A SUPER OUTLAW

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 13, 16 July 1934, Page 3

A SUPER OUTLAW

"PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1'"

THE CAREER OF DILUNGER

ROMANCE LEAVES. CRIME

Super -men tire popularly supposed to lie one of the products "'of the great American Tlepublie. "While some of the exhibits lately on'view are of. doubtful authenticity it .cannot be denied that-at least she has given the world the super-outlaw,' writes Sir Percival Phillips from America to the "Daily Mail." "Public Enemy No. 1," ue John Dillingcr, enjoys that unenviablo reputation. The outlaws known to Europe are but feeble offshoots of crime compared to'this.xobust "killer" with the, "snake's, eyes" and a murderous ;senSo of humour, whose exploits continue to £iVthe newspapers and '.give the police many sleepless nights.'

Times, .have changed since thegood' old -days^whea ,an. outlaw might also be,a:gcntloinan. ! , . ! This new type of- desperado thrown up by. the machine-gun ago lacks manners as well as, morals.. He has nothing in common with ; the heroes of the Corsican■;'; hills or the Sicilian celeb-iities->of. the Mafia. Unliko them, he will kill a', friend as rea,diiy as kill an erieniy, if the.act will ensure his freedom when; hard .pressed. His flight irom.tne lawhas Veft a trail of corpses, broken -ears, and .■riddled bank' build' ings. ■■■■~■,..-' . -..';"' There is\no romance in him. He would ,be outlawed by the outlaws .of the past.. ■ '.; ■ ■"' ■• The American .schooi of ci'iine was nearly responsible for putting the now rtefuuet Mafia oa a new basis of out-, lawry. A few years ago, before Mussolini sent the indomitable Cesaro Mori to Sicily to break up that centuries-j old organisation, it was the object of! eaieful study ;by certain graduates of the : -gangs"ter/bi- cadet branch founded in Chicago. , . . . '■■ '::_. TROM SICILY. . ■•■ .

These worthies were transplanted Sicilians- or- their ; sous who had risen in the bootlegging, and racketeering games.. ': An :injudicious-murder ■ forced two bftliem to. flee tho country: svnd they were next heard; of under cover in Palermo. ,- Contact with elder brethren of: flic Mafia there disclosed the possibilities of reorganising the-old-fashioned brotherhood on Chicago lines, and making it a "going con.-

corn."

They might hare'-.succeeded "but for' Mori's drive inland from the coast. The Mafia../fell., piecemeal into. hisKiiet oJ: gendarmes.. It.was a slow busiiicss, but wholly successful. . The Chieagosn's fled dismayed to the hinterland,-intent only on paving-their skins. When captured with: their more reputable companions in outlawry they! were thankful tobe extradited'to the comparative safefcy'of; the Chicago courts. The others'were p,ut in cages. ■ .

The, American outlaw has , always been in a class alone. Jesse James, the train 'robber,' w.as the first' spectacular member' of \ho fraternity to become' a national' figure.l His. rough-riders, with sheriffs and their possos lagging impotently, behind, swept through the sparsely-settled "Western States, holding,- up. ; railivay>ears laden with specie, sifting 'the terrified passengers to their last gold watch, shooting down every human impediment in.their path, and vanishing again to one of their remote hiding-places-far beyond reach of their pursuers. ..... . ...;•.:■■),

