July 1934
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.
May - August 1933
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
October 1933
Oct. 8, 1933
Sunday
Giants beat the Senators four games to one in the World Series; Dillinger bets on Giants.
Oct. 12, 1933
Thursday
Pierpont, Makley and Clark enter the Lima jail to free Dillinger; Pierpont kills Sheriff Jesse Sarber in the process. Clark and Makley are with Pierpont when Sheriff is killed. Copeland, Hamilton and Shouse stand guard outside. After freeing Dillinger, the gang travels to Hamilton, Ohio and then to Leipsic,Ohio,Pierpont's home, celebrates Pierpont's birthday the following day.
Oct. 14, 1933
Saturday
Robs the Auburn, Indiana, police station arsenal with Pierpont and Walter Dietrich.
TAKE: One Thompson, two .38 revolvers, one .30-caliber Springfield rifle, one shotgun, one Colt .45, one .44 Smith & Wesson, a Spanish .45, one German Luger, three bulletproof vests, and 1,245 rounds of ammunition.
Oct. 21, 1933
Saturday
Robs the Peru, Indiana, police station arsenal with Pierpont and Dietrich.
TAKE: Two Thompsons, six bulletproof vests, two sawed-off shotguns, four .38 police specials, two .30.30 Winchesters.
October 23, 1933
Monday
Robs Central National Bank of Greencastle, Indiana, with Pierpont, Makley, Clark, Copeland, Hamilton, and either Hilton Crouch or Leslie Homer
BANDIT CAR: Black Studebaker
TAKE: $75,000.00 to $78,000.00
*On the same day, Baby Face Nelson robs the First National Bank of Brainerd, Minnesota, of $32,000 with Tommy Carroll, Homer Van Meter, John Paul Chase, and Charles Fisher. Homer van meter not liked by Pierpont. This would be a prominent factor in later East Chicago Bank Robbery according to Pierpont's girlfriend Mary Kinder.
Oct. 26, 1933
Thursday
The governor of Indiana calls up the National Guard; armored cars with mounted machine guns on 24-hour duty in Indianapolis.
Late Oct. 1933
Johnnie meets Evelyn Frechette in North Side Chicago nightclub. According to Mary Kinder and Evelyn, John does not find out Evelyn is still married until Christmas of 1933.
September 1933
Sept. 6, 1933 (Wednesday)
Robs Massachusetts Avenue State Bank in Indianapolis with Copeland and Crouch.
BANDIT CAR: Desoto
TAKE: $24,000
Sept. 15, 1933
Has his 1933 Essex Terraplane repaired at 3034 Lawrence Avenue, Chicago.
Sept. 22, 1933 (Friday)
Captured in Dayton, Ohio, at the home of Mary Longnaker. He gives up without a struggle.
Sept. 23, 1933 (Saturday)
Transferred to Allen County Jail, Lima, Ohio.
Sept. 26, 1933 at 1:30 p.m. (Tuesday)
Indiana State Prison at Michigan City Jailbreak.
ESCAPEES: Harry Pierpont, Charles Makley, Russell Clark, Edward Shouse, Walter Dietrich, John Burns, James Jenkins, Joseph Fox, John Hamilton, James Clark
*On the same day Machine Gun Kelly is apprehended in Memphis.
Sept. 29, 1933 (Friday)
Michigan City escapee James Clark arrested in Hammond, Indiana. Dillinger writes a letter to his father from the Lima jail.
Saturday, Sept. 30, 1933
Michigan City escapee James Jenkins shot and killed in Beanblossom, Indiana, by townspeople. Local resident Herbert McDonald wounded in the arm.
November 1933
Nov. 11, 1933
Saturday
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
Nov. 15, 1933
Wednesday
After contracting ringworm at the Lima jail, Dillinger seeks treatment from Dr. Charles Eye in Chicago. Informant Arthur McGinnis notifies police, but Dillinger and Frechette escape trap
Nov. 19, 1933
Sunday
Harry Copeland arrested at Harlem and North avenues, Chicago, and returned to prison
Nov. 20, 1933
Monday
3p.m.
Robs American Bank and Trust Company in Racine, Wisconsin, with Pierpont, Makley, Clark, Hamilton, and Leslie Homer
BANDIT CAR: Black Buick
WOUNDED: Sgt. Wilbur Hansen
H.J. Graham, cashier (arm)
TAKE: $27,000
Nov. 24, 1933
Friday
Leslie Homer arrested at LaSalle and Ohio streets in Chicago
Nov. 30, 1933
Thursday
Baby Face Nelson and his wife, Helen Gillis, enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner with Homer Van Meter and Marie Comforti at the home of H.S. Lebman in San Antonio, Texas. The Nelsons leave for San Francisco on Dec. 11
*Nude body of Verne Miller found in Detroit; back of his skull crushed in