Dillinger's Charisma
A consummate charmer
What made the prolific bank robber different from his peers was his charisma and wit. As seen above, he poses with a prospective prosecutor but moments later, he would take this opportunity to signal to his gang of a forthcoming escape.
Timeline
May 1933
Monday, May 22, 1933
Released from Indiana State Prison at Michigan City; shis entence began September 16, 1924. Due to misplaced paperwork he arrived one hour late to say good-bye to his beloved stepmother Elizabeth "Lizzie" (Fields) Dillinger as she died from a stroke. According to prison records Lizzie worked harder to gain John's early release and parole, wrote more letters to John and public officials and visited him more than any other relative. John loved her and thought of her as his only mother because his birth mother Mollie died when John was only three years old. According to publications, John Sr. said he raised John along with a nanny until he remarried. John Sr. married Elizabeth fields from Mooresville, Indiana. On some occassions John would stay with his older sister Audrey who had a large family. Audrey did love John dearly but did not have the time to actually raise John as has been often misreported.
June 1933
June 24, 1933 (Saturday)
Allegedly attempts to rob Marshall Field Thread Mill in Monticello, Indiana, with William Shaw
June 29, 1933 (Thursday)
According to small time hood William Shaw (who had a tendency to exaggerate his involvement with John) they robbed a sandwich shop on washington Street, Indianapolis, near Irvington. This is unlikely as Dillinger soon realized Shaw was a rank amatuer that would soon be caught and that's exactly what happened after Shaw's wife turned him in for cheating on her.
July 1933
July 15, 1933 (Saturday)
Arrives in Muncie, Indiana, to meet Harry Copeland, then drives to Daleville, Indiana, to case the Commercial Bank of Daleville.
July 17, 1933 (Monday at 12:45 p.m.)
Robs the Commercial Bank of Daleville with Harry Copeland and Hilton Crouch
BANDIT CAR: Chevrolet coupe
TAKE: $3,500
Monday, July 30, 1933
Visits 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair with Mary Longnaker and one of Mary's friends.Mary is the sister of Jim jenkins, a friend of John's in the Michigan City Prison.
August 1933
August 4, 1933 (Friday)
Robs First National Bank of Montpelier, Indiana, with Copeland and Crouch.
BANDIT CAR: Blue Dodge
TAKE: $6,700
August 14, 1933 (Monday at noon)
Robs Citizens National Bank of Bluffton, Ohio, with Copeland and Crouch.
BANDIT CAR: Green sedan
TAKE: $6,000
March 3, 1934
Saturday
9:15 a.m.
Dillinger escapes from jail using the wooden gun; brings along accused murderer Herbert Youngblood. Dillinger steals Sheriff Lillian Holley's car and heads for Chicago.
March 4-6, 1934
Rents Apt. 106 at the Santa Monica Apartments, 3252 South Girard Avenue, Minneapolis, with Billie Frechette.
March 5, 1934
Monday
Sheriff Holley's car found abandoned at 1057 Ardmore, Chicago.
March 6, 1934
Tuesday
Dillinger robs Security National Bank in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with Homer Van Meter, Eddie Green, Tommy Carroll, and Baby Face Nelson.
BANDIT CAR: Green 1934 Packard
WOUNDED: Motorcycle policeman Hale Keith
TAKE: $49,500
March 7, 1934
Wednesday
As a result of driving Sheriff Holley's car from Indiana to Illinois, Dillinger violates the Dyer Act, a federal offense. The Department of Investigation (FBI) enters the case.
March 13, 1934
Tuesday
Dillinger robs First National Bank of Mason City, Iowa, with Homer Van Meter, Eddie Green, 2:40 p.m. Tommy Carroll, Baby Face Nelson, and John Hamilton.
BANDIT CAR: Buick
WOUNDED: Dillinger and Hamilton (shoulder) R. H. James, bystander (leg)
TAKE: $52,000
March 14, 1934
Wednesday
After parting ways with Dillinger in Chicago following the Crown Point escape, Herbert Youngblood is shot and killed in Port Huron, Michigan. Also killed was undersheriff Charles Cavanaugh.
