Claica;o Sunday Tribune

Dillinger's Happy Hunting Ground

(Tribune pboto.)

MEL YIN PURVIS

(Continued from paqe one.)A bullet fired into the back of

his head killed Dillinger. Deadmen make no revelations. Hisown story of the alliances boughtin Indiana and elsewhere, withthe loot of his holdups, remainsuntold. In part it is suppressed.Several times the Indiana stateadministration has gone throughthe form of opening an investi-gation. . It has never finishedone.

One Inquiry was begun in thefall of 1934 when McNutt wasrunning his candidate, ShermanMinton, for the United Statessenate. Nothing m u c h hap-pened, and after election day thewhole matter was allowed todrop. • • •

The first chapter in the lifeof Dillinger begins with his birthin 1902 and ends with his parolefrom the Michigan City prisonin May, 1933.

His birthplace was a farmtwenty miles southwest of In-dianapolis. His father, indus-trious and of good character,took him as a boy to that elty.After some years the familymoved to Mooresville in Morgancounty. There John Dillinger'scrime career began.

In the summer of 1924 he andan accomplice, Ed Singleton,held up a merchant, Frank Mor-gan. After beating him severelythey seized $555. Both wereidentified and arrested. In Sep-tember, w hen Dillinger wastried, he offered one excuse forhis deed - that he was drunk.Judge Joseph W. Williams sen-tenced him to ten to twenty-oneyears in prison. Singleton ob-tained a separate trial and achange of venue, pleaded guilty,and got off with a much lighterpunishment.

This, it has been held, emblt-tered Dillinger against society.Certainly he was an unruly in-mate at the Pendleton reforma-tory, where he was first sent.It has been brought out that heengaged in "gambling, fighting,and destroying property" there.The records of the former gov-ernor, Harry G. Leslie, showthat he twice tried' to escape andthat a year was added to his sen-tence for these attempts.

Once Dillinger applied to Gov-ernor Leslie for parole. He didnot get it. Leslie recognized hisunfitness for a return to normallife. He ordered the young crtm-lnal, as an intractable, trans-ferred early in 1929to the Michi-gan City penitentiary.

There Dillinger met the hard-ened lawbreakers who were tobecome his accomplices in anamazing series of tel' r i b 1ecrimes. He associated closelywith them. He planned his andtheir futures. His record includ-ed several demerits - for gam-bling, for cooking in his cell, forVisiting other convicts' cells, forhaving a razor in his possession.

A new appeal for parole wasmade in the spring of 1933. Me-Nutt, elected governor in 1932,was building up the political maochine that still weighs upon thepeople of Indiana. He was gath-ering dictatorial powers for htrn-self and legalizing the notoriousTwo Per Cent club, which forcesstate employes to contribute tothe Democratic p a rt y slushfunds.

But McNutt was not too busyto sign a parole for Dillinger.The executive order was issuedon May 23. In many respectsthis was a remarkable document.It related that" John Dillingerwas convicted in the Circuitcourt of Allen county, Indiana,on Dec. 26, 1930, charged withconspiracy to commit a felonyand assault and battery with In-

i

tent to rob, and sentenced andcommitted to the Indiana re-formatory for a term of ten totwenty-one years."

Further, it mentioned that thetrial judge recommended, in alengthy statement, that clemen-cy be granted, and that the statecommission on clemency, II aftercareful investigation," recom-mended parole.

At the time, and In view of thedocuments on which it wasbased, the governor's action ap-peared to be of a routine nature.It was much later when it wasdiscovered that some of thesedocuments were extremely mls-leading. Dillinger was (let it..be remembered) sentenced in1924, not 1930; Allen county ismore than a hundred miles fromMorgan county. Dillinger's rec-ord as a trouble maker was mini-mized.

The 0 n Iy explanation evermade by McNutt and his cohortswas that thete had been clericalerrors. It was also brought outthat warnings about the prison-er's character were ignored. H.W. Claudy, a deputy warden atMichigan Cit y, a Republicanholdover, stated later that hehad written two letters opposingthe parole. Dillinger, he said,was manifestly a dangerouscriminal.

