DILLINGER SHOT.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20365, 24 July 1934, Page 1

DILLINGER SHOT.

Mortally Wounded by Police Bullets. LONG SEARCH ENDS. United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. CHICAGO, July 23. The long-sought desperado, John Dillinger, described throughout the United States as Public Enemy No. 1. was fatally shot on Sunday night by agents of the Federal Justice Depart-

ment as he emerged from a cinema theatre. The officers .waitoutside the theatre for more than two hours after receiving word- that Dillinger was there. Two women bystanders were seriously wounded by stray police bullets. Sixteen agents and policemen surrounded the theatre.

The Chief agent said that his men moved forward to arrest the outlaw, but when he made a motion to draw a pistol from his inside belt they started shooting. Dillinger was not instantly killed, but was mortally wounded and died in the ambulance en route to the hospital. Officials, after examining the body, found that he had made desperate efforts to disguise his identity. He had had his face “lifted” by a surgical operation and put acid on his fingers to obliterate prints, nevertheless the police made a positive identification. Dillinger had forsaken his hide-out to see a gangland picture entitled “Manhattan Melodrama,” featuring Clark Gable and William Powell.

Sought for for nearly five months by thousands of police and troops who had orders to shoot at sight, and with a price of 25,000 dollars on his head, dead or alive, John Dillinger defied all the efforts of the forces of the United States to capture him. It is estimated that he had at least thirteen murders to his credit, and had stolen considerably more than 1,000,000 dollars.

Nine years ago he was sentenced to thirteen years’ imprisonment for robbery in a hold-up case, but was liberated after eight years, an embittered man. He vowed to have his revenge on society and spent a hectic year robbing bank after bank and shooting without compunction when anyone stood in his way. Using stolen motorcars, which were always soon abandoned, his knowledge of Indiana backwoods made him a difficult quarry for the police to track.

Once the police had him covered and they raided his hide-out in Chicago. Dillinger shot his way to liberty over the dead body of a police sergeant, leaving six wounded policemen. And then he was in a hotel which happened to catch on fire. A fireman recognised him and in the smoke and excitement he stood no chance against the sudden rush of the police. Sheriff Lillian Holley—a woman—of Lake County, lodged him in Crown Point gaol. But one day he made a dummy pistol out df wood, terrorised a warder, and forced him to let him out. Then he lined up all the guards in the prison, took their machine-guns and escaped in a car, accompanied by a negro, who was killed in one of his later exploits. His career continued, while the search grew the hotter, at least three innocent persons being shot dead under the Federal Justice Department’s “shoot to kill” order. His known companions were gradually killed by the police, but still here and there a bank was robbed or police station held up for arms and ammunition.

Since his release from the penitentiary a little over a year ago, he always said he would never be taken alive. “Capture means the hot seat to me,” he said, “and I can’t stand heat.” Another of his sayings was: “You can’t argue with a machine-gun.”