Public Enemies (92 page)

1
This section, including dialogue, was taken from statements given to the FBI by all the participants, including Cahoon, Blunk, and Warden Baker. The statements are located in a series of Chicago reports from March to May 1935, Jodil #5583, #5692, #5711.

2
This version of events that Saturday is taken from FBI files and the Girardin manuscript. The dialogue is from Girardin.

3
Undated St. Paul and Minneapolis newspaper articles. Memo, Rosen to Tamm, March 14, 1936, Jodil #6648. Undated letter from Kidder relative to Helen Gandy, Jodil #6789.

4
Sioux Falls Daily Argus-Leader,
March 6-7, 1934; South Dakota Hall of Fame magazine, vol. XXI, no. 2, Summer, 1995; Toland, pp. 220-24.

5
Clegg to Hoover, March 3, 1934, Jodil #83.

6
Hoover to Purvis, March 6, 1934, Jodil #93.

7
Cowley to Hoover, March 7, 1934, Jodil #128.

8
Purvis to Hoover, March 31, 1934, Jodil #226.

9
Mason City
Globe Gazette,
March 14, 1934.

10
Mason City
Globe Gazette,
August 21, 1973.

11
Mason City
Globe Gazette,
Feb. 5, 1982.

12
Mason City
Globe Gazette,
Dec. 24, 1942.

13
Toland, p. 237.

14
New Republic,
June 6, 1934.

15
Mason City
Globe Gazette,
June 26, 1964.

16
Toland, p. 235.

17
Ibid, p. 237.

18
Mortensen statement, April 20, 1934, Jodil #754.

19
Cherrington statement, Jodil #2617.

20
Girardin, p. 121.

21
Ibid.

22
Letter quoted in Alanna Nash article,
Satellite Orbit
magazine, November 1984.

23
Hoover to Purvis, March 27, 1934, Jodil #204.

1
Testimony of Det. Henry Cummings,
U.S. v. Frechette.

2
Frechette told her story in
Startling Detective Adventures,
September 1934.

3
Maccabee, p. 221.

4
Phillips, p. 182.

5
Hoover, memo to file, April 1, 1934, Jodil #269.

6
Notesteen’s statement, which quotes Inspector Rorer, is included in Hugh Clegg’s April 9, 1934, report to Hoover, Jodil #467.

7
Cowley, memo summarizing conversation with Clegg, April 19, 1934, Jodil #1574.

8
Hinton, p. 139.

9
Methvin vs. Oklahoma,
p. 73.

10
Hubert Dillinger statement, April 11, 1934, Jodil #1090.

11
Ibid.

12
Cowley to Hoover, April 7, 1934, Jodil #367.

13
Girardin, p. 139.

14
Chicago summary report, April 18, 1934, Jodil #630. Purvis knew he had botched the arrest. It is the one major arrest he made that is not described in
American Agent.

15
Girardin, p. 141.

1
Associated and United Press dispatches, April 15, 1934.

2
Girardin, p. 143.

3
Ibid., p. 143.

4
Pat Cherrington statement, Chicago report, July 16, 1934, Jodil #2617x.

5
Ibid.

6
St. Paul report, July 16, 1934, Jodil #2655.

7
St. Paul report, May 14, 1934, Jodil #1460.

8
The LaPorte family’s history is told in loving detail in a book written by one of their descendants, Ruth Dickerson Gardner,
Lunch at Boney’s Mound.

9
Wanatka statement, Jodil #935.

10
Ibid.

11
Cromie and Pinkston, p. 211.

12
Wanatka told this story often in later years. The details never varied. This version is taken from an interview with the Wisconsin historian Robert Gard.

13
Cromie and Pinkston, p. 208.

14
Ibid., p. 210.

15
Cherrington statement, Jodil #2617.

16
Nan Wanatka’s original note is included in FBI files.

17
Toland, p. 270.

18
Ibid., pp. 270-71.

19
Hoover, memo to file, April 24, 1934, Jodil #1561.

20
One of the great pleasures of perusing the FBI files is reading the statements and reports of those at Little Bohemia. Clegg, Purvis, and Rorer each made multiple reports on the evening’s events. Every other agent on the ground that night also made a report; some are long and detailed, others are a single paragraph.