When the quoted reference toJudge Williams' statement be-came public the jurist protestedthat his stand had been misrep-resented. He declared andproved that he had recommend·ed leniency tow a r d Dillingeronly if the record justified clem-ency. McNutt continued in hiseffort to shift blame to the judge.He even maintained that thecourt had dealt Inequitably bygiving Singleton a light penaltyand Dillinger a severe one. Al-though Judge Williams showedthat Singleton had not been triedbefore him, the governor madeno retraction.

That was how John Dillingerslipped unnoticed through thegray walls and started Into thesecond pertod of his career.

• • •Not long was he satisfied on

the parental acres. He set outto prove his viciousness. Withtwo old pals of prison days, Hil-ton Crouch and Harvey Cope-land, he started robbing banks.Inside a month he had hit three,

(A •• ochtted Pre •• photo.)

Dillingerpo.e. with the woodenpi•.tol (in hi. left hand) he laid Wall'lIed in the Crown Point e.cape.

at Daleville, Montpelier, and In-dianapolis. Indiana was payingthe price for his release. Theloot was $36,000, for the timebeing a satisfactory workingfund.

He remembered the bad menin the Michigan City cells. OnSept. 10 he tossed three pistolsover the walls. The wrong mengot them and turned them in. Afew days later Dillinger ror-warded seven more pistols to hispals. They went Ina shipmentof merchandise consigned to theprison shirt factory. This timethere was no sllp-up. The pack.age was not examined by guards.It was opened by Walter Detrick,a Dillinger conspirator. He dis-tributed the guns, and on the26th the ten ferocious convictsshot their Way to freedom.

Among them were tour whowere more vicious than the rest.Their names were Harry Pier-.point, John Hamilton, CharlesMakley, and Russell Clark. Allwere to go to the bitter end withDillinger. Only one, Clark, isstill alive, serving a Ufe term inprison. The other three diedviolently.

This evasion shocked the Unit-ed States, even though the back-ground of the Dillinger parole

Record of Outlawry andPolitics in Indiana

was unknown. The governor,who was even then being reoferred to as I. Emperor McNuttof Indiana," tried gracefully tokiss away any criticisms. Hesaid that II in the spring, whenthe sap begins to flow, the boyswant to get out."

Other Indiana folk were notso complaisant about this newdeal in springs. Former Gov-ernor Leslie told why it was easyto get hardened felons out. Mc-Nutt, granted dictatorial powersby a subservient legislature, haddismissed an expert warden andhad replaced him with an Inex-perienced man. Also, Lesliepointed out, he had removedsixty-nlne of the 120 MichiganCity guards-all men of expert-ence - and had replaced themwith political appointees.

Then the governor promiseda nul Investigation. He wouldappoint an Impartial commissionto investigate. None was ap-pointed. The prison board oftrustees gathered and made areport. It whitewashed the ad-ministration. As a gesture oneman was fired. That man wasClaudy, the RepUblican who hadwanted to keep Dillinger in. Hehad dared the administration tomake a real investigation ot thebreak.

After forwarding the pistolsto his friends in Michigan City,Dillinger went back to his rob-bery work. He knocked over abank in Pennsylvania and twoin Ohio, at Dayton and Bluffton.But some efficient Ohio police-men were after him. Even be-fore the convicts escaped he hadbeen apprehended. With almostabsurd ease he was seized in thehome of a woman friend in Day-ton.

Charged with the Blu1'ttonholdup, he was locked in the jailat Lima, O. He was still thereon Oct. 13 when three menwalked into the office of SherifJess Sarber. They said theywere deputy wardens come fromMichigan City to take Dillingerback. The sherif asked for theircredentials.

" Here they are," sald oneman.

The three drew pistols. Shotswere fired. The sherif fell dead.The killers were Pierpont, Mak·ley, and Clark. They freed DU-Unger and five minutes later allwere speeding back to the haven-land of Indiana.

That killing made Dillingerthe No.1 public enemy. He andhis gang had inaugurated thegreatest reign of criminal terrorin American history. With hismen he raided the police stationsat Auburn, and Peru, Ind.

