial, but the request is
denied by Murray.
February 17, 1934: While Dillinger faces
the electric chair in Crown Point, Harry Pierpont, Charley Makley
and Russell Clark all plead not guilty to the killing of Sheriff
Jesse Sarber. Feb. 26, 1934, Billie Frechette is allowed to visit
Dillinger at the Jail in Crown Point, pretending to be his wife.
February 28, 1934: The wooden gun that
Dillinger will use to escape Crown Point is being made by a
unidentified German woodworker in Chicago.
March 3, 1934: Dillinger escapes from
Crown Point jail with inmate Herbert Youngblood, armed only with
the wooden gun and his wits. Dillinger also steals Sheriff Lillian
Holley's police car and speeds for Chicago.
March 4, 1934: Billie Frechette rents a
room at the Santa Monica Apartments apartment at 3252 South Girard
Avenue, Minneapolis.
March 5, 1934: Sheriff Lillian Holley's
car is located at 1057 Ardmore, Chicago. Dillinger is now wanted
by the FBI for driving a stolen car across state lives, violating
the Dyer Act, a federal offense.
March 6, 1934: Dillinger, Homer Van
Meter, Eddie Green, Tommy Carroll, and Baby Face Nelson rob the
Security National Bank in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, escaping with
$49,500.
March 7, 1934: The FBI officially
announces they are entering the Dillinger case. March 13, 1934,
Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Homer Van Meter, Eddie Green, Tommy
Carroll, and John Hamilton rob the First National Bank of Mason
City, Iowa, escaping with $52,000.
March 14, 1934: Herbert Youngblood is
killed in a shootout in Port Huron, Michigan. During the battle,
officer Charles Cavanaugh is also killed.
March 14, 1934: Hamilton is taken to the
home of Dr. Mortensen, located at 2252 Fairmount Avenue, St. Paul.
March 18, 1934: Billie Frechette travels
to Mooresville to deliver a letter from Dillinger, and wooden gun
is given to Audrey Hancock’s husband.
March 20, 1934: Dillinger and Frechette
move into the Lincoln Court Apartments, at South Lexington Avenue,
St. Paul, using the alias names of Mr. and Mrs. Carl T. Hellman.
March 23, 1934: Dillinger drives to
Leipsic, Ohio, and visits Harry Pierpont's mother to help finance
his trial.
March 24, 1934: Pierpont and Makley
sentenced to death for the murder of Jesse Sarber, both are given
the electric chair. June 13, 1934 is date of executions. Russell
Clark is sentenced to life in prison.
March 27, 1934: Harry Pierpont and
Charley Makley transferred to the Columbus State Penitentiary to
await execution.
March 31, 1934: Suspicious neighbors
contact the FBI, Agents along with a St. Paul detective who
investigate the residence at apartment number 303. Homer Van Meter
posing as a soap sells man fires shots as agents and escapes on a
coal truck. Dillinger hears shots and is wounded in left calf
during his escape. Dillinger and Frechette drive to Eddie Green's
apartment at 3300 Fremont Avenue. Green takes Dillinger to see Dr.
Clayton E. May, at 1835 Park Avenue, Minneapolis, treats
Dillinger’s leg. He stays with Dr. May and his nurse, Augusta
Salt, until April 4.
April 3, 1934: Eddie Green machine
gunned by Federal Agents at his residence located at the 778 Rondo
Avenue, St. Paul. Agents mortally wound the outlaw as he attempts
to flee. He is unarmed.
April 4 1934: During a nationwide hunt,
Dillinger and Frechette quickly flee to Mooresville, Indiana to
visit John's father, arriving on the 5th. Knowing that the cops
are looking for him, Frechette tries to talk Dillinger out of
going to Mooresville. Dillinger replies, “Now Billie, who’s
smarter, me or the cops?”
April 8, 1934: Dillinger attends a
family reunion in Mooresville, while the farm is under
surveillance by the State Police. Newspapers have a field day when
the FBI claims they are hot on the outlaws trail.
April 9, 1934: Billie Frechette is
arrested in a Chicago Tavern located at 416 North State, while
Dillinger watches from across the street.
April 11, 1934: Dillinger outlaw Eddie
Green dies and is buried at St. Peter's Cemetery, Mendota,
Minnesota.
April 13, 1934: Dillinger and Homer Van
Meter rob the Warsaw, Indiana, police department of their arsenal,
taking two pistols and several bulletproof vests.
April 17, 1934: John Dillinger and John
Hamilton drive to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, to visit Hamilton's
sister and leave several weapons in a parked car.
April 20, 1934: John Dillinger, Homer
Van Meter, Marie Comforti, John Hamilton, Pat Cherrington, Tommy
Carroll, Jean Delaney, Pat Reilly, Helen Gillis and Baby Face
Nelson all arrive at Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish, Wisconsin
for a vacation from bank robbery.
April 21, 1934: Homer Van Meter sends
Pat Reilly and Pat Cherrington to drive to St. Paul to collect
$10,000 from Harry Sawyer.
April 22, 1934: The FBI surrounds the
Little Bohemia Lodge after being tipped off by Mrs. Emil Wanatka,
wife of owner of the Lodge. The gang escaped without firing a
shot. Helen Gillis, Marie Comforti, and Jean Delaney are captured
by Federal Agents. The FBI wounded innocent victims John Hoffman,
John Morris and killed Eugene Boiseneau. Agents J.C. Newman, Carl
C. Christensen are wounded at nearby Lodge by Baby Face Nelson
during his escape. Nelson also killed agent W. Carter Baum.
April 23, 1934: Attempting to drive into
St. Paul, John Hamilton is fatally wounded in back as Dillinger,
Van Meter battle with police. Dillinger contacts Doc Moran, an
underworld Doctor who had treated the Barker-Karpis gang, but he
refused to help.
April 27, 1934: John Hamilton dies in
Aurora, Illinois. He is buried by Dillinger, Van Meter, and
members of the Barker-Karpis gang.
May 2, 1934: The most talked about
bloodstained getaway car is found abandoned at 3333 North Leavitt,
Chicago.
May 15, 1934: Trial of Billie Frechette,
Dr. Clayton May and Augusta Salt begins in St. Paul.
May 23, 1934: Frechette and May found
guilty of conspiring to harbor John Dillinger. Nurse Salt was
released and charges dropped. Billie Frechette was sentenced to
two years at the women’s federal prison in Milan, Michigan. Dr.
May sentenced to two years at Leavenworth penitentiary.
May 24, 1934: East Chicago Officers
Martin O'Brien and Lloyd Mulvihill are killed by Mobsters in East
Chicago. John Dillinger and Van Meter gets the blame, but this was
not their style.
May 27, 1934: Dillinger moves into the
home of James Probasco at 2509 Crawford Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.
May 28, 1934: Dr. Wilhelm Loeser and
assistant Harold Cassidy begin plastic surgery on Dillinger at the
Probasco home. Loeser also removes Dillinger's fingerprints with
boric acid.
May 31, 1934: Dillinger’s bandages are
removed to display his new face.
June 1934: While trying out his new
face, Dillinger meets Polly Hamilton at the “Barrel of Fun Club”
in Chicago.
June 3, 1934: Dr. Loeser now begins
plastic surgery on Homer Van Meter as he did John Dillinger with
the help of his assistant Dr. Cassidy.
June 7, 1934: Dillinger gangster, Tommy
Carroll is shot to death by Waterloo detectives in Iowa. He is
buried at Oakland Cemetery, St. Paul.
June 21, 1934: Homer Van Meter picks up
girlfriend Marie Comforti and the two travel to Calumet City,
Illinois, where they rent a room under assumed names.
June 22, 1934: John Dillinger celebrates
his 31st birthday with Polly Hamilton at the French Casino
nightclub, in Chicago. The FBI sends a birthday present for
Dillinger…on this day he is the first
criminal in history to be named “Public Enemy Number One” on the
FBI’s most wanted list.
June 23, 1934: John Dillinger and Polly
Hamilton return to the French Casino Nightclub to celebrate her
birthday.
June 26, 1934: With Polly Hamilton, John
Dillinger attends Cubs game at Wrigley Field.
June 27, 1934: Harry Copeland sentenced
to 25 years for his part in the Greencastle bank robbery.
June 30, 1934: Supposedly John Dillinger,
Homer Van Meter, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd and John Paul
Chase rob the Merchants' National Bank in South Bend, Indiana, The
gang escapes with $30,000. There is actually no solid evidence
that Dillinger and Floyd were involved in this robbery.
July 2, 1934: John Dillinger enjoys a
movie at the Biograph Theater located at 2433 Lincoln Avenue in
Chicago.
July 7, 1934: Pat Cherrington and Opal
Long are sentenced to two years on harboring charges in the
federal prison for women at Milan, Michigan, on harboring charges.
July 10, 1934: John Dillinger, Polly
Hamilton, Van Meter and Marie Comforti all attend the World's Fair
together.
July 11, 1934: John Dillinger meets with
Arthur O'Leary in Chicago to help Billie Frechette gain her
freedom.
July 22, 1934: After making a deal with
the Feds to help save her from being deported out of the country,
Madam Anna Sage calls Agent Melvin Purvis to inform him that
Dillinger, Polly Hamilton and herself will either attend the
Biograph or the Marlboro Theater. The FBI set a trap. About 8:30
P.M., John Dillinger, Polly Hamilton and Anna Sage (The Lady In
Red) all arrive at the Biograph Theater. The three enter the
theater, while 22 federal agents and five East Chicago officers
surround the area so tight, a Nat couldn’t escape the net. At
10:35 P.M., Dillinger leaves the Theater with a woman on each arm.
Four shots are fired, and Dillinger is hit twice, one bullet hit
his left side, and the other entered the back of his neck and
exiting beneath the right eye, killing the most celebrated
gangster of the 1930s. Dillinger is carried in wicker basket
from the undertaker to the hearse to begin journey to Mooresville.
After a six-hour ride, the caravan arrives. The body is carried
into the Harvey Funeral Home. Body is removed at 10:15 p.m. and
moved to Maywood, Indiana, to the home of Audrey Hancock,
Dillinger's sister.
July 25, 1934: Audrey Hancock allows
public viewing of her brother, and America’s number one criminal
John Dillinger. Dillinger is buried next to his mother at Crown
Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.
SOURCES:
Dillinger, The Hidden Truth – A Tribute to
Gangsters & G-Men of the Great Depression era by Tony Stewart.
Johndillingerhistoricalmuseum.4t.com
Weapons used by John Dillinger
Wikipedia
American gangster and bank robber John
Dillinger is known to have used many weapons during his criminal
career.
Colt .38 Super automatic, with Cutts
compensator, 22-round magazine, and vertical foregrip. Modified by
San Antonio arms supplier Hyman S. Lehman (his gun shop was
located at 111 South Flores Street). Available in .38 or .45. A
machine pistol
was left behind by Dillinger at the Lincoln Court Apartments on
March 31, 1934. A machine pistol was used by Baby Face
Nelson with deadly results near Little Bohemia in April 1934.
Colt Monitor, the commercial version of the Browning Automatic
Rifle. Used by Nelson and Chase in Barrington on November
27, 1934. The 30.06 Monitor was introduced in 1931. Only 125 were
ever produced. Discontinued circa 1940. Rate of fire:
500 rounds per minute. Exceedingly rare, Monitors fetch upwards of
$100,000 in today's market. If the Nelson/Chase
Monitor were ever to surface, it would probably top $1 million.
Model 1905 Smith & Wesson Hand-Ejector .38, used by Detective
Henry Cummings on March 31, 1934, at the Lincoln Court
Apartments during his shootout with Dillinger. A six-shooter,
Cummings testified at the Frechette trial that he fired
five times in Dillinger's direction and was out. As a backup, he
was also carrying a Colt .25 Model 1908 Vest Pocket, but
probably wisely decided to reload the .38 instead of employing the
Colt. Donated to the Minnesota Historical Society by
Cummings' heirs.
Dillinger's wooden gun. At last count, there are
approximately eight wooden guns that have surfaced, with most of
them being of recent vintage. There are a handful of researchers
who believe the gun Dillinger is holding in the famous
photograph taken at the family farm on April 8, 1934, hasn't been
found yet. The argument is that the barrel on the gun
Dillinger is holding appears to be a bit longer than those that
have surfaced, as well as being almost perfectly round.
The barrel is reflecting the sun, suggesting a metal barrel. The
matter is still open to debate. According to G. Russell
Girardin, Dillinger's first biographer, O'Leary had made a
duplicate of the gun. He kept the original for himself and
returned the phony to Dillinger's family, where it was
subsequently stolen. The O'Leary duplicate is reportedly in a
private collection in Washington State.
Savage Model 1907 .32 ACP automatic, black, No. 258872. The gun
Herbert Youngblood, Dillinger's co-escapee at Crown
Point, used to kill Under-Sheriff Charles Cavanaugh, critically
wound Deputy Sheriff Howard Lohr, and also wound Sheriff
William Van Antwerp and civilian Eugene Field in Port Huron,
Michigan, on March 16, 1934. Youngblood was also carrying a
nickel-plated Smith & Wesson .38 Police Special, with six-inch
barrel, bearing No. 613951 on the butt of the gun, and
chamber No. 33524. This gun was used to cause his own death at the
hands of civilian Eugene Field. Both guns taken March
3 during the Crown Point escape.
Thompson submachine gun. Models 1921 and 1928 were the weapons of
choice for nearly all 1930s outlaws. If acquired
legitimately, a Thompson originally sold for $200. Rate of fire:
720 rpm (Model 1928), 850 rpm (Model 1921). A Thompson
was first secured by the gang during their raid of the Auburn,
Indiana, police station on October 14, 1933, and made its
debut nine days later at the Greencastle robbery. Three officers
were killed with the Thompson by Dillinger gang members:
Martin J. O'Brien and Francis Lloyd Mulvihill (by Van Meter on
Thursday, May 24, 1934) and William Patrick O'Malley (by
Dillinger on Monday, January 15, 1934). All three policemen are
buried near each other at Calvary Cemetery in Portage,
Indiana. According to records research Colt Thompson Submachine
Gun serial number 5878 which was stolen from the Peru,
Indiana police department is currently located at the Tucson,
Arizona Police Dept. HQ. This weapon was seized along with
others after the fire at the Congress Hotel where Dillinger's Gang
had been hiding out in January 1934.
.351 Winchester Model 1907, modified by Lehman, with a 20-round
magazine and vertical foregrip. A favorite of Van
Meter's, he used one at the South Bend robbery on Saturday, June
30, 1934, killing Officer Howard Wagner. Found in most
recovered Dillinger arsenals, including Tucson and Little
Bohemia.
Colt .38 Super automatic (stock). One of the pistols found in Mary
Longnaker's Dayton, Ohio, apartment on Friday,
September 22, 1933, at 1:30 a.m. The .38 was found between the
cushions of the sofa, along with several other guns in
Dillinger's luggage. The bandit was standing in the middle of the
living room looking at photographs of their recent trip
to the World's Fair when detectives stormed in. Currently in
possession of the Dayton History at Carillon Park.
The Dillinger Gang was the name given to
a crew of American Depression-era bank robbers led by John
Dillinger and included other famous gangsters of the period, such
as Baby Face Nelson. The gang was noted for a successful string of
bank robberies, using modern tools and tactics, in the Midwestern
United States from September 1933 to July 1934.