21
Statement of Agent Virgil Peterson, May 9, 1934, Jodil #1409.

22
Pat Cherrington statement included in Chicago report, July 16, 1934, Jodil #2617.

23
Toland, p. 278. Mitchell statements, Jodil #934.

24
Lange statements in Chicago report, Jodil #934.

1
Washington
Times,
April 24, 1934.

2
Chicago
American,
April 27, 1934.

3
Hoover memo to file, April 25, 1934, Jodil #1044.

4
Hoover to Stanley, April 25, 1934, Jodil #882.

5
Statement of James Wilson, including in Chicago report, Sept. 29, 1934, Brekid #2918.

6
Memo summarizing Volney Davis FBI interview, August 26, 1935, Jodil #6344.

7
Chicago report, Sept. 9, 1935, Jodil #6381.

8
Edna Murray, “I Was a Karpis-Barker Gang Moll,”
Startling Detective Adventures,
October 1936.

9
Ibid.

10
Murray,
Startling Detective Adventures.

11
Chicago report, May 17, 1934, Jodil #1478.

12
The aborted raid is described in a Cincinnati report, May 2, 1934, Jodil #1118, and in a May 3, 1934, letter to Hoover from Connelley, Jodil #1787.

13
“Local woman recalls Dillinger hold-up,” Fostoria
Review Times,
April 10, 1990.

14
“When the Dillinger gang visited Fostoria,” Fostoria
Review Times,
January 15, 1981.

15
Hoover to Nathan, May 10, 1934, Jodil 1-8x.

16
Nathan to Hoover, June 1, 1934, Jodil #2505.

17
Purvis, pp. 285-86.

18
Time,
April 23, 1934.

19
Indianapolis
News,
April 4, 1934.

20
Each of the agents at the Russ home was obliged to file memos on the stakeout in 1936 after Mrs. Russ complained of damage to her home.

21
Girardin, pp. 159-60.

22
“The Day They Shot Bonnie and Clyde,” by Carroll Rich, p. 37, included in
Hunters and Healers,
University of North Texas Press, Denton, Texas, 1971.

23
Ibid., p. 37.

24
Winstead, p. 27.

25
Methvin v. Oklahoma,
p. 135.

26
Much of the confusion surrounding the chronology of events lies in the timing of Methvin’s “escape.” Various accounts have placed it anywhere from Saturday evening, May 19 (Milner, Treherne, Hinton) to Monday evening, May 21 (Phillips). In his 1936 testimony in an Oklahoma court, where he stood trial for the murder of Constable Cal Campbell, Methvin makes clear it happened on Tuesday morning, May 22.

27
Hinton, p. 159.

28
Phillips, p. 197. Ringgold
Record,
April 26, 1968.

29
Hinton, pp. 169-70.

1
Girardin, pp. 162-63.

2
Memo, Cowley to Hoover, May 25, 1934, Jodil #1635.

3
Girardin, p. 170.

4
Ibid.

5
Clegg report, March 11, 1932, included in Hollis personnel file.

6
Ron Owens,
Oklahoma Justice,
Turner Publishing, 1995, p. 121.

7
Purvis to Hoover, June 1, 1934, Jodil #1810. Hoover to Cowley, May 28, 1934, Jodil #1685.

8
Hoover to Purvis, May 29, 1934, Jodil #1832.

9
Cowley to Hoover, May 29, 1934, Jodil #1707.

10
Purvis to Hoover, June 2, 1934, Jodil #1762.

11
Purvis to Hoover, June 1, 1934, Jodil #1810.

12
Hoover, memo to file, June 4, 1934, Jodil #1877.

13
Today Samuel Cowley, Jr., is a retiree living in Salt Lake City. Mr. Cowley was very helpful in sharing his mother’s memories of his father.

14
Hoover memo, Jodil #1877.

15
Hoover, memo to file, June 4, 1934, Jodil #1819.

16
Memo, Hoover to Tamm, June 8, 1934, Jodil #1875.

17
Hoover, memo to file, June 5, 1934, Jodil #1806.

18
Girardin, p. 176.

19
Ibid., p. 182.

20
New York Times,
June 29, 1834.

21
Girardin, p. 183.

22
Tamm to Hoover, June 9, 1934, Jodil #1899.

23
Omaha report, June 15, 1934, Jodil #2043; “How Iowa Rubbed Out Dillinger’s Ace Gunman,”
Startling Detective Adventures,
undated.