In Indiana there arose a clam-or for the calling out of themilitia. Dillinger contemptuous-ly took his cutthroats into theCentral National bank of Green-castle on Oct. 23 and fled With$75,000. A little later the crewdodged into Chicago. Successmade them greedy. On Nov. 20,reinforced by two new members,Copeland and Leslie Homer,they raided the American Bankand Trust company of Racine,Wis., and got $27,000.

For weeks after that the gangused Chicago and its suburbanarea as headquarters. They nar-rowly escaped capture severaltimes. Dillinger himself, it ap-pears, spent some of this periodin East Chicago, Ind., where hehad friends.

On Jan. 15, 1934,he went withHamilton and Pierpont into theFirst National bank of East Chi-cago. While the others handledthe bank force and gathered up$15,000,he stood at the door witha machine' gun.

II Don't m iss any of thatdough," he commanded Hamil-ton. "There's a policeman out-side, but I'll take care of him."

When the time was ripe DIl·linger went forward, pushing abank official ahead of him as ashield. The policeman, WilUamP. O'Malley, would not fire, tear-Ing he would kill the banker.Dillinger's gun spat. O'Malleyfell dead.

Hamilton was wounded in thisaffray. Nevertheless the threebandits escaped. Ten personsat least had seen them and wereable later to Identify Dillinger.Leavmg Hamilton in a hideout,the boss killer fled to Arizona.With him went his Lima dellv-

erers, Pierpont, Makley, andClark, and three women.

They arrived in Tucson on Jan.22. Three days later all werecaptured. The men surrenderedwithout firing ash 0 t. Thewomen were also taken into cus-tody. That should have beenthe end ot the Dillinger career.

Three states sought to extra-dlte the outlaws. Wisconsinwanted them for the Racine job.Indiana pleaded to be allowed totry Dillinger for the O'Malleymurder. Ohio wanted the threekillers of Sherif Sarber. Gov-ernor Moeur of Arizona ruled infavor of Indiana, with an under-standing that the Hoosier statewould cooperate with Ohio.

Dillinger, who had confided toSherif John Belton that he had$100,000cached away and II couldget it as soon as I reach Indi-ana," was lifted into a plane onJan. 30. With him were DeputySherif Carroll Holley of Lakecounty, Indiana, and Chief ofPolice Nicholas Makar of EastChicago. Holley is a cousin of

quett; Hubert Dillinger, brotherof the prisoner, and Evelyn Fre-chette, John Dillinger's woman.

Another caller was MeyerBogue. Piquett referred to himas an ••alibi witness." ThisBogue was an unsavory charac-ter. He had been twice In theSan Quentin penitentiary InCalifornia. He had served aterm in the Michigan City prisonfor jewel robbery and had beenlet out only a few months before.His record should have been wellknown in Indiana.

The sherif asserted that allthese visitors were searched;that she personally saw thatEve 1y n Frechette smugglednothing in. She added that theirconversations with the prisonerhad been witnessed by guards.

"Nobody could have taken agun in," was the sherif's opinion.

Still these were artful people,these visitors. Remember Dll-linger had boasted of having$100,000, and it was known hepaid handsomely for every favorshown him. Piquett was his pay-oft man (this was disclosedlater). Evelyn Frechette was agang moll. Bogue was a slip-pery criminal who drew no linesof honesty.

With their aid or without, Dll-

(Tribune photo.)

The Chicago north .ide movie hou.. near which Dillinqerwas ahot.

Mrs. Lillian Holley, whom theDemocrats of Lake county hadmade sherif.

The trip to Chicago was un-eventful. But the reception ac-corded the champion gangsterat the airport here was colossal.By actual count eighty-two Chi-cago policemen were present toquell any uprising. So weretwenty-nine policemen and depu-ties from Indiana.

With an escort worthy of avisiting prince and a motorcadeseveral blocks long, Dillingerwas hauled to the Crown Pointjail. Just before he went to bedJohn Dillinger posed· for a pic-ture. With him stood ProsecutorRobert G. Estill, who had ob-talned an indictment charginghim with mur-del', and Mrs.Sherif Holley.The prosecutorwas in the mid-dle, the 1ad ywas on hisright, and thecal m Dillingerwas on his left.