During the execution of these crimes, the gang
killed 10 men and wounded 7 more. During this period they also
performed three escapes from jail that resulted in the death of a
sheriff and the wounding of two guards.
The increasing use of modern law enforcement
techniques by the newly strengthened Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) led to the destruction of the gang. Many of
its members were killed or imprisoned. Most notably, the FBI
killed Dillinger in 1934 when he exited a movie theatre.
Tactics
The gang employed military-inspired tactics
taught to them in prison by men such as Herman Lamm. Tactics
included the use of roles during the robbery: Lookout, getaway
driver, lobby man and vault man. Gang members had modern weapons
like the Thompson submachine gun and also had bullet proof vests.
Lamm is credited with creating the first
detailed getaway maps, known as "gits", to improve the chances for
escape after the robbery. Powerful vehicles, like Ford coupes with
a V8 engine, at the scene of the crime were known as "work cars"
but were discarded after the crime to foil eye-witness reports
given to police. Gangsters made use of caches of gasoline for
their getaway cars as well as medical kits to treat injuries.
Activities
Before Lima
New Carlisle National Bank, New Carlisle, Ohio,
of $10,000 on June 21, 1933;
The Commercial Bank, Daleville, Indiana, of
$3,500 on July 17, 1933;
Montpelier National Bank, Montpelier, Indiana,
of $6,700 on August 4, 1933;
Bluffton Bank, Bluffton, Ohio, of $6,000 on
August 14, 1933;
Massachusetts Avenue State Bank, Indianapolis,
Indiana, of $21,000 on September 6, 1933;
After Dillinger was broken out of Lima
Home Banking Company, Saint Mary's, Ohio of
$12,000;
Central National Bank And Trust Co.,
Greencastle, Indiana, of $74,802 on October 23, 1933;
American Bank And Trust Co., Racine, Wisconsin,
of $28,000 on November 20, 1933;
First National Bank, East Chicago, Indiana, of
$20,000 on January 15, 1934;
After Dillinger's escape from Crown Point
Securities National Bank And Trust Co., Sioux
Falls, South Dakota, of $49,500 on March 6, 1934;
First National Bank, Mason City, Iowa, of
$52,000 on March 13, 1934;
First National Bank, Fostoria, Ohio, of $17,000
on May 3, 1934;
Merchants National Bank, South Bend, Indiana,
of $29,890 on June 30, 1934.
To obtain more supplies, the gang attacked the
state police arsenals in Auburn and Peru, stealing machine guns,
rifles, revolvers, ammunition and bulletproof vests. On October
23, 1933, the gang robbed the Central National Bank & Trust
Company in Greencastle, Indiana, making off with $74,802. They
then headed to Chicago to hide out.
The gang traveled to Racine, Wisconsin and
robbed the American Bank and Trust Company, making off with
$28,000. On December 14, 1933, CPD Detective William Shanley was
killed.
The police had been put on high alert and
suspected the Dillinger gang of involvement in the robbery of the
Unity Trust And Savings Bank of $8,700 the day before. The robbery
was eventually determined to have been the work of another outfit.
Shanley was following up on a tip that one of the gang's cars was
being serviced at a local garage. John "Red" Hamilton showed up at
the garage that afternoon. When Shanley approached him, Hamilton
pulled a pistol and shot him twice, killing Shanley, then escaped.
Shanley's murder led to the Chicago Police Department's
establishment of a forty-man "Dillinger Squad."
Daytona Beach, Florida
Dillinger and Frechette, were at a house on
Daytona Beach, Florida on December 19, a day or two later they
were joined by members of his gang, these were Pierpont, Makley,
Russell Clark and Opal Long. Edwin Utter was the caretaker who
occupied the garage apartment at the same address, and he told how
the couples didn't bother anyone (they kept to themselves) and had
no outside contacts, as far as he knew, and he didn't see anyone
visit them.
To Utter the group had the appearance of
gangsters. Someone in the group at some time mentioned to him they
were coming from Chicago. Utter said the group received a
considerable amount of mail. After the gang had gone, several
letters came addressed to Frank Kirtley (an alias of Dillinger),
J.C. Davies (alias of Makley), and J.C. Evans (an alias of
Pierpont), but as the gang had not left a forwarding addresses,
they were returned to the postman.
Utter stated there was considerable drinking
going on, especially at night. He said the gang stayed at the
cottage until about January 12, leaving at night. This January
date would have posed yet another problem for Dillinger's defense
team had he gone to trial for Officer O'Malley's killing.
East Chicago robbery
While Makley, Clark, and Pierpont extended
their vacation by driving west to Tucson, Arizona, Dillinger left
Florida on January 12 and met up with Hamilton in Chicago at noon
on January 15, a meeting that had been arranged between the two
men while Dillinger was in Daytona Beach. Later that afternoon
they robbed the First National Bank in East Chicago.
East Chicago marked the first time serious
violence occurred at a Dillinger robbery, a trend that would
continue through South Bend, the last job. Killed by Dillinger was
East Chicago patrolman William Patrick O'Malley, the outlaw's
first and only murder victim. At approximately 2:50 p.m., 10
minutes before closing time, Dillinger and Hamilton, and an
unidentified driver, pulled up in front of the bank on Chicago
Avenue on the wrong side of the street, facing east in the
westbound lane, double parked, and exited the vehicle, leaving the
driver to wait in the idling car.
Hamilton waited in the bank's vestibule, while
Dillinger entered the main room of the bank. Once inside,
Dillinger leisurely opened up a leather case containing a
Thompson, pulled it out, and yelled to the 20 to 30 people in the
bank, "This is a stickup. Put up your l and get back against the
wall."
The bank's vice president, Walter Spencer,
while hiding, kicked a button which touched off the burglar alarm.
Dillinger then went to the door of the vestibule and told Hamilton
to come in. Hamilton produced a small leather bag and began
scooping up the cash cage by cage. Dillinger told him, "Take your
time. We're in no hurry."
Meanwhile, the first police contingent arrived
on the scene after receiving the alarm at police headquarters.
Four officers arrived: Patrick O'Malley, Hobart Wilgus, Pete
Whalen, and Julius Schrenko.
After a quick look through the windows of the
bank, the officers could see a holdup was in progress and that one
of the men was carrying a submachine gun. Shrenko ran to a nearby
drugstore and called for more backup. While Schrenko was calling
headquarters, Wilgus entered the bank by himself, but was soon
covered by Dillinger. The outlaw "relieved" him of his pistol,
emptied the cartridges, then tossed it back to the officer.
Referring to his Thompson, Dillinger told Wilgus, "You oughtn't be
afraid of this thing. I ain't even sure it'll shoot."
Turning his attention to Hamilton, Dillinger
said, "Don't let those coppers outside worry you. Take your time
and be sure to get all the dough. We'll take care of them birds on
the outside when we get there." Dillinger then discovered the
hiding VP, Spencer, and ordered him up against the wall with
everyone else.
Schrenko's call for backup emptied the station
of all but its phone operator. Four more officers arrived:
Captains Tim O'Neil and Ed Knight, and Officers Nick Ranich and
Lloyd Mulvihill (Mulvihill would be murdered by Van Meter towards
the end of May).
These four officers joined the other three in
positions on either side of the Chicago Avenue entrance to the
bank. Apparently, not one of them noticed the getaway car double
parked on the wrong side of the street right outside the bank
door, with its driver sitting unconcerned in the seat with the
motor running.
Dillinger then ordered Spencer and Wilgus to
lead the way out of the bank, acting as shields. The four walked
down the sidewalk toward the car. O'Malley, standing about 20 feet
from the front door, saw an opening and fired four times at
Dillinger, the bullets bouncing off the outlaw's bullet-proof
vest.
Dillinger pushed Spencer away with the barrel
of his Thompson and yelled, "Get over. I'll get that son of a
bitch." O'Malley fell dead, with eight holes in a line across his
chest. As Hamilton made his way into the street, he took a bullet
to the right hand, causing him to drop an emptied pistol.
Dillinger kept firing until he climbed into the rear seat of the
car. Two game wardens who had driven up to the scene emptied their
guns into the car as it started to pull away. The car actually
started to pull away before Hamilton had closed the left rear
door, and the door was partly torn off as it caught on the rear of
another vehicle.
The Ohio plates used at the gang's earlier
robbery of a Greencastle bank in October were used on the East
Chicago getaway car. Police believed the car "may have been a
Plymouth," but was actually a 1934 Ford Tudor Sedan. The abandoned
car was found the following day at Byron Street and California
Avenue, Chicago.
Every officer, as well as numerous witnesses
inside the bank, identified Dillinger as being one of the robbers
– and the gang member who shot Officer O'Malley. Prints were taken
of the piece Hamilton left behind, which ID'd him. Dillinger was
officially charged with Officer O'Malley's murder, although the
identity of the actual killer is debatable, and it is still
questioned by some whether Dillinger participated in the robbery
at all.
As police began closing in again, the men left
Chicago to hide out first in Florida; later at the Gardner Hotel
in El Paso, Texas, where a highly visible police presence
dissuaded Dillinger from trying to cross the border at the Santa
Fe Bridge in downtown El Paso to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico; and
finally in Tucson, Arizona.
Hiding out in Tucson
On January 21, 1934, a fire broke out at the
Hotel Congress in Tucson where members of the Dillinger gang were
staying. Forced to leave their luggage behind, they were rescued
through a window and down a fire truck ladder. Makley and Clark
tipped several firemen $12 (each, according to a bureau report) to
climb back up and retrieve the luggage, affording the firefighters
a good look at several members of Dillinger's gang.
One of them, William Benedict, later recognized
Makley, Pierpont, and Ed Shouse while thumbing through a copy of
True Detective and informed the police, who traced Makley's
luggage to 927 North Second Avenue. Officers from the Tucson
Police Department went to the address on the afternoon of January
25, and there arrested Clark after a struggle. They found him in
possession of $1,264.70 in cash.
Makley was then followed to the Grabbe Electric
& Radio Store on Congress Street, where he was looking at a radio
capable of picking up police calls, and was apprehended there. He
had $794.09 of cash in his possession.
To capture Pierpont, the police staged a
routine traffic stop and lured him to the police station, where
they took him by surprise and arrested him. There was $99.81
recovered in Pierpont's personal effects and $3,116.20 on Mary
Kinder.
Dillinger was the last one taken, caught when
he returned to the bungalow where Clark was captured. He had
$7,175.44 in his possession, including notes from his robbery of
the First National Bank in East Chicago, A000919 through A001107.
These amounts, along with a leather money bag found, totaled over
$25,000 in cash, as well as a cache of machine guns and several
automatic weapons.
The men were extradited to the Midwest after a
debate between prosecutors as to where the gang would be
prosecuted first. The governor compromised, and ordered that
Dillinger would be extradited to the Lake County Jail in Crown
Point for Officer O'Malley's murder in the East Chicago bank
robbery, while Pierpont, Makley and Clark were sent to Ohio to
stand trial for Sheriff Sarber's murder. Shouse's testimony at the
March 1934 trials of Pierpont, Makley and Clark led to all three
men being convicted. Pierpont and Makley received the death
penalty, while Clark received a life sentence.
On September 22, Makley would be shot dead by
guards when he and Pierpont attempted to escape with fake pistols
that were carved from bars of soap and painted black with shoe
polish. Pierpont was wounded, and executed on October 17. Clark
would ultimately be released in 1968, dying of cancer a few months
later.
Dillinger was flown back from Douglas Airport,
Tucson, to Midway Airport, Chicago over the course of two days.
With Lake County Chief Deputy Carroll Holley (Sheriff Lillian
Holley's nephew), and East Chicago Chief of Police Nick Makar
escorting the outlaw, the plane departed Tucson at 11:14 p.m. on
Monday, January 29.
After stops in Douglas, AZ (plane change), El
Paso, Abilene, Dallas (another plane change), Fort Worth, Little
Rock and Memphis (another plane change, a Ford Tri-Motor), there
was yet another stop in St. Louis, where Chicago Times
reporter/photographer Sol Davis boarded the aircraft and was
obliged by Dillinger to take a few photos and ask some questions.
After a while, growing weary of the questions
and being photographed, the outlaw told Davis, "Go away and let me
sleep." Dillinger's brutal flight schedule ended at about six p.m.
January 30 when the plane finally touched down at Midway. Waiting
for him on the ground were 32 heavily armed Chicago policemen. A
13-car caravan consisting of 29 troopers from Indiana was ready to
escort Dillinger to Crown Point, 30 miles away, to be tried for
the O'Malley killing.
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, robbery
Dillinger was for a time imprisoned at Crown
Point jail, although he later escaped. Three days after
Dillinger's escape, at about 9:45 a.m. on March 6, a vehicle
(green 1934 Packard Super 8, 1934 Kansas license 13-786) filled
with six members of the gang parked near the curb at the Security
National Bank and Trust Company in Sioux Falls.
One of the bank's bookkeepers, Mary Lucas, was
applying some lipstick when she looked out the window and saw the
Packard roll up the street. "If I ever saw a holdup car, that's
one," she said to a bank stenographer next to her. The
stenographer laughed, saying that she'd been hearing too much
lately about bank robberies.
Before they could get back to their desks,
Dillinger, Nelson, Green and Van Meter had entered the bank and
subdued both tellers and customers. Hamilton, the driver, stayed
with the car, while Tommy Carroll patrolled outside the bank with
a Thompson. Inside, Nelson spotted motorcycle patrolman Hale Keith
who was approaching the bank on foot. He fired his Thompson at
Keith through a plate glass window while standing on an assistant
cashier's counter.
Multiple bullets hit Keith in the abdomen, in
the right leg, about six inches below the hip, the right wrist,
and the right arm, just below the elbow but would survive. Nelson
was reported to have laughed when Keith fell, then saying, "I got
one! I got one!"
H.M. Shoebotham, a reporter for the Daily
Argus-Leader, was in the office of Sheriff Mel Sells at the time
of the Sheriff receiving a call informing him of the robbery. Mel
grabbed a machine gun and a riot gun, and gave the riot gun to
Shoebotham. They both got into a car and drove to the robbery
scene, three blocks away.
On the way to the bank, Sells figured his
strategy. Across from the bank stood the Lincoln Hotel. He planned
to reach a second floor window, stick his gun out and fire at the
robbers. When he reached the bank, scores of spectators were
watching the activities. In the center of the street in front of
the bank Carroll was standing with a machine gun. Occasionally, he
would fire a few volleys, supposedly to keep the assembled people
impressed.
There exists a photograph taken of Tommy
Carroll from across the street during the robbery, an "action"
photo that is most likely unique to prewar bank robberies. Sheriff
Sells backed his coupe into the alley behind the Lincoln Hotel and
took his weapon to the second floor, leaving the Thompson with
Shoebotham.
Surrounding themselves with bystanders, the
gang backed out of the bank to the Packard. No officers dared to
shoot. The outlaws picked out five people to go with as hostages
and commanded them to stand on the running boards. The hostages
were Leo Olson, a bank-teller; Mildred Bostwick, Alice Biegen,
Emma Knabach, stenographers; and Mary Lucas.
As the Packard sped away from the bank,
Patrolman Harley Chrisman managed to shoot out the radiator.
Shortly after they left town, they swerved to avoid collisions
with two horse-drawn milk wagons. Moments later, Dillinger
released Olson, then made the women get into the car, which was
already packed with the rest of the gang, their guns, extra
gasoline cans, and the robbery loot.
