John Dillinger

Introduction
John Herbert Dillinger was born June 22nd, 1903 in Indianapolis, Indiana., to John Wilson Dillinger and Mary Ellen Lancaster. He was the younger of two children, having an older sister named Audrey.

In 1907, Mary Ellen passed away just short of John's 4th birthday. Audrey married Emmett "Fred" Hancock and had seven children, taking care of John for several years until his was father re-married to a woman named Elizabeth "Lizzie" Fields in 1912, they had three more children, Huebert, Doris and Frances.

John supposedly disliked his Step-Mother for quite some time before purportedly falling in love with her, spawning a romantic relationship which lasted 3 years.

John's Teenage Years
In his teenage years John was often in trouble with the law, arrested for, among other things, fighting and petty theft. His father, fearing that Indianapolis was corrupting his son, moved the family to Morresville in 1921, whereupon his radical and lawless behavior continued and arguably intensified.

In 1922 John was arrested for stealing a car, prompting his relationship with his father to deteriorate further.

John would later enlist in the Navy, earning the rank of Petty officer third class and stationed aboard the USS Utah as a Repair Mechanic. While the ship was docked in Boston, John abandoned ship and deserted, later being dishonorably discharged.

John returned to Morresville and met a young lady named Beryl Ethel Hovious, and on April 12, 1924, they were married. The settled life was not to his liking, he found it hard to find a job and keep his marriage together. John then planned a robbery with his friend Ed Singleton. They robbed a grocery store stealing $50 (Equivalent to $736.86 USD today.) While fleeing the scene, a local minister saw the two and called the police. John and Ed were arrested the next day, at first both the men pleaded not guilty however after his father, the local church deacon at the time, spoke to the Morgan County Prosecutor, they convinced John to confess to the crime and plead guilty without a defense attorney.

John was under the impression that because of his fathers discussion with the Morgan County Prosecutor, his sentence would be quite soft. Much to his surprise however he was sentenced to 10-20 years incarceration. His father later told press he regretted giving the advice and that he tried to barter the sentence but to no avail. It's speculated that this harsh sentence is due to the fact that John had hit a patron of the grocery store over the head with a cloth-wrapped machine bolt, as well as discharging a firearm during the robbery, even though the bullet hit no one, its still speculated to have had factored in to the verdict.

On his way back to Mooresville to testify against Singleton he was able to briefly escape his escorts, only to be recaptured a few minutes later. Singleton would be sentenced to 2-14 years incarceration. Singleton was killed on August 31st, 1937, when he fell unconscious on a train track while drunk and was struck by a passing train which killed him instantly.

Incarceration in Indiana State (1924 - 1933)
John was incarcerated in the Indiana State Prison, and upon his incarceration was quoted as saying ''"I will be the meanest bastard you ever saw when I get out of here!" ''Johns medical examination upon his incarceration revealed he had contracted gonorrhea, the treatment for which was very primitive and because of this, very painful. John grew to despise the outside world for putting him away and found comfort and kinship in the criminals who were incarcerated there with him. He met several career criminals whom with he became fast friends, including Harry "Pete" Pierpont, Charles Makley and Homer Van Meter (Who unbeknownst to either of them at the time, would later become a founding member of the gang of Johns namesake.)

John's new friends taught him the ways of being a successful criminal, and most of all, a bank robber.

John would later be released on parole after a successful petition of release by his father gaining 188 signatures. John was released a free man (Albiet on parole) on May 10th, 1933, after serving 9 and a half of his 10-20 year sentence.

Post-Release
John Returned home after only to discover his beloved Step-Mother had fallen ill and passed away just short of his arrival. John tried to re-invent himself, planning to go it straight, however feeling the full brunt of the great depression, he quickly swerved back into his life of crime.

New Carlisle National Bank
On June 21st, 1933, John robbed his first bank, New Carlisle National Bank, Bluffton, Ohio, netting $10,000 (Equivalent to $193,850.77 USD as of 2018).

This victory would be short-lived however, as on August 14th, 1933, John robbed another bank in Bluffton, this move was tracked by police from Dayton, Ohio, who after tailing him he was captured and sent to Allen County Jail, Lima. He was going to be indicted in conjunction with the Bluffton robbery. When he arrived the police searched him finding a note on his person, purportedly an escape plan. John was questioned about it but refused to reveal anything about it.

The Breakout
John orchestrated the springing of Eight criminals, two being Clark and Pierpont, the others he'd met while working laundry duty in prison. He had his friends smuggle small handguns into their cells and used them to escape, their escape was four days after Dillinger's capture.

Three of the escapees, Harry "Pete" Pierpont, Russell Clark and Charles Makley arrived in Lima on the 12th of October. The three impersonated Indiana police officers, claiming they were on orders to extradite John Dillinger back to Indiana. Sheriff Jess Sarber asked for thier credentials, prompting Pierpont to shoot Sheriff Sarber dead at point blank. The gang then sprung john from his cell and and they all fled back to Indiana to join the rest of the gang.

The Robberies
->Covered on the Dillinger Gang Page<-