Such a churn-my pic t u r e! Sergt.Zarko'f'ichThe Dillingerright arm rested on the Estillshoulder, and Estill's left handwas thrown around the killer'sneck. •• •

The outward appearance ofgreat precaution taken to pre-vent a Dillinger break was main-tained. Sherif Holley had thirty-five men to guard him. At timesthis force was augmented; a fullfifty accompanied the outlawwhen he went to court to pleadto the Indictment. His trial wasset for March 12.

Prosecutor Estill once request-ed that Dillinger be transferredto Michigan City for safe keep-Ing. JUdge William J. Murrayof the Circuit court refused this.He estimated that a hundredmen couldn't release the outlawfrom such a jail.

By mid-February the wholebusiness settled down to routine,although there were persistentrumors Dillinger would escape.He was allowed visitors, whosepermits to see him were signedby Judge Murray. Among thecallers were Louis Piquett, shadyChicago lawyer who was todefend the gunman; ArthurO'Leary, investigator for Pi-

linger walked out of that escape-proof jail the morning of March3. It happened this way:

A wrinkled old fellow namedSam Cahoon, the only guard pay·ing any attention to Dillinger,unlocked his cell so he could getinto an exercise corridor. Swift-ly Dillinger slapped somethingthat looked like a pistol into Ca-hoon's ribs. Cahoon always in-sisted it was a pistol.

The guard was forced to opendoors. He was ordered to callErnest Blunk, a deputy, whowas downstairs. Cahoon re-belled. II You'll have to shootme, John," he quavered. Dillin-ger laughed and made the callhimself. Blunk, an appointee ofJUdge Murray, responded.

Blunk saw the pistol and wasdiscreet. He obeyed a commandto call Warden Lew Baker up-stairs. Baker went and wasshoved into a cell with Cahoon.Dillinger and Herbert Young.blood, a Negro prisoner, walkeddown to the jail office, takingBlunk with them.

Deputies there seemed sur-prlsed at the invasion. Theywere disarmed and Dillinger andhis companion took such weap-ons, Including machine guns, asthey wanted.

Soon afterward they went out-side. Dillinger picked out SherifHolley's automobile and droveaway, accompanied by Young-blood and B 1u n k. He hadthoughtfully locked the jail fromthe outside, and Crown Pointerswere. treated to the odd specta-cle of deputy sherifs at the win-dows begging somebody to libel"ate them from their escapeproofjail.

At Peotone, Ill., the two crim-inals pushed Blunk out. Theydrove into Chicago. Thousandsof police were seeking them.But they had a handicap. Thelicense number of the sherif'scar was broadcast as 679·929;the right number was 674-549.Warden Baker, who gave the In-formation, said that was thenumber given him.

It was, however, establishedthat some one called Piquett inChicago five minutes after thebreak and told him his client wason the loose. That afternon thelawyer met Dillinger. So didEvelyn Frechette.

From the sherif's office, fromthe guards, cam e a strangestory. They said Dillinger didn't

(Tribune pboto.)

ANNA SAGE ., ." the woman in r.cf."

have a pistol. He had whittleda piece of wood with a safetyrazor blade. He had made thestick into the form of a pistoland had darkened it with shoepolish. With this toy he hadfooled a jallful of guards. Thiswas incredible. But not moreincredible than the rest of theyarn.

The inescapable fact was thatIndiana had once again turnedthe most vicious of Americancriminals loose on the public.Attorney G e n e r a 1 Cummingssaid it was a disgrace. SherifHolley said Dillinger was justlucky. James Posey, a Negroprisoner, reported that "every-body knew John was going toget out today."

Governor McNutt made thebest of a bad situation for thestate. He saw a .ehance to takethe heat off his administration,In disfavor because of the Michi·gan City break, and shift it tothe authorities at Crown Point.All were Democrats, but it wasbetter to let little Democratsbear the burden.