Bill Conklin of the Wilson service station on
South Minnesota Avenue saw the Packard coming down the street with
smoke pouring from the hood and assumed the car was on fire. He
ran into the station, grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran back
out. One of the robbers said, "Get back in there" as they had
slowed up for him.
The car eventually began to slow down right
outside of town, giving three pursuing police cars time to catch
up. Two miles outside of the Lakeland farm, the gang got out of
the Packard and made the hostages stand around them, then opened
fire on their pursuers. The three squad cars retreated. The gang
then hijacked a car owned by local farmer Alfred Muesche, and
transferred the gas cans and money into it.
About 10 miles outside of Sioux Falls, the gang
released the hostages, and drove off. The hostages were eventually
picked up by a passing motorist who drove them back to the bank.
The police scoured the highways by ground and
by air over a 50-mile segment of territory south and east of Sioux
Falls. The men they were looking for were believed to have ditched
Muesche's Dodge for "a big Lincoln" about two or three miles
northwest of Shindler. From St. Paul came the assurance that 20
police cars were patrolling all roads heading into St. Paul and
Minneapolis, but the gang made it safely back to the Twin Cities
and began preparing for the Mason City heist.
Mason City, Iowa, robbery
Seven days later, on the afternoon of March 13,
at 2:40 p.m., the same six (Dillinger, Nelson, Hamilton, Green,
Van Meter, and Carroll), plus an added seventh man as the probable
driver, either Joseph Burns or Red Forsythe, drove down State
Street in a 1933 blue Buick 90 series sedan (with the rear window
removed) and parked in front of Mulcahy's prescription shop.
All sources tell a different story as to who
went in the bank and who patrolled outside, but it was believed
certain that Dillinger took a position outside the front entrance,
with Nelson on the north side of the street near the alley behind
the bank, and at least Hamilton and Green entered the bank, with
probably Van Meter. From descriptions by witnesses later, Tommy
Carroll was also positioned outside. Carroll stood in the doorway
of the prescription shop on State.
Freelance photographer H.C. Kunkleman happened
to be filming the bank when the robbery began. Kunkleman was told
by one of the bandits to turn the camera off, that they would be
the ones doing all the shooting. He began filming again once the
gang made their getaway (the five-minute film still exists).
Green and Hamilton (and probably Van Meter)
entered the bank and fired volleys into the walls and ceiling.
Thirty-one employees and approximately 25 customers were ordered
to put their hands up. Tom Walters, a bank guard positioned in an
elevated bulletproof observation booth near the front entrance,
fired a teargas cartridge, according to procedure, which hit Green
in the back. Walters' tear gas gun then jammed.
One of the robbers, either Van Meter or Green,
sprayed the booth with machine-gun fire, which shattered the
glass, but left Walters unharmed. Tom Barclay, a clerk, threw a
teargas grenade over the balcony of the lobby.
While the tellers' cash drawers were being
emptied (drawers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7, missing 5, about $5,000),
Hamilton grabbed assistant cashier Harry Fisher and brought him
back to open the vault. About a week earlier, Eddie Green (most
likely) had appeared at Fisher's door asking for directions, then
peered attentively at Fisher's face, something Fisher would later
remember. Directions for alternate routes for the getaway were
also mapped out at this time.
Once they got to the vault, Hamilton erred by
allowing a steel gate to close and lock between him and Fisher.
Fisher now could only hand stacks of $5 bills to Hamilton through
the bars, greatly reducing the gang's take from $250,000 to
$52,000. During the robbery, Green would periodically yell out the
time to the others.
Meanwhile, crowds began to form outside after
word had spread that a robbery was in progress at the bank. James
Buchanan, an off-duty officer, who had grabbed a sawed-off shotgun
when he heard about the robbery, hid behind the Grand Army of the
Republic monument. Unable to fire because of the crowd of people,
he instead exchanged barbs with Dillinger.
Of the robbers, Dillinger was the only one for
whom a clothing description could be provided: light gray suit,
dark overcoat and dark hat. Buchanan called back for him to get
away from the crowd and he would fight it out with him. Buchanan
said that Dillinger's upper lip turned into a snarl as he talked.
Dillinger, armed with a Thompson, drew a .38 from an inside pocket
and fired at Buchanan, but missed.
Outside the bank, Nelson was acting somewhat
crazily, firing randomly in different directions. One man, R.L.
James, was hit in the leg by one of Nelson's bursts. Tommy Carroll
came over to check on James' condition. An oncoming car came and
Carroll blasted it with his machine gun. "The radiator of the car
was filled with lead and the frantic driver backed out at the rate
of 25 mph."
From his third-floor office above the bank,
police judge John C. Shipley heard the gunfire and went to the
window. Dillinger sent a volley of shots in Shipley's direction,
warning him to stay back. The judge retreated, but went to his
desk and grabbed a pistol, then returned to the window and fired,
hitting Dillinger in the left shoulder.
Hamilton, Green and Van Meter, with a large
canvas bag of cash, left through the front door of the bank,
surrounding themselves with hostages that Dillinger had collected.
The entire gang moved as one around the corner onto State Street,
with Dillinger in the center of the group. Judge Shipley, again,
was at a window from above the bank and risked firing into the
group, this time striking Hamilton in the shoulder. When Hamilton
saw R.L. James lying on the street wounded, he said, "I thought
there wasn't going to be any more of this?" Nelson, who had now
joined them, said, "I thought he was a copper."
Nelson then stopped two women who had just come
out of a nearby butcher shop and were at the intersection of State
Street and the alley directly east of the bank, and marshalled
them to the car and commanded them to stand outside of it. Before
they reached the car, Nelson snatched the package of meat from
Mrs. Clark's hands, threw it to the ground and stomped on it,
silencing her protests with, "You'll get paid plenty for it."
The number of hostages varies wildly in
Dillinger books, but the Mason City Globe-Gazette' from that day
names 11 people. A couple women sat inside the car on the robbers'
laps. Bill Schmidt, an employee of Killmer Drug, was delivering a
bag of sandwiches to the bank and was stopped by Dillinger and
also shoved into the Buick. While riding through town, the bag of
sandwiches was discovered and they were quickly eaten by the gang.
The Buick slowly moved north on Federal Avenue
to 2nd Street, taking a left, headed west to Adams, taking another
left. The car stayed at about 25 mph within the downtown area.
Near 4th Street, Clarence MGowan, along with his wife and
five-year-old daughter, spotted the car. McGowan began to pursue
the bandit car after mistakenly believing the vehicle, loaded with
people on the outside of the car, to be part of a wedding or "some
kind of wild demonstration." He was shot in the abdomen after
pulling up too close to the Buick. McGowan went home and bathed
before going to the hospital. Both McGowan and R.L. James,
Nelson's casualty, recovered.
The Buick stopped from time to time so that
roofing nails could be spread across the highway, "sacks full of
them." Oncoming cars were stopped by the gang and were ordered to
stay where they were for five minutes before moving on. Bill
Schmidt said that "The bandits would drive fairly fast on the
straight away, but slowed down for the bumps."
The hostages were let off a few at a time and
individually. Mrs. Clark (carrying the meat earlier) and Mrs.
Graham were the last two hostages to be released, at a point three
and a half miles south and a mile and a half east of Mason City.
Asked if she'd be able to identify any of the men, Mrs. Clark
said, "I sure would; especially the one who winked at me."
The Buick was found in a gravel pit about four
miles south of the city later that evening. According to police,
two cars had been waiting for the gang, with one driver in each
vehicle.
Once the gang made it back to St. Paul, Green
showed up at Pat Reilly's, 27-year-old fringe gang member, husband
and father, and also bartender at St. Paul's Green Lantern, asking
him if he knew where Dr. (Nels) Mortensen's home in St. Paul was,
and requested that he accompany him to see the doctor.
Reilly later stated to agents that at that time
Eddie Green was driving a Hudson and that Dillinger and Hamilton
were in the back seat; that both individuals had gunshot wounds in
the shoulders and that Dillinger appeared to be nauseated and
slightly dizzy.
All four proceeded to Mortensen's home at 2252
Fairmount Avenue in St. Paul, arriving just after midnight.
Mortensen answered the call in this night clothes. He examined
both men, probing the wounds.
Reilly said that during this time Dillinger was
"quite ill and wobbly or faint" and had to sit down on the couch.
Mortensen told them the wounds weren't serious and that he didn't
have his medical bag there. He asked them if they had any liquor.
They replied in the affirmative. He instructed them to go home and
take a stiff drink and to return to his office the next day. They
didn't appear.
The four returned to Green's car and drove to
the intersection of Snelling and Selby, where Green gave Reilly a
$5 bill and let him out of the car. Reilly said he hailed a Blue
and White taxi and then returned home.
Eddie Green was later questioned by the FBI,
and gave the names of the two doctors to them while in a critical
state in the hospital.
Proceeding the events of the Mason City, Iowa
robbery, John Dillinger and his crew reached for safety at Little
Bohemia Lodge, located in northern Wisconsin. The owner of the
lodge grew suspicious after seeing the behavior of the group of
men, and tipped the FBI.
Three FBI agents positioned themselves about
the cabin, and waited. Eventually, the agents opened fire on the
lodge towards the gangsters, and Dillinger and his crew decided to
flee through the woods after returning fire briefly. They escaped,
and with no casualties.
Little Bohemia Lodge
About 1:00 of the afternoon of April 20, Van
Meter, Marie Comforti ("Mickey"), and Pat Reilly were the first to
arrive at Little Bohemia Lodge, located 13 miles south of Mercer
in northern Wisconsin, in the town of Manitowish Waters.
Emil Wanatka, born in Bohemia (in Czech
Republic) in 1888 and who opened the resort just four years prior,
greeted them. Arriving later, about 5:30, were Dillinger, Hamilton
and Cherrington by way of Sault Ste. Marie, then Nelson and wife
Helen, who had come in from Chicago, and last to arrive were Tommy
Carroll and Jean Delaney.
Reilly stated that on that first night he,
Carroll, Lester Gillis (Nelson), Dillinger, and Emil Wanatka
played "hearts" for several hours and that the game broke up
around midnight. He went to the bar to get a drink while the
others went to their various rooms.
Hamilton and Pat Cherrington occupied the end
room on the left side of the upstairs in the lodge, while Van
Meter and Comforti occupied the room opposite. Tommy Carroll and
Jean Delaney, together with Gillis and Helen, occupied the little
cottage on the right of Little Bohemia, near the entrance.
Dillinger slept in the first bedroom on the
left upstairs in the main lodge. Reilly stated to agents that he
was told by Van Meter that Dillinger's room had two beds and that
he would be sleeping in the same room with Dillinger.
Reilly stated that as he entered the room,
Dillinger was lying on the bed on the left side of the room,
reading a detective magazine and with a bottle of whiskey on the
stand near the bed; that as he came into the room Dillinger laid
his magazine on the table but that no conversation took place
between them. He noticed when Dillinger turned over as though to
sleep he had a .45 automatic under his pillow. Reilly advised that
he then took a drink of whiskey out of the bottle, which was
16-year-old bonded whiskey, the name of which he couldn't recall.
He then locked the door and turned out the light and went to bed
on the right-hand side of the room.
The gang had assured the owners that they would
give no trouble, but they monitored the owners whenever they left
or spoke on the phone. Emil's wife Nan and her brother managed to
evade Baby Face Nelson, who was tailing them, and mailed a letter
of warning to a U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago, which later
contacted the Division of Investigation.
Days later, a score of federal agents led by
Hugh Clegg and Melvin Purvis (The G Man) approached the lodge in
the early morning hours. Two barking watchdogs announced their
arrival, but the gang was so used to Nan Wanatka's dogs that they
did not bother to inspect the disturbance.
It was only after the federal agents mistakenly
shot a local resident and two innocent Civilian Conservation Corps
workers as they were about to drive away in a car that the
Dillinger gang was alerted to the presence of the BOI. Gunfire
between the groups lasted only momentarily, but the whole gang
managed to escape in various ways despite the agents' efforts to
surround and storm the lodge.
J.J. Dunn, Dakota County Sheriff, received a
call from the Department of Justice at 3:40 a.m. on Monday, April
23, giving notice of the possibility that the gang might be headed
his way and to look for Wisconsin plate No. 92652 on the Model A.
Dunn gathered a posse that included deputy sheriffs Joe Heinen,
Norman Dieters, and Larry Dunn, with Hastings night policeman Fred
McArdle.
The coupe was spotted six hours later, shortly
after 10 a.m., entering the city from the south on Highway 3, then
"turned the drug store corner to cross the high bridge, in the
direction of St. Paul."
The officers used Heinen's Buick sedan in the
pursuit, with Heinen driving and McArdle armed with a .30-30 and
Dieters a .30-40. A large cattle truck slipped in between the
officers' car and the Model A, and Heinen was unable to pass the
truck until he reached the opposite side of the spiral bridge.
Upon leaving the north end of the bridge, the bandit car was seen
climbing the hill a half a mile across the valley.
The Buick started to creep up on the trio.
McArdle and Dieters fired warning shots outside their windows as
the two cars were leaving St. Paul Park. Dillinger, the middle
passenger, with Van Meter driving, returned fire with his .45
through the rear window of the coupe. As the cars roared up the
highway toward Newport, approximately 50 shots were exchanged. The
chase that started near St. Paul Park, according to the officers
involved, was for about 20 miles, not 50, as it is usually
reported.
McArdle fired the lucky shot that inflicted the
mortal wound to Hamilton. In describing the death shot, McArdle
said, "When the bullet hit the car, the coupe seemed to wobble for
a minute and then we thought it was going into the ditch. The
driver managed to keep it on the pavement, however, and after
doubling back to St. Paul Park and crossing the highway toward
Cottage Grove, they lost us in the hills."
The car would soon be replaced before heading
to Chicago to seek out medical attention for Hamilton. It should
be remembered that the trio hadn't slept at all the night before.
It was also extremely cramped in the coupe with three people, one
of them being mortally wounded, as the length of a Model A seat is
only 39 inches across.
Much has been written about the slowness of the
Model A used in the escape (top speed about 45 mph), but with a
large part of the driving done in darkness, Van Meter wouldn't
have been going much faster than 40-45 mph in any car, since
headlight systems in all cars of the period were notoriously
inadequate. High speed at night was simply too dangerous. It's
unfortunate for Dillinger, Van Meter and Hamilton that they didn't
ditch the coupe for a faster car at daybreak. It probably wasn't
possible to do so.
Hamilton was taken by Dillinger and Van Meter
to see Joseph Moran in Chicago, though Moran refused to treat
Hamilton. He died at a Barker-Karpis hideout in Aurora, Illinois,
three days after the shooting near Hastings. Dillinger, Van Meter,
Arthur Barker, Volney Davis and Harry Campbell, members of the
Barker-Karpis gang,buried him in Oswego, Illinois.
On May 3, one week after Hamilton's death,
Dillinger, Van Meter, and Tommy Carroll robbed the First National
Bank of Fostoria, Ohio. In the robbery, Fostoria police chief
Frank Culp was wounded when Van Meter shot him in the chest with a
Thompson. Dillinger and Van Meter spent most of May living out of
a red panel truck with a mattress in the back.