HEROES. OF YOUTH. .„'£,! *j ■Jesse. James Lad "his imitators, ;.;but none achieved -.such., notoriety or .■•was' such a distinctive figure. His escapades entered tlie realm of fiction before the end came.. Sixpenny "shockers" emblazoned with a lurid portrait of the outlaw, complete 'with wido-brimmed hat and a brace of six-shootei's, 'flooded th&vUnited-StatQa and were\rcad with fearful joy, by the rising generation. Other oujtlaws of the- plains followed him into1 eheap^ literature. The brotherlioVd; had its 'monument in the paperbacked Boyels; of, the day. . : -. ..' ; The machine-gun-; ago has sent tiie old-time; outlaw into oblivion. His technique seems curiously crude in the light-of modem methods. The outlaw of; today disdains to hide1 himself in-v'i wilderness. He challenges society front an armoured ca»r, and cities are his prey: Gas bombs, chain-mail waistcoats, wire : less, sawn-off, shotguns, and automatic pistols ire his tools of trade. His pro; gress has been speeded up, and his traditional enemy, the sheriff, still lags behind; He has been known to cvado military, forces as easily as a wideflung police net and to slip -through, the walls of an apparently impregnable prison with the ease of a Houdini. "Which brings us back to Public Enemy .No. 1 in this country, the elusive John. Dillingcr, now" at. largo with, a heavy price uppn v his head and an ineradieabTc smilo. uponiiis degenerate faceV-liiliinger, King of the Outlaws. His charmed life is a ; nightmare to the distraught gnardians of the peace in every-Western State. A fugitive convict,; he laughs at prison bars, and his merriment has a sinister ring. Even his pursuers laughed grimly when -" he bluffed Ms way out of a guarded cell with a, wooden revolver and niado national^fools of'the warders in ' his path. ■-■ ■' :. •■• " '■■ ■ •■• •■■' -.;-■■'' - •

HE WAS BORED,

. Dillinger's record tends to prove thai outlaws, are born rather than made; His life of crime was entered on voluntarily as ail antidote to the boredom -of the Indiana hamlet where he was born. Since he became the first outlaw of America, the incidents of his misspent youth have filled the newspapers and inquiring reporters have ransacked his home town for stories, as they do when a man becomes President-elect of the United States. *

Public Enemy No. 1 is still "Johnny" in Mooresville, Indiana, whence he came. The 1774 inhabitants have only to east their memories back ten, years to recall him as a 21-year-old machinist and the son of a trusteo of the First Christian Church. He had an engaging grin, arid went to Sunday., school because he had to. Bad . companions were "Johnny's" downfall. His "hero" was Ed. Singleton, a boy older than himself, who also had tho germ of outlawry in him. One Saturday night they waylaid an elderly grocer named Morgan on his ■way home from the village barber . shop, beat ,him about the head, and tried to rob him. "Johnny'? for tho first-time used the magic formula, '.'Stick 'em up!" Morgan grappled •with him instead," Johnny's" revolver went, off, and the embryo outlaws lied. Their victim'staggered home with no ■worse injuTy than a.headache.

Half an hour later "Johnny" put his head in the door of the local restaurant and asked worriedly if Morgan had been killed. ; Morgan chuckles when he, retells the stgry. ','This was an hour ■before I reported the hold-up1 to tho police." ' ■■■'■}

; nine'yeAbs' gaol.

:"Johnny" pleaded guilty on his father's advice, and was■ sentenced to ten to twenty years' for assault and battery. He-was taken to a reformatory, became tho worst boy in the institution, .and. eventually was transferred to a convict- prison, where he spent nine years.

Last May he was paroled, returned to Mooresville apparently penitent— fmd within a month, was-robbing banks fct .Ihc. point 'at ' an - automatic. . Fol-

lowed' then his return to prison, his dramatic escape, and subsequent adventures as Sn outlaw, to which finis has hot yet been written. -

". Johnny's" fame hypnotised many people who had hitherto been regarded as mentally, sound. He was photographed in an affectionate pose with Ealph .Estill,* Public Prosecutor of. an! Indiana county, after, his second arrest. The picture cost Estill the rcnomination for the post: his victorious opponent had only to distribute copies of it through the "county. Back in Mooresvilli! "Johnny's" old friends think he was wantonly persecuted for his first wrong step. Many of them look tolerantly on his whirlwind adventures in outlawry. His old father, a meek and faded, farmer in patched overalls,, is deluged by a "fan." mail from all parts .of - tho county containing such tributes as "I certainly admire John's nerve."

But Mooresville censures him -even while accepting the homage that comes indirectly through ' their .home-grown outlaw. • ■'-.:'...

• "Johnny's" weakness for feminine society in an indiscriminate way is regarded with disfavour. The recent accounts of the national hue-and-cry have featured a new companion, a halfIndian dancing girl, now in custody in Minnesota. '

Says f<Johnny's" pastor, the Rev. Mr. Huston, of the First Christian Church: "There must be a lot of good in-'Johnny' or the people who knew him here wouldn't speak so well of him now. But those recent newspaper reports of him going around with all thoso women don't do him any good." . Another idol, with feet of. clay!