John Dillinger's Suitcase

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	John Dillinger's Suitcase « on: February 17, 2010, 01:53:41 pm »

OK guys lets kick this one around.

John Dillinger, Public Enemy No. 1, buried $200,000 in the Wisconsin woods three months before his death. [ If he died some say he faked his death. Like we have not heard that one before sorry had to say it]

How It Got There: Small, pug-nosed Dillinger parked himself in the Little Bohemia roadhouse, 8 mi. southeast of Mercer, for a weekend with six of his gang, including "Baby Face" Nelson and "Three-Fingered Jack" Hamilton, in late April, 1934. On Sunday, at 7:45 P.M., FBI men in bulletproof vests surrounded the place and waited until three men came out. Unfortunately, the three were not gang members, but two CCC workers and a gas station attendant. The FBI killed one of them and wounded the other two. In the confusion, Dillinger and his gang escaped out a back window. The FBI waited until the next morning, when they teargassed a building devoid of criminals.

Once out of the roadhouse, Dillinger ran 500 yd. north into the woods, dug a hole near two pines and an oak, and buried in it a suitcase containing $200,000 in small bills obtained from the sale of $1 million in stolen securities.

Back in Chicago, Dillinger reputedly underwent plastic surgery to change his appearance so that he could escape unrecognized to South America and safely retire. However, on July 22, 1934, he was shot and killed outside the Biograph Theater by the Feds, who had been tipped off by Dillinger's girl friend's landlady, afterwords known as "the woman in red."

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	Re: John Dillinger's Suitcase « Reply #1 on: February 17, 2010, 03:35:59 pm »

Found a few accounts of this in the old papers of the day. Eyewitness accounts place several of the gang acquiring a car at a nearby residence. First finding an old farm truck which was thought to be too slow then aquiring another more suitable ride at another nieghbors house.

Apparently Nelson simply shot a carfull of agents as they drove up and took that car.

Will post as soon as I size em to fit.

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	Re: John Dillinger's Suitcase « Reply #2 on: February 18, 2010, 11:47:10 pm »

I need to do some checking, but if memory hasn't failed me, I think I read once that Dillinger stayed the Little Bohemia on several occasions...so he would have known the lay of the land rather well. If so, that adds a bit of credibility to the stories.

BA

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	Re: John Dillinger's Suitcase « Reply #3 on: February 18, 2010, 11:50:41 pm »

I thought I'd read up on the Little Bohemia roadhouse. I found this from a site I'll put a link to as apparently Northern Wisconsin was quite popular as a gangster getaway. Might be a good old stash & cache area for detecting.

"Over the years, Little Bohemia has hosted throngs of what it calls "bullet-hole customers,'' named for the holes that still can be seen. In April 1934, Dillinger had just been wounded in a shootout with the FBI in St. Paul. His girlfriend, Billie Frechette, raised on northeast Wisconsin's Menominee Indian Reservation, was in custody.

He and his gang decided to get away and regroup. The owner of their favorite tavern in Chicago recommended a lodge in Wisconsin's north woods, run by a friend."

Gangster Hideouts In Northern Wisconsin

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http://www.midwestweekends.com/plan_a_trip/history_heritage/historic_houses/gangsters_wisconsin.html

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	Re: John Dillinger's Suitcase « Reply #4 on: February 18, 2010, 11:54:43 pm »

Interesting link, Sue. Maybe we should post a copy of it under Wisconsin also just in case anyone is looking there for Wisconsin leads.

BA

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	Re: John Dillinger's Suitcase « Reply #5 on: February 18, 2010, 11:58:57 pm »

That's a good idea, BA. You want to do it? I'm needing to sign off.

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	Re: John Dillinger's Suitcase « Reply #6 on: February 18, 2010, 11:59:57 pm »

Sure no problem

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	Re: John Dillinger's Suitcase « Reply #7 on: February 19, 2010, 04:45:09 pm »

Sorry its taken me a while to compose some of this data and I'm still sorting but I will start linking some stuff for anyone interested.

Sue I had run onto this interview with Frank Traube who supposedly worked at the LB and played baseball with Dillinger during the stay. I didn't think much about it until I read about him being wounded during that stay. Nothing terribly relevant just more background of that incident. I'm posting an image of the whole page just because I have found it intriguing to read some of the other stories as well and some others might too. The relevant artical is highlighted.

Sorry that wasnt readable Embarrassed

here is a cropped image of the artical.

Here is a newspaper account of the incident and flight

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http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn201/Imaginos_art/TuesdayApril241934crop.jpg

Hopefully this is readable, let me know if not.

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	Re: John Dillinger's Suitcase « Reply #8 on: February 19, 2010, 04:58:23 pm »

Idaho, Seems the guy playing baseball with him would be the one to know whether he was wounded or not. Maybe someone from FBI just implied around that they'd wounded him to save face. Sue

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	Re: John Dillinger's Suitcase « Reply #9 on: February 22, 2010, 12:35:44 pm »

Kinda what I thought Sue. Some of the other articals have stated that a blood stained sedan was found and believed to be one of the stolen vehicles used in the escape. So either one of them was wounded during the initial altercation, during the escape run, or was wounded when he got there. Perhaps it was one of the other members of the gang, or like you said someone wanted people to believe they were wounded. It could also be referring to the vehicle Nelson took which could be blood from Baum and the other agents.

The story about the carjacking is interesting to me as it paints the men in a very different light. Here these guys are fleeing from cops trying to gun them down, chasing them state to state and they steal this guys car. Politely. "I'm sorry but I have to keep your machine." Not the desperate villians one would expect.
Not sure if anyone is still looking at this but I am running into a stumbling block on this one. By all accounts I can find Patricia Cherrington was the person who originated the suitcase story. She was at Little Bohemia and I am guessing one of the girls who was arrested at the scene. If so how did she know about the suitcase since she never left with JD? Did she have contact with him after LB? Did he tell her he was going to bury it before he fled or did he tell her later? I am wondering why he would bury the loot since he made a clean exit from the lodge? The inkeeper described a roll of bills big enough to choke a cow that JD had on him at LB.

Any thoughts?

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