In early May, Dillinger paid a visit to Fred
Hancock at 3301 East New York Street, Indianapolis (the Shell
filling station where Hubert and Fred worked), and gave him $1,200
in cash. Fred Hancock:
"It was on Thursday, May 10, that I next saw
John. A fellow came into the station between 5:00 and 4:00 p.m. on
this date dressed in overalls, wearing glasses, no coat, wearing a
sleeveless jacket. He was unshaven, and this party stood by the
kerosene drum. I did not recognize him at the time and continued
to wait upon a customer who was in the station, and then walked
into the filling station house, thinking that this party standing
by the kerosene drum was a kerosene customer. This party then
walked over to the filling station house and knocked on the window
to attract my attention. When I looked at him more closely I
realized that it was John. He left with me a package containing
money and told me where to take it. He said to tell Dad if
anything happened to him to give Billie some of that money. He
gave me $1,200 made up in four packages -- $500 for Grandpa, $500
for my mother, Audrey Hancock, $100 for Hubert and $100 for
myself, and I personally delivered this money to the people it was
intended for. John told me how 'hot' he was. This was after the
time the shooting had occurred at Little Bohemia Lodge in
Wisconsin. He said he would return in two weeks. He was walking at
the time, and I do not know how he came into the station. When
leaving, he walked out of the station and walked south on LaSalle
Street to Washington Street. The money was all made up of one-,
five- and ten-dollar bills. There were very few ten-dollar bills
in the money, it being mostly ones and fives. I used the $100 John
gave me in connection with some work I was having done on the eyes
of my little girl, and I understand that Mother and Grandpa later
paid out the $500 they each received to some attorney, possibly
John (sic) Ryan, in connection with John's case."
Agent Whitson had been observing the activity
at the Shell station on the corner of New York and LaSalle.
Whitson:
"On 5-10-34 I noticed a stranger talking to
Fred Hancock near the kerosene drum in the yard of the station at
about 3:45 p.m. He was wearing blue overalls, brown vest, blue
shirt and tie, dark hat, and wore spectacles, either rimless or
with a thin metal rim. His complexion was ruddy and he had a
stubble of beard. In his right hand he carried at all times what
appeared to be a pint milk bottle wrapped in newspaper. About 3:50
p.m. the stranger left the station, going south on LaSalle Street
toward Washington Street. Agent noted that the man appeared to
have a deep cleft in his chin, and decided to follow him and have
a better look at him. Agent reached the street without being
observed by Hancock and followed the stranger, who was walking
rapidly and without any noticeable lameness or infirmity in either
leg. The man turned west on Washington Street when Agent was still
between 25 and 30 yards behind him. When agent reached the street
intersection, the man was nowhere in sight."
On May 24, it is alleged that Van Meter killed
two East Chicago police detectives who had tried to pull them
over. On June 7, Tommy Carroll was shot and killed by police in
Waterloo, Iowa. Dillinger and Van Meter reunited with Nelson a
week later and went into hiding.
On June 30, Dillinger, Van Meter, Nelson, and
an unidentified "fat man" robbed the Merchants National Bank in
South Bend, Indiana. The identity of the "fat man" has never been
confirmed, it is widely suspect that he was one of Nelson's
associates, or, as suggested by Fatso Negri to the BOI, Pretty Boy
Floyd.
During the robbery, a police officer named
Howard Wagner was killed when Van Meter shot him in the chest as
he responded to the sound of a burst of submachine gunfire coming
from inside the bank. Van Meter was shot in the head during the
resulting shootout, and was seriously wounded.
John Dillinger
During the 1930s
Depression, many Americans, nearly helpless against forces they
didn't understand, made heroes of outlaws who took what they
wanted at gunpoint. Of all the lurid desperadoes, one man, John
Herbert Dillinger, came to evoke this Gangster Era, and stirred
mass emotion to a degree rarely seen in this country.
Dillinger, whose name once
dominated the headlines, was a brutal thief and a cold-blooded
murderer. From September, 1933, until July, 1934, he and his
violent gang terrorized the Midwest, killing 10 men, wounding 7
others, robbing banks and police arsenals, and staging 3 jail
breaks -- killing a sheriff during one and wounding 2 guards in
another.
John Herbert Dillinger was
born on June 22, 1903, in the Oak Hill section of Indianapolis, a
middle-class residential neighborhood. His father, a hardworking
grocer, raised him in an atmosphere of disciplinary extremes,
harsh and repressive on some occasions, but generous and
permissive on others. John's mother died when he was three, and
when his father remarried six years later, John resented his
stepmother.
In adolescence, the flaws
in his bewildering personality became evident and he was
frequently in trouble. Finally, he quit school and got a job in a
machine shop in Indianapolis. Although intelligent and a good
worker, he soon became bored and often stayed out all night. His
father, worried that the temptations of the city were corrupting
his teenaged son, sold his property in Indianapolis and moved his
family to a farm near Mooresville, Indiana. However, John reacted
no better to rural life than he had to that in the city and soon
began to run wild again.
A break with his father
and trouble with the law (auto theft) led him to enlist in the
Navy. There he soon got into trouble and deserted his ship when it
docked in Boston. Returning to Mooresville, he married 16-year-old
Beryl Hovius in 1924. A dazzling dream of bright lights and
excitement led the newlyweds to Indianapolis. Dillinger had no
luck finding work in the city and joined the town pool shark, Ed
Singleton, in his search for easy money.
In their first attempt,
they tried to rob a Mooresville grocer, but were quickly
apprehended. Singleton pleaded not guilty, stood trial, and was
sentenced to two years. Dillinger, following his father's advice,
confessed, was convicted of assault and battery with intent to
rob, and conspiracy to commit a felony, and received joint
sentences of 2 to 14 years and 10 to 20 years in the Indiana State
Prison. Stunned by the harsh sentence, Dillinger became a
tortured, bitter man in prison.
His period of infamy began
on May 10, 1933, when he was paroled from prison after serving 8
1/2 years of his sentence. Almost immediately, Dillinger robbed a
bank in Bluffton, Ohio. Dayton police arrested him on September
22, and he was lodged in the county jail in Lima, Ohio, to await
trial.
In frisking Dillinger, the
Lima police found a document which seemed to be a plan for a
prison break, but the prisoner denied knowledge of any plan. Four
days later, using the same plans, eight of Dillinger's friends
escaped from the Indiana State Prison, using shotguns and rifles
which had been smuggled into their cells. During their escape,
they shot two guards.
On October 12, three of
the escaped prisoners and a parolee from the same prison showed up
at the Lima jail where Dillinger was incarcerated. They told the
sheriff that they had come to return Dillinger to the Indiana
State Prison for violation of his parole.
When the sheriff asked to
see their credentials, one of the men pulled a gun, shot the
sheriff and beat him into unconsciousness. Then taking the keys to
the jail, the bandits freed Dillinger, locked the sheriff's wife
and a deputy in a cell, and leaving the sheriff to die on the
floor, made their getaway.
Although none of these men
had violated a Federal law, the FBI's assistance was requested in
identifying and locating the criminals. The four men were
identified as Harry Pierpont, Russell Clark, Charles Makley, and
Harry Copeland. Their fingerprint cards in the FBI Identification
Division were flagged with red metal tags, indicating that they
were wanted.
Meanwhile, Dillinger and
his gang pulled several bank robberies. They also plundered the
police arsenals at Auburn, Indiana, and Peru, Indiana, stealing
several machine guns, rifles, and revolvers, a quantity of
ammunition, and several bulletproof vests.
On December 14, John
Hamilton, a Dillinger gang member, shot and killed a police
detective in Chicago. A month later, the Dillinger gang killed a
police officer during the robbery of the First National Bank of
East Chicago, Indiana. Then they made their way to Florida and,
subsequently, to Tucson, Arizona.
There on January 23, 1934,
a fire broke out in the hotel where Clark and Makley were hiding
under assumed names. Firemen recognized the men from their
photographs, and local police arrested them, as well as Dillinger
and Harry Pierpont. They also seized 3 Thompson submachine guns, 2
Winchester rifles mounted as machine guns, 5 bulletproof vests,
and more than $25,000 in cash, part of it from the East Chicago
robbery.
Dillinger was sequestered
at the county jail in Crown Point, Indiana, to await trial for the
murder of the East Chicago police officer. Authorities boasted
that the jail was "escape proof." But on March 3, 1934, Dillinger
cowed the guards with what he claimed later was a wooden gun he
had whittled. He forced them to open the door to his cell, then
grabbed two machine guns, locked up the guards and several
trustees, and fled.
It was then that Dillinger
made the mistake that would cost him his life. He stole the
sheriff's car and drove across the Indiana-Illinois line, heading
for Chicago. By doing that, he violated the National Motor Vehicle
Theft Act, which made it a Federal offense to transport a stolen
motor vehicle across a state line.
A Federal complaint was
sworn charging Dillinger with the theft and interstate
transportation of the sheriff's car, which was recovered in
Chicago. After the grand jury returned an indictment, the FBI
became actively involved in the nationwide search for Dillinger.
Meanwhile, Pierpont,
Makley, and Clark were returned to Ohio and convicted of the
murder of the Lima sheriff. Pierpont and Makley were sentenced to
death, and Clark to life imprisonment. But in an escape attempt,
Makley was killed and Pierpont was wounded. A month later,
Pierpont had recovered sufficiently to be executed.
In Chicago, Dillinger
joined his girlfriend, Evelyn Frechette. They proceeded to St.
Paul, where Dillinger teamed up with Homer Van Meter, Lester
("Baby Face Nelson") Gillis, Eddie Green, and Tommy Carroll, among
others. The gang's business prospered as they continued robbing
banks of large amounts of money.
Then on March 30, 1934, an
Agent talked to the manager of the Lincoln Court Apartments in St.
Paul, who reported two suspicious tenants, Mr. and Mrs. Hellman,
who acted nervous and refused to admit the apartment caretaker.
The FBI began a
surveillance of the Hellman's apartment. The next day, an Agent
and a police officer knocked on the door of the apartment. Evelyn
Frechette opened the door, but quickly slammed it shut. The Agent
called for reinforcements to surround the building.
While waiting, the Agents
saw a man enter a hall near the Hellman's apartment. When
questioned, the man, Homer Van Meter, drew a gun. Shots were
exchanged, during which Van Meter fled the building and forced a
truck driver at gunpoint to drive him to Green's apartment.
Suddenly the door of the Hellman apartment opened and the muzzle
of a machine gun began spraying the hallway with lead. Under cover
of the machine gun fire, Dillinger and Evelyn Frechette fled
through a back door. They, too, drove to Green's apartment, where
Dillinger was treated for a bullet wound received in the escape.
At the Lincoln Court
Apartments, the FBI found a Thompson submachine gun with the stock
removed, two automatic rifles, one .38 caliber Colt automatic with
twenty-shot magazine clips, and two bulletproof vests. Across
town, other Agents located one of Eddie Green's hideouts where he
and Bessie Skinner had been living as "Mr. and Mrs. Stephens." On
April 3, when Green was located, he attempted to draw his gun, but
was shot by the Agents. He died in a hospital eight days later.
Dillinger and Evelyn
Frechette fled to Mooresville, Indiana, where they stayed with his
father and half-brother until his wound healed. Then Frechette
went to Chicago to visit a friend--and was arrested by the FBI.
She was taken to St. Paul for trial on a charge of conspiracy to
harbor a fugitive. She was convicted, fined $1,000, and sentenced
to two years in prison. Bessie Skinner, Eddie Green's girlfriend,
got 15 months on the same charge.
Meanwhile, Dillinger and
Van Meter robbed a police station at Warsaw, Indiana, of guns and
bulletproof vests. Dillinger stayed for awhile in Upper Michigan,
departing just ahead of a posse of FBI Agents dispatched there by
airplane. Then the FBI received a tip that there had been a sudden
influx of rather suspicious guests at the summer resort of Little
Bohemia Lodge, about 50 miles north of Rhinelander, Wisconsin. One
of them sounded like John Dillinger and another like "Baby Face
Nelson."
From Rhinelander, an FBI
task force set out by car for Little Bohemia. Two of the rented
cars broke down enroute, and, in the uncommonly cold April
weather, some of the Agents had to make the trip standing on the
running boards of the other cars. Two miles from the resort, the
car lights were turned off and the posse proceeded through the
darkness. When the cars reached the resort, dogs began barking.
The Agents spread out to
surround the lodge and as they approached, machine gun fire
rattled down on them from the roof. Swiftly, the Agents took
cover. One of them hurried to a telephone to give directions to
additional Agents who had arrived in Rhinelander to back up the
operation.
While the Agent was
telephoning, the operator broke in to tell him there was trouble
at another cottage about two miles away. Special Agent W. Carter
Baum, another FBI man, and a constable went there and found a
parked car which the constable recognized as belonging to a local
resident. They pulled up and identified themselves.
Inside the other car,
"Baby Face Nelson" was holding three local residents at gunpoint.
He turned, leveled a revolver at the lawmen's car, and ordered
them to step out. But without waiting for them to comply, Nelson
opened fire. Baum was killed, and the constable and the other
Agent were severely wounded. Nelson jumped into the Ford they had
been using and fled.
When the firing had
subsided at the Little Bohemia Lodge, Dillinger was gone. When the
Agents entered the lodge the next morning, they found only three
frightened females. Dillinger and five others had fled through a
back window before the Agents surrounded the house.
In Washington, FBI
Director J. Edgar Hoover assigned Special Agent Samuel A. Cowley
to head the FBI's investigative efforts against Dillinger. Cowley
set up headquarters in Chicago, where he and Melvin Purvis,
Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office, planned their
strategy. A squad of Agents under Cowley worked with East Chicago
policemen in tracking down all tips and rumors.
Late in the afternoon of
Saturday, July 21, 1934, the madam of a brothel in Gary, Indiana,
contacted one of the police officers with information. This woman
called herself Anna Sage, however, her real name was Ana Cumpanas,
and she had entered the United States from her native Rumania in
1914. Because of the nature of her profession, she was considered
an undesirable alien by the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, and deportation proceedings had been started. Anna was
willing to sell the FBI some information about Dillinger for a
cash reward, plus the FBI's help in preventing her deportation.
At a meeting with Anna,
Cowley and Purvis were cautious. They promised her the reward if
her information led to Dillinger's capture, but said all they
could do was call her cooperation to the attention of the
Department of Labor, which at that time handled deportation
matters. Satisfied, Anna told the Agents that a girlfriend of
hers, Polly Hamilton, had visited her establishment with Dillinger.
Anna had recognized Dillinger from a newspaper photograph.
Anna told the Agents that
she, Polly Hamilton, and Dillinger probably would be going to the
movies the following evening at either the Biograph or the Marbro
Theaters. She said that she would notify them when the theater was
chosen. She also said that she would wear a red dress so that they
could identify her.
On Sunday, July 22, Cowley
ordered all Agents of the Chicago office to stand by for urgent
duty. Anna Sage called that evening to confirm the plans, but she
still did not know which theater they would attend. Therefore,
Agents and policemen were sent to both theaters. At 8:30 p.m.,
Anna Sage, John Dillinger, and Polly Hamilton strolled into the
Biograph Theater to see Clark Gable in "Manhattan Melodrama."
Purvis phoned Cowley, who shifted the other men from the Marbro to
the Biograph.
