PHOTOS: On this day – July 22, 1934 – John Dillinger gunned down

Posted Jul 22, 2012

By vwilliams

July 22, 1934 – Outside Chicago’s Biograph Theater, “Public Enemy No. 1″ John Dillinger is mortally wounded by FBI agents.

John Dillinger was the most notorious of the Depression-era outlaws, standing out even among more violent criminals such as Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Bonnie and Clyde. He was charged with, but never convicted of, the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana, police officer during a shoot-out. This was his only alleged homicide, and was likely not his action. His gang robbed two dozen banks and four police stations. Dillinger escaped from jail twice. 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. On July 22, the police and Division of Investigation closed in on the Biograph Theater. As he left the theater, Federal agents led by Melvin Purvis shot and killed him.(Wikipedia)

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The body of slain outlaw John Dillinger lies in state at the Harvey Funeral Home in Mooresville, Ind., July 25, 1934. The body will later be placed in the casket shown in background. (AP Photo)
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This is a 1934 photo of desperado John Dillinger near Moore, Ind. (AP Photo)
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This is a June 1934 FBI "Wanted" poster of John Herbert Dillinger who was considered "Public Enemy No. 1." (AP Photo)
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John Herbert Dillinger, Jr.
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This is the automatic .38 pistol that dropped from John Dillinger's hands when he was fatally wounded by federal agents in front of a movie theater in Chicago, Ill., July 22, 1934. (AP Photo)
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Heavily guarded, manacled and shackled, outlaw John Dillinger is shown on January 30, 1934, as he is taken from one plane to another in St. Louis, Tenn., while under way to his final destination, Indiana jail at Crown Point. (AP Photo)
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Gangster John Dillinger, center, strikes a pose with Lake County prosecuter Robert Estill, left, in the jail at Crown Point, Indiana, in 1934. Dillinger is awaiting trial for the murder of police officer Willliam Patrick O'Malley when Dillinger robbed the First National Bank of East Chicago on Jan. 15, 1934. (AP Photo)
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Desperado John Dillinger appears in court in Crown Point, Ind., on Feb. 5, 1934. (AP Photo)
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John Dillinger, center, is handcuffed and guarded in court as his trial date is set for March 12 at Crown Point, Ind., Feb. 9, 1934. Dillinger is charged with the killing a police officer in East Chicago, Indiana. (AP Photo)
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Three girlfriends of notorious bank robber John Dillinger who were taken into federal custody, hide their faces and refuse to identify themselves, April 23, 1934, near Mercer, Wisconsin. (AP Photo)
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Outlaw John Dillinger's arsenal is seen, April 24, 1934, after federal agents tried to capture him and his gang in their hideout in the Little Bohemia roadhouse in Mercer, Wisc. Dillinger and company were alerted to the arrival of the feds by the inn owners' dogs barking. Man examining the weapons is unidentified. (AP Photo)
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An upper window at the Little Bohemia roadhouse in Mercer, Wisc., where outlaw John Dillinger and his gang leaped to escape federal agents, is seen April 24, 1934. Person in the window is unidentified. (AP Photo)
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Officers point up at the window in the back of Little Bohemia Roadhouse in Mercer, Wisc., where outlaw John Dillinger and his gang leaped to escape federal agents, April 24, 1934. (AP Photo)
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The Little Bohemia roadhouse in Mercer, Wisc., is seen April 23, 1934. The inn is where John Dillinger and his gang of outlaws were hiding out until federal agents caught up with them. Dillinger continues to elude the authorities. (AP Photo)
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This is the lobby of the Little Bohemia roadhouse, April 23, 1934, at Mercer, Wisc., where John Dillinger and his gang of outlaws lived for three days holding the owners as virtual prisoners, until federal agents nearly caught up with them. Two men were killed and four were wounded during a gun battle as the gang escaped. Investigators are unidentified. (AP Photo)
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Nan Wanatka, wife of the proprietor of the Little Bohemia roadhouse near Mercer, Wisc., is shown with her dogs, who unwittingly saved the day for John Dillinger and his gang when federal agents swooped down on the house, April 23, 1934. The dogs began to bark as the agents approached and Dillinger machine gunners hurried to their posts and began firing at the officers. The gang then leaped out a window and escaped to the woods nearby. Dogs are named Prince and Spot. (AP Photo)
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This is a letter written to Henry Ford from outlaw John Dillinger, and received at Ford's offices in Michigan May 17, 1934. Dillinger endorses Ford's cars, saying, "I can make any other car take a Ford's dust." (AP Photo)
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Members of the Dillinger outlaw gang are arraigned in a Tucson, Ariz., court Jan. 25, 1934. From left are: Russel Clark, Charles Makley, Harry Pierpont, John Dilliger, Ann Martin and Mary Kinder. (AP Photo)
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Sheriff John Bolton, far right, poses with the men he appointed to guard the captured members of the Dillinger gang at the local county jail, in Tucson, Ariz., on January 29, 1934. (AP Photo)
