Hebert Dillinger: A Brief Biography

John Hebert Dillinger was born on June 22, 1903 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He had two nicknames, Jackrabbit and later on became Public Enemy Number One. He was the younger of two children; his sister’s name was Audrey. His mother’s name was Mary Ellen “Molly” Lancaster and his father’s name was John Wilson Dillinger. Molly passed away from a stroke before John was 4 years old. John Sr. went to church faithfully and was a self-made businessman who owned a small neighborhood grocery store along with a couple rental homes. As a child, Dillinger committed small theft, he was frequently in trouble. His father was a violent and cruel force at times and he would hit his son for disobeying the law and then would give money for candy. Dillinger quit

He told the guards he wanted to go there because they had a better baseball team. But his main purpose of being transferred was because he wanted to rejoin Piermont and Van Meter who had been transferred there earlier. This is where he learned the ropes of crime and learned from very experienced bank robbers. Piermont and Van Meter sentences were longer than John’s but he knew they weren’t going to serve it fully because they were planning bank heists for when they were free. They knew Dillinger was going to be out earlier than they were so they provided him with information and schemes to fund their escape. John was out of jail for 4 years and he was able to make $50,000 from some robberies. With the escape was now in motion and he arranged to slip a few guns in boxes of thread and smuggled into the shirt factory. John had some time on his hands before the breakout and went to go visit a friend of his and ended up getting arrested and sent back to

Purvis deceided to check out the biograph himself and two other agents were at the Marboro. Purvis was standing just a few feet from the door when the Clark Gable movie Manhattan Melodrama let out. “As Dillinger passed he looked Purvis right in the eyes, but made no indication of recognition of suspicion” (Biography.com) Purvis lit a cigar to confirm it was Dillinger. As john and the two women walked down the street Purvis drew his gun and told Johnie he was surrounded. Dillinger reached for his gun and tried to flee. He was fatally shot in the base of his neck and it traveled up stricking the second vertebrae and excited just under his right eye. Dillingers lifeless body drew a crowd and they were dipping their handkerchief in his blood for souverniers. Dillinger was taken to Alexian Brothers Hospital were he was pronounced dead before be taken to Cook County Morgue. A crowd followed his body to the morgue and to the post mordem room. “Throughout the day thousands of people had shuffled past Dillingers body before he was taken to the McCready Funeral Home.” His body was placed in a casket mobile and escorted back to Mooresville, Indiana. His body reached Harvery Funeral Home where is body was identified by his sister Audrey, John was put into the ground on July 25 1934, at the Crown Hill Cemetery in