Cowley also phoned Hoover
for instructions. Hoover cautioned them to wait outside rather
than risk a shooting match inside the crowded theater. Each man
was instructed not to unnecessarily endanger himself and was told
that if Dillinger offered any resistance, it would be each man for
himself.
At 10:30 p.m., Dillinger,
with his two female companions on either side, walked out of the
theater and turned to his left. As they walked past the doorway in
which Purvis was standing, Purvis lit a cigar as a signal for the
other men to close in. Dillinger quickly realized what was
happening and acted by instinct. He grabbed a pistol from his
right trouser pocket as he ran toward the alley. Five shots were
fired from the guns of three FBI Agents. Three of the shots hit
Dillinger and he fell face down on the pavement. At 10:50 p.m. on
July 22, 1934, John Dillinger was pronounced dead in a little room
in the Alexian Brothers Hospital.
The Agents who fired at
Dillinger were Charles B. Winstead, Clarence O. Hurt, and Herman
E. Hollis. Each man was commended by J. Edgar Hoover for
fearlessness and courageous action. None of them ever said who
actually killed Dillinger. The events of that sultry July night in
Chicago marked the beginning of the end of the Gangster Era.
Eventually, 27 persons
were convicted in Federal courts on charges of harboring, and
aiding and abetting John Dillinger and his cronies during their
reign of terror. "Baby Face Nelson" was fatally wounded on
November 27, 1934, in a gun battle with FBI Agents in which
Special Agents Cowley and Hollis also were killed. Dillinger was
buried in Crown Point Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.
FBI.org
John Dillinger
by Marilyn Bardsley
Little Bohemia
Banks were
having miserable public relations problems in the Depression. Many
of them failed, sweeping away the life savings of millions of hard
working people. Those that stayed in business foreclosed on
people's homes, farms and businesses as the economy went from bad
to worse.
So bank
robbers were not particularly viewed as terrible criminals by the
average American. There was even a touch of Robin Hood when bank
robbers destroyed all of the mortgage records at the banks they
hit. The daring daytime robberies and skillful getaways were
glamorous and exciting, especially if the robbers were handsome,
polite and photogenic.
And so,
John Dillinger and Harry Pierpont, Baby Face Nelson and the rest
of the Dillinger Gang were celebrities whose exploits were
followed closely by a Depression-weary American public that
followed their every adventure like a running television series.
Of course,
not every one was equally entertained by the new American outlaw
folk heroes of this Midwestern crime spree. Back in Washington,
D.C., old fashioned J. Edgar Hoover was outraged that America
seemed to idolize Handsome Johnnie and was so completely absorbed
in the vicarious excitement of their adventures.
Harry
Pierpont's self-serving rationale -- "I stole from the bankers who
stole from the people" -- did not go over at Mr. Hoover's
straight-laced FBI. Hoover saw Dillinger and his gang as a threat
to the national morals. Quickly enacted new anticrime laws made
bank robbery, the transport of stolen goods or flight of a felon
over state laws to avoid prosecution a national crime which came
under the enforcement jurisdiction of the FBI.
Hoover's
big chance came in early March of 1934 when Dillinger broke out of
an "escape-proof" jail in Indiana, stole the sheriff's car and
drove across the Illinois state line, putting himself in the
jurisdictional sights of the FBI. Hoover mounted a special
operation to capture Dillinger.
Young
Melvin Purvis, the son of a well-connected wealthy southern
aristocrat, was in charge of the Chicago office of the FBI.
Dillinger became his project. What "Little Mel" lacked in height
and weight, he made up for in ambition and intelligence. But
Purvis was up against a wily group with the Dillinger Gang. These
men were real professionals.
For more
than a month, Dillinger escaped the traps that were set for him.
In April of 1934, the gang needed a place to hide out. One of them
suggested a summer resort in northern Wisconsin called Little
Bohemia. The lovely lodge had been built a few years earlier by
Emil Wanatka, an emigrant of Bohemia, who became friendly with
bootleggers and gangsters during Prohibition.
On April
20, Dillinger and his gang, along with wives and girlfriends
showed up at the lodge. It was off season and rooms were
available. After dinner, Wanatka sat down with his guests to play
cards. It was then that he noticed the guns and the shoulder
holsters. He and his wife Nan figured out who the guest really
were and they were terrified.
Finally,
Wanatka confronted Dillinger, who did what he could to put his
host at ease.
"Don't
worry," Dillinger told him. "I want to sleep and eat a few days. I
want to rest up. I'll pay you well and then we'll all get out."
The
gangsters turned the lodge into an armed fortress. Every time the
phone rang, one of the gangsters eavesdropped. Every time a car
came, Wanatka had to explain who it was. Every time someone from
the lodge went into town, a gangster went with them. He was afraid
for Nan and his ten-year-old son. "Baby Face" Nelson was a really
dangerous psychopath and made Wanatka particularly afraid for his
family and staff.
Wanatka
had enough. He wrote a letter to a man he knew in the U.S.
Attorney's office in Chicago. Nan slipped the letter into her
corset and got permission from Dillinger to go to her brother's
birthday party. Dillinger, surprisingly, didn't insist that a gang
member go with her.
Intensely
relieved, Nan and her son got into the car and drove away. Then
she noticed that a car was following her. When she slowed down,
she almost panicked -- the most frightening man in the gang, Baby
Face Nelson, was following her.
John
Toland in his book The Dillinger Days tells the story of her
daring plan. Nan drove slowly up to the S curve in the road before
her brother's house. As soon as she was out of Nelson's sight, she
raced into her brother's driveway and picked him up and got back
on the highway before Nelson knew what she had done. She gave the
letter to her brother and pulled the same trick at the next S
curve where she dropped off her brother, just outside the town of
Mercer.
She went
to a grocery store in Mercer and bought some candy. Nelson pointed
his finger at her as a warning. Nan saw her brother, who had
mailed the letter, picked him up and the three of them drove to
her older brother's birthday party in Manitowish Waters,
Wisconsin. There she confided in her family about the Dillinger
Gang at Little Bohemia.
They came
up with a plan. Realizing that the sheriff's office was not up to
handling the Dillinger crowd, they would contact the Chicago
office of the FBI. This was chance Melvin Purvis was waiting for.
Unlike other FBI agents, he liked publicity.
Toland
describes the hard-working young bachelor: "He was a small man
with bright, alert eyes who dressed fashionably and was so
fastidious he often changed shirts three times a day. A law
graduate of the University of South Carolina, he spoke with a
polite, pleasant drawl. One might have thought he was a successful
young bond salesman perhaps -- but certainly not a G-Man. He was a
competent executive, a man of unquestioned courage despite his
excitability, and was well liked by those who worked under him."
As soon as
he got the news about Little Bohemia, he called Hoover who
promised to fly in reinforcements from the St. Paul office.
Along with
them came Assistant FBI Director Hugh Clegg. Clegg, an FBI
superstar, would be first in command, Purvis, second. The agents
from Chicago would meet them at the airport in Rhinelander,
Wisconsin, which was the nearest airport to Little Bohemia.
Just as
the federal forces were gathering for the attack, Dillinger and
company were getting ready to move on. Dillinger asked for an
early dinner so that they could all get on the road. It was a
Sunday afternoon and the bar was filled with patrons. Upstairs,
Dillinger was studying a road map.
Around 4
P.M., Nan's sister, Mrs. Voss, drove up to tell her sister that
her husband Henry had gotten in touch with the FBI. Nan whispered
that the gangsters were leaving early that evening. Mrs. Voss left
soon after to relay the information to her husband who was going
to meet the FBI forces at Rhinelander airport.
It was
past 6 P.M. when the FBI agents landed at Rhinelander. They had
planned to conduct the raid at 4 A.M the next morning, but now
everything changed and the attack had to proceed immediately.
"Three
agents wearing bullet-proof vests would storm the main door of the
lodge. A group of five would flank the lodge on the left in a line
all the way to the lake and intercept anyone who tired to break
through. A similar group would do the same on the right. Thus the
gang would be trapped on three sides. The fourth side, the lake,
was impassable.
"The plan
was good but it did not take into consideration three key terrain
factors, all missing from Voss's map: a ditch on the left of the
lodge, a barbed-wire fence on the right, and the steep bank near
the lake which could mask an escape along the shore. Nor did it
occur to Voss to warn Purvis about Wanatka's two watchdogs." (Toland)
As the
agents quietly approached the brightly lit lodge, they got a real
surprise. The two watchdogs barked furiously. The agents ran to
their positions, believing that the element of surprise was gone.
But as it turned out, the dogs barked frequently and the gangsters
were used to the noise.
Three of
the bar's customers chose that particular moment to pay up and go
home. At the same time, two bartenders went out on the porch to
see what was bothering the dogs. The three customers walked to
their car in the parking lot.
The agents
assumed that the five men were Dillinger Gang members who had been
alerted by the dogs. The agents called out for them to halt, but
the sound of the car starting up and its loud radio drowned out
the warning.
The agents
shot the tires and smashed the glass windows of the car. One, a
salesman, was wounded and crept into the woods. The second one, a
cook, staggered out of the car, with four bullets in him. The
third customer, a young man, lay dead in the car.
If the
dogs didn't alarm the Dillinger gang, the gunfire surely did.
Machine gun fire erupted almost immediately from the lodge. Soon
Dillinger and several of the others jumped from an upstairs window
and escaped along the hidden bank of the lake shore.
The
federal agents in pursuit fell into the drainage ditch and became
entangled in the barbed-wire fence. Last to leave was Baby Face
Nelson, who, during his escape shot three of the agents, killing
one of them.
Hoover had
promised the newspapers some thing special. It was special all
right. It was one of the worst public relations fiascoes in FBI
history. Will Rogers summed it up: "Well, they had Dillinger
surrounded and was all ready to shoot him when he came out, but
another bunch of folks came out ahead, so they just shot him
instead. Dillinger is going to accidentally get with some innocent
bystanders some time, then he will get shot."
Johnnie Boy
Little
Johnnie Dillinger was a bad boy. The older he got, the worse his
delinquency became. Johnnie was born in a quiet middle class
Indianapolis neighborhood on June 22, 1903. His father, John
Wilson Dillinger, was a somber, church-going grocer who did his
very best to inculcate into his son his own strict moral
standards. While his father was a stern disciplinarian, it did not
stop him from indulging the lad with material goods, bicycles and
toys.
Johnnie's
mother died of a stroke when he was only three years old. His
sixteen-year-old sister Audrey took over as the woman of the
house. This arrangement did not last long as in a little more than
a year, Audrey married and began a home of her own. When Johnnie
was nine, his father married a young woman named Elizabeth Fields.
While, the boy was initially jealous of the warmth and affection
that his father gave to his new bride, eventually Johnnie came to
admire and adore his stepmother.
Not long
after, Johnnie became the leader of a kid gang called the Dirty
Dozen. Eventually the gang started stealing coal from the
Pennsylvania Railroad cars that came through the neighborhood.
Inevitably, they were caught and taken to Juvenile Court.
Dillinger was the only one of the kids that wasn't intimidated by
the courtroom and judge. Almost as a precursor of things to come,
"Dillinger stood arms folded, slouch cap over one eye, staring
steadily at the judge -- and chewing gum. When the judge ordered
him to take off the cap and remove the gum, Dillinger smiled
crookedly and slowly stuck the gum on the peak of his cap." (Toland)
By this
time, Dillinger had a new baby brother. He and his closest friend,
Fred Brewer, who was the product of a broken marriage, stuck
together constantly. The two boys often played in a wood veneer
mill and learned how to run the saw when nobody was around. One
day they tied another boy on the carrier and turned on the large
circular saw. It was only when the boy was a yard away from death,
did Dillinger turn it off.
His father
was becoming increasingly concerned about Johnnie and he had every
right to be. Beatings and other punishments just made Johnnie more
defiant. One afternoon, when he was thirteen, he and his buddies
grabbed a girl and took her into an old shack where they each took
a turn with her.
Against
his father's wishes, he quit school at the age of sixteen and went
to work at the veneer mill. He demonstrated great mechanical
aptitude, but the job was boring and he quit. Then he got a job as
a mechanic. All was well for a little while and his father
breathed easier. But Johnnie's good behavior didn't last. Soon he
was staying out until the early morning hours, totally focused on
the opposite sex.
Dillinger's father made a major decision: he was ready to retire
and indulge in his dream of owning a farm, so he sold his grocery
store and several houses he owned. Then they all moved to the
wholesome rural atmosphere of a farm in Mooresville, his second
wife's place of birth.
Again,
Johnnie behaved well initially and enrolled in the local high
school, but he had no interest and failed every subject except
"applied biology." Eventually, when the local girls got tired of
his antics, Johnnie quit school and went back to work eighteen
miles away in Indianapolis. Dillinger's favorite role model at the
time was Jesse James. What impressed him most about this frontier
outlaw was his courage and his politeness, especially to the
ladies.
His
behavior made living in the house with his father intolerable, so
he moved to Martinsville where he could spend all of his spare
time hanging around the pool hall and seducing one girl after
another. One girl alone commanded his respect -- his uncle's
stepdaughter Frances Thornton. He was ready to renounce his wild
life and marry her, but the uncle forced the relationship to break
up. It had a lasting effect on him.
After so
much rejection from respectable girls in Mooresville and other
places, he threw in his lot with the women whose love he could
buy. He ended up with a severe case of gonorrhea and eventually
was fired from his job.
One night
in 1923, Johnnie had a date. He needed a car, but his father
wouldn't let him use his, so he stole a new car from a church
parking lot. Eventually, a policeman caught up with him, but he
escaped as the cop tried to arrest him. The next day, Johnnie
enlisted in the Navy using an out-of-town address.
For
someone like Johnnie, the discipline of the military was
intolerable. Eventually, he ended up in the brig after going AWOL.
Not surprisingly, he deserted and ended up back in Mooresville at
his father's home. In 1924, he married a sixteen-year-old girl
named Beryl Hovius.
But
married life didn't change him. He was caught stealing a load of
chickens. Had it not been for the elder Dillinger's money and
influence, Johnnie would have gone to jail right then. But, jail
was inevitable and there was nothing Johnnie's father could do to
stop it.
Johnnie
started hanging around with an undesirable named Ed Singleton. The
two of them decided to rob a kindly old grocer named B. F. Morgan.
One September evening in 1924, Johnnie mugged the old man and
slammed him on the head with a huge bolt wrapped up in a
handkerchief. The revolver Johnnie was carrying discharged in the
direction of the old man and Johnnie was afraid that he had shot
Morgan. In a panic, Johnnie ran to the getaway car where Singleton
was waiting.
The police
determined who was responsible and arrested Johnnie. His father
didn't believe in hiring a lawyer for his guilty son, so Johnnie
went to trial without counsel. The prosecutor had convinced his
father that if Johnnie confessed that the court would be lenient.
The
prosecutor lied. The judge sentenced Johnnie to Pendleton
Reformatory for ten to twenty years. Ed Singleton, who was an
ex-con, had a different judge and a lawyer and received a much
lighter sentence. Johnnie was very bitter.
Relentlessly defiant, Johnnie told the superintendent of the
reformatory, "I won't cause you any trouble except to escape. I
can beat your institution."
The Apprentice
True to
his word, Dillinger made a number of attempts to escape from the
Pendelton Reformatory -- each one unsuccessful, each one adding to
the time he would have to serve. Suddenly, he smartened up,
stopped rebelling, turned himself into a model prisoner and
started to focus on getting himself paroled.