Assistant Attorney GeneralEdward J. Barce went to CrownPoint. He said he was going tomake a thorough Investigation.He insisted there was "indisput-able evidence t hat Dillingerwalked out with the assistanceof prison attaches."

Later it was reported that Dil-linger had paid at least $10,000for his freedom and that ar-rangements for the break weremade in a saloon In East Chi-cago. Barce took cognizance ofall these rumors. Once he an-nounced that he was about toseize the three ringleaders. Henever did.

A local intra-Democratic partyscrap developed in Lake county.Estill engaged a police sergeant,Martin Zarkovich of East Chi-cago, to help him investigate,and announced t hat all thisWOUldn'thave happened if JudgeMurray had sent Dillinger toMichigan City.

" Why should I listen to a pros-ecutor who had just finished hug-ging Dillinger?" demanded thejudge.

He called for a special grandjury investigation. He appoint-ed a special prosecutor, MartinJ. Smith. The jury held thatDillinger should have been sent,as a parole violator, back to thestate prison. Ruling the Ian-guage scandalous and contemp-tuous, JUdge Murray cited thejurymen for contempt. Theyapologized and the report wasexpunged.

It was noticed that Zarkovich

(Tribune pboto.)

The body of John Dillinger is car-ried away in a police patrol.

had been extremely active In pre-senting evidence to this grandjury. The jury, incidentally, sup-ported the theory that the comicwooden gun cowed the jailguards.

Blunk was tried for aiding Dil-linger, insisted that the bandithad a real pistol, and was acquit-ted. The case against Cahoonwas dropped. Official Indianachose to torget the Dillinger epl-sode.

• ••Dillinger 1i v e d nearly five

months after his flight fromCrown Point. He was huntedlike the wild beast he was. The

. middle west armed against himand G-men by the hundreds wenton his trail. Rewards for a totalof $15,000 were offered for hiscapture.

With Evelyn Frechette andHamilton, Dillinger motored toSt. Paul and then back to Indl-ana. On April 8 he visited oldJohn Dillinger at Mooresville:Evelyn came back to Chicago.The two gangsters drove aroundabout route to Sault Ste.Marie, Mich. Next they crossedinto the heavily wooded lakecountry of Wisconsin and aboutApril 20 gathered with othersof the gang in Emil Wanatka'sLittle Bohemia resort near Mer-cer.

Some of the old bunch weremissing. Pierpont, Makley, andClark were in jail in Ohio. Laterthey were convicted of the Sar-ber murder. Clark got a lifesentence and the others werecondemned to death. Pierpontwas electrocuted and Makleyshot in an attempt to escape--this was not McNutt's Indiana.

After their conviction Pier-pont and Makley made a state-ment.

"Indiana authorities know whocommitted the Lima murder,"they declared. ••They made apolitical issue of our case. Theyknow who were robbing bankswhile we were in Michigan City.They know who got the moneyfor smuggling guns into the pris-on. They know, too, why Dllltn-gel' got loose just before he wasto make a deposition in ourcase."

Even without this trio Dlllln-gel' had company-three or fourgangsters and their women.

Federal agents, tipped by Wa-natka, surrounded the resortwith a hundred men on April 23.Something went wrong. Againthe gang shot through to tree-dom, leaving two enemies deadand four wounded. Hamiltonwas hurt, and a little later Dil-linger killed him and buried thebody near Oswego, Ill. .

Back in Chicago, the championgangster enlisted Piquett's aidand had two unethical surgeonslift his face. They nearly killedhim with too much ether. Hisfinger Ups were altered. .

Detectives believe that Dlllin-.ger engaged In two major crimesafter the Little Bohemia episode.One was the $29,000 robbery ofa bank in South Bend, Ind.; theother the murder of two police-men in East Chicago.

These policemen were shotdown May 24 with a machinegun as they approached an auto-mobile at the edge of town.The1r names were Lloyd Mulvi-hill and Martin O'Brien. Whywere they killed? Nob 0 d yknows officially, but the under-world of East Chicago heardrumor that they had Interrupt II

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