24
Girardin, p. 184.

25
Girardin, p. 195.

26
Girardin, pp. 202-3.

27
Girardin, pp. 197-98.

28
Girardin, pp. 189-90.

29
Memo for Hoover, June 29, 1934, Jodil #2454.

30
Fatso Negri debriefing in Portland, Oregon, report, Dec. 31, 1934, Jodil #5067.

31
Michiana
magazine, June 17, 1984; South Bend
Tribune,
June 30-July 1, 1934, January 18, 1970.

1
Girardin, pp. 203-4.

2
Hammond
Times,
Jan. 22, 1995.

3
Chicago
Tribune,
July 16-17, 1934, Chicago
Daily Times,
July 16, 1934.

4
Chicago report, Aug. 4, 1934, Jodil #3218.

5
Chicago report, July 31, 1934, Jodil #3241.

6
Girardin, pp. 210-11.

7
Ibid., pp. 211-12.

8
Ana Sage statement, Aug. 1, 1934, Jodil #3233.

9
The Harris letter was discovered in Sage’s apartment during a search by Chicago police. It is described in detail in the
Chicago Daily Times,
July 25, 1934.

10
Negri debrief, Dec. 31, 1934.

11
Tamm to Cowley, July 23, 1934, Jodil #3182.

12
Every FBI agent involved that night subsequently filed memos detailing their activities. Most are brief, giving few details. Only a handful describe the scene on the nineteenth floor. The time of the assembly, 7:15, is given in Agent Bob Gillespie’s memo.

13
Purvis vividly describes his feelings that night in
American Agent.

14
Unpublished manuscript, John E. Welles, 1959.

15
Chicago Tribune,
July 23, 1934.

16
Ibid.

17
Chicago Tribune,
July 26, 1934.

18
Chicago Daily Times,
July 23, 1934.

19
Hoover to Purvis, July 23, 1934. Purvis personnel file, #270.

20
Chicago Tribune,
July 25, 1934.

21
Sage gave a detailed version of her days after Dillinger’s death in a 1935 immigration hearing.

22
Hoover to Tamm, July 25, 1934, Jodil #1-17.

23
Hoover, memo to file, July 26, 1934, Jodil #3233.

24
Hoover to Tamm, July 27, 1934, Jodil #2966.

25
Agents Connor and Murphy to Cowley, Aug. 2, 1934, Jodil #3233.

26
Connelley to Cowley, Aug. 15, 1934.

27
Chicago Tribune,
July 30, 1934.

1
San Francisco report, Feb. 20, 1935, Jodil #5492.

2
Chicago report, Feb. 1, 1935, Jodil #5333.

3
Salt Lake City report, March 7, 1935, Jodil #5607.

4
San Francisco report, Aug. 18, 1934, Jodil #3596.

5
Benedict statement, San Francisco report, Jodil #4331, p. 45.

6
Negri statement, Chicago report, Jodil #5070, p. 32.

7
Negri article, July 1941. Negri used the pseudonym “Flo” for Backman.

8
Brantley to Floyd, May 18, 1934, KCM #1659.

9
Hoover to Cowley, May 18, 1934, KCM #1662.

10
Hoover to Cowley, May 31, 1934, KCM #1701.

11
Brantley to Hoover, June 15, 1934, KCM #1781.

12
Hoover to Tamm, June 23, 1934, KCM #1838.

13
Hoover to Nathan and Tamm, June 28, 1934, KCM #1868.

14
Kansas City report, Sept. 5, 1934.

15
Ibid.

16
Hoover to Cowley, Sept. 5, 1934, BKF #2791.

17
Cleveland report, August 25, 1936, BKF #12720.

18
Cleveland Press,
Sept. 6, 1934.

19
BKF #2978.

20
BKF #2978, #2918.

1
Newby to Tamm, Sept. 17, 1934, KCM #2517.

2
Hoover to Tamm, Sept. 23, 1934, KCM #2584.