Inside he
made good friends with a man that would strongly influence the
rest of his life -- Harry Pierpont. Harry, like Dillinger, was a
handsome, soft-spoken young man who was gifted in his
relationships with the opposite sex. Pierpont was over six-feet
tall with blue eyes and sandy brown hair.
A year
older than Dillinger, Pierpont had been in Pendleton once before
for stealing a car and wounding its owner. He had been returned
there after robbing a bank in Kokomo. After trying to escape,
Pierpont was transferred to the penitentiary at Michigan City.
Dillinger's excellent deportment earned him a comfortable job in
the prison shirt factory where he made friends with a tall,
slender prankster named Homer Van Meter. Homer was always clowning
around and was consistently and severely punished for it by the
guards. Homer was in for liberating several hundred dollars from
some passengers on a train -- that after car theft and other minor
charges. Van Meter, because of his obsessive clowning, was
considered a dangerous degenerate and was also transferred to
Michigan City.
Still
married and very lonely, Dillinger wrote extravagantly
affectionate letters to his wife Beryl: "....Dearest we will be so
happy when I can come home to you and chase your sorrows away and
it won't take any kids to keep me home with you always for
Sweetheart I love you so all I want to do is just be with you and
make you happy...."
For
someone as young as Beryl, the wait was intolerably long. She
divorced him in the summer of 1929. Depressed as he was, he pulled
himself together and enrolled himself in the prison school. For
once in his life, he studied hard and was an excellent student.
When he
was turned down for parole after five years in prison, he
requested a transfer to Michigan City where he would at least be
with his two friends, Pierpont and Van Meter. In July of 1929, he
got his wish.
While the
Michigan City penitentiary was a depressing place, Dillinger was
initiated by Pierpont into the clique of the prison elite --
bankrobbers. He had graduated from petty crime to a master's
program. This master's program was augmented by the inclusion of
Walter Dietrich, who taught Pierpont and his colleagues the
methods of Herman "Baron" K. Lamm, a Prussian officer turned
highly successful bankrobber.
The first
step in the method was learning the layout of the bank that was
targeted, where the safes were and who was responsible for opening
them. The next step was rehearsal where every one was given a
specific job and a narrow time frame in which to complete the job.
The robbers must leave the bank within the scheduled time, with or
without the loot. The final step was the acquisition of a very
fast car and a well-rehearsed escape route.
Pierpont's
tightly knit group was composed of "Fat Charley" Makely, a
forty-four-year-old veteran bankrobber from Ohio; John "Red"
Hamilton, a tough, intelligent, thirty-four-year-old bankrobber;
Russell Clark, a young man who was in jail for a single bank
robbery; Dillinger and, later, Dietrich.
All but
Dillinger had lengthy prison terms ahead of them and were
desperate to escape. Makely, the oldest and most experienced, came
up with a simple escape plan in which bribery was the centerpiece.
All that was needed was enough money to bribe a few key guards, a
few guns and a place to lay low.
"Pierpont
approached Dillinger, who had served most of his sentence. If he
helped them escape, he could be the driver in their bank-robbing
scheme. Of course, such an escape would cost a large amount of
money and they would have to teach him how to get it.
They
promised to give him a list of the best banks and stores to rob,
and the names and addresses of reliable accomplices. He would be
told where to fence stolen goods and money; how to get rid of
bonds. He would, in short, know almost as much about bank robbery
as they did." (Toland)
The offer
was irresistible to Dillinger and he readily agreed. Dillinger now
had a true vocation and a trade to learn. He was paroled in May of
1933 because of good behavior and a petition from his neighbors in
Mooresville. The happy moment turned to tragedy when he rushed
home to be at the side of his stepmother who was dying, only to
arrive an hour too late to see her one last time.
A couple
of weeks after he was paroled, Dillinger had lined up two of the
men on Pierpont's list, William Shaw and Paul Parker, telling them
both that his name was Dan Dillinger. Shaw and his ex-con friend,
Noble Claycomb had a group that called themselves the White Cap
Gang, which specialized in small, local robberies.
The first
place they hit was a supermarket. All they got was $100.
With such
small pickings, Dillinger would never be able to get his buddies
out of the pen. Dillinger set his sites on his first bank. It was
beginner's luck. He, Shaw and Parker knocked over the New Carlisle
National Bank without a hitch. Incredibly enough in the midst of
the Depression, they walked away with over $10,000.
But that
was only the beginning, Dillinger and his colleagues hit a drug
store and another supermarket, coming away with $3,600. In these
two robberies, it became clear to Dillinger that his two
accomplices were incompetents. He started to contact other men on
Pierpont's list.
With Harry
Copeland, a new accomplice, Dillinger drove to the town of
Daleville on July 17. Inside the tiny Commercial Bank, teller
Margaret Good spoke to the dignified looking Dillinger, who had
asked to speak to the bank's president. Margaret explained that
the president of the bank was not in.
Suddenly,
she was looking at the long barrel of a gun. "Well, honey," he
told her, "this is a stickup."
For some
unknown reason, Dillinger gracefully leaped over the railing into
the vault and helped himself to $3,500. Then he told everyone to
get inside the vault and he walked out. The leap across the
railing was a dramatic flourish that many would remember. It also
attracted the attention of Captain Matt Leach of the Indiana State
Police. It wasn't long before Leach realized that the new
bankrobber was John Dillinger.
When
Dillinger had been in prison, one of his friends talked
continuously about his attractive sister, Mary Longnaker.
Dillinger drove to Dayton to meet her, suggesting that he could
arrange for her brother to escape. Mary was a good-looking,
twenty-three-year-old woman with young children and a husband that
she was divorcing.
Dillinger
became completely infatuated with her and offered to pay for her
divorce. He pursued her continuously, trying to wrest a commitment
from her to be his girl. "Honey," he wrote, "I miss you like
nobody's business and I don't mean maybe. I hope I can spend more
time with you, for baby I fell for you in a big way and if you'll
be on the level I'll give everybody the go by for you and that
isn't a lot of hooey either. I know you like me dear but that
isn't enough for me when I'm as crazy as I am about you. You may
never get to feel the same toward me as I do you in which case I
would be better off not to see you very much for it would be hell
for me... Lots of love from Johnnie."
Mary
stayed somewhat noncommittal. She was already seeing a decent man
who would make a good husband and stepfather for her children, but
she didn't want to do anything that would ruin her chances of her
brother escaping from prison.
Captain
Matt Leach was determined to get Dillinger. He got a tip from
Pinkertons that Dillinger had a girlfriend in Dayton, but he
didn't know who she was or where she lived, only that she was the
sister of a prison inmate. Leach asked the Dayton police for help.
A few days later in early September, 1933, Leach got the address
of the boarding house where Dillinger rented rooms on his trip to
Dayton. Police secretly opened the letters that he sent to Mary in
hopes of finding out when he would be visiting her next. Two
detectives moved into the same boarding house, taking the rooms
opposite Dillinger's.
Meanwhile,
Dillinger and Harry Copeland continued to rob banks in Ohio and
Indiana, saving up the money to finance the prison break for his
pals in Michigan City. They got lucky on September 6. The Real
Silk Hosiery payroll was at the State Bank of Massachusetts Avenue
in Indianapolis when Dillinger walked up to the assistant manager
and told him it was a stickup. The manager looked up to see "Dillinger
sitting cross-legged up on the seven-foot-high barrier. A straw
hat was tilted cockily on his head and he was almost casually
pointing an automatic." (Toland) Incredibly they got almost
$25,000. Dillinger now had collected enough for the prison break.
With the
help of two of Pierpont's women friends, Pearl Elliott and Mary
Kinder, he put the operation in motion. Pearl couriered messages
and paid bribes. Mary was to find an apartment in which the
escaped men would hide. Dillinger bought guns and threw the
packages containing the guns over the prison wall near the
athletic field. Unfortunately, an inmate found them and gave them
to the guards.
Pearl
smuggled out a letter from Pierpont telling Dillinger how to get
another set of guns into the prison shirt factory hidden in a box
of thread. Dillinger made all the arrangements and the prison
break was set for September 27.
On
September 22, he finally had time to visit Mary in Dayton. The
police, who had given up waiting for him, told the landlady that
if Dillinger showed up, she should call them immediately.
Toland
tells the story of Sergeant W.J. Aldredge of the Dayton police who
got a call shortly after midnight.
'"He's
here," a woman cried out.
'"Who's
here?" Aldredge asked patiently.
'"John
Dillinger, you dumb flatfoot!'"
In no
time, the detectives had barged into Mary's rooms and arrested
Dillinger. Now with his friends days away from their daring
attempt to break out of Michigan City, Johnnie Boy was on his way
back there.
Going Home
While
Dillinger sat in the Lima, Ohio, jail, a huge box of thread
arrived at the prison shirt factory. Storeroom manager Walter
Dietrich, disciple of the legendary bankrobber "Baron" Lamm, took
the box and removed the four guns and ammunition that Dillinger
had put inside. The break was planned for September 25, but
Pierpont and the other planners feared word would leak out, so
they moved it up to the very next day, September 26. Actually, the
new warden, Louis Kunkel, had no inkling of the break, although
the deputy warden knew something was imminent, but not how
imminent.
The
afternoon of the 26th, ten men gathered in the shirt factory
storage room. Guns were given out to Makely, Pierpont and
Hamilton. The others had fake guns. One of these guns was shoved
into the back of the superintendent of the shirt company while he
led the men out to the yard.
There in
the yard, they took a guard hostage, the huge mountain of a man
they called "Big Bertha." Pierpont told him, "If you try anything,
you're dead where you stand. Get it, you big, brave man?" "Bertha"
got it.
The
superintendent, with a pile of shirts in his hands, led the
convicts, who also carried shirts, across the yard to the Guard's
Hall. "Big Bertha" brought up the rear. Nobody was suspicious
because this was a fairly common occurrence and the site of "Big
Bertha" made it all seem kosher.
Just as
they were approaching the main gate, the convicts mugged the
turnkey. Warden Kunkel heard the commotion from the business
office. Someone yelled, "It's a break!" With Pierpont's gun aimed
at his stomach, Kunkel decided just to be a spectator and not a
dead hero that day.
It was
pouring rain when they ran through the unlocked gate. Three of the
convicts borrowed a car from a sheriff, who had just brought in a
prisoner, and drove off towards Chicago. The other six, Pierpont
and Makley et al, hijacked a car at the gas station across the
street on sped off towards Indianapolis.
The
largest prison break in Indiana history had just been made.
Eventually
the men reached their hideout in Hamilton, Ohio, but narrowly
escaped a blockade that Matt Leach had set up. As it was, one of
the convicts, Jim Jenkins, Mary Longnaker's brother was killed by
a local posse. Walter Dietrich, Jim Clark and Joseph Fox were
apprehended shortly after the prison break. Once they had a chance
to rest, Pierpont realized that even though the Dayton jail was
just a little over a hundred miles away, they wouldn't be able to
try to spring him without the proper expense money and guns.
Mary
Kinder, Pierpont's mistress, rejoined the gang and agreed to be
the "wheel man" for their next bank robbery. Makley convinced the
group that they should rob the bank in his home town of St. Marys,
Ohio. Even though the bank had been closed by the Treasury
Department, it just happened to have a large amount of money on
hand for the planned reopening of the bank.
Pierpont
went up to the cashier with a map. The cashier looked up, ready to
help Pierpont with directions and saw the gun that was concealed
under the map. Pierpont and Makley left with two sacks of cash,
while the police chief sat a few blocks away watching the World
Series. They got away with $11,000, much more than they needed in
expenses to raid the Lima jail and far more than they expected
from the little bank.
While
Dillinger was in jail, he wrote to his father: "Hope this letter
finds you well and not worrying too much about me. Maybe I'll
learn someday, Dad that you can't win in this game. I know I have
been a big disappointment to you but I guess I did too much time
for where I went in a carefree boy I came out bitter toward
everything in general. Of course, Dad, most of the blame lies with
me for my environment was of the best but if I had gotten off more
leniently when I made my first mistake this would never have
happened....I am well and treated fine. From Johnnie."
He was
being treated very well by Sheriff Jess Sarber and his wife, who
lived at the jail building.
Pierpont
had brought along Dillinger's new girlfriend, Billie Frechette.
She was a pretty dark-haired woman, part American Indian, who grew
up on a reservation. His intent was to pass off Billie as
Dillinger's sister and get her inside the jail so that they had
some idea of the layout before they attacked. Pierpont asked a
local lawyer if he would arrange for Dillinger's "sister" to be
able to see him. Instead of a simple "yes" or "no," the lawyer
said he'd talk it over with Sheriff Sarber the next day.
Concerned
that Sarber might see through the ruse, Pierpont decided to try to
free Dillinger right away. The plan developed almost instantly: Ed
Shouse would be the lookout; Harry Copeland would guard the cars;
and John Hamilton would stand near a couple hundred feet away from
the jail.
Toland
tells how at 6:20 P.M., Pierpont, Makley and Clark armed with
pistols went into the jail, which was also the residence of
Sheriff Sarber. Sarber and his wife had just finished dinner and
were sitting in the office with their deputy. Pierpont told them,
"'We're officers from Michigan City and we want to see Dillinger.'
"'Let me
see your credentials,' Sarber responded."
"Pierpont
calmly pulled out a gun. 'Here's our credentials.'
"'Oh, you
can't do that,' said Sarber, reaching for the gun in the desk
drawer.
"Pierpont
panicked and impulsively fired twice. One bullet went into
Sarber's left side, through the abdomen and into his thigh. He
fell to the floor.
"'Give us
the keys to the cell,' said Pierpont, but Sarber's answer was to
try to rise. Makley stepped forward and hit him over the head with
the butt of his gun, accidentally discharging a wild shot. Sarber
collapsed, moaning."
Mrs.
Sarber grabbed the keys and gave them to Pierpont. He opened up
the cell, gave Dillinger one of his guns, and they ran out to the
car.
Sarber, in
great pain, looked at his wife, "Mother, I believe I'm going to
have to leave you." He died an hour and a half later.
The Terror Gang
They were
initially called The Terror Gang because of their boldness and
impudence. Once Dillinger had been freed, they all headed back to
Chicago to put together the most organized and professional bank
robbing scheme ever devised in the county. One thing they needed
was the very best in guns, ammunition and bullet-proof vests.
What
better place to get such equipment than from the police
themselves. A week after Dillinger's escape from the Lima, Ohio,
jail, he and Pierpont decided to hit the enormous police arsenal
in Peru, Indiana. A month earlier, Dillinger and Homer Van Meter
posed as tourists there and asked what the local policemen had in
the way of fire power if the Dillinger Gang ever showed up in
those parts. The officers proudly showed the two "tourists" the
kinds of weapons they would use against the Terror Gang.
Late on
the evening of October 20, 1933, Pierpont and Dillinger entered
the arsenal, subdued three lawmen and made off with several loads
of machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, ammunition and bullet-proof
vests. When this loot was added to the guns and ammunition they
had stolen earlier from an Auburn, Indiana, police station, they
were ready for business.
Law
enforcement officials were outraged at the brazenness of the gang.