March 14, 1934
midnight
In need of medical attention, Dillinger and Hamilton are taken to the home of Dr. Nels Mortensen, at 2252 Fairmount Avenue, St. Paul, by Pat Reilly, accompanied by Homer Van Meter.
*In Chicago, Roger Touhy gang member Basil Banghart receives 99-year sentence for the John Factor kidnapping. He was framed by Capone mob leader Frank Nitti.
March 16, 1934
Friday
Dillinger and Billie arrive in Chicago to meet with Piquett. Piquett being unavailable, they meet with O'Leary and discuss Billie's wish to obtain a divorce from her imprisoned husband so that she and Dillinger can marry.
March 18, 1934
Sunday
4 p.m.
Dillinger and Frechette again meet with O'Leary to discuss the divorce March 19, 1934.
March 19, 1934
Monday
Billie travels to Mooresville to deliver a letter from Dillinger, along with the wooden gun and sums of money for Audrey Hancock and Dillinger's father.
March 20, 1934
Tuesday
Dillinger moves in with Billie Frechette at the Lincoln Court Apartments, Apt. 303, 93 South Lexington Avenue, St. Paul, under the name of Mr. and Mrs. Carl T. Hellman. Rent is $60 per month.
March 22, 1934
Thursday
Baby Face Nelson, with wife Helen Gillis and John Paul Chase, arrive in Reno, Nevada.
*In Chicago, Fred Goetz, aka: Shotgun Ziegler, ex-Capone henchman, is found dead in Cicero.
March 23, 1934
Friday
Dillinger drives to Leipsic, Ohio, and visits Harry Pierpont's mother to discuss the possibility of breaking him out of jail and leaves money for attorney for Pierpont, Clark and Makley.
March 24, 1934
Saturday
Pierpont and Makley sentenced to death by electric chair. Executions are set for Friday, June 13, 1934. Clark is given a life sentence.
March 27, 1934
Tuesday
Pierpont and Makley transferred to the state prison in Columbus to await execution. Clark also transferred. Patricia Cherrington buys herself a new coat at the Young-Quinlan Company, Ninth and Nicollet Avenue, Minneapolis. The coat was found in Apartment 303, Lincoln Court Apartments, St. Paul, subsequent to the shootout of March 31.
March 30, 1934
Friday
Dillinger, Billie, John Hamilton and girlfriend Pat Cherrington, and her sister, Opal Long, have a party at the Lincoln Court Apartments. It lasts most of the night.
March 31, 1934
Saturday
10:30 a.m.
After the suspicious caretaker tips off the FBI the day before, Agents Coulter and Nolls, and Detective Cummings, investigate Apt. 303. Dillinger and Billie escape. Dillinger wounded in left calf. Van Meter escapes on a coal truck that was passing by. Dillinger and Frechette drive to 3300 Fremont Avenue, Eddie Green's apartment, to seek assistance.
March 31, 1934
11 a.m.
Green takes Dillinger to Dr. Clayton E. May, at 1835 Park Avenue, Minneapolis, to treat his leg. He stays with Dr. May and his nurse, Augusta Salt, until April 4.
