John Herbert Dillinger
Bank robber wanted by the Division of Investigation under the stolen-car law in 1934; shot by Bureau agents outside the Biograph Theatre in Chicago on 22 July 1934, as the FBI states.
- Born
- 1903-06-22
- Died
- 1934-07-22
- Aliases
- Frank Sullivan, John Hall, John Donovan Hall, Clarence Cruse, Joseph J. Harris, J. H. Donovan, Kirtly, Carl T. Hellman
- Rights
- Biography on this page is limited to what the cited federal records state. The photograph is a United States government work, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105.
On the record
- 22 June 1903 — The FBI history page says he "was born on June 22, 1903 in the Oak Hill section of Indianapolis."
- 12 October 1933 — Identification Order No. 1217 records his receipt at the county jail at Lima, Ohio on September 28, 1933 and his escape on October 12, 1933. The Ohio Court of Appeals in Makley v. State says three men asked to see the prisoner John Dillinger and shot Sheriff Jess Sarber at the jail.
- 3 March 1934 — United States v. One Ford V-8 Sedan (W.D. Mich. 1934) states that he "escaped from the Lake County Jail, Crown Point, Ind., on March 3, 1934, in a Ford sedan stolen from the sheriff of that county."
- 12 March 1934 — Identification Order No. 1217 is issued under the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act, stating that the U.S. Marshal at Chicago holds a warrant for transporting Sheriff Lillian Holley's Ford V-8 from Crown Point to Chicago. The FBI's copy is stamped CANCELLED.
- 22 April 1934 — The National Archives' description of United States vs. John Herbert Dillinger, et al. (W.D. Wis., No. 10922) says the defendants resisted Division agents at the Little Bohemia Lodge, Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, where a resident and Special Agent W. Carter Baum were killed.
- 11 June 1934 — The federal court at Hammond, Indiana issues a capias for him on an indictment for motor theft, bail $25,000 (National Archives, NAID 2694465).
- 22 July 1934 — A Bureau account in the FBI Vault (Dillinger Part 01, page 29) places agents near "the Biograph Theatre, 2433 Lincoln Avenue, Chicago" and records Dillinger entering at 8:50 p.m. The FBI history page says agents Winstead, Hurt and Hollis fired, and gives his death at 10:50 p.m.; the research records a Vault summary page giving his arrival at Alexian Brothers Hospital at 10:55 p.m., where he was pronounced dead.
- After July 1934 — The FBI says 27 persons were convicted in federal courts of harboring and aiding him and his associates. The Seventh Circuit's opinion in Piquett v. United States (1936) states that his attorney Louis Piquett was acquitted of conspiring to harbor Dillinger and convicted on a charge concerning Homer Van Meter.
Filed in the Public Enemies side section. This is not an organized-crime family page: the records here are federal fugitive, court and prison records.
The aliases are those printed on Identification Order No. 1217 (Frank Sullivan), on the Hammond capias (John Hall through Kirtly), and in the National Archives’ note on the Little Bohemia case (Carl T. Hellman). The time of death differs between the FBI history page (10:50 p.m.) and a Vault summary page recorded by the research (arrival at the hospital at 10:55 p.m.); both are given above. No family or role field is set: these are fugitive records, not organized-crime records.
Records
itemIdentification Order No. 1217: John Dillinger (12 March 1934), stamped "Cancelled"Division of Investigation wanted notice for John Dillinger, alias Frank Sullivan, under the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act, issued nine days after the Crown Point jail escape. The FBI's copy is stamped CANCELLED. A copy is stored here.itemIdentification Order No. 1217, John Dillinger (National Archives copy, 60-NP-319)The National Archives' copy of the Division of Investigation's 12 March 1934 wanted notice for John Dillinger, catalogued as a photograph in the Department of Justice's records. A copy is stored here.
item"Various Views of John Dillinger": FBI composite of nine photographsAn undated FBI photographic composite of nine views of John Dillinger's face, held by the National Archives in the FBI's records. A copy is stored here.
itemJohn Dillinger's death mask (FBI artifact)Plaster death mask of John Dillinger held by the FBI. The FBI says Harold May of the Reliance Dental Manufacturing Co. made it at the Cook County Morgue about twelve hours after Dillinger's death on 22 July 1934. A copy of the FBI's photograph is stored here.
itemOrder to arrest John Dillinger, U.S. District Court at Hammond, Indiana (11 June 1934)Capias issued by the federal court at Hammond on 11 June 1934 commanding the marshal to bring John Dillinger, with six aliases, to answer an indictment for motor theft, bail $25,000. The National Archives notes it was never served. A copy is stored here.itemThe United States of America v. John Dillinger (federal case file, Hammond, Indiana, 1934)Eleven-page federal case file from Hammond, Indiana with the arrest warrant, indictment and praecipe for capias charging John Dillinger with the auto theft at Crown Point. The case was dismissed after his death.
itemBureau account of the agents' positions at the Biograph Theatre, 22 July 1934 (Vault, Dillinger Part 01, page 29)Page 2 of a typed Bureau account in the FBI Vault's Dillinger file: Purvis and Brown near "the Biograph Theatre, 2433 Lincoln Avenue, Chicago," Dillinger seen entering at 8:50 p.m., and where each agent was posted. A copy is stored here.
itemMemorandum for file by Special Agent C. B. Winstead, 25 July 1934: the weapons at the Biograph TheatreTwo-page memorandum by Special Agent C. B. Winstead on the events outside the Biograph Theatre, Chicago, on 22 July 1934. It records the weapons involved: the "Division .45 Automatic" Winstead carried and a ".380 calibre Colt Automatic" that Winstead says Purvis told him he had taken.itemJohn Dillinger, Part 02 (FBI Vault): Bureau memoranda of 1934 and the memorandum of 10 August 1935 on the shootingSecond part of the FBI Vault's Dillinger file, 44 viewer pages of Bureau memoranda from July and August 1934, ending with a memorandum dated 10 August 1935 on the facts of the 22 July 1934 shooting.
itemJohn Herbert Dillinger case file, U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Indiana (National Archives at Chicago)Catalog entry for the U.S. Attorney's file that, per NARA's description, documents Dillinger's 3 March 1934 escape from the Crown Point, Indiana, jail, which NARA says he made with a fake handgun carved from wood. 167 digitized pages.itemUnited States of America vs. John Herbert Dillinger, et al. (Little Bohemia Lodge, Wisconsin, 1934)Federal criminal case charging Dillinger and others with concealing the fugitive Thomas Carroll and resisting Division of Investigation agents at the Little Bohemia Lodge, Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, on 22 April 1934.itemUnited States v. One Ford V-8 Sedan, 7 F. Supp. 705 (W.D. Mich. 1934)Federal forfeiture opinion over a car claimed by John Hamilton's sister at Sault Ste. Marie. It recites that Dillinger escaped from the Lake County Jail at Crown Point on 3 March 1934 in a Ford sedan stolen from the sheriff.itemPiquett v. United States, 81 F.2d 75 (7th Cir. 1936)The Seventh Circuit's opinion on the appeal of Louis Piquett, Dillinger's attorney, from his conviction for conspiring to harbor Homer Van Meter. The court notes he had earlier been tried and acquitted on the charge concerning Dillinger. Judgment affirmed.itemMakley v. State, 197 N.E. 339, 49 Ohio App. 359 (Ohio Ct. App. 1934)Ohio Court of Appeals opinion affirming Charles Makley's conviction for killing Allen County Sheriff Jess L. Sarber at the Lima jail on 12 October 1933, when Dillinger was freed.