Captain Matt Leach, who was afflicted with a serious stutter,
wanted to try a bold approach of his own. He knew that both Henry
Pierpont and John Dillinger were men with very large egos. Often
the gang had been referred to in the newspapers as the Pierpont
Gang. What if Captain Leach could persuade reporters to start
calling it the Dillinger Gang instead. Maybe a leadership fight
would break out amongst the gang members and they would split up.
The newsmen agreed to his proposal.
Toland
says that there was never a struggle for leadership, despite the
spate of stories that started to appear calling Dillinger the
leader: "Pierpont knew [the stories] were false and he was too
grateful to Dillinger to be jealous. Dillinger, however, read and
reread every story and even saved the clippings; but instead of
becoming boastful, his manner and dress became more conservative.
The gang lived quietly in expensive Chicago apartments, the men
drinking only beer and little of that. According to Pierpont's
code, a crime not only had to be committed without the benefit of
drink or drugs but prepared in sobriety...the men would sit around
the living room discussing future plans much like any group of
respectable businessmen. Usually Pierpont assembled their various
ideas. Sometimes it would be Makley. But everyone had a chance to
voice an opinion, no one overriding a majority."
Jay Robert
Nash in Bloodletters and Badmen agrees: "There was no real
leader... Pierpont was the most daring and nerveless of the group,
but his impulsiveness oft-times outweighed his considerable
intelligence. Hamilton was the old pro. Whenever any bank job was
discussed, he could offer the soundest advice based on experience.
Makley and Clark, for the most part, listened. Pierpont
appreciated and more or less encouraged Dillinger's role as
leader...telling him that [the name Dillinger] was both euphonic
and memorable since it reminded everyone of the pistol,
derringer."
With their
finely-honed precision system for bank robbing, they executed the
first target in their plan on October 23 when they pulled up to
the Greencastle, Indiana, Central National Bank. Hamilton stayed
outside the door to watch, while Pierpont, Makley and Dillinger
went inside. Using "Baron" Lamm's method, they already knew the
inside of the structure well since they had cased the bank
thoroughly a few days earlier.
Dillinger,
the showoff, leaped over a high counter into the teller's cage and
started to scoop up money, while Pierpont and Makley made sure
that nobody moved. Hamilton, standing by the door with a stopwatch
so that they didn't overstay their five-minute time limit, looked
up to see an elderly, foreign-born woman walk out of the bank. He
told her to get back inside.
Completely
disregarding the gun had in his hands, she walked calmly by him,
saying "I go to Penney's and you go to hell!"
Jay Robert
Nash tells the story of the farmer standing at the teller's cage
with a stack of bills in front of him. Dillinger saw the money and
asked, "that your money or the bank's?"
"Mine,"
the farmer told him.
"Keep it.
We only want the bank's."
With no
other surprises or any gunfire, the gang left the bank with almost
$75,000 -- an enormous sum in those Depression years.
There was
something in Dillinger that set him apart from the rest of the
gang. He just couldn't stop poking the police in the eye.
Sometimes, it was something as simple as walking up with his
girlfriend to a cop and taking his photograph or asking
directions. Other times, it was directly antagonistic, such as
when he called up Captain Matt Leach of the Indiana State Police
shortly after the Greencastle robbery and joked, "This is John
Dillinger. How are you, you stuttering bastard?" Dillinger did
this kind of thing to Leach more than once, which simply increased
his motivation to get Dillinger.
Things
became too hot in Chicago. One of the former gang members, Ed
Shouse, who had been kicked out of the gang for drinking and
making advances to the girlfriends of the other gang members, was
caught by the Chicago police and told them that Dillinger was
being treated for a minor skin condition by a Dr. Charles Eye. The
"Dillinger Squad" of the Chicago Police lay in wait outside Dr.
Eye's office, but when Dillinger came to see the doctor again, he
saw suspicious cars outside the office and narrowly escaped
capture.
The gang
moved to Milwaukee where they planned the robbery of the American
Bank and Trust in Racine, Wisconsin. On November 20, 1933, the
good-looking, well-dressed Henry Pierpont confidently walked into
the bank with a roll of paper under his arm. Then he pasted up a
big Red Cross poster in the picture window of the bank, which
happened to block the tellers' cages from being seen from the
street. Mrs. Henry Patzke, the bookkeeper noticed, but didn't
think anything of it.
Shortly
afterward, Dillinger, Makley and Hamilton walked into the bank and
went up to the window where Harold Graham, the head teller stood.
"Go to the next window, please," he told them. Graham had heard
someone say that it was a stickup, but the phrase was often
bantered around as a joke.
Makley
repeated his order more forcefully, "Stick 'em up!" Graham made a
sudden movement and Makley fired, hitting Graham in the elbow and
hip. Graham fell and set off the silent alarm that rang in the
police station.
Pierpont
ordered everyone to the floor, flat on their stomachs, while
Dillinger got the cashier and bank president to open the vault.
Shortly afterwards, two policemen walked to the bank, expecting
that this was just another false alarm, like many other ones
before it. When they walked into the bank, Pierpont relieved one
of them of his gun and told Makley to "get that punk with his
machine gun!"
Makley
fired at Sergeant Hansen and wounded him twice, but not too
seriously. It was enough to start a panic: women inside the bank
were screaming hysterically, a crowd was gathering outside and
armed men were appearing from police cars. They grabbed several
hostages, but only two -- Mrs. Patzke and the bank president --
went with them in the getaway car. Not long after, the two
hostages were let go unharmed.
The take
from this complicated robbery was a mere $27, 789. But it was
enough to allow them to spend part of the winter in Daytona Beach.
Then in January of 1934, Dillinger and Hamilton together headed
towards Tucson, Arizona by way of Indiana.
On January
15, the two of them robbed the First National Bank of East
Chicago, Indiana. While Hamilton was gathering up the money,
Dillinger saw a cop outside. Actually there were four cops
outside, three of whom were in plain clothes. They were there
because the bank vice president had pressed the silent alarm. With
a couple hostages as shields, Dillinger and Hamilton left the
bank. Patrolman William Patrick O'Malley had a clear shot at
Dillinger and took it, but didn't wound him because of the
bullet-proof vest. O'Malley kept on shooting, finally Dillinger
shot back and hit O'Malley right in the heart.
Dillinger
helped Hamilton, who had been wounded, back to the car and the two
of them made it back to Chicago with over $20,000 in cash. It was
a poorly planned, unnecessary adventure with big costs. Dillinger
had killed his first man and Hamilton was badly wounded.
The gang
finally met up in Tucson, but it couldn't have been more of a
disaster. Even though they thought they could successfully pose as
tourists, the police started watching them almost from the start.
First Makley was arrested, then Clark. Had the police left men at
the house they had rented, they would have caught Pierpont and
Mary Kinder an hour later when they went to the house. Pierpont
saw some blood and figured out what happened. He arranged for a
local lawyer to represent the two that had been caught.
Just by
chance they caught Pierpont from a description that a neighbor had
given when he saw Pierpont go up to the house where Makley and
Clark had stayed. On Pierpont they found a piece of paper that he
fought bitterly and vainly to swallow. It was the address of the
place Dillinger and Billie were staying. It was just a matter of
time before they came home and were arrested.
"In the
space of five hours, without firing a shot at the cost of only a
broken finger, the police of a relatively small city had done what
the combined forces of several states, including that of America's
second largest metropolis, had tried so long and so unsuccessfully
to do." (Toland)
The news
media poured into Tucson. Considering what a spot the gang members
were in, they didn't seem to be taking it too hard. Dillinger
enjoyed the attention: "We're exactly like you cops," he told Milo
"Swede" Walker, one of the policemen who arrested them. "You have
a profession -- we have a profession. Only difference is you're on
the right side of the law, we're on the wrong."
When the
governor of Arizona came to visit them, Pierpont and Makley
chatted with him amiably. Pierpont had only good things to say
about the policemen who arrested them. "I think Frank Eyman was a
swell fellow not to shoot me... There are two kinds of officers --
rats and gentlemen. You fellows are gentlemen and the Indiana and
Ohio cops are rats...If all this had happened in Ohio, we'd be
laying on a slab. They'd have murdered us."
The
capture of the gang touched off a huge jurisdictional war between
Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio. Indiana desperately wanted to send
Dillinger to the electric chair for the murder of Patrolman
Patrick O'Malley. Ohio wanted the same for Pierpont and the others
who raided the Lima jail.
Reporters
put aside the stories of the jurisdictional battle for a much
better one: a marriage license had been issued to Mary Kinder and
Harry Pierpont. Mary told reporters: "I love Harry Pierpont. He
has always been gentle and kind to me... I realize that after we
arrive in Indiana, we may never meet again, for the law intends,
if possible, to 'burn' him on a murder charge. That's why I want
to marry him and when the vows are taken by us we will be united
forever -- in spirit at least. If the worst comes, I shall love
him more even in death than life."
Harry
Pierpont had asked for the license, but Mary could not sign it
because she was not legally divorced from her husband. Later that
day, she asked another inmate what had happened to Pierpont. The
inmate told her that Harry, Makley and Clark were being extradited
to Ohio. "Oh, my God," she said softly.
Dillinger
was sent back to Indiana's Crown Point "escape-proof" jail to
await trial for the robbery of the East Chicago, Indiana, bank
robbery and the murder of Patrolman O'Malley. Clark, Makley and
Pierpont were sent back to Lima, Ohio, to answer for the death of
Sheriff Jess Sarber. It looked pretty bleak for the Dillinger
Gang.
The New Gang
Back in
Indiana at the Crown Point County Jail, Dillinger was a major
celebrity. Reporters had even talked Indiana's Prosecutor Robert
Estill into posing for a picture with his arm around Dillinger.
For a man who was seeking the death penalty for a famous criminal,
it showed very poor judgment and was the subject of much
criticism. However, it seemed that everybody -- senators, judges,
a governor -- had come to see John Dillinger, the folk hero, and
wanted to have their picture taken with him.
Rumors
circulated constantly that other gangsters were going to mount a
raid on the jail to free Dillinger.
The local
newspaper quashed the rumors the best it could: "All of these
rumors, however baseless, had the tendency to tighten the guard
around the jail until it is now as impregnable as the Rock of
Gibraltar .There will be no jail delivery; there will be no
kidnapping; there will be no repetition of the Lima, Ohio, jail
delivery." National Guardsmen patrolled outside Crown Point jail.
One of the
unanswered questions was Hamilton's whereabouts. Dillinger kept
telling police that Hamilton had been killed, but no one believed
him. His lawyer, Louis Piquett, was as unique as his client.
Piquett had never attended law school, but was able to eventually
pass the Illinois bar exam and became a prosecutor in Chicago. He
was terrific with juries, but this case would be a really tough
one. There were too many eyewitnesses that saw Dillinger kill
O'Malley.
Dillinger
saw only one way out for himself. Whatever the outcome, it
couldn't be much worse than what the courts had in store for him.
On March
3, 1934, Sam Cahoon, an elderly jail attendant unlocked the door
to the cell block to let the trusties in for the morning cleanup.
Dillinger stuck a gun to his stomach and ordered him into the
cell. Then he told Cahoon to call Deputy Sheriff Ernest Blunk and
put him in the cell with Cahoon. Dillinger had Blunk call Warden
Lou Baker, who also fell into the trap Dillinger set.
With
machine guns taken from the warden's office, Dillinger and another
prisoner, Herbert Youngblood, a black man awaiting trial for
murder, captured a dozen guards. Then they herded a couple of
hostages into the sheriff's car and they drove like mad all the
way to the Illinois state line where they released his hostages
with a few dollars.
The irony
of the whole thing was that the "gun" that allowed Dillinger to
escape from the "escape-proof" jail was a crudely-carved piece of
dark wood. In this daring escape, only one big mistake had been
made. It took Dillinger some time to realize it: by taking the
sheriff's car across the state line, he had broken a federal law.
This was just what Hoover had been waiting for. Now, Dillinger was
in the sights of the national police whose jurisdiction did not
stop at the state line. Even more serious, he was in the sights of
one of the most determined lawmen ever -- J. Edgar Hoover.
Dillinger
went straight to Chicago so he could form a new gang and get some
money quickly. Unlike the original gang in which members were
carefully chosen, Dillinger needed men fast. John Hamilton was
second in command. They chose Lester Gillis, known as "Baby Face
Nelson," to join up with them. Nelson was a mentally unstable,
trigger-happy psychopath who killed for the pleasure of it. He was
a short, young man with an explosive temper who had been part of
the Capone gang. Homer Van Meter, Dillinger's friend from the
Pendleton Reformatory and Michigan City was brought in as well.
Van Meter brought in two others, Eddie Green, a very experienced
bank robber and Tommy Carroll, a expert gunman.
The new
gang relocated itself to the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Eddie
Green was an excellent "jugmarker," a man who evaluated bank
targets and recommended which ones to rob. Green had already
selected the first target and on March 6, 1934, a few days after
the Crown Point escape, the new Dillinger Gang hit the Security
National Bank and Trust in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
While the
robbery went off without a hitch, there was one event that bore
the signature of the inveterate comic, Homer Van Meter. Jay Robert
Nash tells the story of how Tommy Carroll stood in the street
outside the bank with a machine gun in his hands. "By the time
Dillinger and the others came out of the bank, Carroll had lined
up Sioux Falls' entire police force, including the chief.
Thousands
of spectators milled around the bank, bemused. The good citizens
thought the robbery was part of a film being made. A Hollywood
producer had been in town a day previous telling everyone that he
intended to make a gangster film there. The "film producer" had
been Homer Van Meter.
After
dashing off with $49,000, Dillinger got several miles out of town
when he stopped the car and sprinkled roofing nails all over the
road. "That ought to slow them up," he said. And it did.
This was
the first robbery where Dillinger had been the undisputed leader.
Ironically, authorities in Sioux Falls did not believe it was
Dillinger who robbed the bank.
When
Dillinger got his share of the money, he called his lawyer, Louis
Piquett, and asked him to use the money to pay Pierpont, Makley
and Clark's attorneys. Mary Kinder was to be the courier. Mary
called the number that Piquett had given her and arranged to meet
Van Meter. Van Meter gave her $2,000 in cash, but wouldn't let her
know where Johnnie was.
Pierpont's
trial was a circus. He was led into the courtroom in shackles and
surrounded by machine-gun wielding guards. His mother had
testified that the day of Sheriff Sarber's death, her son was home
with her on her farm. However, Ed Shouse, the treacherous gang
member from Chicago, provided surprise testimony against Pierpont
when he took the stand.
Toland
tells how the prosecutor accused Harry of engineering $300,000 in
bank robberies in the short time he was out of jail. "'I wish I
had,' Pierpont told the court. 'Well, at least if I did, I'm not
like some bank robbers -- I didn't get myself elected president of
the bank first.'
"The crowd
burst into laughter and the judge ordered the last few lines
stricken from the record.
"'That's
the kind of man you are, isn't it?' prodded [the prosecutor].
"'Yes,"
retorted the prisoner, encouraged by the audience response. "I'm
not the kind of man you are -- robbing widows and orphans. You'd
probably be like me if you had the nerve."
The
prosecutor demanded the death penalty. The jury deliberated less
than an hour before determining that Harry Pierpont was guilty as
charged. There was no recommendation for mercy.