Early June 1934
Dillinger meets Polly Hamilton at the Barrel of Fun nightclub, according to Polly
June 3, 1934
Sunday evening
Dr. Loeser begins plastic surgery on Homer Van Meter, with assistance from Dr. Cassidy
June 4, 1934
Monday
Joseph Fox, Michigan City escapee, captured in Chicago and returned to prison to finish sentence
June 5, 1934
Tuesday
Loeser returns to the Probasco house to begin fingerprint removal on Van Meter
June 7, 1934
Thursday
Tommy Carroll shot to death by police in Waterloo, Iowa. He is buried at Oakland Cemetery, St. Paul. The grave marker is missing
June 9, 1934
Saturday
Jean Delaney sentenced to a year and a day for violating parole
*Dillinger and Van Meter drive to Indianapolis in an attempt to find and kill informer Art McGinnis. After losing him in a crowd, the two head back to Chicago
June 21, 1934
Thursday
Van Meter picks up Marie Comforti and the two travel to the home of William and Ella Finerty in Calumet City, Illinois, where they rent a room under assumed names
June 22, 1934
Friday
Dillinger celebrates his 31st birthday with Polly Hamilton at the French Casino nightclub, Chicago
*Officially named Public Enemy No. 1
June 23, 1934
Saturday
Dillinger and Polly celebrate Polly's birthday at the French Casino nightclub
June 26, 1934
Tuesday
Dillinger attends Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Cubs 5, Dodgers 2
June 27, 1934
Wednesday
Harry Copeland sentenced to 25 years for the Greencastle bank job. Pat Reilly arrested in St. Paul and receives two consecutive terms of one year and nine months, and 14 months
June 30, 1934
Saturday noon
Robs the Merchants' National Bank in South Bend, Indiana, with Van Meter, Baby Face Nelson and John Paul Chase. This was to be the gang's last job
BANDIT CAR: Brown Hudson
WOUNDED: Van Meter (head) Delos M. Coen, cashier Perry G. Stahley, V.P. Jacob Solomon, bystander Samuel Toth, motorist
KILLED: Officer Howard Wagner (Van Meter)
TAKE: $30,000
July 1, 1934
Sunday
Pat Reilly tells FBI agents that probably all phone numbers found in possession of the gang or their molls, or phone numbers and addresses in letters, are likely to be in code. The numbers appearing in written form are each subtracted from 10 to obtain the correct number intended. For example, Dale 2435 would be used for 8675. The taciturn Reilly also informs agents that Baby Face Nelson brought a letter from Louis Cernocky, proprietor of Louie's Place, Fox River Grove, Illinois, and promptly handed the letter over to Emil Wanatka immediately upon their arrival to Little Bohemia. Reilly claims he saw the envelope but not its contents.
July 2, 1934
Monday evening
Dillinger attends a movie at the Biograph, at 2433 Lincoln Avenue, Chicago.
July 7, 1934
Saturday
Dillinger meets with O'Leary at Schiller Street and Sacramento Boulevard, Chicago, to discuss Billie's appeal. Polly Hamilton is nearby, but O'Leary declines an offer to be introduced.
* Pat Cherrington and Opal Long sentenced to two years at the federal prison in Milan, Michigan, on harboring charges.
July 10, 1934
Tuesday
Dillinger, Polly Hamilton, Van Meter and Marie Comforti attend the World's Fair.
July 11, 1934
Wednesday
O'Leary meets Dillinger at Augusta and Sacramento Boulevards, Chicago, to discuss the possibility of freeing Billie Frechette.
July 22, 1934
Sunday
Anna Sage phones Melvin Purvis at 5:30 p.m. to inform him that she, Dillinger and Polly will go to either the Biograph or the Marbro Theatre this evening.
July 22, 1934
8:15 p.m.
Dillinger, Sage, and Polly arrive at the Biograph. After the three enter the theatre, more than 20 federal agents, including five East Chicago officers, are summoned.
July 22, 1934
10:35 p.m.
Upon leaving the theatre, Dillinger is shot four times, two grazing his face, one hitting his left side, and one entering the back of his neck and exiting beneath the right eye. He dies within moments. Agent Charles Winstead is believed to have fired the fatal shot. Witnesses tell Dillinger family that the authorities never called out to Dillinger to stop and that he was shot at close proximity (some say within arms' reach).
July 24, 1934
Tuesday
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 after a showing before thousands of viewers in Mooresville John's body was moved. The move from the funeral home took place at 10:15 p.m. and moved to Maywood, Indiana, to the home of Audrey Hancock, Dillinger's sister.
July 25, 1934
Wednesday
The Hancocks permit public viewing of the body in front parlor of their home before the funeral proper. Casket then removed to Crown Hill Cemetery during severe thunderstorm. Casket lowered at 3:15 p.m.