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The Hollywood police station in Los Angeles, shown April 27, 1934, a key to which was reported to have been in the possession of Evelyn Frechette Sparks, woman friend of the Indiana desperado John Dillinger, when she was apprehended in Chicago. Department of Justice agents in Los Angeles, began in investigation into how the master key, which one officer said fitted several rooms in the station, came into the woman's possession. (AP Photo)
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The body of slain outlaw John Dillinger is placed in a police wagon from Alexian Brothers Hospital en route to the Cook County Morgue in Chicago, Ill., July 23, 1934. Dillinger died on his way to the hospital after being shot by federal agents in front of the Biograph Theatre in Chicago. (AP Photo)
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Medical students make a death mask of slain outlaw John Dillinger in Chicago, Ill., July 25, 1934. (AP Photo)
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People view the body of gangster John Dillinger in a Chicago morgue in December 1934. (AP Photo)
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The body of slain outlaw John Dillinger is viewd by the residents of his hometown at the Harvey Funeral Home in Mooresville, Ind., July 25, 1934. The body will later be placed in the casket shown in background. (AP Photo)
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This aerial view shows the body of John Dillinger, in an undertaker's basket covered with black oil cloth, being taken from a funeral home in Chicago, Ill., July 24, 1934. The burial services will be held in Indianapolis. (AP Photo)
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People pose in front of the Biograph Theater at Lincoln and Fullerton Streets as one woman displays the newspaper headline "Dillinger Slain" in Chicago, Ill., July 21, 1934. Outlaw John Dillinger was shot and killed by federal agents outside the movie theater after watching the feature "Manhattan Melodrama." (AP Photo)
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The Biograph Theater in Chicago, Ill., is shown on July 11, 1974. The theater, originally opened in 1914, is scheduled to close tonight. In 1934, FBI agents shot gangster John Dillinger as he walked outside the theater after seeing a screening of "Manhattan Melodrama." (AP Photo)
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Anna Sage is photographed in a Chicago, Ill., police station while being questioned by authorities on July 24, 1934. Sage tipped off polices that outlaw John Dillinger would accompany her to the local movie theater on the night of July 22, which ended in his death. (AP Photo)
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Evelyn Frechette, girlfriend of John Dillinger, is being escorted into Federal Court in St. Paul, Minn., on May 2, 1934. (AP Photo)
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Evelyn Frechette, girlfriend of John Dillinger, confers with Louis Piquett of Chicago and Jerome Hoffman, left, her counsel, as her trial on a charge of harboring criminal John Dillinger opened in St. Paul, Minn., on May 16, 1934. (AP Photo)
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South Chicago police officers, from left, Capt. Timothy O'Neil, Sergeants Peter Sopsic, Walter Conroy and Glen Stretch are shown on July 23, 1934. These officers were on the front line July 22 in the capture and slaying of outlaw John Dillinger, who killed a police officer in a bank raid. (AP Photo)
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Melvin H. Purvis of Chicago, at one time the chief of the bureau of investigation of the Midwest for U.S. Department of Justice, is shown in this undated file photo. Purvis joined the what would become the FBI in 1927. Purvis is best known for leading the manhunt for John Dillinger, which ended in Chicago on July 22, 1934.
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Melvin H. Purvis, left, the chief of bureau of the U.S. Department of Justice in the Midwest, was responsible for the killing of John Dillinger, is congragulated by his boss, Attorney General Homer Cummings, on July 24, 1934 in Chicago. Purvis, a soft spoken official, is the federal operative that successfully tracked Dillinger to capture. Dillinger went from a small time crook to America's Most Wanted after an ill-fated bank robbery left a police officer dead. (AP Photo)
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Melvin Purvis, chief of the Department of Justice Agents, talks to the reporters on July 24, 1934 in Chicago after the killing John Dillinger. Purvis received a tip which resulted in Dillinger's capture. (AP Photo)
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Weapons belonging to the late John Dillinger, apparently dumped into Lake Michigan, Chicago, Ill., after his death, and recovered late July 24, are shown on July 25, 1934. The machine gun, bullet-proof vest and automatic gun were the stock and trade of the outlaw. (AP Photo)
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Melvin H. Purvis, the Federal Investigator who directed the capture and slaying of John Dillinger, left, as he appeared at the Justice Department in Washington, July 26, 1934, to make his report and plan further blows against Dillinger Gangsters. Williams Stanley, center, the acting attorney general, shakes his hand while J. Edger Hoover, right, chief of the department's division of investigation, smiles his approval. (AP Photo)
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Martin Zarkovich, police detective of East Chicago, Ind., is shown, 1934. Zarkovich is credited with leading the FBI to John Dillinger. (AP Photo)
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The gravestone that marks the resting place of Depression-era gangster John Dillinger Jr. at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Ind., is shown on July 21, 1959. The gravestone of "Public Enemy #1," slain by federal agents 25 years ago today, has been chipped by souvenir hunters over the years. (AP Photo)