Back in
the Twin Cities, jugmarker Eddie Green sent the gang off again a
week later to the First National Bank of Mason City, Iowa. The
bank's vault reputedly contained more than $240,000 -- a veritable
fortune in those days. On March 13, 1934, Assistant Cashier Harry
Fisher looked up to see who was causing all the commotion. Three
well-dressed men -- Van Meter, Green and Hamilton -- were waving
guns at bank president Willis Bagley. Guard Tom Walters saw what
was going on and fired a tear-gas pellet into Eddie Green's back.
Green
grabbed a hostage to use as a shield. "I said everybody down!," he
yelled and fired a burst of shots over everyone's heads. He also
aimed at Tom Walters and hit him.
Hamilton
ordered Cashier Harry Fisher to pass him money through the locked,
barred door. Fisher started with the $1 bills. Hamilton could see
the stacks of bills just inside the vault. Hamilton told him to
open up the door, but Fisher told him he couldn't because he
didn't have the key. He continued to hand him stacks of $1 bills.
Outside
Dillinger was lining up hostages on the sidewalk. After five
minutes, he yelled to Van Meter to tell the men inside that it was
time to leave. Hamilton told Fisher to give him the big bills, but
Fisher kept on handing him the little denominations. Van Meter
told Hamilton that they were going immediately.
"It's hell
to leave all that money back there," he said. Of the $200,000,
Fisher had only passed him about $20,000. Hamilton picked up a
huge bag of pennies, grabbed a human shield and left the bank.
Once inside the getaway car, Dillinger had the hostages lined up
on the running boards. Loaded down with human shields, the car
could only travel at 15 miles an hour.
Suddenly
an older woman, Miss Minnie Piehm, who had been hanging on the car
desperately, yelled, "Let me out! This is where I live!" Dillinger
let her off and the car proceeded slowly forward like a local
service bus.
The police
followed, but did not get too close, fearful of starting a gun
battle in which the hostages on the running boards would be
injured. Periodically, Nelson fired his machine gun at them, but
eventually the police gave up and stopped following. Some thirteen
miles later, they released the hostages, frozen from the cold
ride.
The
robbery had netted the bandits some $52,000. Hamilton was very
upset that he hadn't just killed Fisher the cashier and not let
the cashier make such a fool of him with the small bills.
Dillinger
was making plans to get enough money together to leave the
country. He knew that his extraordinary luck could not hold much
longer. He did not want to end up like Pierpont, Makley and Clark.
Makley, like Harry Pierpont, got the death sentence. Clark got
life in prison. There was no chance that Dillinger would be able
to spring them this time. The prison was guarded like Fort Knox.
FBI agents
in St. Paul got a tip that a man of Dillinger's description and
called himself Carl Hellman was living with a woman who looked a
lot like Billie Frechette. On the evening of March 31, 1934, two
FBI agents knocked at Hellman's door. Billie answered and told the
agents that her husband Carl was sleeping. They wouldn't go away,
so she went into the bedroom and woke up Dillinger, who quickly
dressed and grabbed a machine gun.
While the
FBI agents waited, Homer Van Meter came up the stairs. Van Meter
told them he was a soap salesman. When the agents wanted proof,
Van Meter took one of them downstairs to show him the soap samples
he supposedly had in the car. When the two men reached the first
floor of the apartment building, Van Meter pulled a pistol on the
agent.
"You asked
for it, so I'll give it to you now!" Van Meter told him.
The agent
ran through the door and Van Meter followed him, shooting. The
agent shot back and Van Meter went back to the safety of the
apartment building. By this time, Dillinger was spraying the
upstairs hallway with a machine gun, while the other FBI agent hid
in the hallway.
Billie ran
out of the apartment house with a suitcase, followed by Dillinger
and the machine gun and sped off in a car. Van Meter had hijacked
a truck and escaped to Eddie Green's apartment in Minneapolis.
Hoover
sent one of his best men, Hugh Clegg, to St. Paul to take charge
of the Dillinger case. An emergency effort was launched to find
any other Dillinger safe houses. They found one in St. Paul and
kept it under constant surveillance. Eventually a woman showed up
to clean the apartment. When the FBI agents questioned her, she
told them that a man was going to her home that night to pay her.
Agents waited until Eddie Green showed up and told him to
surrender. Green didn't surrender until the agents had shot him
several times in the head. Green, in terrible pain, gave the FBI
the names of the other gang members in exchange for some pain
medicine. A week later, he died of infection.
On April
5, Dillinger astonished his father by showing up at the
Mooresville farm with Billie. His father warned him about the FBI
agents that were lurking around, but Johnnie had taken
precautions. The next day the couple drove to the Pierpont farm to
give Harry's parents some money for legal fees, but the farm was
deserted. Then Dillinger went to the offices of an Indianapolis
newspaper, brazenly read about his various adventures and ordered
some copies to be sent to his father.
Next they
went to Chicago, but shortly after they arrived, FBI agents
arrested Billie when she went to her favorite tavern. Dillinger
called Louis Piquett to defend her and went to Fort Wayne to hide
out with Homer Van Meter. Based on a suggestion from one of the
lesser known members of the gang, the group decided to hide out in
the resort called Little Bohemia, but only after they had raided
the Warsaw, Indiana, police station for some guns, ammunition and
bullet-proof vests.
The Lady In Red
After the
shoot out at Little Bohemia, the Dillinger Gang scattered in
several directions. Dillinger, Hamilton and Van Meter headed
toward St. Paul. Baby Face Nelson had run his car off the road
into a mudhole and proceeded on foot. Tommy Carroll abandoned his
car and ran away on foot.
The next
morning, Deputy Sheriff Norman Dieter and three other lawmen were
stationed at the bridge over the Mississippi River just south of
St. Paul. He saw a Ford with three men start over the spiral
bridge. It was Dillinger and his buddies. The chase was on. Van
Meter put the accelerator to the floor while Dillinger knocked out
the car's rear window and started shooting at the policemen who
were chasing them. They escaped from Dieter, but Hamilton got a
bullet in the back.
They stole
a car and drove off to Chicago with the badly wounded Hamilton in
the back seat. It took them almost two days to get there and
another few days to find a doctor who would treat Hamilton.
Unfortunately, gangrene had set in and he died a few days later.
They buried their friend in a gravel pit, pouring lye on his face
to prevent identification.
Dillinger
and Van Meter found a hideout in Calumet City and virtually
disappeared. Many thought the pair had left the country. Still,
five states put a $5,000 bounty on his head and Hoover offered a
$10,000 reward.
Billie
Frechette was sentenced to two years in jail. Dillinger despaired
of ever seeing her again, even though lawyer Piquett was
optimistic that he could get her out soon.
Dillinger
decided that he need to have plastic surgery. Dr. Loeser agreed to
do it for $5,000. Dillinger wanted three moles removed, a
depression on the bridge of his nose filled in and a scar on his
lip and the dimple in his chin removed. They almost lost Dillinger
during the operation when the ether was administered too quickly
and Dillinger stopped breathing. Afterwards, Dillinger was unhappy
with his swollen face. A caustic solution was applied to
Dillinger's finger tips.
When then
plastic surgery was completed on Dillinger, the doctor began on
Homer Van Meter. Neither of the two men understood that it takes
weeks for the swelling to go down after facial surgery. Van Meter
also had the tips of his fingers treated to disguise his
fingerprints.
While
Dillinger was recovering, he heard that Tommy Carroll had been
killed when two Waterloo, Iowa, policemen shot him. Now the gang
was down to three members with Carroll and Hamilton dead. The only
ones left were Dillinger, Van Meter and Baby Face Nelson.
That June,
John Dillinger celebrated his thirty-first birthday. Hoover had
named him Public Enemy Number 1. He became obsessed with getting
enough money to get out of the country, preferably to Mexico. One
last robbery and that was it.
On June
30, Dillinger, Van Meter, Nelson and two friends of Nelson went to
the Merchants National of South Bend, Indiana. They estimated that
the bank was keeping as much as $100,000. Inside the bank, the
customers were frightened by the sight of the guns and surged as a
group toward the back of the bank. Nelson's friend panicked and
let loose a burst of machine gun fire that attracted a lot of
attention outside.
A jeweler
in a nearby shop grabbed his revolver and started shooting at Baby
Face Nelson. Nelson went berserk and fired indiscriminately into
the crowd. A man was hit in the leg. Then a teenager jumped on
Nelson's back. Nelson threw the boy into a plate glass window and
started shooting at him.
Patrolman
were beginning to arrive. Dillinger and his colleagues came out of
the bank with three hostages, but the presence of hostages didn't
stop the police from shooting. In the fire fight, Van Meter was
hit in the head. Dillinger shoved him in the car and they drove
off. The police were never able to catch up to them.
The take
from the bank was disappointingly small, especially considering
the costs. Van Meter had been injured, a cop had been killed and
six bystanders had been wounded. Dillinger only saw $4,800 from
the robbery, not nearly enough to get him to Mexico.
Sure that
he would never see Billie Frechette again, Dillinger had taken up
with a twenty-six-year-old waitress named Polly Hamilton. He told
her his name was Jimmy Lawrence and that he was a clerk for the
Chicago Board of Trade. Even though she was teased about going out
with a man that looked so much like Dillinger, her new boyfriend
was worth keeping. He gave her a diamond ring and some money to
have her teeth fixed.
Polly
rented a room from a Romanian brothel keeper called Anna Sage
whose son lived with her in an apartment on the north side of
Chicago. Anna faced almost certain deportation for her vice
operations. In Polly and Mrs. Sage's neighborhood, Dillinger lived
like an ordinary citizen. As usual, he was taking enormous risks.
The stakes were so high and the reward so attractive that many
would be motivated to betray him.
He
couldn't control himself. He just had to flaunt his presence to
the police. One day, with Mrs. Sage, he walked into the police
station and started talking to the desk sergeant. It wasn't long
before Mrs. Sage was certain of his identity. Perhaps he continued
taking those risks because he had already planned to leave for
Mexico the next week.
In
mid-July, Anna Sage contacted a police officer she knew in East
Chicago, Indiana, named Martin Zarkovich. She hoped that by
cooperating with the law regarding Dillinger that she could get
the deportation charges against her dropped. Zarkovich told his
boss, Captain Timothy O'Neill who was handling the Dillinger case
after the death of Officer O'Malley.
The two
men visited Captain John Stege of the Chicago Police Department's
Dillinger Squad to make a deal. They would give Stege the
information to trap Dillinger but only if Stege agreed to kill
Dillinger on the spot. Stege told the two men, "I'd even give John
Dillinger a chance to surrender," and suggested that they leave
his office.
The two
Indiana policemen then contacted the FBI's Melvin Purvis with the
same deal. Purvis told Special Agent Sam Cowley, who Hoover had
put in charge of the Dillinger Squad in Chicago after the fiasco
at Little Bohemia. Cowley and Purvis seemed receptive and wanted
to know more, but Anna Sage wanted confirmation that they would
assist her in fighting her deportation and that she would also
receive the reward money on Dillinger's head.
Purvis
told her the FBI would do what it could to help her with the
immigration authorities and that she would get a sizeable sum of
money if Dillinger were taken. Then Anna proposed a plan to hand
Dillinger over to the FBI. She would arrange for Dillinger to take
her and Polly to the movies the next day.
Once the
deal was set, Hoover was notified. Dillinger was to be taken
alive, he ordered. He didn't even want the agents drawing their
pistols if possible, since bystanders could be killed in the
crossfire.
A
tremendous amount of planning went into this new opportunity to
catch Dillinger. The FBI could not afford to botch it this time.
To minimize the chance of a mistake, the Chicago police were not
notified about the operation. However, the East Chicago, Indiana,
police were permitted to participate.
On Sunday,
July 22, 1934, Anna Sage called the FBI at 5:30 P.M. and told them
that Dillinger had agreed to take her and Polly to the movie that
night, but she didn't know if it would be the Marbro Theater or
the Biograph. The agents had been counting on the Marbro Theater,
which is the only one that Mrs. Sage had mentioned in their
earlier meeting. All of their planning had been around the layout
and exits of the Marbro. Now, it could be the Biograph -- which
Agent Cowley knew nothing about. Quickly, he sent some men to the
Biograph to check it out.
At 7 P.M.,
Anna Sage telephoned again. She still didn't know which theater
and they were going to be leaving the apartment shortly. Purvis
and his colleague decided to sit in a car outside the Biograph and
look for the threesome. Zarkovich and another agent would sit
outside the Marbro.
Finally,
it was clear that it was the Biograph as they watched Dillinger
approach with Polly Hamilton on his arm. Next to them was Mrs.
Sage, wearing an orange skirt that looked deep red in the
artificial lighting around the theater. The movie Manhattan
Melodrama would run two hours and four minutes.
Cowley and
Purvis met together with the other agents. When the movie was
over, they reasoned that Dillinger and the two women would
probably take a particular route back to Anna Sage's apartment. As
they passed, Purvis would light a cigar to identify them.
Around
10:30 P.M., the crowd started coming out of the theater. Dillinger
and his lady friends were some of the first to emerge. Purvis lit
the cigar and Dillinger looked at him directly. Special Agent
Hollis and Purvis closed in behind him with their pistols drawn.
"Suddenly
Dillinger reached into his right trouser pocket and sprinted
toward the alley in a partial crouch. By now Dillinger had a Colt
automatic in his right hand. Paying no attention to Purvis's
squeaky command to halt, he continued down the alley. He must have
known he had been betrayed -- and by a woman.
"Hollis
and two other agents fired at the fleeing figure. One bullet went
through Dillinger's left side. Another tore into his stooped back
and went out the right eye. Dillinger dropped, his feet still on
the sidewalk, his head in the alley. Purvis leaned over, spoke to
Dillinger. There was no answer." (Toland)
When they
got him to the hospital, he was already dead. As the news spread,
hundreds of people were dipping their scarves and handkerchiefs
into the pool of his blood outside the Biograph. It was the end of
a long, exciting, adventure movie.
Many
people did not believe it was really Dillinger. The body was too
tall, too short, too heavy to be the real bandit. It was an
elaborate ruse so that the real Dillinger could escape to Mexico.
Finally, Dillinger's sister Audrey told authorities that she could
positively identify her brother by a scar on his leg. She looked
at the scar and said, "there is no question in my mind. Bury him."
John
Dillinger was gone, even if his myth lived on.
The
Dillinger Gangs, both of them, did not fare much better than their
leader in that year. Homer Van Meter was gunned down in St. Paul
in August. Charles Makley was shot to death in a prison escape
attempt in September. Baby Face Nelson was shot by two FBI agents
in November. Harry Pierpont was electrocuted in November.
Russell
Clark made parole in 1970 and died shortly afterwards from cancer.
Mary Kinder lived the rest of her life in Indianapolis. James
Clark served a life sentence in Columbus, Ohio.
Anna Sage
received $5,000 of the Dillinger reward money, but Hoover reneged
on his help with the immigration authorities and she was deported
to Romania.
Bibliography
Maccabee,
Paul, John Dillinger Slept Here, Minnesota Historical Society
Press, 1995.
Nash,
Jay Robert, Bloodletters and Badmen, "John Herbert Dillinger."
M. Evans, 1995.
Quimby,
Myron J., The Devil's Emissaries. A.S. Barnes, 1995.
Toland,
John, The Dillinger Days. Random House, 1963.
Other
sources used:
Gentry,
Curt, J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets. Penguin, 1992.
Powers,
Richard Gid, The Life of J. Edgar Hoover: Secrecy and Power.
Macmillian, 1987.
